Ukraine: WAR BULLETIN April 3, 6.30 p.m. EST
Embassy of Ukraine in the USA
WAR BULLETIN
April 3, 6.30 p.m. EST
Liberation of the Kyiv region, particularly the towns of Bucha and Irpin, revealed the scale of Russia’s atrocities committed against Ukrainian people. The Bucha massacre proves that Russian hatred towards Ukrainians is beyond anything Europe has seen since World War II.
Law enforcement agencies collect all necessary information to assess the scale of atrocities. The mayor of Bucha Anatoly Fedoruk informed that 280 people were buried in mass graves. Killed people lie on the streets. Dozens of them were found with tied hands. While leaving, the invaders mined dead bodies and civilian buildings.
According to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, 410 bodies of killed civilians have been taken out of the territory of the Kyiv region for examination. In the coming days, law enforcement agencies will uncover more details, and the real scale of the Bucha massacre will become more clear.
Since the beginning of the invasion, Russian army has already murdered thousands of civilians in Ukraine, including children, kidnapped and tortured activists and local leaders, looted houses and raped Ukrainian women and girls. Mass war crimes, reports of looting and rape prove that Russian troops have no red lines or moral values whatsoever.
The Human Rights Watch has sent its representatives to Kyiv, Chernihiv and Kharkiv regions to document the evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has decided to establish a special mechanism of justice in Ukraine to investigate and prosecute all crimes committed by the invaders. This mechanism will bring together the efforts of national and international experts.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the International Criminal Court and international organizations to send their missions to Bucha and other liberated towns and villages of the Kyiv region, to thoroughly collect all the evidence of Russian war crimes in cooperation with Ukrainian law enforcement authorities. This evidence will be used in courts, national and international, to bring all those who committed those atrocities to justice.
Ukraine activates all legal instruments to bring Russia and its citizens who are responsible for crimes against humanity to justice. More than 40 countries have already supported the investigation of Russia’s war crimes and appealed to the International Criminal Court. A number of countries launched their own criminal investigations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russians on the territory of Ukraine.
WAR ROOM
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 03.04 were approximately:
personnel – 18000,
tanks ‒ 644,
APVs ‒ 1830,
artillery systems – 325,
MLRS – 105,
anti-aircraft warfare systems – 54,
aircraft – 143,
helicopters – 134,
vehicles – 1249,
vessels – 7,
fuel tanks – 76,
UAVs operational-tactical level – 89,
special equipment – 24,
mobile SRBM systems – 4.
The enemy continues to launch systematic missile and air strikes on civilian infrastructure and fuel storage facilities. It is noted that Russian military command is taking measures to train additional personnel and relocate equipment to form additional units for future hostilities on the territory of Ukraine.
The main efforts of the Russian enemy are focused on preparing for the resumption of offensive operations, establishing control in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The situation in the Volyn direction has not changed.
In the Polissya direction, the Russian enemy completed the withdrawal of certain units of the Eastern Military District to the territory of the republic of Belarus, with the subsequent transfer of these units to the territory of the Russian federation.
In the liberated territory of the Kyiv region, in the areas of the settlements of Velyka Dymerka, Skybyn and Hoholiv, units of the defense forces are clearing the territory of mines and explosive devices installed by the Russian invaders.
In the Siversky direction, the Russian enemy completed the withdrawal of units of the Central Military District to the territory of the Russian federation.
The withdrawal of occupation troops continues in the Sumy region. The enemy provides cover and logistical support for individual units withdrawing to the territory of the Russian federation.
In the liberated territories, small groups of servicemen of the Russian forces are still holding positions. The enemy is hiding or fleeing, trying to cross the state border of Ukraine.
In the Slobozhansky direction, the occupiers continue to blockade the city of Kharkiv. The main efforts of the enemy are focused on continuing the offensive in the direction of the city of Izyum.
In the Donetsk direction, the Russian enemy continues to shell settlements and positions of Ukrainian troops and conduct assault operations in most areas. All of the offensive efforts by the enemy in this region of Ukraine were unsuccessful.
The battle for the settlement of Oleksandrivka is underway in the Pivdennobuzhsky direction.
Russian enemy, having not achieved the goal of the operation in some areas of Ukraine, decided to abandon the offensive in the Siversky and, in part, Slobozhansky directions.
The withdrawal of units of the occupying forces to the territory of Belarus is coming to an end in the Siversky region. Border guards of the republic of Belarus is not controlling the situation. The occupiers continue to export looted vehicles and other property from Ukraine to the republic of Belarus without hindrance.
The situation in the Slobozhansky direction did not change significantly during the day.
