April 28, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Ukraine’s armed forces are finishing their preparations for a counteroffensive against Russian troops, defense minister Oleksii Reznikov has said.

Asked whether Ukraine had received the weapons promised by its international allies in order to launch a counteroffensive, Reznikov said his country had received Leopard 2 and Challenger tanks and was expecting Leopard 1 tanks “a little later.” He said US-made Abrams tanks would not arrive in time to participate in the counteroffensive.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Ukraine’s foreign allies had delivered more than 98% of the combat vehicles promised to Kyiv.

Some background: Ukraine has made extraordinary efforts to conceal the start of its strategically vital counteroffensive, and deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar stated last week that the counteroffensive would not be announced.

The death toll from Russia's strikes across Ukraine on Friday morning has risen to 16 after two more bodies were found in Uman, with the total of those killed in the city now standing at 14.

Two other deaths were reported earlier in the city of Dnipro.

Children among the dead: Cruise missiles were launched at Ukrainian cities in the early hours of Friday morning.

In Dnipro, a 31-year-old woman and her 2-year-old child died, according to Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor's Office in a post on Telegram. Two 10-year-old children are among the dead in Uman, Ihor Taburets, the head of the Cherkasy region, said.

Missiles and drones were also shot down over the capital Kyiv, in what authorities called the first missile attack on the Ukrainian capital in 51 days.

Fragments from a missile intercepted over the Kyiv region hit a multi-story residential building and injured two people, including a 13-year-old girl, the Kyiv region police chief Andrii Nebytov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered museums to be built which are dedicated to commemorating the events of the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin said Friday.

The museums, which will be built across the country, will showcase “the events of the special military operation and the heroic deeds of its participants,” according to a Kremlin statement.

Putin has set a deadline of the end of the year for the heads of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Education and Science, and the Ministry of Education to report on the progress of implementing the galleries which are to be handled by regional and municipal authorities. The Ministry of Defense has also been directed to identify artifacts suitable for display in these museums.

Controlling the narrative: On February 24 2022, Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine and began Europe’s biggest land war since 1945 -- and the Kremlin has been working hard to control the narrative.

Draconian new censorship laws target any media still operating outside the controls of the Kremlin and most independent journalists have left the country.

Meanwhile, a digital Iron Curtain has been reinforced, shutting Russians off from Western news and social media sites, and authorities have rounded up thousands in a crackdown on anti-war protests.

The death toll from Russia’s deadly, early-morning missile strikes across Ukraine on Friday has risen to 14, officials said, after two more bodies were pulled from the rubble of a residential building in the city of Uman. 

“As of 11:50 a.m., the body of one more dead person was removed from the rubble of a residential building,” Ukraine’s state emergency service said on the Telegram messaging app. The press office of Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs later said another body had been found.

The search operation in Uman continues. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter earlier that one apartment building in Uman had been “destroyed” and many others damaged before dawn on Friday. 

The damage: According to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko, there were 46 apartments inside the building that was hit, 27 of which were completely destroyed. He said it may take a day to clear all the rubble.

Klymenko said authorities had set up tents for survivors and their neighbors to wait in “until the local authorities provide them with places of refuge."

"At the moment, the authorities have provided everyone with food. There is also a hotline that can be contacted by relatives and friends of our citizens who lived in this and other houses that were damaged in this area," he said. 

Bridget Brink, America’s ambassador to Ukraine, responded to Friday’s attack in a tweet. “More lives tragically lost as Russia’s missiles hit another apartment building. Russia still hasn’t learned that its brutality only reinforces Ukrainian resolve and deepens our commitment to support in the fight,” she said. 

Russia's missile attacks on Ukrainian cities overnight is Moscow's “response to all peace initiatives," Ukraine’s foreign minister has said.

Children among the dead: Cruise missiles were launched at Ukrainian cities in the early hours of Friday morning, killing at least 12 people.

In Dnipro, a 31-year-old woman and her 2-year-old child died, according to Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor's Office in a post on Telegram. In Uman, 10 people died, including two 10-year-old children, Ihor Taburets, the head of the Cherkasy region, said.

Missiles and drones were also shot down over the capital Kyiv, in what authorities called the first missile attack on the Ukrainian capital in 51 days.

Fragments from a missile intercepted over the Kyiv region hit a multi-story residential building and injured two people, including a 13-year-old girl, the Kyiv region police chief Andrii Nebytov said.

Most missiles launched at Ukraine in the early hours of Friday morning were intercepted, the country’s air force said in a Telegram post.

The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said it intercepted 21 out of 23 cruise missiles and destroyed two drones.

At least 12 people have been killed in the attacks, Ukrainian officials say. This includes a 31-year-old woman and her 2-year-old child who died in the attack in central Ukraine's Dnipro, according to the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor's Office.

In the city of Uman in the central Cherkasy region, 10 people were killed when Russian rockets hit several high-rises, including residential buildings, according to Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs.

Twelve people have now been confirmed dead in Russian missile attacks across Ukraine early Friday.

Three more bodies were pulled from the rubble of a building in the city of Uman, in central Ukraine.

That brings the total of people killed in the Uman attack to 10.

In central Ukraine's Dnipro, a 31-year-old woman and her 2-year-old child died in the attack, according to the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor's Office.

At least nine people have been killed in Russian missile attacks on Ukraine early Friday.

In the city of Uman: In the city of Uman in central Cherkasy region, at least seven people, including a child, were killed when Russian rockets hit several high-rises, including residential buildings, according to Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs.

Seventeen people were rescued from under the rubble in Uman. Nine were taken to hospital, with one person in critical condition, Klymenko said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier tweeted: "10 residential buildings are damaged in Uman. The entire block of one of them is destroyed."

Dnipro: In central Ukraine's Dnipro, a 31-year-old woman and her 2-year-old child died in the attack, according to the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor's Office.

Three civilians were injured, with two of them taken to hospital, it said.

New research has revealed the extent to which Iran has built a powerful weapons industry based on Western technology, and how that technology is being used by Russia against Ukrainian cities.

Conflict Armament Research (CAR), a UK-based organization which investigates weapons’ components, has established that the Shahed-136 drones sold to Russia by Iran are powered by an engine based on German technology – technology illicitly acquired by Iran almost 20 years ago.

The finding – made through detailed examination of components recovered in Ukraine and shared exclusively with CNN – underlines Iran’s ability to mimic and finesse military technology it has obtained illegitimately.

Western officials are also concerned that Russia may share Western-made weapons and equipment recovered on the Ukrainian battlefield with the Iranians. So far, there’s no firm evidence that has happened.

However, relations between Tehran and Moscow have grown much closer. Russia wants Iranian drones and ballistic missiles; Iran wants Russian investment and trade. Russia has become the largest foreign investor in Iran over the past year, according to Iranian officials.

And for the Russians, Iranian drones are a bargain substitute for much more costly missiles, stocks of which are dwindling, according to Western officials. Experts believe that a Shahed-186, for example, costs about $20,000, a tiny fraction of the cost of a Kalibr cruise missile.

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