Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 04-11-2024

The late Russian opposition’s memoir, which he began in Germany while recovering from Novichok poisoning will be published in October his wife and allies announced today.

A memoir written by the late Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny will be published posthumously in the autumn, his wife Yuliya Navalnya and allies announced on Thursday.

The publisher Penguin Random Houses announced on X / Twitter that it will publish Alexei Navalny’s memoir, PATRIOT, on Oct. 22, 2024. It said: “Begun shortly after his poisoning, this is the full story of Navalny’s life and a rousing call to continue the work for which he sacrificed his life.”

Belgian MEP leads rebellion in European Parliament to block financing for the Council of the European Union in response to Ukrainian pleas for additional air defense assets.

The European Parliament met in Brussels on Thursday, April 11 with a vote on approving the EU Council’s budget on the agenda. However, after an intervention by former Belgian Prime Minister now a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Guy Verhofstadt it was decided to block approval of the budget.

With a vote taken and 515 MEPs for and only 62 against Verhofstadt’s motion to refuse to discharge the EU Council's budget until European leaders agree to support Ukraine with additional Patriot air defense systems was adopted.

“We must be quick, go hard, mass produce,” Macron said, adding the effort must also be “sustainable.”

France's President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called for a “sustainable” effort to scale up weapons production following the Russian invasion of Ukraine as he laid a foundation stone for a much-needed gunpowder factory.

“Long term we are looking at a geopolitical, geostrategic shift in which defense industries will play a growing role,” he said.

The top US general in Europe told Congress on Wednesday that Ukraine will run out of artillery and air defense “in fairly short order” without US support, leaving them vulnerable to defeat.

In a sign of how scarce some weapons were, General Christopher Cavoli, commander of European Command, told the House Armed Services Committee that Russia was currently firing five artillery shells for every one fired by Ukrainian forces and that disparity could increase in coming weeks to 10 to one.

“If one side can shoot and the other side can’t shoot back, the side that can’t shoot back loses. So the stakes are very high,” Cavoli said.

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

Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh has confirmed that three of his sons and four of his grandchildren were killed in an air strike in Gaza. Hamas-linked media said the car his sons were travelling in was hit in Al-Shati camp near Gaza City. Haniyeh said that the incident would not change Hamas's demands in talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire deal. Israel's military said the sons were members of Hamas's military wing. The group was reportedly on its way to a family celebration to mark the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid. - BBC

Israel has not made any preparations to prepare for humanitarian aid deliveries for Gaza to be received at Ashdod port, according to an Israeli media report. US President Joe Biden claimed that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to allow aid to arrive at Ashdod after a tense phone call last week. But the Israeli military, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and the Ashdod Port authorities have not received any instructions to prepare the port, according to the Hebrew language Channel 12’s political correspondent Yaron Avraham

The Kremlin is ruthlessly exploiting Kyiv’s critical shortage of Patriot air interceptor missiles: Russian ballistic and “hypersonic” missiles on Thursday got through to targets mostly unscathed.

Russia’s latest wave of missile attacks against Ukrainian energy infrastructure scored a victory on Thursday, with the Kremlin’s hard-to-intercept “hypersonic” and ballistic missiles punching through mostly untouched through thinning Ukrainian air defenses to hit and damage power plants across the country.

Moscow strike planners during the early hours of April 11 deployed Tu-95 strategic bombers, MiG-31K strike fighters, S-300 surface-to-surface missile systems and dozens of Iran-manufactured Shahed kamikaze drones to attack Ukraine’s north, east and south with waves of flying munitions, some carrying warheads with a half-ton of explosives.

The visit, during which Ukraine signed a 10-year bilateral security deal with Latvia, comes after Moscow launched a barrage of aerial attacks, targeting energy facilities across Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday renewed his appeals for fresh air defence systems on a visit to Lithuania, as his war-torn country faced ramped-up Russian bombardments of major cities.

The visit, during which Ukraine signed a 10-year bilateral security deal with Latvia, comes after Moscow launched a barrage of aerial attacks, targeting energy facilities across Ukraine.

In an intercepted conversation, a Russian army serviceman talks about heavy unit losses in the Ukraine bordering region and the formation of new brigades near Belgorod.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) published an intercepted phone conversation on Tuesday, April 9, in which a Russian soldier complains about huge losses in his unit in the Ukraine-bordering Grayvoronsky District of Russia’s Belgorod region.

“It is a total f*****g mess. Completely f****d up,” the soldier says in the phone conversation.

In December, a local lawmaker at a village council meeting in western Ukraine, upset over alleged corruption, lobbed 3 grenades into a meeting room, killing 2 and injuring 24 more.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) called December’s grenade incident at the Keretsk Village Council in the Zakarpattia region a “terrorist attack” in an official press release following the completion of its investigation. 

