Russia-Ukraine war. Timeline of events, April 11-12

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky posted on his Telegram channel a picture of the detained Viktor Medvedchuk, head of the political council of the Opposition Platform – For Life party. Medvedchuk is called “Putin’s godfather” by the media. He is a suspect in a treason case. The case was opened because of the supply of coal from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in 2014-2015, when there was a war in Donbass. Medvedchuk was placed under house arrest, but left the place where he was supposed to be after the start of the Russian invasion. At the same time, representatives of Medvedchuk then stated that he was still in Kyiv.

News from Ukraine:

🔘 In Mariupol, a unit of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade was able to get out of the encirclement and connect with the Azov regiment. This is reported by the site “Crime.net” with reference to an officer of the 36th separate brigade, who wished to remain anonymous. A day earlier, an appeal was published on the brigade’s Facebook page, in which the unit complained about the lack of support from the authorities and about the plight of the city’s defenders.

🔘 The city of Izyum, Kharkiv region, is on the verge of survival. This was reported by the Ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova. According to city officials, there are now about 15,000 civilians in Izyum. Due to active hostilities and the occupation of the city by Russian troops, there is no electricity, no water, no heat, no communications. Medical institutions do not work, there are no medicines, Denisova says.

🔘 David Arakhamia, head of the Ukrainian delegation at the talks with Russia, said that the Ukrainian side “did not change its position”, as the Russian authorities say.

“The only difference is that we do not take into account all the additional issues that were not included in the Istanbul Communiqué. Perhaps this caused a misinterpretation of the current state of the negotiation process.”

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Ukrainian side in the negotiations often “rejects what it has just proposed.”

Photo: civilians look at the destroyed tank – UNIAN

In the world:

🔘 The application store of the Chinese company Huawei stopped supporting World maps

🔘 The Vatican proposed that at one of the stages of the ceremony of the Way of the Cross in Rome, which is held on Good Friday, a Russian woman and a Ukrainian woman would carry the cross together. Ukrainian Ambassador to the Vatican Andriy Yurash did not support this idea.

🔘 The United States is working on the transfer of artillery to Kiev. A Biden aide held a two-hour conversation with Ukrainian officials about military aid, White House press secretary Jane Psaki said.

In Russia:

🔘 Argentina and Chile have suspended the supply of lithium ore to Russia, a raw material for the production of batteries, which is not mined in Russia. This, writes RBC, was announced at a round table in the Federation Council by the deputy director of the department of metallurgy and materials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Vladislav Demidov. Now, according to him, Russia can receive lithium ore only in Bolivia.

🔘 Moscow City Duma deputy from the Communist Party Viktor Maksimov demanded to check the deputy from Yabloko Sergei Mitrokhin for possible discredit of the Russian Armed Forces. The reason for Maksimov’s appeal to the Moscow prosecutor was Mitrokhin’s speech in the Moscow City Duma, in which he spoke about the bombing of Ukrainian cities and civilian casualties.

Video: rocket hit a residential building in Kharkiv – UNIAN

🔘 Zelensky refused to receive German President Steinmeier in Kyiv “because of his close ties with Russia,” Bild writes, citing Ukrainian government circles.

🔘 Putin at a meeting with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko: “The operation in Ukraine will continue until it is fully completed and the goals set at the very beginning are achieved. Completion dates depend on the intensity of hostilities, but we will act according to the plan that was originally proposed by the General Staff.”

🔘 Alexander Lukashenko spoke about what happened in Bucha. The President of Belarus believes that the British are to blame for everything.

Video: Putin explains why Russia attacked Ukraine

News from Ukraine:

🔘 Ukrainian Ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova said that in Melitopol, occupied by Russian troops, entrepreneurs are massively detained and released only after they pay money or give goods and products, Hromadske writes.

