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UKRAINE WAR BULLETIN - April 1, 2022 - 6:30 p.m. EDT
Embassy of Ukraine in the USA
Deputy Head of President’s Office: The exchange of prisoners of war took place in Zaporizhzhia region. 86 Ukrainian servicemen, including 15 women, returned to Ukraine.
The so-called “referendum” is planned for April 4 in the city of Tokmak, Zaporizhzhia region, by the Russian occupiers.
In the capital of Ukraine and Kyiv region, specialists of the National Police of Ukraine seized and destroyed about 10,000 unexploded munitions.
WAR ROOM
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
According to the available information, "wounded" servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation suffering from the aftermath of their stay in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are currently located in the Gomel Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology (Republic of Belarus).
In the territories of the Zaporizhzhia region temporarily occupied by the Russians, in the city of Enerhodar, on the territory of the military unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, the Russian occupiers continue to detain local residents. They are “suspected” of organizing pro-Ukrainian actions and preparing sabotage against the Russian invaders. Employees of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation are interrogating them using psychological and physical pressure.
A so-called referendum is planned for April 4 in the city of Tokmak by the Russian occupiers. The occupation administration has already notified the local population about this event.
The city of Melitopol is temporarily controlled by the military. Russia continues to place artillery systems among the residential quarters, from which it fires in the Zaporizhzhia direction.
The Russian forces do not give up the idea of introducing the educational process in educational institutions according to their own standards in April 2022.
When leaving the city of Bucha, the Russian occupation forces mined civilian buildings, infrastructure and areas within the settlement.
Russian enemy units, in order to create offensive groups, continue to regroup their troops. Separate units of the 5th, 29th, and 35th All-Military Armies of the Eastern Military District and the 155th Separate Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet are being withdrawn from the Chornobyl district to the settlements located on the territory of the republic of Belarus.
According to the available information, a railway echelon with the equipment of separate units of the 4th Tank Division of the 1st Tank Army of the Western Military District arrived at the Dolbino railway station (Belgorod region).
In the Polissya direction, the enemy is operating with separate units of the 38th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 35th All-Military Army, the 37th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, and the 5th Separate Tank Brigade of the 36th All-Military Army. It did not carry out offensive actions, its main efforts were focused on defending certain borders in order to cover the withdrawal of troops to the territory of Belarus. It mines areas and equipment that cannot be evacuated, destroys infrastructure to delay the advance of our troops.
In the Chernihiv direction, the enemy continues to blockade Chernihiv and inflict artillery strikes on residential areas of the city and positions of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In order to increase the grouping of troops, units of the 106th Airborne Division were moved from the settlement of Valuyky (Belgorod region) to the Pisky district (Kharkiv region), presumably to conduct hostilities in the Donetsk direction.
In Kharkiv direction, the enemy continues to block Kharkiv, regrouping troops and shelling residential neighborhoods. It conducts air reconnaissance of the positions of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the use of UAVs.
In Izium direction, the occupiers continue to control part of the city of Izium and maintain pontoon crossings across the Siversky Donets River, regrouping troops in order to create an offensive group.
In Donetsk direction, the enemy continues to carry out fire and assault operations in most areas. It inflicts airstrikes on units of our troops in the areas of the settlements of Rubizhne, Bila Hora, Marinka, Severodonetsk. The main efforts are focused on taking control of the settlements of Popasna, Rubizhne.
Russians carry out fire damage and assault operations in order to establish control over the city of Mariupol. It launched offensive operations in the direction of Velyka Novosilka and Rozdolne. He was stopped in both directions.
Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine
Russian banks continue to finance Russian aggression against Ukraine.
In particular, it has been established that UAVs, components for military equipment and electronic reconnaissance equipment for units of the 47th Tank Division are being procured through Russia's Promsvyazbank and Gazprombank.
Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine obtained a list of servicemen of the 34th command brigade (military unit 29202) of Vladikavkaz who commit war crimes against the people of Ukraine.
Link to the list: https://gur.gov.ua/content/voennosluzhashchye-34-bryhady-upravlenyia.html
Russians use Ukrainian children as a human shield when moving convoys of military equipment.
According to residents in Novyi Bykiv village (Chernihiv oblast), Russian soldiers took local children hostage and put them in trucks. These actions aim to ensure protection of a column of Russian military equipment on the march.
In addition, the occupiers are using children as hostages to guarantee that the local population will not give the coordinates of the enemy's movement to Ukrainian defenders.
