These are the key events of day 1 135 of the Russian war against Ukraine.
These are the key events of Thursday, April 3:
Struggle
- A Russian ballistic missile strike killed at least four people and injured 17 in the city of Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The attack also sparked a fire in the city, said Oleksandr Vilkul, the chief of the military administration of Kryvyi Rih.
- Russian drone attacks overnight targeted the Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhia and Kharkiv, killing a person and injuring several others, officials said.
- Two people were killed and at least 32, including two, were injured by an attack on Russian drones which struck several buildings of several floors in Kharkiv, said the governor of the region. One person was also injured in a separate drone attack on Ruski Tyshky, a village outside Kharkiv.
- kyiv’s Air Force said Russia had launched 39 drones to Ukraine overnight, 28 of whom were slaughtered. According to the Air Force, seven others have not achieved their objectives due to electronic war measures.
- The Russian air defense units postponed a drone approaching Moscow, said the city mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
- Russian spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, accused Ukraine of launching more than 30 “provocative” attacks against Russian energy facilities, despite a mutually agreed moratorium on strikes against energy installations negotiated by the United States.
- According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Ukrainian forces have attacked Russian energy facilities four times in the past 24 hours. The army of Ukraine denied the accusations, claiming that its troops adhere to the ceasefire, but that Russia had violated the moratorium “several times”.
- The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces took control of two colonies, Vesele and Lobkove, in eastern Ukraine.
- The Reuters news agency reports, citing war bloggers, that Russian troops have intensified their attacks in the western region of Russia to rout the Ukrainian forces, including hundreds of Ukrainian troops that stand in a monastery – which it described as the last important of the Ukrainian handle on Russian territory.
- The American army general Christopher Cavoli said that the army of Ukraine had resolved part of his labor shortages to fight against Russia, but warned that a cut in American weapons to Ukraine would be seriously harmful for Kiev’s war efforts. Cavoli also said that Russia had lost more than 4,000 tanks during its war against Ukraine, describing the extent of war as “impressive”.
Economy
- The 10% reciprocal prices imposed on Ukraine by the United States are “difficult, but not critical,” said kyiv’s economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko. She also said that Ukraine had an export volume of $ 874 million in the United States last year, while kyiv bought goods worth $ 3.4 billion in the United States during this period.
- Russia remains patient and is not surprised by the threats of US President Donald Trump to impose new Russian petroleum prices, said Sergei Ryabkov, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs in Moscow in charge of links with the United States.
Ceasefire
- Ryabov warned that there could not be a peace agreement in the war against Ukraine unless the United States recognizes the “belligerent” position of the European Union and Ukraine.
- President Zelenskyy, during a meeting with community leaders in the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine, said that maintaining the country’s army size would be an absolute priority in peace negotiations.
- Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine would not accept recognition of Ukrainian territories under Russian control as parts of Russia. He suggested finding a compromise to bring these territories back to Ukraine over time by diplomatic means.
- Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha informed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio from the energy-fire ceasefire by the United States.
Politics and diplomacy
- The investment of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kirill Dmitriev, accused unidentified forces of having tried to sow tensions between Russia and the United States by “distorting Russia’s position” and said that the meeting with the United States has demonstrated a “positive dynamic” between Washington and Russia.
- Finland president Alexander Stubb said that France, or the United Kingdom, as part of the “coalition of willingly”, should take charge of engaging with Russia as part of Europe’s efforts to support kyiv.
- The United States has retired from the team of European and American investigators gathered within the framework of the EU judicial organization to collect evidence of potential Russian war crimes in Ukraine. This decision was inspired by a “change of priorities” within the United States Ministry of Justice, said Eurojust.
