17:28
Kiev: More and more Chinese components in Russian weapons
Ukrainian armed forces are finding more and more Chinese-made components in Russian weapons deployed in Ukraine. This was stated by an adviser from Zelenskyy’s office, Vladyslav Vlasiuk. The guns salvaged from the front lines have fewer parts made in the West and more parts made elsewhere, it’s not hard to guess where. China, of course,” Vlasiuk told the Portal website. According to Kiev, Chinese components were found in a navigation system in Orlan drones that previously used a Swiss system. Western supplies of military technology are being restricted by sanctions against Russia.
3:24 p.m
Zelenskyi hears Sunak: “Discussing the situation at the front”
“I had a phone conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. We discussed the situation at the front, our defense needs and increased support, and upcoming international events. I thanked him for condemning the inhumane execution of a Ukrainian soldier. Together we must stop the attacker and put an end to terrorism!” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
2:26 p.m
Medvedev: “In a NATO-Russia war, Poland would disappear”
Dmitry Medvedev launches a very harsh attack on the Polish government: “A stupid man named Mateusz Morawiecki said that Ukraine has the right to attack Russia and that he doesn’t worry about a NATO war against Russia because the latter will do it quickly would lose. I don’t know who will win or lose such a war, but given Poland’s role as a NATO outpost in Europe, this country is destined to disappear along with its stupid prime minister,” the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council wrote on Twitter.
12:24
China: “We will not supply arms to interested parties”
China will not sell arms to any of the parties involved in the war in Ukraine. Responding to Western fears and suspicions about possible military aid to Russia, Foreign Minister Qin Gang said Beijing wanted to remain neutral during a press conference with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock. Qin, the senior Beijing official who made such a blunt statement on arms sales to Russia, added that China will also regulate the export of civilian and military dual-use items: “Let’s take a prudent and responsible approach to exporting military items.” take a stance attitude”.
12:18
Russia announces surprise maneuvers in the Pacific
In the context of the rapprochement with Beijing and the tensions with the West, the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced surprising alarm maneuvers by the Russian fleet in the Pacific. On orders from President Vladimir Putin, Shoigu said Russia’s Pacific Fleet, based in Vladivostok in the Far East, will work “in the short term” on combat training in “near and far” sea areas. During these exercises, the Pacific Fleet will train to “repel massive airstrikes, seek and destroy submarines,” and pilot torpedoes, cannons, and missiles. According to the minister, these maneuvers are aimed at “boosting the ability of the armed forces to repel an attack”. Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, who commands the Russian fleet, will be in charge of oversight. The announcement comes as Beijing announces the visit of the Chinese defense minister to Russia on April 16-19.
10:06
ISW: Russia has limited offensive capability
The Russian army is no longer capable of conducting simultaneous multi-directional offensive operations and is concentrating its efforts on the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) writes, as reported by UNIAN. Experts from the US research center quote the deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of Ukraine Oleksiy Gromov, after which Russian troops were transferred from Avdiivka to the territory of the besieged city. And Russia is now concentrating its offensive on Bakhmut. “Gromov’s statement confirms the ISW’s long-standing assessment that the Russian armed forces in their current form are not capable of conducting large-scale offensive campaigns in several directions at the same time,” emphasizes the institute.
10:05
Kiev: It’s absurd that Moscow chairs the Security Council
“It is inconsistent with any logic and justice that an aggressor and terrorist country that has killed and is killing children should chair the United Nations Security Council,” said Ukraine’s Minister of National Security and Defense Oleksii Danilov, referring while on Russia. “When people in the 21st century cut off the head of a living person and their representatives chair the UN Security Council, completely incomprehensible things happen in our world,” Danilov said, referring to the video of the alleged execution of a prisoner of war Ukrainian by Russian soldiers. “It is absurd that Russia, which is worse than ISIS, is chairing the United Nations Security Council. Russian terrorists must be expelled from Ukraine and the United Nations and held accountable for their crimes,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.