🔘 Advisor to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak said that the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations “are extremely difficult”

🔘 In Severodonetsk, said the head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration, burials were organized “in a relatively safe place.” Graves are dug there with a tractor, separate for each deceased. “During the 48 days of the war, there were about 400 graves. Most of them have been identified,” Sergei Gaidai wrote. In Lisichansk, the dead and those who died from other causes are buried in mass graves, he added.

🔘 The mayor of Bucha Anatoly Fedoruk said that as of April 12, the bodies of 403 dead civilians were found in the city. According to Fedoruk, quoted by Hromadske, today in Bucha they began to open the second mass grave, where the bodies of 56 people are, and to exhume the remains from four burials on private territory.

🔘 A resident of Sevastopol was fined 30 thousand rubles for cutting off a banner in support of the Russian army.

🔘 UN: More than 1,800 civilians have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, 1,842 civilians have died and nearly 2,500 people have been injured, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

🔘 Yesterday, on the Facebook page of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade of the Naval Forces of Ukraine, which is now holding the defense in Mariupol, there was a message about the lack of ammunition. Two days ago, a video appeared on the Azov Regiment’s Twitter account with the regiment’s deputy commander Svyatoslav Palamar, who stated that the unit had no contact with the political leadership of Ukraine for more than two weeks.

Photo: destroyed building in Chernihiv – UNIAN

In the world:

🔘 Marine Le Pen, leading the fight for the presidency of France, said that in general she supports sanctions against Russia, but not when it comes to oil and gas supplies, BBC Russian Service reports.

🔘 The Norwegian Parliament began to consider the issue of supplying weapons to Ukraine. It is proposed to send anti-aircraft missile systems and anti-ship missiles

🔘 The World Bank will provide Ukraine with a new $1.5 billion financial assistance package. The funds will be used to provide critical services

In Russia:

🔘 Eight Russian companies and banks have already officially announced that they could not pay Eurobonds in foreign currency due to sanctions – foreign banks are freezing money, writes RIA Novosti. These are Nordgold, Severstal, Russian Railways, Alrosa, RusHydro, SUEK, ChTPZ, and Sovcombank. “Uralkali” the French bank has blocked the payment of loans, the agency reports.

🔘 Already in six regions bordering Ukraine, a “yellow” level of the terrorist threat has been introduced. In the Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod regions, the regime of a terrorist threat has been introduced throughout the territory, in other regions – on the territory of individual districts.

🔘 The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case against the commander of the “Georgian Legion” Mamuka Mamulashvili and “other persons”. They are accused of “recruiting mercenaries and participating in an armed conflict” and “inciting hatred towards Russian servicemen.” The Georgian Legion is a volunteer formation of Georgian citizens who are participating in the war in Ukraine on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

🔘 Mayor of besieged Mariupol, Vadim Boychenko, told the Associated Press news agency that at least 10,000 civilians died in the city since the beginning of the war. “Streets are filled with corpses”, the mayor said in an interview. He himself is not in the city, his location is not disclosed, except that it is on the territory of Ukraine.

🔘 Almost two-thirds of Ukrainian children have fled their homes in the six weeks since the start of the Russian invasion, UNICEF chief Manuel Fontaine said at a meeting of the UN Security Council. Fontaine, who recently returned from Ukraine, said that out of 7.5 million Ukrainian children, 4.8 million have become refugees. According to him, he has not seen anything like this in his 31 years of humanitarian work.

🔘 the UK assesses reports of the use of chemical weapons in Mariupol. The Ukrainian military directorate of strategic communications reported that Russian troops used chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military and civilians in Mariupol. The management does not give any details and there is no confirmation of this information yet.

🔘 British military intelligence report on the situation in Ukraine:

• Fighting in eastern Ukraine will intensify in the next two to three weeks
• Attacks by Russian troops are still focused on Ukrainian positions near Donetsk and Luhansk, fighting continues in the area of ​​Nikolaev and Kherson and the attack on Kramatorsk resumes.
• The withdrawal of Russian troops from Belarus for redeployment to eastern Ukraine is still ongoing.