In the Donetsk direction, the Russian enemy is taking measures to regroup and strengthen the existing troops. Thus, the transfer of some units from the 37th separate assault brigade (Chernyakhovsk and Kaliningrad regions of Russia) to the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is confirmed.
The Russian enemy continues to suffer losses in manpower and military equipment. Particularly, in the area of the city of Kharkiv, thanks to the successful actions of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a motorized infantry company from the 59th Tank Regiment of Russian forces suffered significant losses.
It was established that the losses of this unit amounted to almost 80 percent of the personnel.
Due to significant personnel losses, about 25 servicemen of the 31st Separate Assault Brigade from Ulyanovsk refused to take part in the war with Ukraine and wish to resign.
In addition, Deputy Commander of the 83rd Separate Assault Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Vitaliy Slabtsov, Russian, was killed in action.
The enemy’s violations of international humanitarian law are confirmed daily by numerous civilian casualties in the liberated settlements. All facts are documented and submitted to international judicial institutions. War crimes do not have a statute of limitations, justice is inevitable.
The occupiers continue to launch missile strikes on critical infrastructure throughout Ukraine, trying to sow panic among the population and disrupt the logistics of the Defense Forces.
In the Volyn direction, the situation has not changed significantly, certain units of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus continue to perform tasks to cover the border.
In the Polissya direction, the enemy completes the regrouping and preparation for the redeployment of individual units from the territory of Belarus to the Russian Federation. According to available information, some units of the occupiers from the airborne troops are transferred by military transport aircraft to the city of Belgorod. In order to slow down the advance of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the occupiers carried out mass chaotic mining not only of previously occupied positions and areas but also of deployment routes.
In the Slobozhansky direction, the enemy continues to blockade the city of Kharkiv, inflict artillery strikes on residential areas of the city and tries to regroup the troops.
In the Izyum direction, the occupiers tried to resume the offensive but were unsuccessful.
In the Donetsk and Tavriya areas, the occupiers continued to focus on capturing the settlements of Rubizhne, Popasna, Troitske, Avdiivka, and Marinka, Krasnohorivka and preparing for an offensive that may begin in the coming days in the direction of Severodonetsk and Velyka.
With the support of aircraft and artillery, the enemy continues to attack the city of Mariupol.
South Bug direction. During the day, the enemy concentrated its efforts on maintaining the occupied positions in the area of Alexandrovka and is trying to reach the administrative border of the Kherson region.
First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova
Ukrainian soldiers who liberated Bucha near Kyiv from Russian invaders report numerous civilians shot dead. Russians executed them during occupation & when retreating from the town. Some of victims have their hands tied. Innocent victims.
Motyzhyn village in Kyiv region liberated by Ukrainian troops. Russian soldiers did terrible things here. Pictured 2 women and 4 men shot dead in the back of their heads. Some had their hands tied. Russian soldiers are war criminals. Their cruelty is limitless.
Kyiv region, Ukraine. New evidence of Russian war crimes against Ukrainian civilians. Before troops arrived, Russian Army killed as many civilians as possible. Inhuman. Terrible. Speechless.
Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine
Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine obtained a list of servicemen of the 56th Airborne Assault Brigade in unit 74507 Kamyshin, Volgograd region (Feodosia, Crimea), committing war crimes against the people of Ukraine. Full list: https://bit.ly/38qAoJC
Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights
Residents of Kherson and Kakhovka went to rallies against the occupation of their cities by Russian invaders.
During the peaceful action in Kakhovka, the Russian military opened fire on the townspeople, who came out to say “no” to the invaders. Grenade explosions and machine guns can be heard in the city. There are detainees and wounded.
Soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine, who were captured by the Russian invaders on February 24, 2022 and detained by them, were taken out of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and transferred to the Russian Federation (Smolensk) and the Republic of Belarus (Bragin). This was reported by the wife of one of the prisoners.
Without communication, electricity, food, medicine and even water, looted shops, destroyed houses – this is how villages in the occupied Kherson region live today.
The Stanislav community was under constant fire from enemy artillery.
Stanislav is already half-destroyed. No connection with other villages of the community. Most of the houses and local school were destroyed. People are forced to live in rubble, hide in basements.
Civilians ask for evacuation, but the occupiers do not allow people to leave.
The third week in the occupation of the village of Vysokopillya.
People are left without water, electricity, gas, many have run out of food. The occupiers are constantly firing at the village. Many buildings are annihilated.
Russians rob, kidnap, and kill civilians. Documents and mobile phones were taken from civilians.
