Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 04-01-2024

A human rights group that imprisoned Nobel Prize winner Oleg Orlov founded said that Orlov has become unwell and is losing his hearing due to inhumane treatment.

Russia's Nobel-Prize-winning Memorial human rights group on Monday expressed concern over the condition of its jailed co-founder, Oleg Orlov, imprisoned for criticizing Moscow's offensive on Ukraine.

A Russian court in February sentenced veteran human rights advocate Orlov, 70, to two and a half years in prison for “discrediting” Russia's army after he spoke out against the military campaign and the Kremlin. 

The Russian army stopped getting quick successes with big armored assaults back in Feb. 2023, but the Kremlin still tries them from time to time. Ukrainian defensive drills are fairly well-practiced.

One of Russia’s most massive armored attacks in months was crushed in the Avdiivka sector over the weekend, with a crack Ukrainian paratrooper unit claiming the destruction of more than 20 of the Kremlin’s tanks and armored fighting vehicles in a single day of fighting.

The March 30 assault by elements of Russia’s 90th Tank Division hit fortifications manned by Ukraine’s 25th Airborne Brigade, a volunteer formation fighting in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas sector for more than two years. The 25th is the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s (AFU) sole regular army paratrooper unit.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

Speaking to tens of thousands of followers in St. Peter’s Square, and millions more across the globe, Pope Francis gave a solemn accounting of a world in crisis Sunday, using the pulpit of his Easter address to renew calls for a cease-fire in Gaza while drawing attention to other conflicts, from Ukraine to Haiti, heightened risks of famine, the threat of climate change and the plight of migrants. In Ukraine, the pope has drawn sharp criticism for his suggestion that Russia was provoked into action by NATO. This month, in an interview with Swiss public broadcaster RSI, he picked up on a word used by his interviewer to suggest there was strength in raising a “white flag” by those who are “defeated.” On Sunday, the pope called for a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine and for an end to hostilities. He spun a picture of a world in crisis, expressing grief for the violence in Haiti, the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar and strife in Africa. He warned of returning ethnic tensions in the Western Balkans. “May ethnic, cultural and confessional differences not be a cause of division, but rather a source of enrichment for all of Europe and for the world as a whole,” he said - Washington Post

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to enroll 150,000 conscripts into the military, a document posted on the Kremlin's website showed on Sunday. All men in Russia are required to serve one year of compulsory military service. According to Statista, Russia has approximately 1.32 million active military personnel and two million reserve military personnel. The Defense Ministry had previously assured conscripts they would not be sent to the front in Ukraine as they cannot legally be deployed to fight outside Russia. However, on Sunday, the ministry also published a document releasing soldiers who had completed their basic training from service. These trained soldiers have the option to volunteer for service in Ukraine, but many feel pressured to sign up. Last year, Russia raised the maximum conscription age by three years, widening the pool of men who can be called up to serve. Now, all men up to 30 can be called up - DW

Ukraine’s F-16s, let’s make some predictions!

The piece is reprinted from Stefan Korshak's blog. You can read the original here. 

Before I get going I want to put out a link and a “thank you” to three armored vehicle veterans who were generous with their time and helped me write what I think is a reasonably solid news story. The rest of the world sure did click on it a lot, I am told, so clearly there are readers out there who want to think about the subject of “Whither the tank and is it time to declare it obsolete again?”

The Czechs have never forgotten that allies handed over their Sudetenland Province to Hitler in 1938 after the German dictator promised it would be “last territorial demand I have to make in Europe.”

The Czechs have never forgotten that allies handed over their Sudetenland Province to Hitler in 1938 after the German dictator promised it would be “the last territorial demand I have to make in Europe.”

Months later, Nazis occupied their country and waged war in Europe and around the world for seven more years, killing tens of millions.

Senior Spanish police officers have reportedly found similarities with other Kremlin-linked attacks, including the 2019 Berlin killing of a Chechen rebel and the 2018 Salisbury poisonings.

