Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 04-07-2024

Zelensky said it would be “difficult” for Ukraine to “stay” without the aid.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Kyiv will lose the war against Russia if the US Congress does not approve military aid to battle Moscow's invasion.

Republicans in Congress have been blocking tens of billions of dollars in military assistance for Kyiv for months. 

A 65-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman were in their yard at the time of the attack.

The Russian army shelled the Zaporizhzhia region town of Huliaipole with Grad missiles for the second time Sunday, April 7, Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration head Ivan Fedorov wrote in a Telegram post at 4:52 p.m.

“A 65-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman were injured when they were in their yard,” Fedorov wrote.

Five high-rise buildings, about ten garages and seven civilian vehicles, were reported damaged.

Explosions rocked Kharkiv city Sunday afternoon in Russian drone and glide bomb attacks.

“Kharkiv is now fighting off the invasion of enemy drones. But one of the drones hit a private house. Fire,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov stated in a 1:17 p.m. Telegram post.

On the eve of the publication of a story about possible corruption at the SBU, the investigative journalist behind it was approached in a Kyiv shopping mall by military draft center officials.

Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Sunday that he’d instructed his staff to investigate a reported attempt to serve an illegitimate draft notice to a Ukrainian investigative journalist who might’ve gotten on the wrong side of a high-level official.

On April 4, the Slidstvo.info investigative journalist, Yevhen Shkurat published a story on Illya Vityuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine’s (SBU) cybersecurity department.

The cities of Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar could be the main targets, Ukraine's top spy said.

Russia may undertake a major new offensive focused on the Donbas region in late spring or early summer, the head of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence (HUR) Chief Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with the German TV channel ARD published Sunday.

The cities of Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar could be the main targets. 

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• The average daily number of Russian losses (killed and wounded) in Ukraine reduced by 74 per day throughout March 2024, to 913 per day.
• The decrease in losses corresponds with fewer reported attacks over the past month. The reduction in Russian offensive operations highly likely reflects a series of factors: a period of rest and refit following the capture of Avdiivka, and intent to reduce death notifications during the Russian election.
• Since the February 2022 invasion, Russian forces have sustained 658 losses a day on average. Each year has seen a rise in the daily average loss rate from 400 in 2022, to 693 in 2023, to 913 through the first quarter of 2024.The increase reflects Russia's ongoing reliance on mass to sustain pressure on Ukrainian frontlines.

The Azov Brigade said they delivered the T-72BCM tank to the rear of their own forces.

Ukraine’s Azov Brigade released footage on Saturday evening of a Russian column that they said was advancing near the Donetsk region village of Terny before they destroyed it.

The footage, posted on Telegram by the Azov Brigade, shows the Russians losing 11 pieces of equipment.

Most polled Ukrainians are clear that the war can only be won with a clear Russia defeat – yet this continues to fall on deaf ears among elite circles in the West.

As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its third year, there is no obvious end in sight. Despite the destruction and chaos inflicted by Moscow, the Ukrainians have not backed down. Instead, their morale remains high, resistance remains strong, and the Ukrainians are determined to win the war no matter the cost.

Ukraine’s strength of spirit is symbolized in its national flower. Standing tall and bright, the sunflower is known for surviving tough conditions and overcoming whatever challenges it may face to continue to shine. This is precisely what the Ukrainians have done during the war.

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

U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has warned against a "concerning scale" of Chinese support for Russia during the latter's Special Military Operation in Ukraine, during this week's NATO foreign ministers' summit in Brussels, according to the Financial Times. Concerned over the alleged matter, Blinken said that China is now assisting Russia and providing "tools, inputs, and technical expertise" to Moscow, unnamed sources told FT. The top diplomat said that Beijing is supporting its neighbor with the development of critical technologies and equipment, including propellants, optical sensors, and its space sector, which Blinken says does not only contribute to the Russian "aggression" in Ukraine but threatens other countries. “The warnings were explicit. There has been a shift and it was felt in the room... this was a new development. It was very striking," one of the sources informed on the matter told the newspaper. 

Hundreds of thousands of protesters have attended rallies in Israel as the nation marks half a year to the day since the deadly 7 October Hamas attacks. People attending the latest anti-government demonstrations are demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu step down and that a Gaza hostage deal be reached. The rallies come as the victims of the attacks, in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed and a further 250 others were taken hostage, are remembered around the world. An Israeli military campaign has followed, which has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been facing rising international and domestic anger at Israel's conduct in Gaza. US President Joe Biden has warned that Israel must take steps to prevent civilian harm and humanitarian suffering if it wants to maintain US support. Israel has insisted that its forces are working to avoid civilian casualties - BBC

Chasiv Yar lies less than 30 kilometers (18 miles) southeast of the regional town of Kramatorsk, an important rail and logistics hub for Ukraine's army.

The situation around eastern Ukraine's frontline city of Chasiv Yar is “difficult and tense,” the army said on Sunday, April 7 adding that the Russian invaders were now “in retreat.”

Russian forces have unleashed “constant fire” in the area in recent days seeking to seize the city's dominant heights.

A 54-year-old man was also reported injured in a drone attack.

