Ukraine war: Russia probably plans "massive attack" on Luhansk

Created: 04/05/2022, 04:49 am

By: Tobias Utz, Lukas Zigo, Karolin Schäfer, Katja Thorwarth, Daniel Dillmann, Tanja Banner, Vincent Büssow, Nail Akkoyun, Andreas Apetz

In the Ukraine war, the region around Kyiv is the scene of war crimes.

So far, at least 161 children have been killed by Russian soldiers.

The situation on Monday.

• In the Ukraine war*, allegations of war crimes on the part of Russia* are increasing.

• Ukraine* had announced in advance that the army of Russian President Vladimir Putin* had withdrawn from the Kyiv* region in the Ukraine conflict*.

• Moscow* is increasingly oriented towards the south.

  The developments in the news ticker.

>>> Update news ticker <<<

+++ 9:48 p.m .:

According to Ukrainian information, the Russian armed forces are preparing a “massive attack” on the troops in the eastern Luhansk region.

The region's governor, Serhiy Gaidaj, announced on Monday that equipment and fuel would be brought and the troops reinforced.

"We believe they are preparing for a massive attack."

"The bombardments are getting heavier," Gaigaj said in a video message.

He urged residents to leave the region as soon as possible.

"Don't wait for your houses to be bombed," he called on the people.

"Two volunteers" were killed in a mine explosion on Sunday, he said.

Two priests were injured in the attack on a church.

A house in Sieverodonetsk in the Luhansk region was damaged by shelling from Russian troops.

© dpa

Ukrainian authorities understand that Russian forces have withdrawn from areas in northern Ukraine, particularly around Kyiv, to concentrate on the east and south of the country.

For its part, Russia recently announced that it would focus its offensive on the Donbass, where the Luhansk region is located.

Ukraine war: 130,000 people trapped in Mariupol

+++ 7.45 p.m .:

According to the mayor, around 130,000 residents are trapped in the city of Mariupol.

Mayor Vadym Boychenko said in a statement that "everything" in the city was destroyed -- including all city buses, the New York Times reports.

Meanwhile, Russia continues to bomb key cities in southern Ukraine, including Mykolaiv and the besieged city of Mariupol.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said an evaluation convoy carrying much-needed humanitarian aid failed to reach the city on Monday for the fourth straight day.

Ukraine war: Russia is probably preparing a new offensive in Luhansk

+++ 4.45 p.m .:

Russia has announced that it wants to focus more on eastern Ukraine in the Ukraine war.

The "liberation" of the Donbass border region is the "main goal" of the "special operation", as the invasion of Russia is called.

Is Russia preparing for this now?

There is said to be a "substantial accumulation of troops and military equipment" in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine.

That said Serhiy Haidai, head of the regional military administration, according to the US broadcaster CNN.

Apparently, preparations for an offensive advance are underway.

+++ 3.15 p.m .:

According to the Ukrainian government, Russia could have violated the Geneva Convention.

Released prisoners of war reported that they had received no food in captivity, were held in cellars and had to take off their uniforms.

Russia has not yet commented on the allegations from Kyiv.

+++ 2:00 p.m .:

The Red Cross has again canceled an aid delivery to the besieged port city of Mariupol.

For security reasons, it is currently hardly possible to get in, stressed spokesman Jason Straziuso.

Several attempts by the Red Cross to deliver relief supplies to the city have failed in the past.

According to Straziuso, the humanitarian situation remains very tense.

Food, medicine and drinking water are therefore missing.

+++ 1:00 p.m .:

Russia’s troops have probably largely withdrawn from the Sumy region.

This was announced by the local governor on TV.

The information cannot be independently verified.

+++ 12:00 p.m .:

According to their own statements, Russian troops fired on other command points, ammunition and fuel depots of the Ukrainian army on Monday night.

Major General Igor Konashenkov said that two Buk anti-aircraft missile systems were also destroyed.

One of the systems was located in Verkhnjotorezke in Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian air defense also shot down six Ukrainian drones.

Konashenkov named places in southern Ukraine such as Mykolaiv and Cherson.

Three Ukrainian helicopters were hit at Balowne airfield near Mykolaiv.

The information has not yet been independently verified.

+++ 11.30

a.m .: According to Ukrainian authorities, at least eight people were killed and 34 others injured in Russian attacks on the southern Ukrainian cities of Ochakiv and Mykolaiv (see update from 9.15 a.m.).

