The day of the war at a glance
Zelenskyy offers prisoners for Mariupol defenders – Moscow tests missile
4/20/2022, 9:37 p.m
While Moscow is testing a new ICBM far away from the front, President Zelenskyy makes an offer to the Russian side in the case of the besieged city of Mariupol. In the east of the country, Ukrainian units succeed in fending off a Russian advance. The 56th day of the war at a glance:
Zelenskyy proposes deal for Mariupol
The siege of Mariupol continues: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to get the surrounded soldiers and civilians out of the port city with an exchange. “We are ready to exchange our people for Russian soldiers who left behind them – both corpses and wounded,” said the 44-year-old. Around 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers and hundreds of civilians are said to be still in the bunkers of the Azovstal steelworks.
The commander of the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade still in the city, Major Serhiy Wolyna, had previously called for international help in a video. “This is our appeal to the world. It could be our last. We only have a few days or hours,” he said. You are faced with an enemy that is much stronger.
Kremlin: Kyiv is not keeping its promises
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov meanwhile accused Ukraine of not keeping promises made during the talks to end the fighting. The ball is in the Kyiv leadership’s field after Russia handed over a document to the Ukrainian side. However, Zelenskyy said he had not received any proposals from Moscow. “I didn’t hear anything, I didn’t see anything. I’m convinced that they didn’t give us anything,” said the head of state at a press conference in Kyiv.
Report: Berlin removes heavy weapons from “industry list”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far stubbornly held back on the subject of heavy weapons for Ukraine. According to media reports, the federal government has even made it impossible for Kyiv to buy heavy weapons from German armaments companies by sharply reducing the supply in advance. By order of the Chancellery, the Ministry of Defense has removed all heavy weapons from a so-called “industrial list”, reported RTL/ntv and the “Bild” newspaper.
The list, originally reduced from 48 to 24 pages, was handed over to the Ukrainian government at the end of March. According to the newspaper, the original list in mid-March still contained heavy weapon systems such as the Leopard-2 main battle tank, the Marder and Puma infantry fighting vehicles, and the Boxer and Fuchs armored personnel carriers. The “Panzerhaubitze 2000” is said to have been on the list first. These weapon systems correspond to a “requirements” list from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which the newspaper says it also has.
Pentagon corrects report on fighter jet delivery
Meanwhile, the US Department of Defense has corrected information about an alleged delivery of fighter jets from abroad to Ukraine. “I was wrong,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. “They didn’t receive entire planes from another country.” Rather, Ukraine received “spare parts and additional equipment” and was able to make more of its own fighter jets operational. Kirby said he mistakenly thought that a country’s offer to supply fighter jets to Ukraine had been implemented. “I’m sorry for the error.”
Another senior Pentagon official said Ukraine has “more than 20 more planes than it had three weeks ago.” The necessary spare parts would have enabled the Luftwaffe to expand its operational fleet.
Ukraine: Russian advance on Sloviansk halted
Moscow’s forces are still trying to break through Ukrainian defenses in eastern Ukraine, British military intelligence has reported. However, according to Zelenskyi adviser Oleksiy Arestovych, Ukrainian troops have stopped the advance of Russian troops on the city of Sloviansk. Arestovych explained in a video speech that the Russian units had come from the northeastern city of Izyum. “They have concentrated their forces there. They are trying to advance there, but so far they are not succeeding.” According to Arestovych, the goal of the Russian push is to isolate Ukrainian troops in the cities of Rubishne and Sievarodonetsk.
MP accuses Russia of kidnapping 500,000 Ukrainians
According to a leading Ukrainian MP, Russia has abducted around 500,000 people from Ukraine. Mykyta Poturayev, who heads the parliament’s humanitarian committee in Kyiv, urged the Red Cross to contact these people. “Half a million Ukrainian citizens have been deported from Ukraine to the Russian Federation without their consent,” Poturaev told the European Parliament in a video broadcast. Unfortunately, there is currently no way to contact them.
Moscow is testing ICBMs
Far away from the Russian attacks on Ukraine, Moscow has reported the successful test of the Sarmat ICBM. The weapon will “make those who, in the heat of aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country think twice,” President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address. The new missile has a range of 18,000 kilometers and can be equipped with nuclear warheads. In addition, they can “bypass all modern air defense systems,” Putin added.
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