On Dec 15, 2023, local lawmaker Serhiy Batrin of the Servant of the People party lobbed three grenades during a village council meeting following an argument, killing 2 and injuring 24 more – including himself.

The Parliament excluded the provision for military demobilization after 36 months of service from the draft law. Military members who have served since 2022 have been awaiting this provision.

Ukraine’s legislature passed a much-anticipated bill on mobilization and post-service release of military personnel but excluded the 36-month demobilization provision of the draft law, according to the Holos (Voice) political party.

The Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved in the second reading the bill on mobilization No. 10449, with 283 deputies voting in favor.

The Defense Forces of the South reported that Russia continues its pinpoint ballistic strikes in southern Ukraine.

At least four people were killed and five wounded in the Russian ballistic strike on Mykolaiv on Thursday, April 11, as reported via Telegram by the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine.

“The enemy continues its pinpoint ballistic strikes on the south of Ukraine. It sneakily hit Mykolaiv in the middle of the day,” the message said.

Lawyers of Igor Girkin, the Russian commander involved in the takeovers of Crimea and the Donbas in 2014, who was jailed by Putin, are seeking his release to allow him to fight in Ukraine.

Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence operative who often goes under the pseudonym Strelkov, has repeatedly taken credit for having participated in the Russian takeover of the Crimean parliament in late February 2014 and organizing Russian forces to instigate secessionist rebellions the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The goal, he said, was to create a self-styled Novorossiya, which would have included Kharkiv and Odesa.

Girkin, 54, was also found guilty in November 2022, with two other men, of the July 2014 shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, in which 298 passengers and crew died. A Dutch court sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment in his absence.

UK Friends of Ukraine and Senior MP call on Government to Stand Firm Against Russian Athletes at Olympics and Paralympics

From the Editors:  The following is a press release issued by the UK Friends of Ukraine on Apil 9, 2024.

UK Friends of Ukraine, supported by Ukraine All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Co-Chairman Alex Sobel MP, have described any involvement of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games under a neutral flag as a “backwards step” and “propaganda victory” for Putin.

The Russian Orthodox Church has thrown down the gauntlet, explicitly asserting Russia’s imperial mission. The West can either dismiss Church’s call as madness or recognize it as Putin’s ambition.

The World Russian People’s Council, chaired by Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, proclaimed in Moscow on March 27, 2024 an “оrder” containing several heresies, including that Russia’s bloody military invasion of Ukraine is somehow a “holy war” and that “the entire territory of present-day Ukraine should be included in the area of Russia’s exclusive influence.” This leaves no room for negotiations unless Ukraine abdicates its right to exist.

The “order” also reveals the scope of Russia’s imperialist plans by asserting that this “holy war” is not only against Kyiv, but also “the collective West behind it,” and that Russia and its people are fulfilling “the mission of the Restrainer [2 Thessalonians 2:6-7],” who protects the world against “the onslaught of globalism and the victory of the West, which has fallen into Satanism.” 

The European Union has imposed successive waves of sanctions on Russian nationals and businesses for profiting from or financially supporting Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

An EU court on Wednesday partially annulled sanctions over the war in Ukraine on two Russian tycoons, Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman, in a ruling slammed by a key Kremlin foe.

The European Union has imposed successive waves of sanctions on Russian nationals and businesses for profiting from or financially supporting Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

With Russia intensifying attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, Kyiv is urgently seeking increased military aid from Western allies.

Volodymyr Zelensky has travelled to Lithuania to meet with leaders from Central and Eastern Europe, aiming to strengthen support for Ukraine amid the ongoing war.

With Russia intensifying attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, Kyiv is urgently seeking increased military aid from Western allies.

The Borysoglebsk-2 complex is used by Russian troops to suppress satellite communication and radio navigation systems, creating interference in various ranges.

The Special Operations Forces (SSO) reported via Telegram the destruction of a vehicle from the R-378B automated jamming station of the Borysoglebsk-2 Russian electronic warfare complex (EW), sharing footage of the explosive moment.

“Operators of the 3rd regiment of the SSO discovered the 'fat' target during reconnaissance operations in the Donetsk [sector],” the caption to the released video said.

Despite a nerve-racking buildup leading up to the vote and the final agreement to no one’s liking, the EU’s asylum and migration pact passed with a thin majority on certain parts of the package.

Despite a nerve-racking buildup leading up to the vote on Wednesday (10 April) afternoon, and the final agreement to no one’s liking, the EU’s asylum and migration pact ultimately passed with a thin majority on certain parts of the package. 

