Ukraine: WAR BULLETIN April 18, 10.00 pm EST – The fifty-fourth day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to a Russian military invasion continues.
WAR BULLETIN
April 18, 10.00 pm EST
WAR ROOM
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 18.04 were approximately:
personnel – about 20600,
tanks ‒ 790,
APV ‒ 2041,
artillery systems – 381,
MLRS – 130,
Anti-aircraft warfare systems – 67,
aircraft – 167,
helicopters – 147,
vehicles – 1487,
boats / cutters – 8,
fuel tanks – 76,
UAV operational-tactical level – 155.
special equipment – 27.
mobile SRBM system – 4.
Data are being updated
The fifty-fourth day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to a Russian military invasion continues. Russia continues its full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine.
The Armed Forces of the Russian federation are completing the creation of an offensive group in the Eastern Operational Zone. The enemy also continues to launch missile and bomb strikes on critical infrastructure of Ukraine.
In the Volyn and Polissya areas, the enemy did not take active action, no signs of the formation of offensive groups were found. Certain units of the Armed Forces of the republic of Belarus continue to carry out tasks to cover the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in Brest and Gomel regions. In these areas, the enemy conducts electronic warfare reconnaissance. The export of damaged armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of the Russian federation is recorded by rail from the territory of the republic of Belarus.
In the Siversky direction, the enemy exercises increased control over border areas. Engineering equipment of positions in the areas of checkpoints and in the border areas of the Bryansk and Kursk regions of the Russian federation continues. The involvement of sabotage and reconnaissance groups and missile strikes from the territory of the Russian federation is not ruled out.
In the Slobozhansky direction, the occupiers continue to partially blockade Kharkiv and try to carry out fire damage to units of our troops.
In order to expand the bridgehead on the left bank of the Siversky Donets River and create conditions for the rapid deployment of troops, the enemy conducted reconnaissance by fighting in the settlements of Zavody, Dmytrivka and Dibrovne. He was unsuccessful, lost and left.
In the Donetsk and Tavriya directions, the enemy regains combat capability and replenishes its reserves. It is trying to improve the tactical position of his units and intensify hostilities. The Russian occupiers continue shelling the settlements of Siversk and Pokrovske.
The enemy concentrated its main efforts in the areas of the settlements of Lyman, Kreminna, Popasna and Rubizhne, trying to establish full control over the city of Mariupol. It carried out offensive operations in the Siverodonetsk, Popasna and Zaporizhia directions.
The enemy tried unsuccessfully to gain a foothold in the areas of Kreminna and Rubizhne. It carried out assault operations in the areas of Novotoshkivske, Popasna, Avdiivka and Marinka. It was also unsuccessful.
In the South Buh direction, the enemy focuses its main efforts on maintaining its positions, and continues to exert fire on the positions of our troops in the directions of Mykolayiv and Oleksandrivka.
It is expected that the enemy will continue to fight to reach the administrative borders of the Kherson region.
In total, 87 battalion tactical groups of the enemy were involved in the implementation of combat missions on the territory of Ukraine.
In the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, defenders of Ukraine repulsed twelve enemy attacks, destroyed ten tanks, fifteen armored units and five vehicles, as well as five enemy artillery systems.
The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has hit five air targets the day before: one plane, three helicopters and one UAV.
The Security Service of Ukraine
MP Viktor Medvedchuk, detained by the SSU, has addressed the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the President of the Russian Federation Volodymyr Putin with an offer to exchange him for defenders and residents of Mariupol.
He notes that they are in a blocked city, without a safe way out through humanitarian corridors.
In Mariupol, Russia’s aggression caused one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes. The invaders bomb civilians, block the delivery of humanitarian aid to the city, forcibly deport Ukrainians to Russia and deliberately destroy the city.
According to various estimates, about 120,000 civilians remain in blocked Mariupol, and the soldiers of the Azov Regiment and the 36th Marine Brigade continue to defend the city.
The SSU detained Medvedchuk on April 12. Later, the Head of the SSU Ivan Bakanov revealed the details of the special operation to detain the fugitive MP. He informed that the Russian FSB tried to take him first to Transnistria and then to Moscow. The SSU detained Medvedchuk on the way out of Kyiv region.
