Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 04-25-2024

Valeriy Semenov remained at Chornobyl throughout its occupation, trying to prevent a second disaster there. Here’s his account of how: ‘They Were Looking for Biolabs, But Got Irradiated’

Macron champions the concept of European strategic autonomy in economy and defense, arguing that Europe needs to face crises like Russia's war against Ukraine without relying on the United States.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday warned that Europe faced an existential threat from Russian aggression, calling on the continent to adopt a “credible” defense strategy less dependent on the United States.

He described Russia's behavior after its invasion of Ukraine as “uninhibited” and said it was no longer clear where Moscow's “limits” lay.

Moscow-friendly mil-bloggers mostly predicted the US-made missiles will hit air defenses in Crimea, but some Kremlin-run major media said the Russian Federation itself is ATACMS’ next target.

Russian state-controlled media and Kremlin-loyal hybrid war information platforms reacted grimly to news the US had handed over more than one hundred precision-guided, long-range missiles to Ukraine, with more than a few mil-bloggers saying air defenses in the occupied Crimea peninsula will soon get hammered.

Major Russian news media told viewers the weapons would be used against targets inside Russia, flatly ignoring declarations by US officials that the high-tech American weapons were transferred to Ukraine on the specific condition they may only hit targets inside Ukraine’s borders. But according to those reports, the US was arming Ukraine with the objective of hitting Russian homes and businesses.

The Kremlin supposedly doesn’t have any of the space nukes the Americans want banned, but Washington says Russia is fibbing about that.

Russia used its United Nations Security Council veto on Thursday, April 25 to vote down an amendment proposing space be kept nuclear-weapon free, with the People’s Republic of China the only state abstaining.

All other 13 countries serving on the 15-member Security Council were 13 in favor of the resolution calling on all countries, particularly those already space-capable, to commit to preventing the use of nuclear weapons in outer space.

Just reflecting on two conversations coming out the IMF meetings over the past week around Ukraine.

Sometimes I think I live in a parallel universe - some of you no doubt think I do.

But just reflecting on two conversations coming out the IMF meetings over the past week around Ukraine.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski flatly contradicted Kremlin propaganda by insisting that Ukrainian territories once controlled by Poland are now unequivocally Ukrainian.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in a speech before the Sejm (lower house of parliament) on Thursday, April 25 stated that Poland has no territorial claims to Ukraine.

“Russia is lying about Poland’s alleged plans to annex part of Ukraine. Donbas is Ukraine. Crimea is Ukraine. Lviv, Volyn, and the former Eastern Galicia [Halychyna] are also Ukraine. So, I’m repeating this for the Kremlin to hear: Lviv is Ukraine,” the foreign minister reiterated in Ukrainian as well as in Polish.

The devastated power units and charred turbines of a Ukrainian thermal power plant evoke images reminiscent of Chornobyl.

The Russian vessel Angara, which some believed has been transporting North Korean arms to Russia since August 2023, has been spotted in a Chinese port, reported Reuters.

The Angara, a Russian vessel believed to have been moving weapons from North Korea to Russia since at least August 2023, has been spotted mooring at a Chinese port based on satellite images obtained by Reuters.

The ship has been berthed at Zhoushan Xinya Shipyard in Zhejiang, China, since Feb. 9 likely for maintenance after docking in January at North Korean and Russian ports with its transponder turned off, according to UK-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Prosecutors have opened thousands of cases into alleged collaboration with Moscow's forces since Russia invaded the country in February 2022.

Ukraine said Thursday it had sentenced a husband and wife to 15 years in prison for providing information to Russia that allowed its forces to launch a rocket strike at a hospital.

Prosecutors have opened thousands of cases into alleged collaboration with Moscow's forces since Russia invaded the country in February 2022.

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

U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation Wednesday providing $95 billion in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, saying, “When our allies are stronger. We are stronger.” He said the new assistance, aimed at helping Ukraine fight Russia’s two-year invasion and Israel to fight Hamas militants and fend off airstrikes from Iran, is “going to make America safer. It's going to make the world safer. And it continues America's leadership in the world.” Biden said that within hours, the U.S. would begin shipments of air defense munitions, artillery for rocket systems and armored vehicles into Ukraine to help Kyiv’s fighters in a war with Moscow that has largely stalemated on the eastern Ukraine battlefront. - VOA

The bill closely mirrors the original Senate package, but the House added a requirement for the Biden administration to send more American-made missiles known as long-range ATACMS to Kyiv. The United States previously supplied Ukraine with a cluster-munition version of the missiles, after President Biden overcame his longstanding reluctance to providing the weapons and permitted the Pentagon to deliver them covertly. Another provision included by the House directs the president to seek repayment of $10 billion in economic assistance, a concept supported by former President Donald J. Trump, who has pushed for any aid to Kyiv to be in the form of a loan. But the bill also allows the president to forgive those loans starting in 2026. - NYT

In one of Russia’s latest innovations to fend off kamikaze drones, a gigantic metal cage could be seen installed on an “Akhmat” armored vehicle in a video, but the solution is not without tradeoffs.

