Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 04-17-2024

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, widely believed to have been the true winner of the Belarusian presidency in a rigged 2020 election, said Ukraine’s struggle is shared by Belarus.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told Canadian television that for Belarus to be free of its autocratic president, Alexander Lukashenko, Ukraine must succeed against Russia’s ongoing invasion.

“We must do everything possible to support Ukraine,” Tsikhanouskaya reiterated in a post on the social media site “X.” “If Russia is allowed to win this war, it will be a failure for the entire democratic world. Without a free Ukraine, there can be no free Belarus. But also, without a free Belarus, there will be a constant threat to our neighbors.”

The Georgian parliament passed a law very similar to Russia’s law on so-called “foreign agents,” restricting the work of public organizations. People have taken to the streets.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Tbilisi for the third consecutive day. The peak of the protests was on the evening of April 16, according to Georgian media and Kyiv Post sources reporting from the scene.

Among the targets struck by Russia’s missile strike on April 11 was the Trypillia thermal power plant near Kyiv, which was all but destroyed by Moscow's new air-launched Kh-69 cruise missiles.

In the early hours of Thursday April 11, Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 80 missiles and drones. One of the targets was the Trypillia thermal power plant (TPP), Ukraine's largest, located 50 km south of Kyiv, which was hit and almost completely destroyed after being hit by as many as five Kh-69 missiles.

Kh-69

The Kh-69 (Cyrillic Х-69) is Russia's newest air-launched, sub-sonic cruise missile, intended to engage static, high value targets and is believed to be an upgrade of the earlier KH-59 Mk2, incorporating stealth technology. It first appeared in public in August 2022 at the Russian military forum Armiya-2022 and then in 2023, it was presented at the Dubai Airshow.

Investigations have shown that numerous drawings were photoshopped onto the same shell while money was presumably charged to the donors, some of them Chinese.

Chinese citizens – alongside other nationals – have been paying at least one Russian soldier to have their messages “drawn” onto artillery shells, though they might not have gotten what they paid for.

Ukraine’s 35th Separate Marine Brigade involved in the Kherson bridgehead operations published a series of photos on Wednesday, April 17, of simplified Chinese characters – alongside waifus (fictional female characters from non-live-action visual media) – drawn onto Russian artillery shells and alleged Chinese citizens’ support for the war in Ukraine.

Kyiv Post’s HUR sources confirm that on Wednesday morning its drones hit a Russian factory in Kazan where Tu-22M and Tu-160M bombers are built and repaired.

Kyiv Post sources confirm that a Wednesday, April 17 UAV attack on an aircraft factory in Tatarstan, Russia, was a special operation by the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (HUR).

In the morning, HUR drones attacked the Gorbunov Aviation Plant in Kazan, where Russians manufacture and repair Tu-22M and Tu-160M bombers. Kyiv Post’s source said the results of the attack are currently still being assessed.

Serhiy Kolyada on Scholz's unproductive mission to Beijing.

Switzerland refuses to join international effort to track assets of Russian oligarchs.

Swiss parliamentarians on Wednesday rejected a proposal for their country to join a G7 taskforce tracking and seizing the assets of Russian tycoons after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Green Party had argued that Switzerland, long a favored destination for wealthy Russians and their assets, should become a member of the G7 nations' Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) taskforce.

Kyiv Post sources confirmed the attack on the 590th separate radio technical unit of the military unit 84680, located in Kovylkino, Mordovia, Russia.

Kyiv Post sources confirm that a reported drone attack on a radio communications center in Kovylkino, Russia – some 680 kilometers (423 miles) from the Ukrainian border – was a special operation carried out by the military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR).

“This is a carefully orchestrated special operation by the HUR,” the source told Kyiv Post.

Bond rate reduction on hold.