Russian invaders continue forced mobilization in so-called LNR/DNR (video). Men are caught on the streets, taken away from work, taken out of apartments or just off buses. All their documents are taken away, the ‘newly-recruited’ are dressed in uniforms without identification marks and sent to the front.
For the ‘troops’ not to run away – they are transported in closed railway cars. This is what a Donetsk resident, taken prisoner in Ukraine, tells about the ‘special rescue operation of Russia’.
‘They put us [in a vehicle] and drove somewhere. We didn’t know where we were going. And then we saw… Our task, as I understand it, we were like construction battalion… Like, dig trenches. It is unclear why and for what,’ says the ‘mobilized soldier’.
According to him, he did not take part in hostilities, but only guarded the checkpoint following orders of his commanders.
Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights
Peaceful cities of Ukraine are under regular shelling from the enemy.
This morning, five aimed missile strikes on Lviv. The missiles hit near railway facilities. One of the missiles hit a civilian object – a tire fitting.
Previously, 6 people died. 11 were injured, including 1 child. About 40 cars were damaged or destroyed. The shock wave shattered the windows of a nearby hotel. Ukrainians evacuated from other regions live there.
Rocket attack in Dnipropetrovsk region – two victims in Synelnykiv district. There, the missile hit an infrastructure facility. Rescuers put out the fire.
People were not affected in Pavlograd district. But it destroyed the railway infrastructure.
Tonight there was a rocket attack on Kramatorsk, there is destruction of infrastructure – at least 8 residential buildings, educational and infrastructural facilities were destroyed, information on the victims is being clarified.
Due to a missile strike on April 17, 98 apartment buildings in Brovary Kyiv region remain without electricity.
Since the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion, 859 explosive devices, including two aerial bombs, have been detected, seized and destroyed by SES units in Kyiv.
The use of such weapons of mass destruction against civilians is a crime against humanity and a violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
A special telephone line of the Commissioner for Psychological Assistance was launched on April 1 with the support of UNICEF.
There are 5 professional psychologists working on the line.
During the two weeks of its existence, more than 400 people called us for help, most of them calls from residents of liberated cities in Kyiv region – Bucha, Irpen, Gostomel.
People seek help mainly for sexual crimes, torture and abuse, both for themselves and for loved ones, including children.
Each appeal is a horrific account of the crippled life and unprecedented cruelty of the occupiers.
The number of requests for psychological help is growing every day.
We are currently working with UNICEF on the possibility of involving a psychiatrist in the telephone line.
You can get acquainted with some stories and conditions of psychological assistance in the interview of the psychologist of the telephone line of the Commissioner Oleksandra Kvitko: https://holod.click/2022/04/17/psychologists-about-war-rape/.
Russians declare plans to attack the territory of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, where at least 1,000 civilians are hiding.
According to Ukrainian defenders of the city, citizens who do not want to leave remain in the premises and basements of the plant, as their houses have been destroyed and they are afraid of being sent to filtration camps and Russia. Among them are women, children and the elderly.
Mariupol City Hall reports that currently there are 4 filtration camps within the city, which hold citizens before deportation to Russia, they are more than 20 thousand people. In the city of Bezymenne is a camp with 5-7 thousand citizens who are being prepared for deportation.
The actions of the enemy army in Mariupol are an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people in accordance with the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and Article 6 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
As of 10 a.m. on April 18, 2022, according to the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations, as well as other sources that need confirmation, 205 (+3 per day) children have died and 362 children (+1 per day) have been injured since the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine.
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 17-year-old boy was injured in the detonation of an unidentified explosive device in the Vyshhorod district of Kyiv region.
As a result of injuries received after the shelling of the village. A 13-year-old girl died in Vilkhivka, Kharkiv Region.
It became known that an 11-year-old girl died in Kharkiv due to the shelling of the premises of the Ivan Kozhedub Kharkiv National University of the Air Force.
Such actions by the occupation forces are a direct violation of the fundamental rights of children – the right to life and health, guaranteed to every child in the world by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi
On April 18, Russian troops carried out 5 missile strikes on Lviv.
https://twitter.com/AndriySadovyi/status/1515930175237758976
Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
On April 17, Russian invaders hit 18 residential buildings during the shelling of Kharkiv. Information on victims and injured is being clarified.