In a contraption reminiscent of the Mad Max franchise, a Russian “Akhmat” armored vehicle could be seen enclosed in a gigantic metal cage in what was presumably Russian troops’ latest improvisation to fend off kamikaze drones.

Videos of the contraption could be seen circulating on social media since at least Tuesday, April 23, where a Russian “Akhmat” vehicle with the pro-war “Z” emblems painted on was enclosed by metal cages on all sides, except for less than a meter of ground clearance that exposed the lower halves of its wheels.

The President says Ukraine will share intel with global agencies on Russia’s plans for major disruptions of the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland, which is expected to have 80 to 100 nations present.

Russia is planning to disrupt the Global Peace Summit to be held in Switzerland in June, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a meeting with representatives of partner countries in Kyiv on April 24.

Zelensky told those in the meeting, “We have accurate information from intelligence – specific data – that Russia not only wants to disrupt the Peace Summit, but also has a specific plan to do so: how to reduce the participation of countries, how to act to ensure that there is no peace for even longer. And we must counteract this together - we must work in unity for a just peace.”

Ukrainian troops are suffering significant losses from the Russian army’s massive drone use.

Over the past three months, the Russians have at least doubled the number of drones they’re using on the Russo-Ukrainian front line, Ukrainian Pravda (UP) reported Thursday, April 25.

The number of Russian drones has doubled, and Ukraine’s jammers can’t cope 

Not only has the number of drones doubled, but the Russians are modernizing them, making them harder to spot and destroy in time, UP reported, citing sources in the Ukrainian military.

Three months after General Syrsky took overall command Ukraine’s soldiers are still fighting backfooted, hitting Russia with fierce losses but losing ground. That may be the plan.

Ukraine’s strategy of military counterpunching and making the Kremlin pay in blood for every meter gained seems to have become less crisis management, and more the basic structure of the Syrsky plan.

An ethnic Russian with a background in artillery, and old enough (59) to have fought in Afghanistan for the Soviet Union back in the 1980s, General Oleksander Syrsky on Feb. 8 took over the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) under siege. He replaced Valery Zaluzhny, a general popular with troops and the public.

Russia imprisons a citizen for wanting to join Ukrainian armed forces.

Russia on Thursday handed a long jail term to a Siberian man accused of state treason and terrorism over plans to join Russian units fighting for Ukraine.

This is the latest arrest of Russian citizens accused of wanting to fight as part of pro-Ukrainian armed groups, which have led several deadly incursions into Russia.

Special operations forces pointed out that the Russian Buk-M1 did not have time to fire a single missile - it was destroyed by the missile and artillery unit of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SSO) reported via Telegram the destruction of the Russian Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile complex, valued at approximately $100 million before it fired its very first missile.

“The Buk-M1, which was preparing to launch missiles, was destroyed,” the caption to the released video read.

The long-awaited law on mobilization will take effect in May. Despite criticism of some specific points, most agree that it is a necessary step toward mobilizing all of Ukraine.

Much has been said about the fact that the law on mobilization in force at the time of the outbreak of war was outdated and the military registration system was ineffective. Although experts were divided on the new draft law No. 10449 on mobilization, the issue of its adoption was vital, given the current external and internal factors. Ukraine must stand up to the aggressor, and for this it needs not only weapons but also people.

Mobilization – on the military track

As European elections near, worries over Kremlin interference rise, from media sway to direct political influence.

In the run-up to the European elections there is growing concern about Kremlin interference, be it through media influence aimed at swaying voters or direct influence on politicians and parties. Commentators look at where the dangers lurk and how they can be countered.

Pro-Russian ideas threatening the EU

Proposals come ahead of the June parliamentary elections, which Moscow has been trying to manipulate through fake news and “members of the European Parliament paid to spread propaganda.”

France is asking the European Union to impose additional sanctions on Moscow for an alleged Kremlin-backed influence campaign to interfere with the upcoming European parliamentary elections and advance narratives or policies that are meant to divide the 27-member nation economic and political bloc.

A proposal led by France and supported by the Netherlands, Poland and the three Baltic nations of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, is seeking to impose more restrictive measures, Bloomberg News reported on April 24.

Moscow has been accused of forcibly taking Ukrainian children into Russian territory during its full-scale offensive, with Lvova-Belova wanted by the ICC on charges related to those allegations.

