For one month and fourteen days in a row, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people have been resisting new and new attacks by the Russian occupiers in various directions. Ukraine appreciates all the assistance provided by international partners. However, for the sake of security and freedom, Ukraine NEEDS NATO a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Such actions will help protect Ukraine from Russian planes, drones and missiles.
The Russian occupiers are using methods that violate the rules of war. They attack civilian infrastructure, killing and injuring civilians, including children, and make actions that can have regional and international consequences. We have prepared an update of such actions of the occupiers as of the morning of April 7 (for April 5 and 6).
Kyiv region
On April 5, the General Prosecutor of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova reported that, despite the horrific pictures of the Russian war crimes in Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel, the worst situation in the Kyiv region in sense of the number of victims is in the settlement of Borodianka. She did not specify the data, as the searching for corps of the killed people is ongoing.
The head of the Borodianka settlement council Heorhiy Yerko described the Russian war crimes. He said that from the very beginning of the invasion, the Russian troops had been launching artillery and air strikes at the residential buildings. After they had occupied the settlement, they had been firing at the civilians who tried to rescue people from the rubble of the ruined houses.
Also, eyewitnesses from Borodianka reported that there are no undamaged multistory residential buildings in the settlement. The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denys Monastyrskyi called Borodianka “one of the most ruined settlements of the Kyiv region”.
In addition, Iryna Venediktova reported, that during the occupation of Velyka Dymerka, Kyiv region, the Russian troops killed at least 11 civilian residents.
The Plenipotentiary for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Liudmyla Denisova on April 5 said that in Bucha 25 women between 14 and 24 years old complained about the rapes by the Russian occupiers. Also, she confirmed that in Bucha there were revealed corpses of the killed children (under 10 years old) with the signs of sexual abuse and torture.
Sumy region
The head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration Dmytro Zhyvytskyi on April 6 reported that in the Sumy Region there were revealed more than 100 corpses of civilians who were killed by the Russian troops. More than half of them had the signs of torture on their bodies.
Also, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine on April 5 reported that the Russian occupiers while leaving the Ukrainian territory fired at the civilian houses in the village of Simianivka, the Sumy region, without a reason. At least 10 buildings were damaged.
Kharkiv region
The Russian occupiers continue to fire at the civilian infrastructure of Kharkiv and other settlements of the Kharkiv region. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that on April 5 at least 5 residential buildings were damaged in Kharkiv by the Russian shelling.
Luhansk region
On April 6 the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that every city and town in the free part of the Luhansk region was under shelling of the Russian artillery and aircraft. On April 5 two multistory and nine private residential houses were damaged in the region. 1 person was killed, and at least 5 people were injured. The Service also reported, that on April 6 ten multistory buildings and five residential houses were destroyed in the Luhansk region by the Russian troops.
Kherson region
On April 6, Russian armed forced surrounded Novooleksiivka, the settlement in Kherson region, where indigenous crimean tatars live compactly. Invaders conducted searches of the houses in Novooleksiivka, and shelled the residential areas with submachine guns, grenade launchers and heavy military equipment. According to Eskender Bariev, member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, at least 1 person was killed, one house was destroyed and 3 garages were exploded by the Russian military troops. Moreover, occupiers continued to carry out act of repressions against the residents of the Henichesk district. Civilians are detained and placed into the basement of the 17th college, where the Russian militants torture them.
Kherson City Council reported that the reserves of the food, medicines, and fuel are running out in the city. There are problems with flour for the bread, a lot of enterprises stopped, people lost their work. Meanwhile, Russian armed forced don`t allow residents of Kherson to leave the city and terrorise them. Some public figures and even priests are kidnapped.
On April 4, Russian forces kidnapped the head of the Bekhtersk community Mykhailo Burak in the settlement Zaliznyy Port. First Deputy Chairman of the Kherson Regional Council Yuri Sobolevsky stated that his current whereabouts is unknown.
Zaporizhia region
On April 6, Energoatom reported that Russian militants created illegitimate authorities in Energodar. Firstly, 34 members of the self-proclaimed “public council of self-organization of Energodar” gathered and elected Andriy Shevchyk as a head of Energodar administration. Then, Shevchyk issued an order to dismiss the legally elected Mayor Dmytro Orlov and all the heads and members of legitimate executive bodies of Energodar. These elections and orders do not have any legal force.
On April 5, Russian militants captured and mined the regional hospital in the occupied settlement Pology. Zaporizhia regional military administration reported that the medical staff and patients were expeled from the facility and forbidden to return.