Cases of using Ukrainian children as a human shield by the Russian forces are recorded in Sumy, Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The Ukrainian side and international institutions record cases of inhumane treatment of children. Information about each of the cases will be passed to international criminal courts. The occupiers will bear responsibility for every committed war crime.
Prosecutor General’s Office
Russian Armed Forces soldiers abducted and abused civilians during the occupation of Trostianets in violation of the Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians. After the town was liberated from the Russian forces on 30 March, two bound bodies were found with gunshot wounds. The victims turned out to be civilians whose disappearance had been reported by their relatives a few days earlier.
From March 29 to 31, 2022, seven civilians were killed and eight were injured, including one child after shelling of Lviv region by the Russian forces.
At another part of Ukraine, on March 30, 2022, during the evacuation of residents of Lysychansk, a bus carrying citizens came under enemy fire. No one was injured in the shelling.
Servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, in violation of the requirements of the Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons, during the occupation of Trostyanets mined objects and places of civilian infrastructure.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a rocket-propelled artillery shelling of the Tornado-C volley fire system in two settlements of the Kryvyi Rih district of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Three missiles were equipped with prohibited cluster munitions.
Russian servicemen started shelling the village of Dmytrivka, Chernihiv region. As a result, private households were damaged or completely destroyed.
Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
In the capital of Ukraine and Kyiv region, specialists of the National Police of Ukraine together with the representatives of State Emergency Service of Ukraine seized and destroyed about 10,000 unexploded munitions.
Today, officers of the Donetsk Military Administration, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and the National Police of Ukraine evacuated residents from the hottest spots in the region - Vuhledar, Avdiivka, Ocheretyn, Novogrodivka - to safe places. 248 residents of Donetsk oblast, including 40 children, were rescued from the Russian shelling.
Police officers, who delivered humanitarian assistance to Marinka, got under fire. Russian troops have interrupted a humanitarian mission, leaving Marinka without food.
A special police operation is underway in Irpin. The city was liberated from Russian troops. Employees of the National Police of Ukraine work on the spot in coordination with territorial defense units, rescuers and representatives of local authorities. It is very important to go through every house, because people can stay under the rubble, elderly people can stay in apartments. Police examine the bodies of citizens who, unfortunately, died, take them to the morgue for forensic examinations and subsequent burial. The main task is to rescue people who remained in the city.
https://www.facebook.com/mvs.gov.ua
Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security
The exchange of prisoners of war took place in Zaporizhzhia region. 86 Ukrainian servicemen, including 15 women, returned to Ukrainian side.
POLICY
President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine met with President of the European Parliament Robert Mezzola in Kyiv, on April 1.
The parties in particular discussed the coordination of the European parliaments in their coordinated support of Ukraine.
President V.Zelenskyy described the situation at the front and stressed the importance of continuing and intensifying sanctions pressure on Russia. He underlined that new sanctions packages should appear on a regular basis and be painful for Russia until it stops aggressive actions. At the same time, sanction pressure on Russia must be intensified with the defense support of Ukraine. The world must put pressure on Russia, be with Ukraine at the negotiating table and seek for peace. But this will not happen if the Russian Federation continues to feel impunity for any of its brutal actions.
“You have led a country of extremely brave men and women fighting for freedom and democracy. I came to Ukraine not only to confirm our solidarity, not only to continue working on the wording of our resolutions, in which we say that Ukraine is part of our European family, because you are fighting for us, for fundamental principles that the European continent has upheld for centuries. I would also like to make sure that you have everything you need to win this war. Because if you win, the whole world will win." - underlined R. Mezzola.
The EU President also mentioned that she would like to give Ukrainians who have fled their native land because of the war and found refuge in other European countries a new perspective when they return to beautiful Ukraine.
https://www.president.gov.ua/news/prezident-ukrayini-zustrivsya-z-prezidentom-yevroparlamentu-74025
The world must learn to live without Russian energy, through which Russia finances the terrible war in Ukraine - Oleh Ustenko and Simon Johnson.
The European Union, the United States and its allies are already working to block Russia's cash flow from energy exports as the Kremlin's main source of geopolitical influence. This is stated in a joint article by Adviser to the President of Ukraine on Economic Affairs Oleh Ustenko and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management Simon Johnson for Project Syndicate.
Prime Minister of Ukraine
Denys Shmyhal: “The European Parliament demonstrated support and continues to support our state in the struggle for freedom”.