Russia's children's rights commissioner on Wednesday announced a deal with Ukraine to exchange almost 50 children displaced by Moscow's invasion but a Ukrainian official later declined to confirm the agreement.

Kremlin official Maria Lvova-Belova announced "for the first time in a face-to-face format, we held talks with the Ukrainian side. Twenty-nine children are due to go to Ukraine and 19 to Russia".

The Biden administration had long debated whether to supply extended-range ATACMS to Kyiv. However, Russia’s use of North Korean missiles played a decisive role in changing Washington’s stance.

The United States secretly provided long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine as part of a $300 million military aid package approved by President Joe Biden on March 12, according to Reuters, citing an American official.

These missiles, with a range of up to 300 kilometers, were reportedly first used by Ukraine on April 17, when Kyiv struck a military airfield in occupied Dzhankoi, Crimea.

Immediately after President Biden’s announcement, the Pentagon revealed a $1 billion aid package for Kyiv, utilizing the fresh funding, on its way to Ukraine.

The United States swiftly dispatched ammunition, weaponry, and other crucial military provisions to Ukraine on Wednesday, April 24, following President Joe Biden's long-awaited endorsement of a bill to bolster the country's defense against Russian advances.

The bill, finally greenlit after months of intense political debate, earmarks $61 billion in funding for Kyiv out of a total of $95 billion. This decision comes at a critical moment as Ukrainian forces grapple with ammunition shortages and battlefield setbacks.

As weapons and ammunition are rushed to the country, other issues such as manpower shortages in Kyiv's struggling military have come to the fore.

The United States is the first to acknowledge that its long-awaited $61 billion aid package for Ukraine is not a "silver bullet."

As weapons and ammunition are rushed to the country, other issues such as manpower shortages in Kyiv's struggling military have come to the fore.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• US President Joe Biden announced on April 24 that the US will begin sending military equipment to Ukraine  “a few hours” after signing a bill that will provide roughly $60 billion of assistance to Ukraine.
• The United States reportedly provided an unspecified number of long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine in March 2024, some of which Ukraine has already used to strike Russian targets in deep rear areas.
• The arrival of long-range ATACMS missiles in sufficient quantities will allow Ukrainian forces to degrade Russian logistics and threaten Russian airfields in deep rear areas, although months of delay may have provided the Russian military time to offset the potential operational impacts that ATACMS will afford Ukraine.
• Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted successful drone strikes against Russian energy and industrial facilities in Smolensk and Lipetsk oblasts on the night of April 23 to 24.
• Russian authorities arrested Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov on April 24 on charges of accepting bribes, although other Russian sources reported that Ivanov is suspected of treason.
• Ivanov’s arrest prompted Russian information space speculation about a new round of personnel changes in the Russian military and claims that the arrest is part of Kremlin factional conflicts.
• Russian ultranationalist milbloggers largely celebrated Ivanov’s arrest and used it as an opportunity to publicly criticize the Russian MoD.
• The Kremlin explicitly threatened Armenia if Armenia does not resume active engagement in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and resume its pro-Kremlin alignment.
• Kremlin-appointed Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova deliberately misrepresented recent Qatari-mediated negotiations between Russia and Ukraine as the first face-to-face negotiations on the return of Ukrainian children forcibly removed and deported by Russia, likely in an effort to minimize Russia’s responsibility for the coordinated removal and deportation of Ukrainian children.
• Moldovan authorities filed a criminal case against Yevgenia Gutsul, the Kremlin-affiliated governor of the pro-Russian Moldovan autonomous region of Gagauzia, for campaign finance violations as Moldovan officials continue to warn about Russia’s threat to Moldova.
• Russian forces recently marginally advanced near Avdiivka, Donetsk City, and Robotyne.
• Russian State Duma Committee on Information Policy Head Alexander Khinshtein stated on April 24 that unspecified Russian officials will soon submit a draft law to the State Duma that would ban the extradition of foreigners who have fought in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine if the foreigners face prosecution for their military service in their home countries.

French aviation “expert” Cyril de Lattre told RIA Novosti the limitations of F-16s destined for Ukraine and the shortcomings of its pilots could be compensated for by foreign pilots, in his opinion.

The self-professed French aviation “expert,” commentator and former airline pilot, Cyril de Lattre, expressed the view to the Russian news site RIA Novosti that the F-16 fighter aircraft, which Kyiv is expecting to receive from the West, will not bring the significant results that Kyiv is hoping for.

He said that the shortcomings revolved around a combination of the quality of the combat aircraft being provided, the anti-aircraft assets Russia possessed and most importantly the quality of Ukraine’s pilots.