Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 05-04-2024

Ukraine has been launching French AASM Hammer guided bombs from its Mig-29 fighter aircraft since early 2024 and France is now integrating them into the F-16 Fighting Falcons destined for Ukraine.

The Chairman of France’s Commission on Defense and the Armed Forces, Thomas Gassiloud said in an interview with the French free-to-air news channel LCI TV channel on Friday that work had started on the integration of the weapons system and the US aircraft.

Ukraine’s in the middle of fighting off an invasion from a better-armed neighbor and is desperate for arms and ammunition. Why then are some saying it should start exporting weapons?

Being the site of the largest European war since World War II has led to the rapid development of Ukrainians’ home-grown defense industry.

Privately owned factories are sprouting up across the country and taking over what had largely been strictly state-owned companies.

While Russians go bananas for fear of cross-border attacks, Ukrainians on their side of the border stoically cultivate banana trees in the most inhospitable of circumstances.

Even before the announcement of more US aid to Ukraine, Russia had stepped up its attacks on Ukraine, especially from Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border. Rocket launchers in the town stand between high-rise, residential buildings.

Not surprisingly Ukrainian attack drones fly there from time to time. The explosions are quite loud, and the residents of Belgorod are justifiably afraid of them.

This year’s Eurovision contest has so far been dominated by calls for Israel to be excluded over its war in Gaza, which the organizers rejected.

It took over 26 hours to travel from Kyiv to Malmo, a journey Ukraine's Eurovision contestants say was imperative to make their country “visible” in the song contest overshadowed by Israel's participation.

“It's an opportunity for us to represent our culture. To show that we've got so much more to give people,” singer Jerry Heil – the stage name for Yana Shemaieva – told AFP in an interview.

So far, 465,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the Ukraine invasion, and with a new offensive, many more are likely to follow, British intelligence says.

Russia has adapted its army to a grueling war and bets on the number of troops, not their quality, a report by the UK Ministry of Defense said Saturday.

There will likely be heavy combat losses for the Russians as they undertake a new offensive in eastern Ukraine, the report says. 

Now, as Ukraine waits for aid, Russia has been pushing its advantage, gaining more ground in the east.

The majority of allied aid to Ukraine won’t arrive until summer at best and year’s end at worst, The New York Times (NYT) reported, citing analysts.

Following US President Joe Biden’s signing of $61 billion in aid to Ukraine on April 24, Ukraine’s already gotten two shipments of supplies, including sorely needed 155mm artillery shells – on Sunday and Monday, April 28 and 29, the NYT reported.

Serhiy Kolyada on the Kremlin's godless 'religious' auxiliaries preparing their flock for Easter.

In April, the United States confirmed it had sent these missiles to Ukraine, which had been pressing for them to strike targets way beyond the front line.

Russia on Saturday said it had downed four US-made ATACMS long-range missiles recently supplied by Washington to Kviv over the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula.

The defense ministry said it had “foiled” the night attack but did not specify if the falling debris had caused any damage.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• The average daily number of Russian casualties (killed and wounded) in Ukraine throughout April 2024 remained in the pattern of 2024, with 899losses per day.
• It is likely that Russia's casualty rate will again increase over the next twomonths as they renew dedicated offensive operations in eastern Ukraine. This follows a slight decrease in the pace of operations over the past twomonths since the fall of Avdiivka.
• The total number of Russian losses since the start of the conflict now stands at over 465,000. It is likely that despite the extreme cost in life, Russia has fully adapted its military to attritional warfare which relies on mass over quality. This reliance on mass will almost certainly continue for the duration of the Ukraine war and have long-lasting effects onRussia's future army.

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

UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said it is up to Ukraine to decide how to use British weapons and insisted it has the right to strike targets on Russian territory. During a visit to Kyiv, he said the UK would provide £3bn ($3.75bn) per year for as long as necessary. “Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it's defending itself," Lord Cameron said. Russia condemned what it called "another very dangerous statement…This is a direct escalation of tension around the Ukrainian conflict, which would potentially pose a threat to European security," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The US has reportedly urged Ukraine to halt its strikes on oil refineries in Russia, fearing it could provoke an escalation in the conflict.

The US has accused Russia of deploying chemical weapons as a "method of warfare" in Ukraine, in violation of international laws banning their use. State department officials said Russia used the choking agent chloropicrin to win "battlefield gains" over Ukraine. The allegations, which US officials said were not an "isolated" incident, would contravene the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which Russia signed. The Kremlin rejected the accusations, calling them "baseless". Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that Russia stood by its obligations under the CWC, which prohibits states from developing or acquiring new weapons. Some 193 states have ratified the convention. - BBC

The world is now in its third year of war in Europe and Ukraine’s allies must correct course. They cannot win a war without laying waste to the economic wealth and income of the enemy.

Russia’s economy has been sanctioned, punished, and distorted as a result of its war. But loopholes and workarounds have been devised to avoid sanctions, fossil fuel bans, and the G7 oil price cap.

