Small Wars Journal

Ukraine: WAR BULLETIN April 12, 10.30 a.m. EST

Tue, 04/12/2022 - 3:42pm

Embassy of Ukraine in the USA

 

WAR BULLETIN

April 12, 10.30 a.m. EST

 

WAR ROOM

 

General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 12.04:

personnel - 19600,

tanks ‒ 732,

APVs ‒ 1946,

artillery systems – 349,

MLRS - 111,

Anti-aircraft warfare systems - 63,

aircraft – 157,

helicopters – 140,

vehicles - 1406,

vessels - 7,

fuel tanks - 76,

UAVs operational-tactical level – 124,

special equipment – 25,

mobile SRBM systems - 4.

 

The forty-eighth day of the resistance of the Ukrainian people to a Russian military invasion continues. The Russian Federation continues its full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine.

Russia is trying to complete the regrouping and relocation of units to areas of concentration in the Belgorod and Voronezh regions of the Russian Federation, as well as the relocation of air and space forces to airfields in the immediate vicinity of Ukraine's eastern borders.

The Russian occupiers, ignoring the norms of international humanitarian law, continue to use tactics of placing equipment and manpower directly in housing. Thus, in the temporarily occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, the Russian forces use the premises of agricultural enterprises, energy and social infrastructure facilities, and the central districts of settlements. Cases of enemy fighting in civilian clothes have been reported.

In the Volyn and Polissya directions, Russian troops did not take active action. No changes in the position and actions of enemy units in these areas have been recorded.

In the Siversky direction, Russia completes the redeployment of individual units to the eastern operational zone. Units of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District are being relocated to designated areas in the Belgorod and Voronezh oblasts.

In the Slobozhansky direction, enemy troops continue to partially block the city of Kharkiv. In the area of the city of Izyum, Russia is fighting with separate units of the 1st tank and 20th Guards Combined Arms Army. It conducts air reconnaissance in order to identify the positions of units of Ukrainian troops and determine the routes of their deployment.

In the Donetsk and Tavriya directions, Russia is fighting and holding certain borders with forces from the Southern Military District. It carries out the movement of additional units to conduct hostilities on the territory of Ukraine.

There are signs of strengthening the air defence system in the areas of Melitopol and Ilovaisk.

It is likely that in the future Russia will try to take control of the city of Mariupol, capture Popasna and launch an offensive in the direction of Kurakhove in order to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk region.

In the South Buh direction, the enemy holds certain boundaries by units of the Southern Military District. It replenishes regular losses in manpower and equipment. It tries to ensure the survival of its own control points. Russia does not stop trying to gain a foothold on the administrative borders of Kherson region.

In the waters of the Black and Azov Seas, Russian enemy naval groups continue to perform tasks related to the isolation of the area of hostilities, reconnaissance, and fire support of ground units.

The threat of the enemy's use of missile weapons remains.

In the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, our soldiers repulsed six enemy attacks, destroyed four tanks, five armored units, twenty-six vehicles and eight enemy artillery systems.

The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has hit seven air targets in the previous day: one plane, two helicopters and four unmanned aerial vehicles.

 

Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine

4,354 people were evacuated on April 11 as the result of the work of humanitarian corridors, including: 556 people – from Mariupol; 3,298 people - residents of cities of Zaporizhia region (Pology, Vasylivka, Berdiansk and Melitopol).

https://cutt.ly/LFmLhNW

 

Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine

Russian servicemen from the 47th Tank Division who took part in the battles against Ukraine did not receive the promised additional surcharges. The last surcharges they received were 2 percent of their pre-war salary.

The status of "veteran" can theoretically be obtained only by those who were injured, treated in hospital and have an official record of injuries. The occupier's troops bombard the command with appeals for bonuses and "veteran" status, but they are all ignored.

Additional incentive to refuse to take part in the war against Ukraine was the large number of bodies that are beginning to arrive to Russia. In order not to cause panic, the command ordered to transport them in small batches. According to the commanders, this will help avoid discontent and resistance in some units, as well as panic among local communities.

https://bit.ly/3rk4tRF

 

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

In Ukraine, the application "TiHto" has been launched to check for suspects.

The application was developed by the YouControl and Artellence teams with the support of cyber specialists of the Security Service of Ukraine.

