Kyiv reports numerous execution videos. Several Russian attacks are repelled. The news ticker on the Ukraine war.
Update from April 18, 5:15 am: Russian troops and Wagner mercenaries are fighting together for Bakhmut – and are now taking more coordinated action against the Ukrainian defenders. Among other things, paratroopers took over two districts of Bakhmut, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense in Moscow. This information could not be verified independently.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin confirmed the joint approach. Accordingly, the regular troops protect the flanks of his private army. Recently, Prigozhin repeatedly criticized the fact that the Russian Ministry of Defense was doing too little to take Bakhmut. Above all, the confidant of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin had complained about a lack of ammunition.
The Ukrainian side recently confirmed that Russian fighters had advanced into the center of Bakhmut. According to Russian information, around 80 percent of the city, which had around 70,000 inhabitants before the war, has been conquered. Despite everything, Ukraine does not want to give up Bachmut.
Ukraine war news: Russia razes Bakhmut to the ground
Update from April 17, 10:30 p.m.: Russian forces have increased the use of heavy artillery and airstrikes in Bakhmut, Donetsk region. This is reported by Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, on Telegram. “The use of heavy artillery and air strikes on the Bakhmut front has intensified. The enemy is simply leveling the buildings and infrastructure of Bakhmut,” Maliar wrote.
![The Ukraine war raged around Bakhmut: Ukrainian soldiers fired at Russian positions with a mortar.](https://www.merkur.de/bilder/2023/04/16/92213885/30729606-um-bachmut-tobt-der-ukraine-krieg-ukrainische-soldaten-feuern-mit-einem-moerser-auf-russische-stellungen-OfBG.jpg)
Ukraine war: East of the country remains “epicenter of hostilities”
Update from April 17, 8:50 p.m.: According to their own statements, the Ukrainian armed forces repelled dozens of attacks by Russian troops in the east of the country on Monday. In its daily situation report, the General Staff in Kiev named the cities of Bakhmut and Marjinka as the “epicenter of the fighting”. In the course of the day, around 50 attacks from five different directions were repelled “with high enemy casualties”. The information could not be independently verified.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported a series of attacks on Russian positions. Among other things, a base for electronic warfare was hit. The exact location was not mentioned. Russia has been waging a war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine for more than a year.
Ukraine war: Russia is now recruiting regular soldiers
Update from April 17, 7:00 p.m.: Russia is now also recruiting contract soldiers in the annexed Crimea. N-tv According to the local recruiting office, it has set up a stand with weapons and is trying to create an image as an attractive employer. Converted with a bonus of almost 4500 euros, voluntary fighters are remunerated. Even if the stand attracts people interested in the military, according to n-tv, the Ukraine war remains a sensitive issue in Crimea.
Ukraine war: Navalny ‘outraged’ at Kara-Mursa’s conviction
Update from April 17, 4:43 p.m.: Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny reacted “deeply indignant” to the sentence of opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Mursa to 25 years in prison. According to Navalny, the verdict was “illegal, shameless and simply fascist”. He said so in a voice message published Monday by his team in online services. “I believe that Vladimir Kara-Mursa was persecuted for political reasons,” it said. Kara-Mursa was found guilty by a Moscow court on Monday of “high treason”, “spreading misinformation” about the Russian army and working illegally for an “undesirable”.
Kara-Mursa said last week that he did not regret any of his statements, despite the long prison sentence he was threatened with. However, he blames himself for not having been able to convince enough compatriots and politicians in democratic countries of the danger that the current Kremlin leadership poses to Russia and the world. The well-known activist is a longtime opponent of President Vladimir Putin and was a confidante of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in 2015.
“Dozens” of videos of executions of Ukrainians in Russian POWs
Update from April 17, 4:30 p.m.: According to its human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine already has “dozens” of videos of executions of its citizens in Russian captivity. In an interview published on Monday by the Internet portal Ukrainska Pravda Lubinez said: “These are decapitations, cutting off genitals, cutting off ears, noses, limbs and fingers”. Several perpetrators have been identified. At least one has already been killed in fighting. Lubinets accused the Russian side of systematically violating the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of Prisoners of War.
A video circulated on social media last week showing a man in a Russian uniform beheading a suspected Ukrainian prisoner of war. Several similar clips showing executions and mistreatment of Russian prisoners of war had already been circulated on the Internet beforehand. The UN has documented violations of international conventions on both sides.
