- Russian attacks in the east repelled
- Missiles destroy Dnipro airport
- Austria’s Nehammer meets with Putin in Moscow on Monday
- The World Bank predicts a 45% drop in Ukraine’s GDP
LVIV, Ukraine, April 11 – Ukrainian troops have repelled several Russian attacks in the east of the country, the focus of a new offensive by invading forces, British intelligence said on Monday, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week will be crucial the course of the war.
Austrian leader Karl Nehammer planned to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday and call for an end to the conflict. It would be Putin’s first face-to-face meeting with an EU leader since the Russian invasion began on February 24. read more
Russian forces also pressed ahead with their offensive to seize control of the southern port city of Mariupol, a key objective whose capture would link areas under Russian control to the west and east.
The Russian invasion has left a death trail of destruction that has drawn condemnation from Western countries and concerns about Putin’s broader ambitions.
About a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people have been displaced from their homes, cities have been reduced to rubble and thousands of people have been killed or injured – many of them civilians.
Russian forces have abandoned their attempt to seize the capital, Kyiv, but are redoubling their efforts in eastern Ukraine. Britain’s Defense Ministry said Russian shelling continued in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Ukrainian forces repulsed several attacks and destroyed Russian tanks, vehicles and artillery equipment, its regular intelligence bulletin said.
The report also said Russia’s continued reliance on unguided bombs greatly increases the risk of more civilian casualties.
Violent explosions rocked cities in the south and east, and air raid sirens rang out in Ukraine early Monday.
“IT HAS TO STOP”
President Zelenskiy continued his relentless campaign to enlist international support and rally his compatriots, warning that the coming week would be important and tense.
“Russian troops will advance to even larger operations in the east of our state. They may use more missiles against us, more aerial bombs. But we are preparing for their actions. We will respond,” he said in a late night video address.
He was scheduled to address South Korea’s parliament on Monday via video link.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said it was likely the Russians would try to cut supply lines and attack transport infrastructure.
The Russian Defense Ministry said high-precision missiles destroyed the headquarters of Ukraine’s Dnipro Battalion in the city of Zvonetsky. Continue reading
Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said he would meet Putin in Moscow on Monday.
“We are militarily neutral, (have) a clear position on the Russian war of aggression against #Ukraine,” Nehammer wrote on Twitter. “It has to stop! It needs humanitarian corridors, a ceasefire and a full investigation into war crimes.”
Since Russia invaded, Zelenskyy has called on Western powers to provide more defense aid and punish Moscow with tougher sanctions, including embargoes on its energy exports.
Zelenskyi said he has confidence in his own armed forces, but “unfortunately, I don’t have confidence that we will get everything we need” from the United States.
CIVIL TOLL
Increasing civilian casualties have prompted widespread international condemnation and new sanctions.
Ludmila Zabaluk, head of the Dmytriv village department north of Kyiv, said dozens of civilians were found in the area.
“There were more than 50 dead. They shot at them at close range. There’s a car in which a 17-year-old child was burned, all that’s left is bones. Half of a woman’s head was blown off. A little further on lay a Man near his car was burned alive.”
Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports.
Moscow has denied war crimes allegations by Ukraine and western countries. It has repeatedly denied targeting civilians as part of a “special operation” to demilitarize and “denazify” its southern neighbor. Ukraine and Western nations have dismissed this as an unfounded pretext for war.
ECONOMIC COST
French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) was the latest company to withdraw from Russia, agreeing to sell its stake in Rosbank and the Russian lender’s insurance subsidiaries to Interros Capital, a firm linked to billionaire Vladimir Potanin .
The Russian invasion has unleashed a spate of financial sanctions from the United States, Europe and Britain, prompting western companies to sell their Russian assets.
SocGen faced increasing pressure to sever ties with Russia and end its more than 15-year investment in Rosbank.
The World Bank on Sunday predicted that the war would cause Ukraine’s economic output to slump by 45% this year as half of its businesses shut down, grain exports were largely cut off by the Russian naval blockade and destruction hampered economic activity would make impossible in many areas. Continue reading
The bank forecasts that Russia’s GDP will contract by 11.2% this year as a result of the West’s punitive measures.
(This story has been refiled to correct the dateline.)
Reporting from Reuters offices and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Writing by Lincoln Feast and Angus MacSwan, editing by Stephen Coates and Nick Macfie