Its main purpose is to simplify the procedure for checking suspects at checkpoints, on the streets during curfew, at the entrance to shelters or in other situations.

The application does not contain, store or transfer personal data, and works with information from open registers.

https://bit.ly/3jrvD4O

 

During the day, the police recorded 27 shellings of settlements by the occupying troops of the Russian Federation

The enemy fired mortars, artillery, and rocket-propelled grenade launchers at the cities of Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, Kreminna, Lysychansk, Novodruzhesk, Popasna, and Gorskoye. In addition to that, mobile communications have partially disappeared in the region.

https://bit.ly/3uxgncO

 

Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights

As of 10 a.m. on April 12, 2022, according to the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations and other sources that need confirmation, 186 (+3 per day) children have died and 344 children (+2 per day) have been injured since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

It is impossible to establish the actual number of dead and wounded children due to the fact that the occupying forces are actively fighting in Ukrainian cities.

A 1.5-year-old girl died as a result of the shelling of a house in Mariupol by Russian troops.

During the fixation of criminal offenses committed in the village Gavronshchyna, Bucha district, Kyiv region, a shot dead civilian car was found.  The bodies of five people were buried nearby, including two children aged 1 and 14 years.

The body of a 5-year-old child with multiple injuries resulting from the rupture of an artillery shell was found in Kyiv Region.

According to UNICEF in Ukraine, due to the war of 3.2 million children left in their homes, about 1.6 million children are at risk of living on the brink of starvation and at risk of food shortages.

To date, daily bombings and shelling have damaged 938 educational institutions, 87 of which have been completely destroyed.

https://bit.ly/3O0O0vz

 

At night, the outskirts of Severodonetsk and Gorsky in the Luhansk region were shelled with phosphorous shells, and large-scale destruction was inflicted.

The anti-personnel mine MON-90 was found in the private sector of Irpin, a charge of 6.2 kg of plastid.  Mined under the guise of a checkered bag.

In the Kharkiv region, law enforcement officers recorded the mass use of delayed-action mines by the enemy.  They do not work immediately, only when they are affected by a person or other motion factor.

Rescuers managed to destroy more than 80 mines yesterday - on roofs, attics and even on playgrounds for children.

In total, 6,252 explosive devices were found and neutralized in Ukraine during the day of pyrotechnics.  The largest number is in the Kharkiv region (2,327 subjects).  In total, since the beginning of the war, rescuers have neutralized 54,523 explosive devices.

https://bit.ly/3rmlCKt

 

In Severodonetsk, the occupiers destroyed a humanitarian aid center, and the building came under massive shelling.  Eight shells hit the room where the center was located.  The walls were destroyed, there was a significant fire in the warehouse

The night shelling of the outskirts of Severodonetsk and Gorsky has catastrophic consequences - almost all communications have been destroyed.  People were left without light, water and gas.  95,795 consumers were left without electricity; 36 settlements were without electricity.

As a result of artillery shelling with.  Mykhailivka, Pokrovskyi district, Donetsk region, 30 houses were damaged.

https://bit.ly/3rjEmdM

 

POLICY

President of Ukraine

Address of the President to the Parliament of Lithuania

Dear Mrs. Speaker, Mrs. Viktoria, I remember your visit to Kyiv, one of the first since the beginning of this war.

Dear Mr. President, friend Gitanas, you have been to Ukraine many times, you and I have done a lot together. I'm sure we will do even more!

Dear Mrs. Prime Minister, Mrs. Ingrida, I am grateful to you for your visit yesterday.

Dear Lithuanian people!

I am grateful for the opportunity to address you today on behalf of the entire Ukrainian people, who will always remember your sincerity and readiness to support us at the most difficult time for our country.

You were among the first to come to the aid of Ukraine. And you remain among those who care most about peace and security of Europe.

In the liberated areas of Ukraine, work continues to record and investigate war crimes committed by the Russian Federation. Almost every day new mass graves are found. Evidence is being gathered. Thousands and thousands of victims. Hundreds of cases of brutal torture. Human corpses are still found in manholes and basements. Tied up, mutilated bodies. There are villages - once quite large, which were left almost without inhabitants. Hundreds of children are orphans. That is, at least hundreds of children, because we do not know the exact number of victims yet. Hundreds of cases of rape have been recorded, including underage girls, very young children... And even a baby! It's just scary to talk about it now. Even this person, this Russian savage Bychkov from Pskov is identified. The paratrooper or special services officer who sent this video to his comrades. Video of what he does to the baby. How he torments the baby!