In Ochakiv alone, seven residents fell victim to the Russian bombardment on Sunday, the Ukrainian public prosecutor announced on Monday.

Residential buildings, vehicles and civilian infrastructure were also damaged by the shelling.

Mykolayiv is on the road to the largest Ukrainian port city, Odessa. 

Meanwhile, the news portal Kyiv Independent reports that the Russian army has killed 161 children so far.

264 others were injured.

According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the number is significantly higher due to a lack of information from frontline cities such as Mariupol.

+++ 11:00 a.m .:

The Czech Republic has ordered new soldiers to NATO’s eastern flank in Slovakia.

Colonel Tomas Unzeitig, head of the contingent, explained that 250 new armed forces were intended to demonstrate the determination to defend NATO territory.

Up to 400 more soldiers are to follow by the end of June.

Current war in Ukraine: New soldiers on NATO's eastern flank - Russian rocket attacks on Odessa and Mykolaiv

+++ 10:00 a.m.:

An escape corridor from Mariupol will be opened again on Monday.

The port city has been besieged by Russian troops for weeks.

According to Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, the corridor will lead from Mariupol towards the city of Zaporizhia.

This can be used by car, according to a report by the Kyiv Independent news portal, Vereshchuk said.

+++ 09.15 a.m .:

On the night of Monday (04.04.2022) there were new rocket attacks by Russia on the Ukrainian cities of Odessa and Mykolaiv.

This was announced by the Odessa regional administration and the mayor of Mykolaiv.

However, this information cannot be independently verified.

So far, there has been no statement from the Russian side.

At the weekend there had already been renewed rocket attacks on both cities.

War in Ukraine: Selenskyj invites former Chancellor Merkel to Bucha

Update from Monday, April 4th, 2022, 7.30 a.m .:

The Ukrainian President Selenskyj has asked former Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and France's ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy to travel to the atrocity-affected town of Bucha.

"I invite Ms. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy to visit Bucha and see what the policy of concessions towards Russia has led to," he said in a video address on Sunday.

After the Russian army withdrew from the region around Kyiv, hundreds of civilian bodies were found in the suburb of Bucha, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Moscow denied the killing of civilians by Russian soldiers.

Ukraine War: Hundreds of bodies found near Kyiv after Russia withdraws

+++ 10 p.m .:

After the withdrawal of Russian troops, Ukraine says it has recovered the bodies of a total of 410 residents in the region around Kiev.

"This is a hell that must be documented so that the monsters who created it can be punished," Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova wrote on Facebook on Sunday evening.

It had previously become known that troops from Russia had withdrawn from the region around the capital of Ukraine.

The discovery of corpses that had been left behind in the suburb of Butscha caused international horror.

War in Ukraine: Russia shells town near Kyiv despite retreat

+++ 8:20 p.m .:

Despite the withdrawal of Russian troops from the region around Kiev, it should continue to be shelled.

This was announced by the central air command of Ukraine on Sunday (April 3, 2022) around 4:00 p.m. on Facebook.

Accordingly, the city of Vasylkiv, about 30 kilometers from the capital, is said to have been fired at by several rockets.

According to preliminary information, several people were injured.

The attack came after some calm had settled in the Kyiv area.

The troops from Russia had withdrawn from the region in order, it is believed, to focus their attacks on eastern Ukraine.

In Vasylkiv, which was hit by rockets from Russia a month ago, residents are said to have rebuilt some of the destroyed buildings.

War in Ukraine: Withdrawal of troops from Russia – Putin sets a date for the end of the war

+++ 7:00 p.m .:

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced further sanctions against Russia.

"We will decide on further measures in the circle of allies in the next few days," said the SPD politician on Sunday (April 3, 2022).

Scholz cited the atrocities committed by Russian troops in the city of Bucha in Ukraine as the reason for the new sanctions.

"The murder of civilians is a war crime," said the Chancellor.

The federal government also wants to continue to provide weapons to Ukraine.

It is unclear whether the discussion about new sanctions also includes an import stop for gas from Russia*, as Defense Minister Lambrecht brought it up.

Scholz gave no details.

+++ 5.25 p.m.:

The terrible pictures from Butscha cause horror and horror among numerous politicians.

Now the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has also spoken out and accused the Russian troops of genocide.