According to the local authorities of the city of Mariupol – almost 40 thousand citizens of the city were deported to the so called “DPR” or Russia. Counting deportees is complicated by the fact that Ukrainian documents are confiscated from people.
Russian invaders separate parents from children. 17 injured children were abducted from the local hospital where they were undergoing treatment. Their parents stayed and they were evacuated to the city of Zaporizhia.
Some of the forcibly deported Mariupol residents were found in Estonia, where they entered from the territory of the Russian Federation. In addition to the residents of Mariupol, people from the Kherson, Kharkiv, and Luhansk regions reached Estonia in the same way through Russia. According to them, some of these people decided to go through Russia because they could not go to Western Ukraine. At the same time, there were people who were forcibly sent to Russia and then allowed to travel at their own discretion.
As a result of the Russian shelling, about 80% of housing in Izyum in the Kharkiv region was destroyed.
Prosecutor General’s Office
On April 3, 2022, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched a rocket artillery shelling of the settlements of Zaporizke and Volodymyrivka in the Kryvyi Rih region with prohibited cluster munitions of a Tornado-C volley fire system.
Death of civilians as a result of detonation of Russian munitions in Dnipropetrovsk region.
During the occupation of Trostyanets, Russian invaders entered the house of civilians, searched it, and then took a 32-year-old man with them. Another 29-year-old civilian was taken prisoner under similar circumstances. The whereabouts of the prisoners are currently unknown. Two other men managed to escape from captivity. According to the victims, on March 20, 2022, the Russian invaders detained them in Trostyanets. Russians kept them in the basement of the railway station and systematically tortured both men. It was not until March 26, 2022, that Ukrainians escaped from captivity by taking advantage of the fighting in the city.
POLICY
President of Ukraine
Address by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The global security architecture has failed. Peace for us will not be the result of any decisions of the enemy somewhere in Moscow as well. We should not cherish empty hopes that they will simply leave our land. We can only gain peace in hard battles and in parallel – in negotiations, and in parallel – in daily vigorous work.
Our defenders continue to regain control over communities in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions. There are more and more Ukrainian national flags in the areas that have been temporarily occupied.
Heroic Mariupol continues to hold back a significant part of the enemy forces. Thanks to this resistance, thanks to the courage and resilience of our other cities, Ukraine has gained invaluable time. The time that allows us to undermine the enemy’s tactics and weaken their capabilities.
Unfortunately, Ukraine has not yet received enough modern Western anti-missile systems or aircrafts. Hasn’t received what the partners could provide. Could – and still can!
Every Russian missile and every bomb dropped only adds black paint to the history that will describe everyone on whom the decision depended. Decision whether to help Ukraine with modern weapons.
I would like to thank the residents of our Enerhodar separately, who went to a rally today. In response, the occupiers opened fire and used grenades. There will be an answer for each wounded person.
I want to turn to person who does not seem to fully understand what is happening not only in Ukraine, but throughout Europe. To the Prime Minister of Hungary. He is virtually the only one in Europe to openly support Mr. Putin.
We did not ask for anything special from official Budapest. We didn’t even get what everyone else is doing! We saw no effort to stop the war!
The whole of Europe is trying to stop the war, to restore peace. Then why is official Budapest opposed to the whole of Europe, to all civilized countries? For what?
The main thing for us is the opinion of the people. The Ukrainian people support the Hungarian people, while Hungarians support Ukrainians. I am convinced that our minorities should be the bridges that unite us even more.
If it’s a war, then I call it a war, not a “special operation.” If this is a threat to the whole of Europe, then I call it a threat to the whole of Europe. This is called the honesty that Mr. Orban lacks. He may have lost it somewhere in his contacts with Moscow.
I spoke today with the President of Colombia. I am very grateful to him for his support and solidarity with Ukraine. The list of countries that say that freedom matters and the war must stop is expanding.
I also spoke with British Prime Minister Johnson. A meaningful, pleasant conversation. We agreed on new defensive support for Ukraine, on the strengthening of sanctions against Russia. Agreed on joint steps to achieve peace. Thank you, Boris, for the leadership!
Address to Ukrainians
Today this address will be without greetings. I do not want any extra words.
Presidents do not usually record addresses like this. But today I have to say just that. After what was revealed in Bucha and our other cities the occupiers were expelled from. Hundreds of people were killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Corpses on the streets. Mined area. Even the bodies of the dead were mined!
The pervasive consequences of looting. Concentrated evil has come to our land. Murderers. Torturers. Rapists. Looters. Who call themselves the army. And who deserve only death after what they did.