This is the Russian military. "Defender" of children. This is a "special operation" planned in Moscow. This is the story of the struggle for the "Russian world". This is what the Russian army and Russian paratroopers will now be associated with. From Pskov.

Russian propagandists have apparently already begun to justify this. They will probably say, as always, that this did not happen, or even if it did happen, it was the protection of "Russian-speakers." And propagandists will also be responsible for this crime, as well as for any such crime. Including those who educate such paratroopers. From Pskov, including those in Europe who still do not remove Russian propaganda from television. Everywhere in Ukraine where the occupiers came, along the roads, in yards, parks, gardens, there is a burial of people whose bodies could not be taken to cemeteries. And all this is within a period of several weeks of Russian occupation. About a month. In the areas around our capital, in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions, in the north of our state.

The whole world remembered the name of the city of Bucha. But this is just one symbol of the crimes of the Russian military. You can take any other city from those where they managed to gain a foothold for a while, any village... The occupiers did the same thing there as in Bucha.

And what is in the east of our country, where Russian troops still remain? What is in the south? We cannot even imagine what is in Mariupol and Volnovakha, which were almost destroyed by the Russian army. Corpses are no longer left on the streets there. They are taken out and probably burned.

There are mass deportations of people from the occupied areas. Hundreds of thousands of people have already been deported. They are placed in special filtration camps. Documents are taken away from them. They are interrogated and humiliated. It is unknown how many are killed.

The European Union is discussing the sixth - I emphasize: the sixth package of sanctions against Russia for the war unprecedented since World War II, and it is still unknown whether oil will be subject to sanctions.

Even after seeing massacres in Bucha and other cities, even knowing about the deportations of people, even watching the deliberate destruction of peaceful cities by Russian missiles and air bombs - some EU countries cannot decide when they will at least significantly limit the purchase of Russian energy.

Hundreds of European companies and banks have not only not yet refused to operate in the Russian market, but are also showing outright contempt in response to demands to stop financing Russia's military machine through their taxes and excise taxes. And all this is happening right now - when the blood is still fresh. What does this indicate?

If oil is being seriously discussed only for the sixth package of sanctions, then the world does not realize what war Russia was preparing for. If there is still no clear decision on Russian gas, there can be no certainty that Europe has a common will to stop Russian war crimes. To force Russia to seek peace.

If there are large European companies and large European banks, which even in the midst of hostilities in Ukraine do not consider it necessary to withdraw from the Russian market, it means that all other companies will take this as a signal: wait, wait a bit and then you can work as usual, even if nothing changes significantly in Russia's behavior.

I am grateful to you for the leadership. For being the first to abandon Russian energy now. When it is really necessary.

I am grateful to you, Gitanas, for the important decision. For being the first to give us real help, to give us weapons. Stingers and more.

It was a historic manifestation of leadership. After all, the Lithuanian people, like no other, understand how the occupiers can destroy freedom and at what cost the independence is rebuilt then, which you have done exemplary.

This is exactly the kind of leadership the whole continent needs now to truly save and uphold common values that are undoubtedly important for Europe.

To prove that the common values of freedom, human rights, respect for state borders and prevention of a war of invasion are in fact alive, not something outdated and worthy of a museum only.

When the continent thought primarily of selfish interests, rather than of what should unite everyone, this has always led to terrible times for Europe as a whole. Discord, outbreaks of revanchism, wars - this is definitely not what Europeans need in the 21st century.

But this is what Russia is trying to bring back.

The Russian state must be responsible for this war. Russian officials and military commanders, all those guilty of war crimes, must be held accountable. All organizers and perpetrators of deportation must be held accountable. Russia must be deprived of any opportunity to terrorize its neighbors.

It's not just about us, it's not just about Ukraine! The real Russian plans are obvious to everyone. Ukraine is just the beginning. Next, God forbid, but next is your state, other Baltic states, Moldova, Georgia, Poland, Central Asian states. Threats are already being heard from Moscow against Finland and Sweden.

How will Europe be able to stop Russia's further expansion if it is not yet able to stop even what is happening in Ukraine now? Although I know that Lithuania is already doing everything one hundred percent to protect Europe's values, freedom and security for Europeans, it is important that the whole of Europe works one hundred percent.