Two men and a woman died under rubble after a Russian Grad multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) attack struck their home in the northeast Zaporizhzhia region town of Huliaipole, Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration head Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram Sunday morning, April 7.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Zaporizhzia region has been the site of intense fighting – and civilians are often the victims.

Some people say the situation today feels like the world did in the 1930s, but with the benefit of hindsight, we have no excuse to repeat the mistakes of our forefathers.

Much has been made of the fact that the world today has parallels with the situation in the 1930s, with our political and military situations having the ghostly outline of the set of circumstances that took us into the Second World War.

People, especially historians, often argue to what degree the past can help us understand our present world. Geoffrey Elton and Edward Carr famously crossed swords over whether historical analysis is so irredeemably laden with human values that we can never extract sensible conclusions or use it to foretell the future.

While Russia treats its numerically superior but largely demoralized soldiers as cannon fodder, the Ukrainians heroically battle on and urgently need our support.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has taken another grim turn, revealing the depths of despair and hopelessness among Russian soldiers on the front lines. I have spent, and will continue spending, many hours watching drone footage from the Ukrainian battlefields, where a disturbing development has emerged. Russian soldiers, upon hearing the approach of an FPV drone, are holding unpinned grenades to their heads. If the drone misses, they throw the bombs away; if hit, even with non-fatal injuries, they release the explosives, leading to an instant, gruesome self-inflicted death.

This alarming behavior is an unambiguous indication of an army in crisis – demoralized, leaderless, and drifting. The lack of proper medical care and evacuation protocols have left these soldiers feeling abandoned and without hope. It is a tragic and heart-wrenching sight – a spectacle that stresses the urgent need for continued support for Ukraine in their fight against Russian aggression.

Serhiy Kolyada on the Rasszcist fuhrer's obsession with destroying Ukraine.

The deadly results of Russia's air strikes during the first part of this weekend in the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions summarized.

A series of Russian attacks on Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv killed seven people and wounded a dozen more, Kyiv said on Saturday.

The northeastern city, 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border, has seen increased deadly attacks in recent months, more than two years into Moscow's invasion.

A veritable renaissance of Ukrainian theater was on display in Canada, where the works of contemporary playwrights were read and discussed against the background of classics.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022 we have been witnessing a steady, strong stream of international productions or readings of Ukrainian plays.

Sasha Denisova’s My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion, Philadelphia, January-February 2024, and Natalya Vorozhbit’s Bad Roads, Toronto, November 2023, are two examples.

The European Business Association offers Kyiv Post insights into how Ukraine can attract more business to help in both during the war and in the post-war recovery.

Ukraine’s economy has proved to be a resilient one. Notwithstanding the ongoing war, most Ukrainian companies continued working, and during the second year since the full-scale Russian invasion some have even increased their activity. Kyiv Post spoke to Katerina Morozova, Head of the European Business Association (EBA) Odesa – Southern Ukraine Office.

Assessing the resilience of Ukrainian companies amidst the ongoing war

Ukraine’s president has pointed to the worrying gaps in Ukraine’s defense capabilities and once again urged Western supporters to expedite their military assistance.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has indicated that Ukraine does not have enough materiel to contest the battlefield initiative. Zelensky stated during an interview aired on April 6 that Ukrainian forces currently do not have enough ammunition to initiate and sustain future counteroffensive operations and reiterated that Ukrainian forces are currently using drones to partially compensate for artillery ammunition shortages across the theater.

Zelensky stressed that Ukraine must conduct countermeasures to deprive Russian forces of the ability to prepare and conduct significant offensive efforts and not only rely on defensive operations. Zelensky stated that striking Russian force concentrations is one such countermeasure but that Ukrainian forces lack long-range weapons to strike Russian force concentrations and other targets necessary to undermine Russian operations.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that Ukraine does not have enough materiel to contest the battlefield initiative.

• Zelensky stressed that additional Western security assistance is necessary for Ukrainian forces to effectively defend Ukraine’s airspace against the intensified Russian strike campaign and increased Russian aviation operations along the frontline.

• Zelensky cautioned that the arrival of all promised F-16 fighter jets from Ukraine’s Western partners in 2024 will provide Ukraine with only 10 percent of the fighter aircraft Ukraine would need to completely defeat Russian aviation and restore Ukraine’s ability to operate effectively in the air domain.

• Continued delays in US security assistance are specifically impacting the capabilities that Ukrainian forces need to respond to the increased tempo of Russian mechanized assaults in eastern Ukraine.

• The Kremlin explicitly threatened its long-term ally Armenia on April 5 over Armenian outreach to the West following Russia’s failure to prevent Armenia’s loss of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023.

• The Russian MFA also continues to threaten Finland and claimed that Finland has “lost its independence in making foreign policy decisions” since its accession to NATO — a narrative that the Kremlin routinely used to falsely claim that NATO was controlling Ukraine and using Ukraine to threaten Russia.

• Chechen Republic Head Ramzan Kadyrov announced on April 5 that 3,000 former Wagner Group personnel will join the Akhmat Spetsnaz unit following successful negotiations between Akhmat and Wagner commanders.

• Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Avdiivka and Donetsk City.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin passed two laws on April 6, offering Russian society some concession for its sacrifices to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.