Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 04-21-2024

The Latest Overview on the Situation of Religious Dissenters in Russia from Human Rights Without Frontiers International.

Religious persecution and issues – Bimonthly Digest April 01-15

 15.04.2024 – Archbishop fined for criticising Russia’s war in Ukraine

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• On 14 April 2024, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief General Syrskyi stated Russian forces intend to take Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine by 09 May 2024, the date of Russia's Victory Day celebrations. Syrskyi stated that Chasiv Yar is a preliminary step towards the larger city of Kramatorsk.
• On 18 April 2024, Ukrainian Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group of Forces commander noted Russian Air Force dropping 20-30 munitions per day. These are likely discharged by Russian Su-25 aircraft operating close to the line of contact and Su-34 operating at a stand-off distance using glide bombs. This is a concerted aerial bombardment and is a tactic repeated from the Avdiivka campaign.
• Chasiv Yar town is heavily defended and situated on high ground. Russian ground forces have made only slow progress in the area.

What has happened during the last week in the US House of Representatives and what it means going forward.

The passage of a bill yesterday in the House of Representatives approving aid (which will soon be supported by the Senate and signed into law by President Biden) means that soon (and I mean very soon) large amounts of military support will start flowing into Ukraine to help stabilize the situation. [But is all as good as it seems?]

The House approves aid for Ukraine: how it happened.

What the US House finally approved on April 20 and the implications.

The US House of Representatives on Saturday approved long-delayed military aid to Ukraine in a rare show of bipartisan unity, while also bolstering Israel and Taiwan defenses and threatening to ban Chinese-owned TikTok.

The four bills in the $95 billion package were overwhelmingly approved in quick succession, though they leave the future of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in some doubt as he seeks to fend off angry far-right detractors.

Ukrainian former basket ball player Roman Rubchenko talks about his life and aims with Kyiv Post's Chief Editor Bohdan Nahaylo.

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

The U.S. House of Representatives voted resoundingly on Saturday to approve $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as Speaker Mike Johnson put his job on the line to advance the long-stalled aid package by marshaling support from mainstream Republicans and Democrats. In four back-to-back votes, overwhelming bipartisan coalitions of lawmakers approved fresh rounds of funding for the three U.S. allies. The scene on the House floor reflected both the broad support in Congress for continuing to help the Ukrainian military beat back Russia, and the extraordinary political risk taken by Mr. Johnson to defy the anti-interventionist wing of his party who had sought to thwart the measure. Minutes before the vote on assistance for Kyiv, Democrats began to wave small Ukrainian flags on the House floor, as hard-right Republicans jeered. The legislation includes $60 billion for Kyiv; $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza; and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific region. It would direct the president to seek repayment from the Ukrainian government of $10 billion in economic assistance, a concept supported by former President Donald J. Trump, who had pushed for any aid to Kyiv to be in the form of a loan. But it also would allow the president to forgive those loans starting in 2026 - NYT

The US Pentagon press secretary told reports on Thursday that US military supplies, including for air defense systems and artillery units, could be moved to Ukraine in a matter of days after final approval. The president could sign the aid into law later this week, as the US Senate is expected to approve the House foreign aid package - which also includes funding for Israel and Taiwan - as early as Tuesday. BBC

In the wake of Russian strikes on Ukrainian electricity infrastructure, the nation must keep the lights while also considering how to reconstruct its electricity system and make it more resilient.

In the wake of Russian strikes on critical elements of Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure, the nation faces the immediate challenge of keeping the lights on for its citizens, businesses and defence efforts — yet must also consider how to reconstruct its electricity system and make it more resilient.

Monika Morawiecka is a Senior Advisor with the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP)

Mick Antoniw is a Member of the Senedd, the Welsh parliamentary assembly, and senior legal advisor to its Counsel General. He is also proud of his Ukrainian roots.

For most people in the UK, the war in Ukraine is seen as being dreadful but emotionally as well as physically distant from their day-to-day lives.