"This is indeed genocide," Zelenskyj told US broadcaster CBS.

“We are citizens of Ukraine and do not want to be subjected to the politics of the Russian Federation.

And that is why we are being destroyed and wiped out.

And this is happening in Europe in the 21st century,” Zelenskyy continued.

Selenskyj showed disbelief at the violence.

"If we find people whose hands are tied behind their backs and who have been beheaded, then I don't understand it." It's not enough for the "criminals" to kill children, they would also torture them.

+++ 4.30 p.m .:

Putin is said to have set May 9 as the date for a Russian victory in the Ukraine war.

Intelligence officials from the US* and EU* confirmed such reports from Ukraine to CNN.

Thus, Putin is under pressure to show results in his war, which could also explain the withdrawal of Russian troops from contested areas and the suspected refocusing on eastern Ukraine.

A US official claimed that the chances of conquest were best there.

Putin is said to have chosen May 9 primarily as a symbolic date, as this date marks the surrender of the Nazis in World War II.

But even if Russia is planning a victory celebration at this point, the reality is different, the intelligence officials agree.

Secretly, Putin is already preparing for a protracted war, an EU official claimed to CNN.

Ever since the Ukraine conflict began to escalate, Western intelligence services have made information public for strategic reasons.

Withdrawal of troops from Russia: Klitschko reports “two pieces of good news at once”

+++ 3.30 p.m .:

Two mayors of Ukraine were released from Russian captivity.

"Two good news at once," wrote the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko* on Telegram, announcing that they were the mayors of Snowsk and Beryslav.

The cities are located in the north and south of Ukraine respectively and are both in contested areas.

Russian soldiers are currently withdrawing from these regions in order, it is assumed, to focus their attacks on the east of the country.

Oleksandr Medvedov, mayor of the town of Snowks near Kyiv, is said to have spent a week in captivity by Russian troops.

On the other hand, Oleksanr Shapovalov, the mayor of Beryslav near Crimea, was arrested on March 19, according to Klitschko.

To what extent the release is related to Russia's withdrawal is unclear.

Ukraine war: "Massacre" in Bucha reported by Russians - "Whole families killed"

+++ 12.30 p.m .:

80% of the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum is said to have been destroyed during the Russian attack.

This is what Izyum Deputy Mayor Volodymyr Matsokin says, according to The Kyiv Independent.

The city lacks electricity, heating and water.

Izyum, a town east of Kharkiv with a pre-war population of 45,000, was captured by Russian troops on April 1.

Ukraine war currently: "Massacre" in Bucha reported by Russians - "Whole families killed"

+++ 11.50 a.m .:

According to Council President Charles Michel, the EU wants to support the investigation of “atrocities” by the Russian army in the suburbs of Kiev.

On Sunday, Michel was "shocked" by pictures from the Ukrainian town of Bucha on Twitter and spoke of a "massacre".

He announced that the EU would help "gather the necessary evidence for the prosecution in international courts". 

+++ 11.40 a.m .:

With the recapture of the region around the capital Kiev, the Ukrainian army was presented with a picture of horror after weeks of fighting.

Bucha was devastated by the Russian attacks.

Residential houses were damaged by shell fire and wrecked cars were seen on the streets, AFP reporters reported.

They saw at least 20 bodies lying on a single street in Bucha.

The dead wore civilian clothes.

"All these people were shot," Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said.

The streets of the small town are littered with corpses.

There were cars on the streets in which "entire families were killed: children, women, grandmothers, men".

According to the mayor, 280 people in Bucha had to be buried in mass graves because the three city cemeteries were still within reach of the Russian military.

Ukraine war current: war crimes reported in Bucha - explosions in Odessa

+++ 7.44 a.m .:

Human Rights Watch reports evidence of war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a woman in Bucha saw Russian troops round up five men and shot one of them in the back of the head, killing him.

The rights group said it interviewed a woman in Bucha who saw Russian troops round up five men and shot one of them in the back of the head, killing him, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Update from Sunday, April 3rd, 2022, 7 a.m.:

Several explosions were reported on Sunday from the strategically important Ukrainian coastal city of Odessa.

The detonations in the Black Sea city in the southwest of the country were heard early in the morning, an AFP reporter reported.

In addition, at least three columns of black smoke and flames were probably seen over an industrial area.

The metropolis is the largest port in Ukraine and central to the economy of the entire country. 