Two suspects in the murder of Russian military pilot Maxim Kuzminov – shot dead in Spain on Feb. 13 – left 9mm Makarov pistol casings at the crime scene, The New York Times (NYT) reported. Spanish investigators leading the case provided the information on condition of anonymity.

The deceased, 28-year-old Maxim Kuzminov, was the commander of a Russian Mi-8 helicopter. He flew into Ukraine last August, claiming opposition to Russian aggression, in a successful operation led by Ukraine’s military intelligence service (HUR).

The March 25 strike by supposedly hypersonic missiles on the capital failed, but Russian propaganda wants the world to believe it was a total success that fulfilled its objectives.

When two 3M22 Tsirkon hypersonic missiles were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses over Kyiv on the morning of Monday, March 25 Ukraine breathed a sigh of relief – it was the second time that the weapons had been shown to not be invincible after all.

However, the Russian propaganda machine almost immediately sprang into action to declare that the operation had been a total success and had achieved “all of its objectives,” although it wasn’t exactly clear from these claims what the aims of the strike had actually been.

The ongoing onslaught on Ukrainian energy facilities by Russian troops has plunged Kharkiv into darkness and disrupted essential services.

The relentless shelling by Russian forces in Kharkiv has left almost all public and private energy infrastructure in ruins, according to Ihor Terekhov, the city's mayor, in an interview with Liga.net.

"Almost all critical energy infrastructure has already been destroyed, and private infrastructure has also been destroyed...The situation for the energy industry is very difficult," Terekhov said.

All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from the age of 18.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine spring conscription campaign, calling up 150,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the Kremlin’s website showed on Sunday (31 March).

All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service, or equivalent training during higher education, from the age of 18.

Why Canadian leader Brian Mulroney will always be remembered for his friendship with Ukraine.

I thought my attached recent article in the Globe and Mail, a tribute to former Prime Minister of Canada, the Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney, who passed away in late February, might also be of interest to readers of Kyiv Post and young Ukrainians generally, who don’t know the history of Ukraine’s achieving independence.

Brian Mulroney was a dear friend of mine and became a friend of Ukraine as a result of a 1989 Canadian trade mission which I led, and his visit to Kyiv on Nov. 23, 1989, to announce his decision to open a Canadian consulate in Kyiv.

Recently, Pyongyang has moved to take advantage of gridlock at the United Nations, ramping up missile tests and weapons development and declaring itself an "irreversible" nuclear power in 2022.

For years, North Korea has been under a sprawling, complex network of UN sanctions over its banned nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programmes, with violations carefully tracked and monitored by experts.

But with one veto, Russia has put a stop to much of this work -- not lifting the sanctions but ending the UN's monitoring, a major win for North Korea's Kim Jong Un, according to experts.

In the aftermath of the attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow, for which Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility, fears of attacks by Islamist terrorists are growing in other countries.

In the aftermath of the attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow, for which Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility, fears of attacks by Islamist terrorists are growing in other countries. France has declared the highest terror alert level, while German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser described the threat posed by IS in Germany as "acute". Commentators discuss appropriate European responses.

Joint response needed

Military analysts noted that Russian troops have employed the R-330Zh Zhitel station since 2014 in Donbas, with earlier versions used during the first Chechen campaign.

The Special Operations Forces (SSO) announced the successful destruction of the Zhitel Russian electronic warfare complex, sharing footage of the explosive moment via Telegram.

The World Russian People’s Council, established under the Russian Orthodox Church, issued a decree describing the war in Ukraine as a “holy war” and outlined ambitions for territorial expansion.

Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, has called upon the President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to reconsider the special consultative status granted to the World Russian People's Council.

The council, established in 1993 under the Russian Orthodox Church, recently issued a decree titled “The Present and Future of the Russian World,” which describes the ongoing war in Ukraine as a “holy war” and outlines ambitions for Russian territorial expansion.

While China says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine war, it has been criticised for refusing to condemn Moscow for its offensive.