For Labour Party Senedd member Mick Antoniw, the Welsh government's most senior legal adviser, it is deeply personal. He was brought up within a Ukrainian community and still has many relatives who live under the Russian threat.

Long considered a tool for Trump-Republicans who want to block aid to Ukraine, Mike Johnson has had a change of heart with regard to Kyiv's struggle. Now he risks the wrath of MAGA.

Republican Mike Johnson came out of nowhere six months ago to become speaker of the US House of Representatives, before emerging as an ardent defender of military aid to Ukraine, which the chamber approved Saturday.

The evolution of this 52-year-old Southerner with carefully coiffed hair has been stunning.

Diverse Russian governments have been among the first to recognize the deceptive power of words and slogans in winning wars and weakening enemies. One such phrase is “Russia cannot be defeated.”

It has become customary to oppose aid for Ukraine with the justification that “Russia cannot be defeated.” This assumption has been so effectively disseminated that it has become virtually an unchallenged truism. However, it is an evident falsehood and a deception heavily promoted and oft-repeated by Russian officials and its benighted supporters.

The logical conclusion would be to take Pope Francis’s advice and grasp the opportunity to wave a white flag and negotiate a cease-fire at any cost. After all, if Ukraine cannot defeat Russia, then the sooner the fighting ends, the less damage and loss of life. This is a narrative that needs to be critically examined, considering the influence of Russian propganda in shaping public opimiom.   

Co-founder of the New York Group, the avant-garde poet and novelist has pushed the boundaries of what is possible with language and form more than any other Ukrainian writer.

Editor’s note: With the publication of In the Tight Triangle of the Night, by Maria Grazia Bartolini, which examines Yuriy Tarnawsky’s early Ukrainian-language poetry, the writer celebrated his 90th birthday. Kyiv Post is publishing a presentation given at the symposium Running Barefoot Home held on Tarnawsky’s work at New York’s Columbia University in October 2023.

Separation

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• The US House of Representatives passed a supplemental appropriations bill on April 20 providing for roughly $60 billion of assistance to Ukraine. The bill must now be passed by the Senate and signed by the president before aid can begin to flow.
• These requirements and the logistics of transporting US materiel to the frontline in Ukraine will likely mean that new US assistance will not begin to affect the situation on the front line for several weeks. The frontline situation will therefore likely continue to deteriorate in that time, particularly if Russian forces increase their attacks to take advantage of the limited window before the arrival of new US aid.
• Ukrainian forces may suffer additional setbacks in the coming weeks while waiting for US security assistance that will allow Ukraine to stabilize the front, but they will likely be able to blunt the current Russian offensive assuming the resumed US assistance arrives promptly.
• Russian forces will likely intensify ongoing offensive operations and missile and drone strikes in the coming weeks in order to exploit the closing window of Ukrainian materiel constraints.
• Ukraine will likely be in a significantly improved operational position by June 2024 regardless of delays in the arrival of US security assistance to the frontline, and the Russian military command will likely consider significant changes to the large-scale offensive operation that it is expected to launch in June, although it may still proceed as planned.
• The likely resumption of US security assistance to Ukraine is a critical turning point in the war in Ukraine, but the Kremlin, the West, and Ukraine still have additional decisions to make that will determine the character and outcome of the fighting.
• Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted successful drone strikes against several energy infrastructure facilities and a fuel storage facility within Russia on the night of April 19 to 20.
• The Kremlin appears to be censoring demands for an investigation into the reported murder of a former Donetsk People Republic (DNR) serviceman amid a wider trend of the Kremlin coopting or otherwise censoring DNR-affiliated voices within the Russian information space.
• Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Chasiv Yar (west of Bakhmut) and northwest of Avdiivka, and Ukrainian forces recently made confirmed advances south of Kreminna.
• Ukrainian and Russian sources reported that Russian forces are using US-made 203mm artillery ammunition that Russia may have received from Iran.