I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies of the killed people in Bucha, in Irpin, in Hostomel. What did they do? Why were they killed? What did the man who was riding his bicycle down the street do? Why were ordinary civilians in an ordinary peaceful city tortured to death? Why were women strangled after their earrings were ripped out of their ears? How could women be raped and killed in front of children? How could their corpses be desecrated even after death? Why did they crush the bodies of people with tanks? What did the Ukrainian city of Bucha do to your Russia? How did all this become possible?
Russian mothers! Even if you raised looters, how did they also become butchers? You couldn’t be unaware of what’s inside your children. You couldn’t overlook that they are deprived of everything human. No soul. No heart. They killed deliberately and with pleasure.
I want all the leaders of the Russian Federation to see how their orders are being fulfilled. Such orders. Such a fulfillment. And joint responsibility. For these murders, for these tortures, for these arms torn off by explosions that lie on the streets. For shots in the back of the head of tied people.
This is how the Russian state will now be perceived. This is your image.
Your culture and human appearance perished together with the Ukrainian men and women to whom you came.
I approved a decision to create a special mechanism of justice in Ukraine for the investigation and judicial examination of every crime of the occupiers on the territory of our state. The essence of this mechanism is the joint work of national and international experts: investigators, prosecutors and judges. This mechanism will help Ukraine and the world bring to concrete justice those who unleashed or in any way participated in this terrible war against the Ukrainian people and in crimes against our people.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the National Police, the Security Service, the Intelligence Service and other structures within their competence must make every effort to ensure that the mechanism is operational immediately.
I call on all our citizens and friends of Ukraine in the world who can join this work and help establish justice to do so.
The world has already seen many war crimes. At different times. On different continents. But it is time to do everything possible to make the war crimes of the Russian military the last manifestation of such evil on earth.
Everyone guilty of such crimes will be included in a special Book of Torturers, will be found and punished.
Ukrainians!
I want you to realize that. We drove the enemy out of several regions. But Russian troops still control the occupied areas of other regions. And after the expulsion of the occupiers, even worse things can be found there. Even more deaths and tortures. Because this is the nature of the Russian military who came to our land. These are bastards who can’t do otherwise. And they had such orders.
All partners of Ukraine will be informed in detail about what happened in the temporarily occupied territory of our state. War crimes in Bucha and other cities during the Russian occupation will also be considered by the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
There will definitely be a new package of sanctions against Russia. But I’m sure that’s not enough. More conclusions are needed. Not only about Russia, but also about the political behavior that actually allowed this evil to come to our land.
Today is the fourteenth anniversary of the NATO summit in Bucharest. Then there was a chance to take Ukraine out of the “gray zone” in Eastern Europe. Out of the “gray zone” between NATO and Russia.
Out of the gray zone, in which Moscow thinks they are allowed everything. Even the most dreadful war crimes.
Under optimistic diplomatic statements that Ukraine could become a member of NATO, then, in 2008, refusal to accept Ukraine into the Alliance was hidden. The absurd fear of some politicians towards Russia was hidden. They thought that by refusing Ukraine, they would be able to appease Russia, to convince it to respect Ukraine and live normally next to us.
During the 14 years since that miscalculation, Ukraine has experienced a revolution and eight years of war in Donbas. And now we are fighting for life in the most horrific war in Europe since World War II.
I invite Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy to visit Bucha and see what the policy of concessions to Russia has led to in 14 years. To see with their own eyes the tortured Ukrainian men and women.
I want to be understood correctly. We do not blame the West. We do not blame anyone but the specific Russian military who did this against our people. And those who gave them orders. But we have the right to talk about indecision. About the path to such Bucha, to such Hostomel, to such Kharkiv, to such Mariupol. We have no indecision. No matter whether we are in a certain bloc or non-aligned, we understand one thing: we must be strong.
Fourteen years ago, Russia’s leader in Bucharest told Western leaders that there was no country like Ukraine. And we prove that there is such a country. It was and it will be.
We will not hide behind the strong of this world. We will not beg anyone.
Honestly, we shouldn’t have asked for help with weapons to protect ourselves from this evil that came to our land. All the necessary weapons should have been given to us anyway – without requests. Because they themselves realized what evil had come and what it had brought with it.
We see what’s at stake in this war. We see what we are defending.
There are standards of the Ukrainian army – moral and professional. And it is not our army that has to adjust now. These are many other armies that should learn from our military.
And there are standards of the Ukrainian people. And there are standards of the Russian occupiers. This is good and evil. This is Europe and a black hole that wants to tear it all apart and absorb.
We will win this war. Even if individual politicians are still unable to overcome the indecision they will pass on to their successors together with their offices.
