Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there was “no alternative” for Ukraine other than returning Crimea to its control.
“The world should know: only when the Ukrainian flag returns to Crimea – when there is freedom there – will respect and order return to international relations,” Zelenskyy said in a video message from his office.
Ukraine’s president hosted an official iftar for Muslims in the country, including military personnel, officials and diplomats, on Friday. He said the event, which represents the breaking of the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is the first in a new tradition.
Zelenskyi also condemned Russia’s treatment of Crimea’s Muslim Tatar community. The Muslim ethnic minority is native to the Crimean Peninsula. However, many have recently fled for fear of persecution, while others are currently being held by Russia.
The Ukrainian president thanked the Muslims and said they also “long for peace and protection from evil”.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently suggested that Kyiv give up the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, as a compromise in a possible peace deal with Moscow.
Ukraine is expected to launch a counteroffensive in the spring
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Here are some of the other notable developments regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine on Saturday April 8:
Ukraine is ready to resume electricity exports to Europe
Ukraine will resume electricity exports to Europe after a six-month hiatus as Kiev struggled under Russian missile attacks on the country’s infrastructure.
Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on Friday that Ukraine’s electricity grid has been operating for almost two months without any restrictions on consumption, without resorting to a power reserve.
“The most difficult winter is over,” Halushchenko was quoted as saying. “The next step is to resume power exports, which will allow us to attract additional funding for the necessary reconstruction of the destroyed and damaged power infrastructure.”
Ukraine may export a maximum of 400 megawatts to the European power grid. However, the actual volume of exports will depend on the needs of Ukrainian consumers, the minister said.
Despite the war, Ukraine continued to export electricity to the European Union and neighboring Moldova until October, when Russia began targeting Kiev’s infrastructure.
The energy situation in Ukraine “is likely to improve,” says the British Ministry of Defense
Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defense in its daily briefing on the war predicted that Ukraine’s energy situation would improve as the weather warmed up.
Preparations for the coming winter are already underway, the ministry said. It added that Russian strikes in energy infrastructure had become rare in the past month.
“Russia’s campaign to severely disrupt Ukraine’s Unified Energy System (UES) in the winter of 2022-23 most likely failed,” the ministry said. It added that smaller-scale strikes, while ongoing, are likely to have less of an impact on the unified power system.
Russia Likely Behind Leak of Secret US Documents
Russia or pro-Russian elements were believed to be behind the leak of classified US military documents detailing US and NATO aid to Ukraine.
Portal news agency said three US officials blamed Russia for the incident.
The documents are dated February 23, 2023 to March 1, 2023. They are also marked as secret.
The documents describe US and NATO military support to Ukraine. Image: Muhammed Enes Yildirim/AA/Picture Alliance
They appear to describe shipments of arms and other equipment going to Ukraine with more specific timelines than the US generally publicly discloses.
However, anonymous US officials told Portal that the documents appear to have been altered to reduce the number of Russian casualties, according to their own informal assessment, which is separate from the official investigation into the leak.
The US Department of Justice launched an investigation into the possible leak on Friday. But the documents could have been altered or used as part of a misinformation campaign, some US officials said.
More on the war in Ukraine
Britain’s MoD said Russia had “gained some momentum back” in the battle for Bakhmut. Meanwhile, US media reported that secret plans for a spring offensive in Ukraine had been leaked on the internet. Follow DW for more.
Without weapons from the West, Ukraine has no hope of retaking territory from Moscow, but its armed forces have a more pressing problem: finding ammunition to keep the weapons it already has working. DW reports how the so-called “mussel hunger” affects the conduct of this war.
How the shortage of ammunition in Ukraine determines the war
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Germany’s old-fashioned peace movement is increasingly at odds over how to respond to the war in Ukraine. Their traditional Easter marches are becoming less and less relevant to younger generations.
rmt/kb (AFP, dpa, Portal)