Everyone knows about the massacres in Bucha, but now new cases are opening in cities and villages across the country. There is direct evidence that in many cases these murders were committed for no reason. But there are those where the motives are quite clear to us. Before leaving the occupied territories, the Russians left many mines. They knew where Ukrainian soldiers lived and mined their homes. Our sappers continue to find minesweepers everywhere, even in washing machines and utensils.
About 400 bodies have been found so far in Bucha. However, according to the First Deputy Interior Minister Eugene Yenin it is still too early to sum up, we will need about 15 more days and then we will provide details.
https://www.facebook.com/mvs.gov.ua
POLICY
President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting to discuss the country’s post-war reconstruction and development plan.
The event was attended by Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Deputy Heads of the Office of the President, members of the Government, the leadership of the parliamentary majority and relevant committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
According to Denys Shmyhal, the post-war reconstruction plan consists of several parts, and international audit companies, Ukrainian think tanks, parliamentary committees and ministries have joined its development.
The plan envisages the restoration of Ukraine on new principles using all available resources and opportunities. In particular, it is planned to cover the material damage caused by the war, restore the destroyed infrastructure capacity and carry out structural modernization of the Ukrainian economy.
The participants also discussed the course of Ukraine’s European integration and obtaining candidate status for accession to the European Union.
Ministry of Justice of Ukraine
Minister Denys Maliuska: We use every opportunity to put the aggressor to responsibility.
According to him, the criminal proceedings have been opened in the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine. Another 13 countries have also instituted criminal proceedings against hostilities of the Russian federation on the territory of Ukraine, as a universal jurisdiction is vested over war crimes. The International Criminal Court continues to investigate crimes. The ICC has jurisdiction covers three types of crime – genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In addition, work is underway to establish an international tribunal to investigate the crime of aggression. For such a tribunal, Putin’s diplomatic immunity will not matter.
Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine,
Minister Viktor Liashko: 800 systems for VAC therapy – a unique method of wound healing – were purchased in Ukraine
Most of the patients affected by the full-scale Russian invasion end up in hospitals with injuries of varying severity. Therefore, today Ukraine is expanding the possibilities of wound healing according to the method of vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) of a wound in different regions. Viktor Lyashko spoke about it visiting medical institutions of Vinnytsia region.
VAC therapy is the gold standard in the treatment of wounds in the world. Treatment involves a device decreases air pressure on the wound to clean its surface and accelerate healing in the wounded.
“Since the beginning of the war, the Ministry of Health has directed its efforts to expand the possibilities of treatment with this method in different parts of our country. About 800 devices for VAC therapy have already been purchased, which will start arriving at hospitals this week, and we will deliver additional consumables to hospitals with vacuum consoles,” – said the Minister of Health.
Today, Ukrainian doctors who have returned from abroad are working on the development of VAC therapy in Vinnytsia region to help save the lives and health of Ukrainians affected by the war. In particular, Ihor Vitenko, a surgeon who has significantly improved the method of treatment of VAC therapy and has now left Belgium, came to Ukraine and has been treating patients since the beginning of the war.
According to Viktor Liashko, in general, the health care system in the region works well, hospitals are provided with the necessary medicines and consumables. Patients receive uninterrupted medical care.
Moreover, pharmacies in Vinnytsia region are provided with a sufficient number of vital medicines, including insulins and thyroid drugs. There is also an “Available Medicines” program, which allows you to buy medicines on both electronic and paper prescriptions.
State Border Guard Service of Ukraine
As of April, 18 almost 57,000 people and 12,000 vehicles crossed Ukraine’s western borders with the EU and Moldova. Passenger traffic remains stable.
More than 28,000 people left Ukraine last day. About 19,000 of them crossed the border with Poland, the rest went to other EU member states and Moldova.
Almost 29,000 people arrived in Ukraine last day, about 26,000 of them Ukrainians. More than 380 vehicles with humanitarian goods have been processed.
Reminding, loading of checkpoints for border crossing to the EU and Moldova (in Chernivtsi region) can be followed on Facebook page of the Western Regional Directorate of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine – the Western Border. The data are renewed every three hours.
Pay attention, passing of persons through the state border is performed by authorized officials of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine in accordance with valid passport or other documents provided by the legislation and international treaties.