France's top diplomat said Monday that Paris expects China to send "clear messages" to its close partner Russia over its war in Ukraine, after meetings with his counterpart in Beijing.

France and China have sought to strengthen ties in recent years and, during meetings in Paris in February, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told President Emmanuel Macron that Beijing appreciated his country's "independent" stance.

Partial results from across the nation of 85 million people showed major advances for the Republican People's Party (CHP) at the expense of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conceded defeat on Sunday in the country's local elections, saying the vote was a “turning point” for his party after two decades in power.

Partial results from across the nation of 85 million people showed major advances for the Republican People's Party (CHP) at the expense of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Undaunted by US hesitancy, the “Macron Doctrine” in action would see France and its allies equip Ukraine with an air armada capable of striking the Kremlin at its most vulnerable spot.

For the eight decades following the end of World War II, French diplomacy has sought to strike an enduring balance between solidarity with a NATO alliance that guaranteed security of the country, and a certain distancing from the US that demonstrated to the world at large, and to itself, la Grandeur de la France.

The nation's friends and allies have traditionally regarded this altogether French style of foreign policy with understanding coupled with a certain amount of irony.

Russia has alleged Kyiv was linked to the concert hall attack, despite an affiliate of Islamic State having claimed responsibility.

Russia asked Ukraine on Sunday to extradite a number of people, including its security chief, over claims they were behind "terrorist" acts on Russian territory, but Kyiv called the demand "worthless".

In a statement, Russia's foreign ministry repeated a claim that the March 22 attack on a concert hall outside Moscow was linked to Ukraine and accused it of being behind a number of attacks and assassinations on its territory.

Following the Ukrainian foreign minister’s visit to New Delhi, could India be strategically well-placed to help end the war in Ukraine?

On March 28-29, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba visited India. This was the first visit of a Ukrainian foreign minister in seven years. In New Delhi, Kuleba met with his Indian counterpart Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Following negotiations, Kuleba described three key tasks for Ukrainian diplomacy towards India: i) the return of economic and political cooperation to what it was pre-invasion; ii) to work with the India-Ukraine Inter-Governmental Commission on new projects and programs that should ameliorate Ukraine-India relations; and iii) Peace Formula implementation.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• The Kremlin-controlled Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (ROC MP) reportedly directed all its clergy to change their liturgy to include pro-war prayers in support of Russia’s war of conquest against Ukraine and is likely threatening to defrock ROC MP clergy who do not support the war.
• The ROC MP leadership has intensified internal scrutiny against ROC MP clergy and has reportedly defrocked several clergy members who refused to promote Kremlin-introduced prayers supporting Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• Russia conducted another series of missile and drone strikes largely targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure on the night of March 30 to 31 as delays in US security assistance continue to degrade Ukraine’s air defense umbrella and enable Russia to significantly damage Ukraine’s energy grid.
• Ukrainian forces appear to have repelled a Russian battalion-sized mechanized assault near Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, on March 30 — the first battalion-sized mechanized assault since Russian forces began the campaign to seize Avdiivka in late October 2023.
• French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced on March 31 that France will provide an unspecified number of Aster 30 surface-to-air missiles and “hundreds” of armored vehicles and other equipment to Ukraine.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on March 31 the scheduled decree authorizing Russia’s semi-annual spring military conscription, which will conscript 150,000 Russians between April 1 and July 15.
• The Russian military command reportedly appointed Chief of Staff of the Russian Ground Forces Colonel General Alexander Lapin as commander of the newly formed Leningrad Military District (LMD).
• The Kremlin continues efforts to enforce Russian federal laws in post-Soviet countries where Russia has no legal jurisdiction.
• Russian authorities conducted a counterterrorism operation and detained suspected terrorists in the Republic of Dagestan on March 31.
• Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Avdiivka and southwest of Donetsk City on March 31.
• The Russian government continues to fail to properly compensate volunteer and irregular forces fighting in Ukraine, despite recently passing new legislation that simplifies the access to veteran statuses for these servicemen and their families.