Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 04-12-2024

A former Ukrainian intelligence officer who defected to Russia in 2018 was injured when a suspected explosive device blew up under his Toyota SUV in Moscow.

Russian Telegram channels reported on Friday that a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado belonging to Vasily Prozorov, a former Lt. Col. from Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), was blown up as he started the vehicle in a parking lot on Moscow’s Korovinskoye Highway.

Dramatic video showed the moment the SUV exploded, leaving the defector with wounds to his arm and leg requiring him to be hospitalized.

The weapon, described as “a game changer,” uses high energy lasers that could down drones or even missiles as a cost-effective alternative to conventional air defenses Kyiv currently relies on.

UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said he was considering sending prototypes of the “DragonFire” laser weapon to Ukraine ahead of its anticipated 2027 addition to the UK’s arsenal.

The DragonFire Laser Directed Energy Weapons (LDEW), is a project of the UK government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and private sector defense firms MBDA, Leonardo and QinetiQ. The LDEW is intended to be deployed on both warships and future armored personnel carriers.

In this new episode of Talking Substance, host Alina Hrytsenko interviews Jock Mendoza-Wilson from BUCC on Ukraine's EU trade, energy security, and future.

On Thursday, Bild journalist Julian Röpke said that Ukraine does not have missiles for the Patriot and Iris-T air defense systems. Ukraine’s Air Force urged not to panic.

Bild journalist Julian Röpke said that Ukraine has run out of missiles for the Patriot and Iris-T air defense systems.

“As I said weeks ago (and almost no one believed me): Ukraine ran out of Patriot and Iris-T missiles. Also, most other stocks of air defense means are depleted or destroyed,” the journalist wrote on the social network X on Thursday, April 11.

Biden has sacrificed his leadership role in world affairs. Fearing Russia’s threats and a possible election loss, Ukraine’s victory – if not survival – has been sacrificed.

Evidently, President Joe Biden and his national security team do not fully subscribe to a widely accepted national security premise presented by Richard Hass in his 1997 book The Reluctant Sheriff.

Hass argued that “Americans need to resist the lure of isolationism and maintain spending on defense, intelligence, foreign aid, and diplomacy at current levels.” He warned “anything less risked squandering the spoils of winning the Cold War – and setting the stage for a new era of dangerous global competition.”

US President Joe Biden is expected to attend a high-level Ukraine war peace conference which is expected to be held in Switzerland in mid-June, Swiss media reported on Wednesday, April 10.

The conference date has not yet been set but several media outlets this week suggested June 16-17.

Invitations have not been sent but the NZZ daily newspaper quoted “reliable sources” as saying the US president would attend along with top representatives from dozens of countries.

“There is a war going on in Ukraine for the future of the whole of Europe:” Finnish Defense Minister, Antti Häkkänen, Dec. 24, 2023

From the Editors: This is a summary of a far more comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the potential consequences of a Russian victory in Ukraine that was published by the Ukrainian Centre for Defence Strategies on 8 April 2024 and can be downloaded here.

It is actually more than ten years since President Vladimir Putin began his war against Ukraine and two years since it launched a full-scale invasion. What the final outcome will be remains unclear, though most analysts identify three possibilities:

“My friends and I try to get out of the house as much as possible because most of the time we have no light and no electricity,” said 23-year-old Polina Kaganovska.

Kristina Shapovalova stood in a crowd outside a cafe, its storefront shining a rare light amid a blackout in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Wearing trendy black-framed glasses, Shapovalova spoke about the mounting Russian attacks on the city with fatalism and defiance. 

Ukraine says it needs 25 Patriot systems to fully protect it from Russian missile attacks and says it knows which countries hold them. But who will give theirs up?

The “Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target” (PATRIOT) surface-to-air guided air and missile defense system was advertised as one of the best available, based on its test performances long before it was used “in anger.”

The first Patriots were deployed by US Forces in the mid-1980s and during the first Gulf War they performed well against the Iraqi Scud missile threat. Since then, the system – its radars, fire control systems and especially its missiles – has evolved, been modernized, and upgraded as the threat has similarly become technologically more advanced.

After being formally identified, the bodies of the defenders will be handed over to their families for burial.

Another repatriation event took place as the bodies of 99 more fallen defenders were returned to Ukrainian-controlled territory on Friday, April 12, according to Kyiv’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

“The Ukrainian Armed Forces will transport the repatriated bodies and remains to designated state facilities,” the statement reads.

Ukrainian intelligence reports that by the decision of the commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet, all personnel are being sent to Ukraine to replenish the personnel after significant losses.

Following heavy losses in its Ukraine invasion, Russia has begun to transfer personnel from the Russian Pacific Fleet and the 11th Air Force and Air Defense Army, Ukraine's military intelligence service (НUR) stated in a Telegram post.

These Russian military formations have not yet been directly involved in hostilities against Ukraine.

Russian women convicts are promised money and the chance to go home, but HUR says, ‘most of the female prisoners recruited by the Russian Federation have died or returned with serious injuries.’

Russia is actively recruiting women from Russian penal colonies to fight in the war with Ukraine to fill the ranks after suffering continuing significant losses.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence service (HUR), told the Kyiv Post that the Kremlin is not only willing to recruit female prisoners for support roles.