And all the necessary services are already working in Bucha to bring the city back to life. Restore electricity supply, water supply. Restore the work of medical institutions. Rebuild the infrastructure. Give security to people. Because Russia was expelled. And Ukraine is returning. And brings life back.
Today I visited our border guards, our heroes in the hospital of the Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Wounded warriors.
I presented state awards to the eight of them. I also awarded the orthopedist-traumatologist – medical service officer who is a leading military traumatologist in Ukraine and has already saved many Ukrainian defenders.
In total, 41 border guards received state awards under this decree.
It was the servicemen of the State Border Guard Service who first met the occupiers with fire when they went on the offensive on February 24. Now our boys and girls are returning to the state border as we expel the occupiers.
I am sure the time will come and the whole line of the state border of Ukraine will be restored.
And for this to happen sooner, we must all be focused, ready to boldly face evil and respond to every criminal act against Ukraine, against our people, against our freedom.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Face the Nation
Russians have pulled out from some localities. In others they are redoing the redeployment because the situation is difficult. There were some communities that they were trying to take several times, and this is a tragedy because Ukrainian army had to take these territories back as well. Bright example if the city of Chornobaivka. It was attacked nine times.
They were trying to take Kyiv and some cities in Kyiv region. Some of them have been occupied and then they destroyed everything. The civilians, the houses, they were stealing washing machines and equipment. There were multiple cases torture in the city.
Now Russians are focusing on the east of Ukraine. So this corridor, which is going from the Crimea to the east of Ukraine, this is in the south of Ukraine. And this is where they are trying to focus in terms of armament, in terms of deploying their personnel. They were bringing people in from different parts of the world because they were in deficit of their personnel and now they are grouping all of these troops in the south and east of Ukraine.
We believe in justice, in the justice of the Western world and therefore, the question is not only about the leader of Russian Federation. We wouldn’t think that it would be fair to take only him. I think all the military commanders, everyone who gave instructions and orders should be punished adequately.
We are the citizens of Ukraine. We have more than 100 nationalities. This war is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities. We are the citizens of Ukraine and we don’t want to be subdued to the policy of Russian Federation. This is the reason we are being destroyed and exterminated, and this is happening in the Europe in the 21st century.
Many people, many thousands of people have been evacuated. In certain cities, 35, 30, 40,000 Ukrainians have been evacuated. So altogether, hundreds of thousands. But nevertheless, there are still hundreds of thousand blocked. Some of them are blocked or behind the bars.
Before the beginning of this full-fledged war and the occupation of Mariupol, many people lived there. But today they are suffering. All the humanitarian corridors have been blocked. There is shortage of food and water supplies. Many dead people are left to lie on the streets…
“As the president of Ukraine, there cannot be just my personal view about President Putin and a dialogue with the Russian Federation. I must stand for the interests of my country. So, it’s difficult to say how, after all- what has been done, we can have any kind of negotiations with Russia. That’s on the personal level. But as a President, I have to do it. Any war must end.” – underlined the President of Ukraine.
“I would like to thank the United States and Biden administration and their bipartisan support in everything they’re doing for us. But nevertheless, the United States have not provided the security guarantees to us. You have to understand this as a president of the country in war. The United States is our strategic partner and they are supporting us. But security guarantees is when you have an enforceable document. Even the Budapest Memorandum was a- a treaty. We have given away our nuclear power and it was just a piece of paper.” stressed Zelenskyy.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba called on the missions of the International Criminal Court and international organizations to arrive in Bucha and other cities and towns of Kyiv region as soon as possible to gather evidence of Russian war crimes and crimes against humanity.
This was announced by the Foreign Minister of Ukraine on Sunday, 3 April, on the air of the British radio Times UK radio.
“I urge the International Criminal Court and international organizations to send their missions to Bucha and other liberated towns and villages of the Kyiv region, in cooperation with Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, to thoroughly collect all evidence of Russian war crimes,” he said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has already sent a request to the International Criminal Court.
Dmytro Kuleba stressed that this evidence will be used in international and foreign courts to bring to justice those who committed these atrocities.
“We are still gathering and looking for bodies, but the number has already gone into the hundreds. Dead bodies lie on the streets. They killed civilians while staying there and when they were leaving these villages and towns, “he said.
The Foreign Minister of Ukraine spoke about the mass crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine, including murder, torture, looting, rape: “It was impossible to imagine this in the XXI century, but it is happening before our eyes. Russia is worse than ISIS. “
“If I used to say that I will make every effort to bring the perpetrators to justice, now I am convinced that this is a matter of my life, which I will do until my last breath, until they are all held accountable,” he said.
