WAR IN UKRAINE: April 14, 2022
“As long as Moscow has the ability to send deadly long-range cruise missiles anywhere onto Ukrainian territory, no city, town or village can be declared safe.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 50
As Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters its 50th day, there are growing signs the war is shifting. Ukrainian officials have warned for days they expect a major offensive by Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region — a new theater of war on the open plains, rather than the urban and wooded areas of the north. French military spokesperson Col. Pascal Lanni said Wednesday Russia is potentially preparing for a “large-scale offensive” in the east in the coming days - CNN. One of the Russian Navy’s flagship vessels, the Moskva, either caught fire or has been hit by a Ukrainian missile, according to various news reports. Cloud cover has impeded satellite photography, but the guided missile cruiser is either floating abandoned or at the bottom of the Black Sea. Military analysts say it will force the Russian Navy to implement a much more defensive posture henceforth.
Today, the fourth prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia took place. A total of 30 Ukrainian citizens are returned to Ukraine, Deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk said.
The Kyiv School of Economics estimated the total economic losses since the beginning of the war at $564bn to $600bn or more, including $80bn of damage to physical infrastructure. Sergii Marchenko, Ukraine’s finance minister, told the Financial Times that his country’s economy was under “great stress, in the very worst condition”, with government spending due to exceed revenues by $5bn to $7bn a month in April and May. Previously, the Economist Intelligence Unit predicted that Ukraine’s pre-war growth rate will not recover for at least another ten years.
The towns of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka are likely to be targets for similar levels of violence seen in other urban centres as Russia focuses its war on eastern Ukraine, says the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD). In a tweet this morning, it says President Putin’s speech on Tuesday highlighted his continued interest in the area known as Donbas "where Russia is striking Ukrainian forces in preparation for a renewed offensive". The MoD says: "The combination of widespread missile and artillery strikes and efforts to concentrate forces for an offensive represents a reversion to traditional Russian military doctrine." But the MoD adds: "However, this will require significant force levels. "Ukraine’s continued defence of Mariupol is currently tying down significant numbers of Russian troops and equipment." - BBC. (It is worth noting that in February 2015, Kramatorsk came under heavy bombardment from Russian-backed combatants using a Smerch multiple launch rocket system. Seventeen civilians died, and another 60 were injured. A kindergarten was hit. Watch the vide here).
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says nine humanitarian corridors have been agreed upon with Russia to allow for the evacuation of civilians from several cities, including the besieged port of Mariupol. Other evacuation routes for April 14 are from Berdyansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar, while others in the eastern Luhansk region will operate only if occupying Russian forces stop their shelling, Vereshchuk added in a statement posted on her Telegram channel - RFE/RL
In a significant report, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) - which has 57 member states, including Russia and Ukraine - found “clear patterns” of humanitarian law violations in the war in Ukraine. Although the Vienna-based organization found violations on both sides, the vast majority were committed by Russian forces, it said. “If they (Russian forces) had respected their IHL obligations in terms of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack and concerning specially protected objects such as hospitals, the number of civilians killed or injured would have remained much lower. Similarly, considerably fewer houses, hospitals, cultural properties, schools, multi-story residential buildings, water stations and electricity systems would have been damaged or destroyed,” the report said.
The mayor of Bucha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, told a media briefing in Kyiv Wednesday, that 403 bodies have been found in his town. A second mass grave with 56 bodies had been opened. In all, 22 multiple floor buildings in the town cannot be restored, as well as 243 private homes are “pretty much 100 percent destroyed.” He added: “There is not one apartment where the Russian enemy did not leave their trace…Unfortunately my town and its residents have been tortured a lot by the Russian aggressors.”
After meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, the editor-in-chief of The Economist, Zanny Minton Beddoes, says it ranked as the most extraordinary interview she has ever had. She described Zelensky as confident and as an “avatar” for the nation. Watch the interview here
Somebody has brought a washing machine in front of Russian embassy in Helsinki. The note said: "here's a used washing machine for you, so you don't need to go get one from Ukraine. Best regards: pensioner.” The Helsinki City maintenance office said, that "they won't remove it, because it doesn't bother anyone or pose any danger". In recent days there had been widespread reports of retreating Russian forces looting homes and shops, taking items ranging from appliances to dog houses - even manicure supplies.