On Tuesday, April 16, demand at the primary auction did not allow the Ministry of Finance to continue lowering rates or to sell planned volumes of bonds.Demand for one-year bills continued to decline, but it still exceeded supply. The MoF set the cap at UAH3bn and received 22 bids with rates from 15.9% to 16.1% for UAH4.1bn. So, typically for such oversubscription, 30% of the cap was sold for non-competitive bids (satisfied at the weighted average rate), and the rest of the cap the MoF sold to other bidders at the rates in their bids. So, as a result, the cut-off rate did not change, and the weighted average rate decreased by 1bp to 16.09%.Demand that the two-year paper received amounted to 1/6 of the cap. Most of the bids were at the rates of the last auction, so the cut-off and weighted average rates did not change and remained at 17%.For the first time in two months, three-year notes due in July 2027 were oversubscribed. Demand was very flat for the fifth week in a row. Most bids were at 18.3%, so the cut-off rate hasn't changed all this time, and the weighted average rate fluctuates within a few basis points, slightly below or at 18.3%. The MoF rejected approximately 5% of demand simply because the supply volume was exhausted.So, one week before NBU's next monetary committee meeting, we have a pause in the downward movement of UAH bond rates in the primary market. Given low inflation, the NBU may once again lower the key policy rate and rates for CDs, pushing the bond market to a new level of lower government bond rates in two weeks. However, rates may decline next week before the NBU meeting based on expectations.

RESEARCH TEAM: Taras Kotovych

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

Ukraine’s top military commander has issued a bleak assessment of the army’s positions on the eastern front, saying they have “worsened significantly in recent days.” Russian forces were pushing hard to exploit their growing advantage in manpower and ammunition to break through Ukrainian lines, the commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said in a statement over the weekend. “Despite significant losses, the enemy is increasing his efforts by using new units on armored vehicles, thanks to which he periodically achieves tactical gains,” the general said. At the same time, Ukraine’s energy ministry told millions of civilians to charge their power banks, get their generators out of storage and “be ready for any scenario” as Ukrainian power plants are damaged or destroyed in devastating Russian airstrikes. President Volodymyr Zelensky warned again on Monday night that delays in American assistance are deepening the challenges at the front and said the latest information from Ukrainian intelligence suggested that the Kremlin is preparing for some sort of major offensive in late spring or early summer - NYT

Chernihiv in northern Ukraine came under a massive Russian attack Wednesday: 13 dead and at least 60 injured according to Telegram channels. Three cruise missiles reportedly hit the city - the gynecology wing of the Chernihiv hospital. A call has gone out for blood donations. Odesa was also reportedly attacked

Trump and some Republicans have repeated Russian disinformation, consistently favoring Putin; now these rightwing extremists have expanded to become a slight majority in the House of Representatives.

Politically, the United States has changed profoundly with Donald Trump. One important victim is Republican policy on Ukraine. As the eminent Financial Times columnist Edward Luce summed it up: “The Republican right treats Ukraine as an enemy and Russia as a friend. Defining that stance as isolationist is lazy and wrong. It is actively pro-Russian.”

In 2017, one single Republican senator, Rand Paul, voted against the Combating American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which introduced harsher sanctions on Russia. Rand Paul has consistently favored Trump and Putin, but the rightwing extremists have now expanded to a slight majority among the Republicans in the House of Representatives.

Russian milbloggers said that US-made ATACMS missiles were used in a damaging attack against Dzhankoi airfield. Kyiv Post research confirmed ballistic missiles of some kind struck the base.

As many as six massive explosions hit the Russian Dzhankoi military airfield in occupied Crimea during the early hours of Wednesday morning, with secondary blasts lighting up the horizon and local social media reporting a damaging long-range Ukrainian missile strike.

The weight of reports and information pointed to a successful strike by at least a half-dozen Ukrainian ballistic missiles starting at about 3:30 a.m. Kyiv time. Hours later Russian milbloggers  claimed that US-made ATACMS missiles had been used in the attacks.

With the US dithering, the implications need to be recognized and decisive action taken to avoid disaster in the shape of a Russian victory in Ukraine.

Maybe NATO needs to wake up to the reality that the US is now politically dysfunctional, and the GOP is not going to green light enough support to Ukraine to hold its defense.

To avoid a catastrophic defeat for Ukraine and the West/EU/NATO, we need to think quickly and outside the box. Necessities now should be:

The “(In)visible Stories” exhibition in Brussels tells the stories of nine people forced from their homes because of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The accounts of Ukrainians who fled their homes under fire, who witnessed friends’ kidnappings, and who endured abuse and torture under Russian occupation are being told at an exhibit in Belgium.

The exhibition, presented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) at Brussels’ Place du Luxembourg, revealed the stories of nine people displaced by Russia’s full-scale invasion.

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter was destroyed in the Russian city of Samara, 800 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. Kyiv Post's sources within intelligence said it “was a planned sabotage.”

On Wednesday, April 17, a Russian Mi-8 multipurpose helicopter was destroyed in the Russian city of Samara, 800 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, the military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) reported.