The file was only passed through due to abstentions, which were used by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who disagreed with the text but wanted the file to pass, as a means to state their grievances. 

The funds passed the Senate but have languished for months in the House where Johnson -- leading a razor-thin Republican majority -- has refused to bring a vote to the floor.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday urged the US House of Representatives to vote immediately on billions of dollars in Ukraine aid, as the chamber's Republican speaker hesitates in the face of pressure from Donald Trump and his allies.

"There's overwhelming support for Ukraine among the majority of Democrats and Republicans. There should be a vote now," Biden told reporters after meeting Japan's prime minister.

A Russian state-owned news agency reported on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had been shelling areas in the Kherson region settled by ethnic Bulgarians with ammunition donated by Bulgaria.

The report by Ria Novosti on April 9 was headlined as: “Bulgarian community: Ukraine shells places where ethnic Bulgarians live,” and went on to quote Gennady Nedyalkova, self-styled representative of the Bulgarian community and chairman of the Council of Deputies of the Golopristansky Municipal District in the Kherson region as saying: “The weapons that Bulgaria supplies to Ukraine are used in peaceful settlements where ethnic Bulgarians live.”

[The] “district... is under constant fire from the Ukronazis. And, to my great regret, our partisans [in the Kherson region] discovered that these shells were produced at the Arsenal plant in Bulgaria, the city of Kazanlak, and transported through air corridors to Ukraine,” Nedyalkov said.

Russia has stepped up its aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure.

Russian forces launched yet another mass aerial attack against Ukraine on Thursday morning, April 11, firing missiles, including hypersonic Kinzhals, from more than nine strategic bombers, targeting critical infrastructures in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv and Kharkiv regions.

Russia has recently stepped up its aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• The Ukrainian military’s effective use of drones on the battlefield cannot fully mitigate Ukraine’s theater-wide shortage of critical munitions.
• Zelensky stated that there are no mitigations for insufficient air defense systems and indicated that Russian strikes are forcing Ukraine to reallocate already scarce air defense assets to defend Kharkiv City.
• Zelensky warned about the threat of a potential future Russian ground offensive operation targeting Kharkiv City, which would force Ukraine to reallocate some of its already-strained manpower and materiel capabilities away from other currently active and critical sectors of the front.
• The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada considered and adopted provisions from Ukraine’s draft mobilization law on April 10 as part of an ongoing effort to increase the sustainability of Ukrainian mobilization over the long term.
• Russian officials continue to indicate that they are not interested in any meaningful negotiations on the war in Ukraine amid Switzerland’s announcement that it will host a global peace summit on the war on June 15 and 16.
• Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov attempted to downplay tension in Armenian-Russian relations amid Armenia’s continued efforts to distance itself from political and security relations with Russia.
• Russian Investigative Committee Head Alexander Bastrykin claimed that Russia has no economic reason to import foreign labor, a direct contradiction of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent efforts to justify Russia’s current migration laws to his xenophobic ultra-nationalist constituency.
• Russian forces recently captured Ivanivske, a settlement east of Chasiv Yar, and advanced near Avdiivka.
• Eight Russian senators and 16 State Duma deputies submitted a bill to the Russian State Duma that would likely allow Russian authorities to deploy Russian Federal Penitentiaries Service (FSIN) employees to Ukraine, amid reports that Russia is intensifying its crypto-mobilization efforts.

Western governments are protecting Russian assets at the expense of their own taxpayers.

Ok, so let’s get this straight. 

Russia invades Ukraine, causes $473 billion in damage, and counting, according to the latest WB/Kyiv School estimates, and Ukraine runs a tab of $100 billion a year in fighting the war.

This is the second incident of its kind in recent months in what the Insitute for the Study of War (ISW) described as Moscow’s attempt to “challenge Armenia’s sovereignty.”

The Russian military stationed in Armenia had illegally arrested a Russian civilian in Gyumri, Armenia, who was slated to be transported by plane to Russia and tried for desertion.

As reported by Radio Liberty, the arrested man is a Russian citizen, Anatoly Nikolayevich Shchetin, whom human rights lawyer Ani Chatinyan said has refused to fight in Ukraine and sought refuge in Armenia.

In Ukraine's Odesa region, Russian missiles "fired in the evening" killed four people, including a girl of 10, and injured 15 more. Two women and a child were killed in the Kharkiv region.

Missiles hit two regions in Ukraine on Wednesday killing seven people, local authorities said, while a governor in Russia said a drone strike killed three people in a village close to the border.

In Ukraine's Odesa region, Russian missiles "fired in the evening" killed four people, including a girl of 10, and injured 15 more, said Governor Oleg Kiper on the Telegram messaging app.He added that one of the injured had lost both legs and was in critical condition.