The West must escalate its economic war against Moscow by increasing restrictions and by punishing sanctions-busters.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is abusing her position of public trust by conducting a war of disinformation for Russia’s benefit.

It’s high time for the US House of Representatives to censure a Russian ally in Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). The New York Post has featured her as  “Moscow Marjorie”  for waging a Pro-Kremlin disinformation war to the detriment of Ukraine and America. 

Unfortunately, Greene is more than a mouthpiece for the Kremlin’s imperialistic ambitions. Her latest antics surfaced on Wednesday when she announced plans to oust House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), for embracing a Ukraine aid package that recently passed Congress. Previously, Greene had sabotaged Ukraine aid packages by threatening to oust House speaker Johnson, causing a six-month delay, measured in thousands of civilian casualties by Russian strikes.    

For the sake of democracy and society, we need journalists that can keep holding power to account and unveil injustices – especially in times of crisis.

On World Press Freedom Day – Friday, May 3 – Swedish Radio’s Director General and Vice President of the EBU, Cilla Benkö, said that media freedom in Europe is under dire threat.

She called for the safety of journalists and respect for independent, trustworthy reporting, warning that threats to media freedom go hand in hand with threats to democracy.

Mass protests against the adoption of a "foreign agent" law are gaining momentum in Georgia.

Mass protests against the adoption of a "foreign agent" law, which stipulates that media and organisations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad must disclose their income, are gaining momentum in Georgia. In March 2023, protests against a similar bill ultimately led to its withdrawal. What to make of the current developments - not least in light of Georgia's recently acquired EU candidate status?

Decide between East or West

Experts say Beijing is unlikely to renounce support for Moscow, which it sees as a priority partner in its opposition to the United States.

French President Emmanuel Macron will next week make a new push to try and dissuade China's Xi Jinping from supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine but is unlikely to make a breakthrough on ending the conflict during the visit, observers say.

President Xi's visit is set to be rich on symbolism – with a sumptuous dinner at the Elysee Palace and a trip to the Pyrenees mountains planned – but risks being short on diplomatic success for the French leader.

Kyiv Post has collected the most popular places in Kyiv where you can enjoy an Easter dessert or order it to take away.

One of the customs, when Orthodox Christians and Greek Catholics in Ukraine celebrate Easter on Sunday, May 5 is eating sweet and fragrant Easter bread, or “paska.”

For Ukrainians, the tradition of making paska goes back far in time, perhaps even pre-dating the introduction of Christianity to Kyivan Rus.

The claim made by some media was a misinterpretation, or at least, over-extrapolation, of a comment from a German official.

Reports began surfacing in some media on Friday that the G7 is now considering exchanging frozen Russian assets for occupied Ukrainian territories, where Moscow can get their frozen assets back by giving up Ukrainian territories.

Among the channels that published the claim was “Ukraine 24/7 – news,” which did so on its Telegram channel and referenced an article by the Financial Times (FT) titled “The clash over whether to commandeer Russia’s frozen assets.”

The mayor reported that a large scale fire broke out.

In early morning Russian attacks on May 4, Iranian-made Shahed drones hit civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv’s Osnovyansk district, injuring at least three people, Ukrainian officials reported.

“A large scale fire broke out at the site of one of the hits,” Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.

The Threat Posed by the KAB-500

On April 28, the Ukrainian military conducted a strike against the Kushchyovskaya airbase in Krasnodar Krai, Russia using a small group of drones. Visual evidence suggests that at least one Russian Su-34 aircraft was destroyed in the operation. However, the main success of this mission was not the damage dealt to the aircraft, but rather the destruction of a warehouse that contained a stockpile of one of Russia’s most potent weapons in the invasion of Ukraine: the KAB-500 glide bomb.

The KAB-500 is an air-launched munition developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. The first iteration of the bomb, known as the KAB-500L, was designed to use a laser guidance system and movable fins to maneuver toward its target after being fired from an aircraft. This design was later upgraded to the KAB-500S-E which traded the laser guidance system for a more sophisticated satellite uplink used for targeting. This satellite guidance system is tethered to “GLOSNASS,” a Russian-developed alternative to GPS. The system can be considered Russia’s analog to the American-produced JDAM in that it allows “dumb bombs” to accurately maneuver and fly towards a target over a great distance.

How does Facebook deal with Russia’s disinformation campaign on social media? Kyiv Post spoke to Kateryna Kruk, who's responsible for the social network’s Ukraine policy.

Ukrainian content on Facebook is moderated by Ukrainian employees only, Kateryna Kruk, the company's public policy manager told Kyiv Post.

“We are working hard to combat disinformation from Russia, which comes from state-controlled media. Since March 2022, we have been reducing the distribution of content from Facebook and Instagram accounts belonging to Russian state-controlled media and making them harder to find on our platforms around the world,” Kruk said.