WAR IN UKRAINE: April 8, 2022
One village after another outside Kyiv look like this. Homes obliterated by shelling, burnt to the ground, cars run over by tanks—and graffiti left by retreating. Credit: Joshua Yaffa
“This is an evil that has no limits. And if it not punished, it will never stop”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 43
BREAKING: A Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine on Friday morning has claimed the lives of at least 50 people and injured 100. At least one Russian Tochka-U missile was used on the station where about 4,000 people were waiting for evacuation, according to various reports. Indeed, video footage just before the attack showed thousands of people crowded along the train platforms and outside the station. Washington Post reporters who arrived at the station after the attack counted at least 20 dead amid the destruction. Russia claims it does not use the Tochka-U missile system, however two articles in Russian state media and Belarusian state media in February show that the were used in training exercises before the war.
Shortly after the Kramatorsk missile strike, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “This is an evil that has no limits. And if it not punished, it will never stop.” Foreign Minister Kuleba tweeted Friday: “This was a deliberate slaughter. We will bring each war criminal to justice.”
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said "the battle for Donbas" is underway and will be reminiscent of World War II as fighting shifts to the east of the country. Yesterday, in a press conference at NATO headquarters, he said Bucha is “just the tip of the iceberg” and that Mariupol will be “much, much worse.” Kuleba said that help from the West came much too late. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday called for nations to impose “more courageous sanctions” against Russia in a bid to try and end the war. He said the current sanctions were “not yet the ones needed to stop Russia and stop the war”
Separately, dozens of bodies have reportedly been found under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Russians in Borodyanka. At least 200 people still missing there
In an extraordinary interview, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov admits to "significant losses of troops" from Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. He told SKY News that “it’s a huge tragedy for us.” Some estimates place Russian troop losses at 19,000, including six generals and 700 tanks. Peskov also said that Russia intends to “liberate” Mariupol sooner rather than later.
China is buying Russian coal and oil with its own currency as the two countries try to maintain their energy trade. It marks the first commodities paid for in yuan since the U.S. and Europe penalized Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, traders tell Bloomberg.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has now threatened Ukraine-China economic ties, especially projects funded by Beijing’s signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). “Not only has the conflict disrupted projects in Ukraine and threatened Russia’s role as a critical BRI artery, Beijing’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion – or even recognise the attack as an invasion – has frustrated Kyiv and led some in Ukraine to question whether Beijing should remain its primary economic partner,” reports the South China Morning Post. BRI projects in Ukraine include: a new metro line in Kyiv, a US$50 million revamp of a shipping port in Mariupol, and a large wind farm on the Black Sea coast.
The World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said yesterday here in Lviv that the organization had been helping to prepare its Ukrainian partners for chemical attacks. “We have to be prepared for any eventuality,” he said. Separately WHO records 103 attacks on Ukrainian healthcare facilities since the start of the war.
Pink Floyd released their first new music since 1994 in support of the people of Ukraine with a track called Hey Hey Rise Up - or popularly known here in Ukraine as 'Chervona Kalyna' (Ой у лузі червона калина). The song marks the first original music recorded together as a collective since 1994, and features vocals from Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk, from Boombox. Proceeds from the song will go to Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief.
Where do we all go from here, and for how long? I'll have much more to say in a CNN Opinion OpEd early next week.
Some context here: Chervona Kalyna is an immensely popular and patriotic folk song which all of us learned word-for-word from an early age. It is emblematic of the Ukrainian spirit and will to live. The first minute of the video by Khlyvnyuk was turned into a music video by several Ukrainian artists which is now aired frequently on Ukrainian television. So this clip in the Pink Floyd song is the start of that longer video...
The intro to the song: "In the meadow, there a red kalyna, has bent down low...For some reason, our glorious Ukraine, has been worried so. And we'll take that red kalyna and we will raise it up, And we, our glorious Ukraine, shall say, hey - hey, cheer up - and rejoice..."
View the song here