Ukraine’s new mobilization law is facing criticism – especially regarding demobilization. But with US aid uncertain, Ukraine needs its experienced soldiers for as long as possible.

Regarded as one of the most important pieces of legislation during the two years of full-scale war, the new law on mobilization was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, on April 11, with 283 of 351 lawmakers voting in favor; 1 voted against, 49 abstained and 18 did not vote. Of the yes votes 192 were from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People Party.

The bill was not supported by the opposition European Solidarity party, led by Petro Poroshenko. The majority of the Batkivshchyna party and part of the Holos party withheld support as well.

In a critical, large-scale donation of modern weaponry to Ukraine’s hard-pressed armed forces, Oslo will hand over to Kyiv 22 F-16 fighter jets, a major Norwegian news platform reported on Thursday.

Norway will transfer a total of 22 F-16s to Ukraine, of which 12 are fully combat-capable. Another 10 planes that may or not still be airworthy, and some airframes that might require substantial overhauls, the popular online newspaper Nettavisen reported.

Engines, auxiliary materials, simulators, spare parts and other relevant equipment would be included in the donation, the article said. Other reports said the planes would be a mix of single-seat fighter jets and twin-seat fighter/trainer jets.

Ukrainian special forces reportedly obliterated a Russian T-90 and T-72 tank, eliminating five soldiers and injuring three in the Donetsk direction.

The Special Operations Forces (SSO) reported via Telegram the destruction of two Russian tanks and the elimination of five Russian soldiers with the assistance of first-person view (FPV) drones.

“Minus two tanks, vehicles, enemy personnel: a day of operation of SSO drones in the Donetsk region,” reads the caption to the released video.

Ukrainian forces successfully downed 16 Shahed drones launched by Russia, yet a fire ensued at an energy facility near Kryvyi Rih due to falling drone debris.

Russian troops initiated an assault with 17 Shahed-type kamikaze drones and a Kh-59 guided air missile over Ukraine early on Friday, April 12, as reported by Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleschuk on Telegram.

The Shahed drones were launched from Cape Chauda (Crimea), while the Kh-59 missile originated from the airspace of the occupied Donetsk region.

The draft document lists the EU’s existing and ongoing efforts, ranging from political, military, and financial assistance to commitment to drive forward Kyiv’s accession process.

The EU has put together a framework document, based on the bloc’s existing and ongoing efforts, to give Ukraine lasting security commitments, according to a draft by the bloc’s diplomatic service (EEAS), seen by Euractiv. 

The draft document, dated 8 April, lists the EU’s existing and ongoing efforts, ranging from political, military, and financial assistance to commitment to drive forward Kyiv’s accession process.

The new embassies were the result of "the instructions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to spread Ukraine's diplomatic presence in Africa."

Ukraine inaugurated an embassy in Ivory Coast on Thursday, a day after opening an embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo as Kyiv seeks a greater presence in Africa to counter Moscow's influence.

"A brilliant new page is being written in the new history of relations between Ukraine-Africa and Ukraine-Ivory Coast", deputy foreign minister Maksym Subkh said, according to a translation of his Ukrainian speech into French.

Many Russian soldiers are convinced that the only way to survive and return home is to get wounded because of heavy losses on the battlefield.

More and more Russian fighters see being wounded in the war in Ukraine as the only way of ensuring they will be able to return home safely, as they have no other chance of getting back to Russia, according to Ukraine’s National Resistance Center (CNR).

“In this way, there is a chance to return to the places of permanent deployment, and then, if they are lucky, to escape. There are no other options to get a ‘vacation’ and see your family,” the CNR press service said.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, which Russia has occupied since March 2022, has been hit by a series of drone attacks since Sunday.

The recent attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war", the UN atomic agency's director general said on Thursday.

The attacks "marked a major escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers in Ukraine," Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in Vienna.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian forces conducted another large-scale series of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine on the night of April 10 to 11 that caused notable and likely long-term damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine needs more Patriot air defense batteries to protect both Ukraine’s population centers and frontline areas.
• The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada adopted a new mobilization law on April 11, a significant step in addressing Ukraine’s manpower challenges amid growing manpower constraints in Ukrainian units defending on the frontline.
• US European Command (EUCOM) Commander and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Christopher Cavoli reported that EUCOM and NATO are strengthening their ability to respond to the “chronic threat” that Russia poses to global stability and European security in hopes of deterring future Russian aggression against NATO.
• Ukraine and Latvia signed a bilateral security agreement on April 11 providing for long-term Latvian assistance and security commitments to Ukraine.
• Russian authorities conducted a counterterrorism operation and reportedly killed two suspected terrorists in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria on April 11.
• Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Kreminna, in the direction of Chasiv Yar west of Bakhmut, and in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area on April 11.
• Russian exiled opposition outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe reported on April 11 that Russian courts have commuted sentences in over half of all criminal cases against Russian veterans and active-duty servicemen due to military service in Ukraine.

Largest electric power plant in Ukraine, Kyiv region's Trypillia, destroyed; In Lithuania, Zelensky calls again for air defenses; Greece might offer more F-16 fighter jets.

Ukraine’s largest power producer knocked out in Russian Aerial Strikes

The nation’s largest thermal power station that supplies electricity to three regions has lost 100 percent of its generating capacity, the company said on April 11, following an overnight Russian airborne attack.