Ukraine war current: "Entire region of Kyiv" reconquered - Russia changes plan of attack

+++ 10:25 p.m.:

According to Ukrainian authorities, the armed forces are said to have recaptured the entire region around Kiev (see update, April 2nd, 2022, 8:05 p.m.).

In the past few weeks there had been fierce fighting in the capital and in the surrounding regions.

As a gesture of goodwill in the peace negotiations, Russia justified its troop withdrawal, the BBC reported.

Many Ukrainians are returning to their homeland.

However, the Russian withdrawal was met with skepticism in Kyiv and the western states.

According to Ukrainian authorities, at least 200 civilians have been killed in Irpin, about 27 kilometers north-west of the capital, since the Russian invasion.

However, most of the city's residents were able to escape.

Ukraine war: Russia changes strategy - almost 300 people buried in mass graves

+++ 19.20:

Almost 300 people were buried in mass graves after the Russian troops withdrew from Bucha in the Kiev region.

The streets of the small town, which was badly damaged by the fighting, are littered with corpses, Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk told the AFP news agency on Saturday.

Since the three city cemeteries are within reach of the Russian military, according to Fedoruk, 280 people had to be buried in mass graves.

A Ukrainian photojournalist was also killed in Kyiv.

Update from Saturday, April 2nd, 2022, 9:50 a.m.:

The resistance of the Ukrainian army to the Russian invasion is having an effect.

The recovery of some areas near the capital Kyiv (see update, April 1st, 2022, 6.45 p.m.) seems to have encouraged refugees to return to their homeland.

As the British news service BBC reports, around 421,000 refugees have returned to Ukraine via Poland.

On Friday (April 1st, 2022) alone, 15,000 people crossed the Polish border heading home.

A total of 2,437,000 people have fled from Ukraine to Poland since the beginning of the war, the Polish border guard announced on Saturday (April 2, 2022).

According to UN estimates, the number of Ukrainian refugees is 10 million.

+++ 11.15 a.m .:

Russia’s armed forces are probably withdrawing from the region around the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

This is reported by the responsible governor.

The troops are on their way to Belarus, Olexandr Pavlyuk said in a statement on Telegram.

That corresponds to NATO's assessment on Thursday.

NATO chief Stoltenberg said Russia was expected to regroup in Belarus to compensate for heavy losses.

+++ 11:00 a.m .:

Apparently there are still soldiers from the Russian army at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

On Thursday there were increasing reports that the troops were leaving the area.

In addition, it became known that numerous armed forces were probably irradiated.

War in Ukraine: Russia announces ceasefire in Mariupol

Update from Friday, April 1st, 2022, 8 a.m.:

At the request of France and Germany, Russia announced a ceasefire in the embattled port city of Mariupol for Friday morning.

A humanitarian escape corridor is to be created from 9 a.m. CEST for the evacuation of civilians to Zaporizhia.

According to Ukrainian information, convoys encountered several problems on Thursday (03/31/2022).

As reported by CNN, Russian troops are said to have confiscated 14 tons of relief supplies, including food and medicine, and blocked 45 buses.

In order to enable the people from Mariupol to be rescued, the escape corridors are “insufficient”, France said on Thursday.

War in Ukraine: Russian forces evacuate Chernobyl - and take hostages with them

First report from Friday, April 1st, 2022, 3:30 a.m.:

After weeks of occupation, the Russian armed forces left the Chernobyl nuclear ruins, but according to Ukrainian information they took hostages with them.

"There are no longer any outsiders in the area of ​​the Chernobyl nuclear power plant," the Ukrainian authority responsible for the restricted area in northern Ukraine said on Facebook on Thursday evening.

Later it was said that the Russians had taken away Ukrainian soldiers whom they had held hostage since the beginning of the war.

"When they ran away from the Chernobyl nuclear facility, the Russian occupiers took away members of the national guard they had held hostage since February 24," Ukraine's nuclear agency Energoatum said on Telegram, citing workers at the plant.

It was unclear how many Ukrainian soldiers were involved.

The authority responsible for the restricted area had previously announced the withdrawal of the Russian army.

The soldiers stole "equipment and other valuables" from the decommissioned nuclear facility.

Ukrainian specialists would now be sent to the site to comb it for "potential explosive devices".

(ktho/dil/lz/nak/tu/vbu/tab with AFP/dpa)