The helicopter was destroyed at the Kryazh airfield.

The girl suffered from a rare form of epilepsy and UK doctors were reportedly unwilling to perform the complex surgery, eventually leading the family to seek help from a team of specialists in Lviv.

Rachel Gribben, a four-year-old girl from the village of Killyleagh in Northern Ireland who suffered from a rare form of epilepsy, successfully underwent a complex brain surgery procedure carried out by a team of neurosurgeons in Lviv, western Ukraine.

“When we were sitting in the shelter of the hospital with other mothers and children, my heart just broke,” the child’s mother Katie recalled her experience hearing the first air siren after arriving in Lviv, where her child was to undergo brain surgery in a country at war.

German Chancellor Scholz stated that he and President Xi Jinping agreed to 'intensively and positively coordinate' on promoting the conference, following their talks in Beijing.

China said Wednesday that "a lot of work" would need to be done before a planned peace conference on the Ukraine war in Switzerland could take place, after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Beijing had agreed to back the meeting.

"According to our understanding, the relevant meeting is still in preparation and there is still a lot of work to be done," foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.

Ukrainian SSO operators immobilized the armored vehicle using an FPV drone which also injured both the tank’s commander and gunner.

Kyiv’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) reported via Telegram that they had hit a Russian T-90 tank using first-person view (FPV) drones.

“During reconnaissance operations in the Donetsk direction, operators of the 3rd regiment of the SSO identified an enemy T-90 tank, which was engaging the positions of the Defense Forces,” the SSO statement said.

The resolution, adopted with 134 votes in favor, directs the seized Russian assets to compensate individuals and entities for damages caused by Russia’s illegal invasion.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (CoE) unanimously adopted a resolution on Tuesday (16 April) calling for frozen Russian assets to be transferred to a new fund to reconstruct Ukraine and compensate victims.

The Russian government should be held responsible for compensating the human and material losses incurred and “its destruction of Ukraine”, rapporteur for the file, Lulzim Basha (Albanian Democratic Party, EPP) said upon opening of the body’s session.

Some of the manufacturing equipment in use at the factory today dates back nearly to the Korean War.

In brick buildings that are more than a century old in Joe Biden's Rust Belt hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, dated machinery continues to churn out machinery for modern conflicts – especially the war in Ukraine.

The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant (SCAAP) is making steel tubes for 155mm caliber shells, which are crucial to Kyiv's efforts to face down Moscow's invasion. 

Video footage showcases strikes by Ukrainian “Baba Yaga” drones, against Russian military assets, including two field ammunition storage areas and several shelters used by Russian troops.

The State Border Service of Ukraine announced on its Telegram channel on Tuesday that it had used “Baba Yaga” strike drones to destroy five units of Russian military equipment along with two field ammunition depots.

“Baba Yaga burns the invaders on the left bank of the Kherson region,” the caption to the video released by the border guards read.

Johnson said Monday that his Republican-controlled chamber would vote this week on the bills after after stalling for months over pressure from his party's right wing.

The White House said Tuesday that separate aid bills set for a vote in the US House this week appear to meet the long-delayed military needs of Ukraine and Israel.

But US President Joe Biden needs to study the proposals by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson more closely before making a final decision, it added.

Russia's top military leadership has ordered air defense commanders to engage all air threats despite ongoing problems with its “friend or foe” target detection and recognition system.

Russia's air defense still has a problem of shooting down its own air forces over Crimea because of continuing problems with its “friend or foe” target detection and recognition systems.

According to the Atesh partisan movement, in the face of constant missile and UAV attacks, air defense commanders in occupied areas of Ukraine including Crimea, are forced to identify and engage targets manually. This often results in striking on their own friendly air targets.

Some reports had suggested the outspoken supporter of the Kremlin’s takeover of east Ukraine had died at the hands of Kyiv assassins, or maybe even in a local mobster contract hit.

A search for a Texas-born renegade fighting the side of Russia and gone missing or even shot dead in a Donetsk suburb last week took a new twist on Monday with his wife making public claims that soldiers from a Russian army tank unit kidnapped the pro-Kremlin American and were holding him hostage.

Donetsk resident Lyudmila Bentley, or someone claiming to be her, in a Monday post on Bentley’s personal Telegram channel “Russell TEXAS Bentley” said that she had received “reliable and confirmed information...(that is) ironclad and does not raise any doubts” that her husband had been “detained illegally” by Russian army soldiers.