🔘 Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk said that there are more than 700 Ukrainian servicemen and more than a thousand civilians in Russian prisons and places of deprivation of liberty located in the “DPR” and “LPR”. Most of all, according to Vereshchuk, she is worried about the fate of more than 500 civilian women in Ukraine. She is sure that they are regularly humiliated in Russian prisons.

Video: yesterday’s shelling of a residential area of ​​Kharkiv by Russian troops – Trukha

In the world:

🔘 France announced the disclosure of the “secret operation” of the Russian special services and the expulsion of six Russian diplomats.

🔘 The European Police Agency (Europol) launched an operation to search for the assets of Russians and Russian companies that fell under sanctions due to the war in Ukraine. The operation was called “Oscar”.

🔘 Italy has signed an agreement to increase gas imports from Algeria by about 50%. This was done as part of reducing the country’s dependence on Russian resources.

🔘 Starting from April 19, Japan will ban the import of Russian wood, including wood chips and veneer, alcohol, as well as some equipment. In April, Japan has already banned the export of luxury goods, banknotes, gold coins, and bullion, and imposed sanctions against 397 Russian citizens, 25 companies, and two banks – Sberbank and Alfa-Bank.

In Russia:

🔘 In the border area of ​​the Belgorod region, the railway tracks were damaged. This was stated by the governor of the region Vyacheslav Gladkov. According to him, the incident occurred in the Shebekinsky urban district, as a result, no one was injured. Gladkov promised to tell about the reasons for what happened later. On the eve of Russia introduced a “yellow” (high) level of terrorist threat in the regions of the Belgorod region and the Krasnodar Territory, bordering Ukraine. Earlier, damage to the railway infrastructure began in Belarus. Their goal was to impede the advancement of Russian military equipment on Belarusian territory after the start of the war in Ukraine.

Photo: a woman injured in shelling in an evacuation train – Ukraine 24

Kronen Zeitung’s response to talks between Russian President Putin and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer which took place in Moscow on April 11:

“The most important message to the Russian president was that this war must stop because there will only be losers on both sides”. Chancellor Nehammer also spoke about the alleged war crimes of the Russian army and the need for an international investigation of these crimes. The chancellor made it clear that sanctions against Russia would continue, in any case, they would continue to tighten as long as people were dying in Ukraine. Nehammer called the meeting “very tough”, “very open”, “very direct” and “not a friendly visit”.

This is the first visit to Russia and meeting with Putin by a European leader since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The reception took place in a country residence near Moscow and lasted 90 minutes. The conversation itself lasted about 75 minutes.

Context and criticism of the lack of preparation prior to the visit

Austria has declared neutrality and still has closer ties with Moscow than most of the European Union. The country receives 80% of its natural gas from Russia. However, now everything has changed. Chancellor Nehammer publicly and emotionally expressed solidarity with Ukraine and condemned Russia’s apparent war crimes. Austria also joined other EU countries in expelling several Russian diplomats. Although local media report that only a small part of the numerous Russian diplomatic staff actually left Vienna.

Nehammer was heavily criticized in the media for going into negotiations without a clearly agreed agenda. “Putin will easily use this visit for his propaganda. In the past, Austria too often played the role of Moscow’s useful idiot,” Reuters quoted local media.

Report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

• In the Izyum area, Russian troops are trying to hold the previously captured lines.
  A partial blockade and shelling of Kharkiv from multiple rocket launchers, artillery, and mortars continue.
  Russian troops unsuccessfully tried to storm Severodonetsk.
  In Mariupol, the Russian Armed Forces conduct assault operations in certain areas of the city.
  In Kherson and the region, the Russian side distributes newsletters with distorted information about the hostilities.

