04/10/2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 23:45 Selenskyj’s Easter message: “We are bringing the defeat of evil closer” +++
At Easter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed hope that there would be peace in Ukraine in a year’s time. In his video message that was distributed in the evening, Zelenskyj expressed confidence that prayers for peace would be heard. Every Christian holiday teaches its country that evil can be conquered. “We bring the defeat of evil nearer.” Zelenskyy complains that Russia marked Palm Sunday – on which many orthodox Christians celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem – with new rocket attacks against Ukraine. According to the president, a rocket hit a residential building in the city of Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine. A man and an 11-year-old girl were killed. “This is how a terrorist state spends Palm Sunday,” says Zelenskyj.
+++ 22:20 Macron does not see the time for negotiations +++
French President Emmanuel Macron sees no room for negotiations in the war between Russia and Ukraine. “The Ukrainians are resisting and we’re helping them,” he told the French newspaper Les Echos after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping. The time for negotiations has not yet come, even if they have to be prepared and the course set. “I think China is making the same statement as we are, which is that the time today is military.”
+++ 21:54 Russia is said to suffer heavy losses at Avdiivka and Marjinka +++
Russia is said to be suffering heavy casualties on the front line in eastern Ukraine. In the fighting for Avdiivka and Mariinka, the Russian army is losing about two companies every day, says Oleksii Dmytrashkovskyi, spokesman for the Ukrainian military’s Tavria task force, Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reports. According to Dmytrashkovskyi, Russian prisoners said their superiors sent them into battle without any preparation. These are “not sober enough”. Soldiers were also said to have been woken up in the middle of the night and sent under threat of armed force to storm enemy positions.
+++ 21:30 NGO: Russian allegedly wanted to fight for Ukraine and is forcibly committed +++
The Russian non-governmental organization OVD-Info reports on the case of the Russian Sergey Kolin. He was arrested a year ago. The civil rights organization writes that the district court in the central Russian city of Tver has now declared Kolin of unsound mind. He was forcibly committed to a psychiatric clinic. According to the information, the investigators accused him of wanting to join the “Freedom of Russia” legion. The legion, made up of Russian fighters, is part of the international volunteer corps within the Ukrainian army. He also expressed his support for the Ukrainian side in the conflict in YouTube videos, among other things.
+++ 21:00 EU plans conference on the retrieval of kidnapped children +++
The EU Commission wants to help bring children kidnapped from Ukraine back to their homeland. “Together with Poland, we will hold a conference to launch an initiative for the repatriation of these children,” tweeted the EU Commission. Thousands of children have been kidnapped by Russia. In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belowa. They are accused of kidnapping children. Russia denies the allegations.
+++ 20:26 photos show destroyed houses and craters in Zaporizhia +++
These are just some of the numerous photos coming in from Ukraine this Sunday: While Protestants and Catholics celebrate Easter, Orthodox Christians in Ukraine celebrate Palm Sunday, as the dates for the festivals are based on different calendars. Meanwhile, the war continues with more casualties and injuries.
Palm Sunday celebration in Kyiv.
(Photo: REUTERS)
In the village of Bohoyavlenka, Donetsk Oblast, a grandmother and her granddaughter seek shelter from shelling in the basement of their house.
(Photo: dpa)
Zaporizhia: a volunteer inspects the remains of an apartment building after Russian missile attacks.
(Photo: REUTERS)
A crater and damaged houses in Zaporizhia. According to Ukrainian data, there were two dead in the city.
(Photo: AP)
A woman looks at her destroyed home in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostyantynivka after Russian shelling.
(Photo: picture alliance / AA)
This photo from Bakhmut was taken yesterday: Boots of wounded Ukrainian soldiers stand near a medical station on the front line.
(Photo: dpa)
+++ 19:37 Seoul is said to have feared diversion of its shells to Kiev +++
The “New York Times” reports on further details of the allegedly leaked, secret Pentagon documents. It’s about artillery shells, which South Korea wanted to sell to the United States at the end of last year, according to media reports, which can use them to replenish their stocks. The documents that have now been released show that the South Korean government was concerned that the shells would not remain in US possession but would be diverted to Ukraine. South Korea takes the position of not supplying deadly weapons to countries at war. The New York Times writes, the documents also suggested that the US had spied on South Korean officials. According to the report, a senior government official in Seoul said issues raised by the documents should be discussed with Washington.
+++ 19:00 Ukrainian military: Rocket hits village near Russian border +++
The northern Ukrainian village of Hremjatsch lies directly on the border with Russia. Ukrainian forces say a plane fired a missile at the village in Chernihiv Oblast from Russian territory. Russia aimed at the infrastructure of the settlement. According to the military, there was an explosion at noon. However, no injuries were reported.
You can read about previous developments here.