Ukraine war: Kremlin critic Kara-Mursa sentenced to 25 years in prison
Update from April 17, 10:52 am: The Kremlin critic Kara-Mursa has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in Moscow. This was reported by the AFP news agency. The public prosecutor’s office had accused the 41-year-old of “high treason” and the dissemination of “false information” about the Russian army.
As recently as last Tuesday (April 11), Kara-Mursa said he had no regrets about what he had said. However, he blames himself for not having been able to convince enough compatriots and politicians in democratic countries of the danger that the current Kremlin leadership poses to Russia and the world.
The well-known activist is a longtime opponent of President Vladimir Putin and was a confidant of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in 2015.
Ukraine-News: Great Britain warns of increasing risks from mines
Update from April 17, 10:26 am: With milder temperatures and more farm work in Ukraine, Britain warns of mine risks to civilians. Incidents are reported daily, the Ministry of Defense in London said.
The areas of Cherson in the south and Kharkiv in the east, which were temporarily occupied by Russian troops, were particularly affected. Since the war began in February 2022, more than 750 civilians have been killed or injured by mines. In every eighth case, a child is the victim. “It will probably take at least a decade to clear Ukraine of mines,” it said.
Ukraine-News: Kiev talks about Russia’s losses in Bakhmut
Update from April 17, 6:48 a.m: The Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov spoke about the “Ukraine Leaks” and the war losses. There are no exact figures – neither side wants to lose face. But Resnikov’s hints suggest something bad.
“Our main goal is to save the lives of our soldiers while Russia uses them as cannon fodder. It’s the meat grinder tactic,” he told the Spanish newspaper La Razon. “In Bakhmut alone, Russia loses 500 men every day – either dead or wounded.”
Reznikov said of the “Ukraine leaks”: “This leak is interesting because it is a mixture of truth and lies.” The main goal is to undermine trust between the allies, he surmised. “For example, they use false casualty figures and imply that Washington does not trust our counter-offensive capabilities.” It is not true that there are currently NATO soldiers in Ukraine, the politician insisted: “Of course there are military attachés from countries in the alliance, but they are in their embassies in Kiev. Not on the battlefield.”
Ukraine-News: Satellite images suggest a new cemetery
Update from April 16, 6:03 p.m.: In a Russian-occupied village near the eastern Ukrainian cities of Soledar and Bahmut, a large cemetery appears to have sprung up within a month. That reports that Editorial Network Germany (RND) citing satellite imagery. According to the recordings, around 200 graves in Volodymyrivka, which had 675 inhabitants before the war, were dug between February 23 and April 1, 2023.
Drone footage taken by the Ukrainian army on April 10 shows that around 70 of the graves were prepared for burial by that time, while people had already been buried in the remaining 130 graves. According to the recordings, the graves were dug individually. “Most likely it is about the killed fighters of the Wagner group, since they often no longer have any relatives at home, have broken with their families and therefore remain in Ukraine,” said Colonel Markus Reisner, military expert of the Austrian Armed Forces RND.
Ukraine News: Kremlin chief Putin celebrates Easter with Patriarch Kirill
Update from April 16, 11:09 am: Vladimir Putin celebrated Orthodox Easter in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. Together with Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, the head of the Kremlin attended a service of the Russian Orthodox Church leader, Patriarch Kirill, on Sunday night (April 16).
The Kremlin released Putin’s Easter message this year. Accordingly, the Russian President, against whom an international arrest warrant has now been issued for alleged war crimes, said: “The wonderful, beloved Easter gives hope to believers, inspires good thoughts and deeds and serves to affirm high moral ideals and values in society. “
Internationally, however, Kirill is above all a fervent supporter of Putin’s attack on Ukraine – and has repeatedly defended it in the past, among other things in sermons.
Ukraine-News: Ex-Kremlin boss Medvedev threatens Poland
First report from April 16th: Kiev/Moscow – Dmitri Medvedev rumbles again. The ex-Kremlin boss often attracts attention with his hate speech against the West. On the one hand, he wrote on Twitter about how “young Ukrainian bloodsuckers would sit and parasitize on the crooked neck of the weakening EU”. Another tweet is now against Poland.
Medvedev, who is considered a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, wrote the entry from Friday (April 14) in English and Polish. “Some fool named Mateusz Morawiecki claimed that Ukraine had the right to attack Russia – and that he wouldn’t worry about a NATO war against Russia because Moscow would soon lose such a war,” it said.
“I don’t know who will win or lose such a war, but given Poland’s role as a NATO outpost in Europe, this country will surely disappear, along with its stupid prime minister,” he continued. (AFP/dpa/frs)
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