 

During the day, Russian troops launched 66 strikes on the Kharkiv region from artillery, mortars and multiple rocket launchers, said the head of the military administration of the region, Oleg Sinegubov. As a result, 11 people died, including a seven-year-old child. Another 14 people were injured.

About four million chickens were killed at the Chernobaevskaya poultry farm of the Ukrlandfarming agricultural holding in the Kherson region, said Lyudmila Denisova, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. As a result of shelling by Russia, the power supply was interrupted at one of the largest and most modern enterprises in Europe for the production of chicken eggs, the farm was left without the opportunity to feed the birds and export finished products.

 Head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, claims that the military of the self-proclaimed republic has taken full control of the port of Mariupol

According to the Ukrainian military, on the evening of April 11, the Russian military dropped a “poisonous substance of unknown origin” over Mariupol from a drone. Azov claims that the victims “have experienced respiratory failure and the vestibule-atactic syndrome”. Ukraine 24 channel aired a story about a chemical attack in Mariupol, but it does not provide real evidence of the use of poisonous substances. There was no independent confirmation of the attack.

Video: Ukrainian soldier fires from MANPADS at an air target – UNIAN

In the world:

French Foreign Ministry declares six Russian diplomats persona non grata

The largest German defense concern Rheinmetall is ready to supply Ukraine with up to 50 Leopard 1 tanks and up to 60 Marder-type infantry fighting vehicles, the Handelsblatt newspaper writes.

In Russia:

The Kremlin commented on Vladimir Putin’s talks with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer. “The conversation was short by the standards of recent times”, said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation. Nehammer himself stated that the meeting was “open and tough”, “not a friendly visit” and left little room for optimism.

Russia defaulted on its foreign debt as it offered bondholders payments in rubles rather than dollars, S&P reported.

Photo: Prime Ministers of Lithuania and Ukraine inspect the destruction in Borodyanka – UNIAN

🔘 Representative of the People’s Militia of the self-proclaimed DPR, Eduard Basurin, admitted the possibility of using chemical weapons in Mariupol:

“There [at the Azovstal plant, which is held by the Ukrainian military] underground floors, so it makes no sense to take this object by storm. Because you can put a large number of your soldiers, and the enemy will not suffer losses as such. Therefore, at the moment it is necessary to deal with the blocking of this plant, find all the exits and entrances – in principle, this can be done. And after that, turn, I think, to the chemical troops, who will find a way to smoke the moles out of their holes.

🔘 The Ukrainian military in Mariupol complain that there has been no support and communication with the Ukrainian authorities for two weeks. Amid these statements, Zelensky’s office warned that Russia may be preparing fakes about Ukrainian troops.

🔘 French gendarmes arrived in Ukraine to investigate war crimes. French Ambassador to Ukraine Etienne de Ponsin

🔘 Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, 183 children have died, more than 342 have been injured, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine said.

🔘 As a result of the shelling, 87 schools were completely destroyed, 938 educational institutions were damaged.

🔘 In Kherson, the “Glory to Ukraine” memorial was destroyed. The monument was erected in 2016. It comsisted of portraits of people from the “heavenly hundred”, located under the flag of the European Union. The memorial was destroyed by people in civilian clothes, “similar to the security forces,” writes the local Most publication. Kherson is the only regional center of Ukraine, which is under the complete control of Russian troops.

Photo: situation in Ukraine as of April 11, according to British intelligence

In the world:

🔘 Croatia is expelling 18 Russian diplomats and six employees of the administrative and technical staff of the Russian embassy in Zagreb.

🔘 All the largest airlines of the Russian Federation – Aeroflot, S7, Pobeda, UTair, Nordwind Airlines, Ural Airlines – were blacklisted by the EU. This decision was explained by the fact that the Federal Air Transport Agency allowed them to operate foreign aircraft without a valid airworthiness certificate, which was “a deliberate violation of international safety standards”.

