Monday, April 17

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Worshippers attend an Orthodox Easter service at Saint Volodymyr’s Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 16, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukraine celebrates Orthodox Easter. Ukraine’s Orthodox Christians, which make up the majority of the country’s population, are celebrating Easter on April 16, the second to occur since Russia launched its all-out war on Feb. 24, 2022.

Chinese defense minister meets Putin, discusses military cooperation. Li Shangfu, China’s newly appointed defense minister, visited Russia on his first official visit abroad on April 16 and met with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky addresses Ukrainians on Orthodox Easter: ‘Heaven sees our faith and firmness.’ President Volodymyr Zelensky made a video address to Ukrainians on Orthodox Easter, saying Russia’s all-out war “cannot erase us, our values, our traditions, and our holidays.”

Governor: Russia shells church on Orthodox Easter, injuring 2. Russian forces shelled a church in Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, injuring two civilians, as Ukraine celebrates Orthodox Easter on April 16, oblast governor Serhii Lysak said on Telegram.

130 Ukrainian POWs return home from Russian captivity on Orthodox Easter. The freed prisoners included soldiers, navy personnel, State Transport Special Service employees, border guards, and national guardsmen.

General Staff: Russia strikes Ukraine 50 times with missiles, aerial bombs over past 24 hours. Russia hit Ukraine with 25 S-300 surface-to-air missiles and conducted 28 airstrikes over the past day, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported in its 6 p.m. briefing on April 16.

Both Ukrainian and Russian-controlled churches hold Easter services in Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Moscow Patriarchate on April 16 held Easter services in the same iconic Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery complex, but in different churches and at different times.

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Energoatom: Russian forces begin deporting Ukrainian children from occupied Enerhodar. Russian troops started the forced deportation of children from schools and kindergartens in occupied Enerhodar, the town that hosts Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine’s nuclear energy company Energoatom said.

Defense Minister: Ukraine’s military casualties lower than Turkey earthquake death toll. “We have casualties, of course, because we are at war. But they are critically smaller than the Russian ones,” Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Spanish newspaper La Razon, adding Russia is using its soldiers as “cannon fodder.”

Prosecutor’s Office: 1 injured in Russian airstrike on Sumy Oblast. Russian forces dropped an aerial bomb on a psychoneurological boarding house in the Shostka community of Ukraine’s northern Sumy Oblast, injuring a 70-year-old woman, the Prosecutor General’s Office said on April 16.

Mayor: 2-3 years required for complete reconstruction of Kharkiv. Approximately two-to-three years will be required to fully repair the damage inflicted upon Kharkiv’s infrastructure during wartime, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on national television.

Official: Russian army shells Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, injures 2 civilians. Russian forces on April 16 shelled the city of Nikopol and the Chervonohryhorivska community in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, injuring 2 civilians, Yevhen Yevtushenko, head of Nikopol’s military administration, reported.

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Ukraine war latest: Ukraine celebrates Orthodox Easter under Russian bombardment

As Ukraine celebrated Orthodox Easter on April 16, Russian forces fired over 50 missiles and aerial bombs, killing and injuring civilians.

Photo: ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images

Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly – Issue 83

The Verkhovna Rada sets a salary cap for civil servants and SOE employees and Naftogaz wins a $5 billion arbitration case over Crimean assets against Russia.

Photo: Photo by STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Human cost of Russia’s war

Update: Death toll in Sloviansk missile attack hits 15 as rescue operation is completed. The total death toll of Russia’s April 14 missile attack on the city of Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast has reached 15, Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on April 16. Another 24 civilians were injured.

General Staff: Russia has lost 182,070 troops in Ukraine since Feb 24, 2022. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on April 16 that Russia has lost 182,070 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 last year. This number includes 520 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

International response

Italy overcomes dependence on Russian gas. Italy is no longer dependent on Russian gas as an energy resource, Italian Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said in an interview on April 15.

EU: Polish, Hungarian bans on Ukrainian grain, food imports ‘unacceptable.’ A unilateral ban on grain and other food products from Ukraine by European Union member states is unacceptable, a European Commission spokesperson said on April 16 after Poland and Hungary stopped imports from Ukraine to protect local farmers, Reuters reported.

Bulgaria may ban Ukrainian grain imports after Polish, Hungarian bans. Bulgaria’s acting Agriculture Minister Yavor Gechev said on April 16 that Bulgaria would consider a ban on grain imports from Ukraine following a similar decision by two other EU countries, Poland and Hungary.

Minister: Hungary agrees not to block transit of Ukrainian grain. Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi on April 16 held an online meeting with Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy to discuss Hungary’s ban on grain imports from Ukraine.

La Republica: M109 howitzers delivered by Italy already in use Ukraine. The Italian newspaper La Republica reported that Italy had delivered dozens of refurbished American-made M109 self-propelled 155 mm howitzers to Ukraine.

Check out our latest video podcast

Episode #3 is dedicated to the massive leak of U.S. military intelligence, and what it revealed about Russia’s war against Ukraine.

In other news…

Iran sentences 10 soldiers for downing Ukrainian jet in 2020. An Iranian court has sentenced 10 soldiers to prison for downing a Ukrainian airliner in 2020, Iranian news agency Mizan Online reported on April 16.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Olga Rudenko, Kate Tsurkan, Francis Farrell, Alexander Khrebet, Oleg Sukhov, Natalia Datskevych, and Teah Pelechaty

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