We cannot wait for the elaboration of the seventh or eighth or ninth, tenth, twentieth package of sanctions against Russia in order to make really powerful decisions. We must do everything necessary now - in the sixth package of sanctions. The European Union can do that. And it must do that. It must include oil there. It must impose sanctions on Russian banks - on all of them, not part. No demonstrations needed.

Specific deadlines must finally be set for each EU state in order to really abandon or at least significantly limit the consumption of Russian gas, oil, etc. Only then will the Russian leadership come to the conclusion that real peace must be sought. That war is a catastrophe first of all for them.

We have already achieved a lot at the bilateral level. True understanding. True allied relations based not just on interests, but on values and on our common historical path.

We will only strengthen our cooperation in the original format of the Lublin Triangle. This will definitely be the basis for a new security configuration in the Baltic-Black Sea region.

Ukraine is also grateful to all our friends in the European Union for starting the accelerated procedure for our country to obtain the status of a candidate for EU membership. We are especially grateful to the Republic of Lithuania.

Successfully completing the procedure in the near future is also a must to show Russia that the war will not break either you or the whole of Europe.

And when peace finally comes - and I am sure it will come very soon if everyone in Europe is truly principled - we will be able to quickly and demonstratively rebuild Ukraine after this war.

I invite your society, your companies, your state to join the project of reconstruction of Ukraine. The reconstruction, which will be the most convincing argument for all those who still have doubts about Europe. About its future. About its potential.

Life must win the war. Values must win the war. Europe must win the war. And we will win.

https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/zvernennya-prezidenta-ukrayini-do-parlamentu-litvi-74285

 

Ministry for Communities and Territories Development

The government of Ukraine has decided to allocate the first UAH 1 billion to eliminate the consequences of hostilities in the occupied regions. The funds will be used to carry out the most necessary priority works on the reconstruction of facilities in Kyiv (UAH 400 million), Sumy (UAH 250 million), Chernihiv (UAH 250 million) and Zhytomyr (UAH 100 million) oblasts.

The funds of the reserve fund of the state budget are allocated to the regional military administrations and will be directed to the following areas: repair and replacement of filling of window and door openings (current repairs); overhaul of roof and roof structures; current repair of the roof covering; elimination of potholes of streets and roads of settlements; repair of external and internal engineering networks and systems, including heat supply, gas supply, water supply, drainage, sewerage, heating, electrical networks; dismantling of destroyed structures and other priority measures to restore the infrastructure of settlements.

https://www.kmu.gov.ua/news/uryad-uhvaliv-rishennya-pro-vidilennya-pershogo-1-mlrd-grn-na-likvidaciyu-naslidkiv-vijskovih-dij-v-deokupovanih-oblastyah

 

Ministry of Health of Ukraine

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine has collected more than 3,234 tons of humanitarian aid, including medicines, medical devices, medical equipment and other goods.

During the war, Ukraine received numerous shipments of medicines from around the world. Medical humanitarian aid has already been distributed to the central, southern and eastern regions to ensure the smooth operation of Ukrainian hospitals.

The ministry is grateful to Ukrainian and international partners, business and charities for their strong support.

https://www.kmu.gov.ua/news/za-45-dniv-vijni-moz-zibralo-gumdopomogi-na-ponad-3-mlrd-grn

 

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

Two private companies, AXON (the USA) and Benish GPS (Switzerland), donated $ 4 million of special equipment (i.e. chest video recorders) to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. It will allow Ukrainian law enforcement to effectively collect and digitize evidence of Russian war crimes against Ukraine.

The equipment received by the Ministry of Internal Affairs is considered to be one of the best sample in its field. The body cameras provided by the companies will be used by investigators and forensic scientists to capture traces of war crimes, and the data will be transferred to a single archive of historical memory of Russia's aggression against peaceful Ukraine.

The American company AXON is a leader in the production of high-tech security equipment, together with Benish GPS - one of the leaders in the IT market in Europe. Both AXON and Benish GPS call on international companies to join in helping Ukraine at this difficult time.

https://www.kmu.gov.ua/news/mvs-otrimalo-obladnannya-na-4-mln-dolariv-dlya-ocifrovuvannya-voyennih-zlochiniv-rosiyi