The support of European integration aspirations of Ukraine and strengthening the sanctions policy against the Russian Federation were among the topics for discussion between the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Kornienko, the Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Olena Kondratiuk and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola.
Statement of the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal at Government meeting on April 1 (key messages):
We continue to work 24/7 for the victory of Ukraine.
From the first days of the full-scale war, both the President and the Government promised financial assistance, housing assistance, and work assistance. We keep our word. Relevant programs are working. Some of them have already been implemented.
Over the last 3 months, UAH 78 billion in social benefits have been financed. State aid to families with children, low-income families, people with disabilities.
In March, pensions of all our pensioners were indexed by 14%. This is plus UAH 400 on average before pensions.
March 31, was the last day when it was possible to apply for the eSupport program, under which 6.5 thousand hryvnias were paid to those who lost their jobs. We received almost 5 million applications. Payments amounted to UAH 22 billion, received by almost 3.5 million people. This successful program has already helped many of our citizens.
The next program that starts on April 1, is work for internally displaced persons. We are starting to accept applications from businesses that hire IDPs. 6.5 thousand hryvnias for each new employee so that people receive these funds and can get a job in those businesses that are ready to work in martial law.
The registration of internally displaced persons also continues. Currently, 260,000 people are registered with the social security authorities. Based on this registration, the state will pay 2,000 hryvnias to an adult and 3,000 hryvnias to a child or a person with a disability.
“Prykhystok” (Shelter) program works. We will reimburse those who have taken in IDPs to pay for utilities. There are currently vacancies for almost 10,000 IDPs.
Today we will decide to increase the size of the reserve fund by UAH 73.3 billion. These funds will be reallocated from other budget programs and will be used primarily to meet the key needs of our army and economy.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Minister D.Kuleba in his interview to CNN: “Nothing is agreed before everything is agreed”.
We are not getting tired of fighting for freedom, for independence and for values. So I hope that people in the West will not get tired of supporting us."
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/04/01/amanpour-kuleba-ukraine.cnn
ECONOMY
The National Bank of Ukraine
NBU Appeals to European Commission and Central Banks of Japan, UK, US, and EU to Ban Payments in Russian and Belarusian Rubles in Their Countries
NBU Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko has addressed the European Commission and central banks of Japan, the United Kingdom, the U.S., and the EU, requesting to impose a sweeping ban that will forbid financial institutions based in these countries and their counterparties to process payments in the Russian and Belarusian rubles. Transactions to open ruble-denominated accounts and exchange the ruble for other currencies must also come under the ban.
The sanctions imposed on Russia by international partners of Ukraine have undoubtedly been unprecedented. However, as Russia continues military actions, the international community must increase pressure on the aggressor. Russia keeps on looking for ways to mitigate economic effects of the sanctions, which, in particular, have put a freeze on Russian assets denominated in dollars and euros. The aggressor is making every effort to convert its trade in energy and other natural resources into rubles, trying to generate additional demand for its domestic currency and thus shore it up, the appeal says.
A ban on making settlements in rubles would derail Russia’s plan to switch to being paid in its domestic currency. This step would only preserve the status quo in trade settlements with Russia, stressed Kyrylo Shevchenko.
ENERGY
Ministry of energy of Ukraine
The World Association of Nuclear Operators is relocating all Ukrainian nuclear power plants to the Paris Center
On March 31, 2022, the Board of Governors of the World Association of Nuclear Power Plant Operators (WANO) supported the request of NNEGC Energoatom and decided to transfer the Company together with all its stations and nuclear power plants to Paris Center:
Zaporizhzhya NPP (6 WWER-1000 units),
Rivne NPP (2 WWER-440 units, 2 WWER-1000 units),
South Ukrainian NPP (3 WWER-1000 units),
Khmelnitsky NPP (2 WWER-1000 units).
Ukrainian nuclear power plants have been part of the WANO Moscow center since its establishment in 1989.
Operation of the power system of Ukraine as of April 1
Over the past 24hrs, electricity supply to more than 54,3 thousand consumers has been restored.
In particular, in Kyiv region - about 22,9 thousand, Donetsk – 18,6 thousand, Kharkiv - 11 thousand, Kherson – 1,5 thousand, Mykolaiv - 338 consumers.
As of April 1, more than 1,301 settlements in Ukraine remain without electricity, with a total of more than 925,7 thousand consumers.
Almost 340,000 consumers are left without gas supply.