🔘 Some countries in the European Union oppose an embargo on oil supplies from Russia, a senior EU official told the Financial Times. Which countries are opposed, the newspaper’s interlocutor did not say. For countries that are more dependent on Russian oil than others, abandoning it will be difficult “technically and politically”, the official said.

🔘 The poverty and social consequences of the war will be enormous. Depending on the length of the war, the proportion of the population living below the actual subsistence level could reach 70% in 2022, according to a World Bank forecast.

🔘 Hungary is ready to pay for Russian gas in rubles. This was stated by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, noting that this would not be a violation of EU sanctions.

In Russia:

🔘 The level of terrorist threat in two border areas of the Voronezh region has been raised to a high level. This was announced by the governor of the region Alexander Gusev. The reason is “possible provocations of Ukrainian nationalists”. Citizens are not restricted in any way, but are asked to be vigilant. The regime was introduced for 15 days.

🔘 Russian Railways has defaulted on one Eurobond issue, Bloomberg reports.

🔘 Sergey Lavrov gave an interview to Rossiya 24. Here are the main take-outs:

• I see no reason why we cannot continue negotiations with Ukraine. Although they dodge every time, rejecting what they themselves offered. But we are patient and persistent people.
• What Borrell said significantly changes the rules of the game. If the head of diplomacy says that the conflict can be resolved exclusively by military means, it means that either he has accumulated something personal, or he made a slip of the tongue, or blurted out something.
• We recommend that our diplomats abroad do not go out into the city alone because of the wave of Russophobia. The EU is concerned that Russophobia in Europe spoils the image of the European Union. But I would say that it does not spoil, but additionally makes it what it is.
• I hope that the facts about who commits war crimes will still find their way.

Video: Ukrainian military fire at a Russian tank from the Stugna ATGM — UNIAN

🔘 Daily briefing of British intelligence services:

• Against the backdrop of intensified fighting for Mariupol, the likelihood of Russian troops using phosphorus munitions is increasing.
• Russian artillery shelling continues in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukrainian forces repelled several attacks that destroyed Russian tanks, vehicles and artillery equipment.
• Russia’s continued use of unguided bombs greatly increases the risk of further civilian casualties.

🔘 The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not exclude that Russia may carry out a provocation in Transnistria in order to accuse Ukraine of aggression against Moldova.

🔘 Russia is transferring forces to the Kharkov region. The General Staff of the Ukrainian army in the next report reports that Russian troops are creating an offensive grouping in the east of the country: “Probably, they will try to resume the offensive in the coming days.”

🔘 Another mass grave was found in the village of Buzovaya near Kiev. And local residents also talk about dozens of people killed on the road:

“More than 50 people died along the entire road from Berezovka to Dmitrovka. Shot at point blank range. There is a car where the child was burned, only bones remained, the woman’s head was blown off…”

🔘 As a result of the Russian missile attack on the railway station in Kramatorsk on April 8, 57 people were killed, 109 people were injured.

🔘 Since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, more than 4.5 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine. This is stated in a statement by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

🔘 More than 11,000 ammunition defused in Kiev region – head of the Kiev regional administration.

Video: yesterday’s explosion of a nitric acid tank in the city of Rubizhne — Nexta live

In the world:

🔘 Lithuania will train the Ukrainian military to use Western equipment.

🔘 Finland and Sweden may join NATO this summer. This is reported by The Times, citing unnamed US officials. According to them, NATO membership for these two countries became “a topic of conversation and numerous sessions” at the meetings of the heads of the foreign ministries of the alliance, in which Sweden and Finland took part.

🔘 Chinese transport aircraft delivered modern HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems to Serbia – Associated Press.

🔘 42 countries have already applied to the Hague court because of Russia’s war crimes – Minister of Justice of Ukraine Denis Malyuska

🔘 The White House expects that by the end of the year Russia will no longer be among the largest economies in the world, and sanctions will inflict a “double-digit blow” on Russian GDP

 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Follow the timeline of April 9-10 events here