WAR IN UKRAINE: April 19, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 54
Russian forces are attacking Ukrainian positions along the entire 300-mile (480km) front line in the eastern Donbas region. It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that a long-awaited Russian offensive in the east had begun. Moscow claims to have struck more than 1,000 targets overnight. In what Ukraine has called "a new phase of war,” its General Staff says Russian forces are focusing their efforts on taking full control of the Donbas region.
More than 420 bodies have been found in Bucha, according to the police. “The work of the police of Kyiv region does not stop…people return and find in their homes temporary burials and storage of corpses, that is, in the basement, wells, and so on, "- said the chief of police of Kyiv region Andriy Nebytov. Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin has bestowed an honorary title on a brigade accused by Ukraine of committing war crimes in Bucha.
Russian forces illegally deport 40,000 civilians from Mariupol. Mayor Vadym Boichenko said in an interview on Ukrainian television that the civilians have been “forcibly deported” to Russia or to Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine. Boichenko stated that the numbers have been “verified through the municipal register,” although they have yet to be independently verified, BBC reported. It’s unclear how many children have been deported but the number is believed to be high as the first waves of civilians “evacuated” from southern Ukraine were mostly women, children and the elderly.
Ukrainian authorities warn Russia may be preparing attacks on churches on Orthodox Easter Day. Russian media outlets have published disinformation that Ukrainian forces are planning to shell Orthodox churches in several Ukrainian regions on Orthodox Easter, or April 24. Ukraine’s Security and Defense Council’s Center for Counteracting Disinformation has warned that these messages may indicate that Russia will carry out such attacks themselves in order to frame Ukrainian forces - Kyiv Independent
Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of Zelensky's office, tells BBC Radio 4's Today Programme it's "very important for Ukrainian forces to have heavy weaponry", including artillery systems, tanks and armoured vehicles. If Ukraine has these weapons, it will be able to withstand the Russian offensive and have victory in the eastern region, he says. Zhovkva says arms shipments from the West are "getting better" – and the latest $800m batch of US military aid included "the items we really need". Zhovkva adds that Donbas - where the latest offensive is taking place - is very important symbolically for Moscow, as it is where Russia began its "aggression against Ukraine" in 2014, capturing parts of the region and establishing "so-called republics" there.
The Kremlin refused to answer mounting questions on Tuesday about the fate of sailors on board its most powerful warship after it was reportedly sunk by Ukrainian missiles last week, claiming it is “not authorized” to do so. Family members of missing crew members have accused the defense ministry of trying to “hush up” the deaths to prevent further humiliation for the Russian military after several setbacks in Ukraine - The Daily Beast
Almost five million Ukrainians have fled the war since Russia's invasion, the United Nations says, in the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.