On April 5, representatives of the russian armed forces kidnapped the resident of Zaporizhia to put psychological pressure on her husband, who is currently fighting in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the Office of the Attorney General, a Ukrainian soldier has been threatened by the occupiers to torture his wife if he do not break the Ukrainian Military Oath.
Donetsk region
The Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boychenko stated that approximately 130 thousand people are still remain in sieged Mariupol. Russian armed forces don’t let them out. Russians destroyed all the Mariupol communal buses, and now severely impede the departure of private cars. “Green corridors” are shelled from time to time by the occupiers. All the efforts of Ukrainian government to deliver humanitarian aid are also blocked. Russian militants didn`t allow a single bus to evacuate residents from the city on April 3-4. Despite of previous agreements, 7 buses are detained at the Russian checkpoint in Mangush.
On April 3, Russian forces detained the representatives of the Red Cross on their way to sieged Mariupol. The Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boychenko reported that they were arrested in Mangush.
On April 4, Mariupol City Council stated that Russian militants illegally appointed Konstiantun Ivashenko, the member of prorussian political party “For Life”, as a Mayor of Mariupol. The city is still not occupied.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional military administration, reported that on April 4 as a result of Russian shellings of Donetsk region, 2 people were killed in Avdiivka, 4 more injured, including one kid. 3 civilians were also injured in Georgiivka, 1 was wounded in Novoselivka, and 1 in Vozdvyzhivka. The precise number of victims in Mariupol and Volnovakha can`t be determined.
On April 5, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reported that Russian militants shelled the civilian ship under the flag of the Dominican Republic, located in Mariupol port. At least one member of the ship staff was injured.
On April 5, Russian militants continued the massive shellings of residential areas of Donetsk region. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional military administration, reported that 8 civilians were injured. 4 in Mariinka, 1 in New York, Bakhmut, Vugledar, and Avdiivka.
On April 6, Russian militants shelled the residents of Vugledar, who came to receive a humanitarian aid. Pavlo Kyrylenko reported that 4 people were killed, and 4 injured.
On April 6, Mariupol City Council stated that Russian occupiers began to burn the bodies of killed civilians in the mobile crematoriums in Mariupol to hide the scope of their war crimes after the world found out the truth about the Bucha massacre. Russian top leadership ordered to destroy any evidence of the genocide of peaceful civilians. One week ago, the most cautious estimates put the death toll at 5,000 people. However, the size of the city, catastrophic destructions (more than 90% of the buildings were destroyed), and the duration of the blockade points out at dozents of thousands victims of Russian war crimes only in Mariupol. A lot of people died under the rubble, there is no way to get them out. Because of the horrific scopes of the genocide, Russia does not let Turkish Rescue Mission and others missions to enter the city. In addition, Russian militants try to identify all potential witnesses of their crimes and kill them in the filtration camps. The terrorists from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People`s Republic are actively involved in civilian cleansings and the cremation of the bodies. Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boychenko reported that the scale of the tragedy in Mariupol the world has not seen since the existence of Nazi concentration camps.
On April 6, the Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boychenko stated that as a result of the Russian shellings of Mariupol hospital, almost 50 civilians were burned alive. He called on European Union to sthrenthen the sanctions against the Russian Federation, and to impose a full embargo on Russian oil and gas to stop the genocide of Ukrainians.
On April 6, russian military forces continued shellings of Mariinka, Novomykhalivka, Avdiivka, Ocheretynsk, and Toretsk with artillery systems and airstrikes. According to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional military administration, 1 person was killed in Ocheretynsk, 6 private buildings, kindergarten and a non-residential buiding were destroyed. 4 people were injured in Mariinka, 2 buildings destroyed. The precise number of victims in other settlements is being clarified.
Mykolaiv region
On April 4, Russian army once again shelled residential areas of Mykolaiv with prohibited cluster munitions. Oleksandr Senkevych, the Mayor of Mykolaiv stated that munitions hit the area near the crowded bus stop, and the road in the dense district. 61 people that was standing in the bus stop and sitting in the bus nearby were injured by shrapnel. 10 civilians were killed, including a child. Cars were damaged.
On April 4, Vitaliy Kim, head of Mykolaiv regional military administration reported that Russian militants launched a missile on children’s hospital yard. The missile hit the ambulances. According to the preliminary information, there were no victims.
Dnipro region
On April 4, Mykola Lukashuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration reported that Russian militants shelled one settlement in the Kryviy Rih district. One private house was destroyed. Information about the victims is being clarified.
