1. Humanitarian situation
The Russian side still opens humanitarian corridors on the Kharkov and Mariupol directions towards Russia daily since 10:00AM (Moscow time), also provide humanitarian routes daily open an additional humanitarian corridor to Berdyansk and onwards in two directions: the first by land transport to the Republic of Crimea or Zaporozhye (to Kiev-controlled territories), the second by sea transport to selected destinations. The Russian side is ready to deploy humanitarian corridors in any other directions as soon as possible and to ensure the safe evacuation of civilians. Currently, the Russian Armed Forces strictly observe the ceasefire on all routes, including those declared by the Ukrainian side.
The Ukrainian side has announced 10 corridors in the Zaporozhye and Donetsk directions for the current day, of which, as before, none towards Russia.
The Russian Federation's Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response, in co-operation with the authorised federal executive authorities, continues to carefully record the continuing egregious facts of the inhumane treatment of civilians by Kiev authorities:
in Svetlodarsk, Donetsk People's Republic, militants of Ukrainian armed formations have mined the dam of the water reservoir of the Uglegorska thermal power plant (Lugansk River); in the case of an explosion, the town of Svetlodarsk, the villages of Mironovskiy, Luganskoe and a number of others with a total population of over 15,000 would be in the potential flood zone; in addition, after the water leaves, the entire flooded area the population's life support system (sewage, water supply, water treatment facilities with chemical tanks) will be damaged, which will lead to a sharp deterioration of the sanitary and epidemiological situation and the spread of infectious diseases in Bakhmutsky district;
in Kostantinovka (a major hub of the Donetsk railway) in Kramatorsk district, neo-Nazis have mined a road overpass over the railway tracks on Belousova Street, which they plan to destroy in the near future and accuse the Russian Armed Forces of destroying critical civilian infrastructure. Another fake "Russian atrocities" will immediately be replicated in the "independent" Western media.
Such actions by Kiev once again demonstrate an inhuman attitude towards the fate of its own citizens and show a complete disregard for all norms of morality and international humanitarian law.
Despite all the difficulties and obstacles imposed by the Ukrainian side, over the past day, without the participation of Kiev, 14,606 people were evacuated from dangerous areas, 2,328 of them children, and in total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 798,237 people have already been evacuated, of which 149,419 are children. The state border of the Russian Federation was crossed by 104,487 personal vehicles, of which 138,014 people have already been rescued from the lawlessness of the nationalists, including 815 from Mariupol via a humanitarian corridor to the east, without any involvement of the Ukrainian side.
Over the past day, another 573 such appeals have been received, and in total there are already 2,747,729 of 2,127 settlements in Ukraine in the database.
Ukrainian nationalists continue to hold 6,224 foreign nationals from 11 countries hostage as human shields.
More than 9,500 temporary accommodation centres continue to operate in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and are fully equipped with recreational facilities and hot meals. The refugees are treated individually and provided with qualified medical and psychological assistance.
A sufficient number of buses have been placed at the border crossing points to transport people to their chosen places of residence or to temporary accommodation centres.
More than 22 tons of basic necessities, food and medicines have been prepared at the collection points.
Since March 2, 11,663.8 tons of humanitarian cargo have already been delivered to Ukraine, 820 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including 6 actions in Kherson region, as well as in Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, during which 226 tons of basic necessities, medicines and food were transferred to the civilian population of the liberated areas.
On April 14, 14 humanitarian actions have been planned and are currently being carried out in Kherson region, in Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, during which 502.1 tons of basic necessities, medicine and food will be distributed.
2. Situation at the Black Sea
76 foreign vessels from 18 countries remain blocked in Ukrainian ports. The threat of shelling and high mine danger created by official Kiev in its internal waters and territorial sea prevents vessels from safely leaving the ports and reaching the open sea.
In confirmation of this, the Russian Federation is opening daily from 08:00 to 19:00 (Moscow time) a humanitarian corridor, which is a safe lane south-west of Ukraine's territorial sea, 80 nautical miles long and 3 nautical miles wide.Detailed information in English and Russian on the modus operandi of the maritime humanitarian corridor is broadcast daily every 15 minutes on VHF radio on 14 and 16 international channels.
At the same time, the Kiev authorities continue to avoid engaging with representatives of states and ship-owning companies to resolve the issue of ensuring the safe passage of foreign vessels to the assembly area. At the International Maritime Organization, Ukraine's representatives refuse to discuss issues of ship departures security, demonstratively avoiding dialogue.
The Russian Federation is taking a full range of exhaustive measures to ensure civilian navigation in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean.
Once again Russia warns the entire international community that there is a threat of Ukrainian mines drifting off their anchor along the coasts of the Black Sea states. Once again, Russia calls on the International Maritime Organization and the management of ship-owning companies to influence official Kiev to take measures aimed at unblocking and securing the departure of foreign vessels from Ukrainian ports.
3. NATO will enlarge NW delivery systems in Europe
NATO planners are updating the US “nuclear sharing” program to account for most European allies planning to buy F-35 joint strike fighter jets, the military bloc’s director of nuclear policy said this week. Lockheed Martin’s fifth-generation fighter has been embraced by multiple US allies, including most recently Germany, despite the Pentagon’s own misgivings about the program. “We’re moving fast and furiously towards F-35 modernization and incorporating those into our planning and into our exercising and things like that as those capabilities come online,” Jessica Cox, director of the NATO nuclear policy directorate in Brussels, said on April 13th, adding that “By the end of the decade, most if not all of our allies will have transitioned” to the F-35.
Cox spoke during an online discussion hosted by the Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance Deterrence Center (ANWA DC), a US think tank, according to Defense News.
Her remarks come a month after Berlin said Germany would replace its aging Tornado jets with F-35s, committing to buy up to three dozen and specifically citing the nuclear sharing mission as factoring in the decision. Following Germany’s decision to buy a fleet of F-35s, NATO planners have begun updating the alliance’s nuclear sharing mechanics to account for the jet’s next-gen capabilities, a key NATO official said this week.
She admitted that that other NATO allies currently operating the F-35, such as Poland, Denmark, and Norway, might be asked to support nuclear sharing missions in the future, adding that NATO “will also have some operational advantages with the F-35 since there will be opportunities for enhanced networking and integration across the force.”
In addition to Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Turkey are currently hosting an estimated 150 US nuclear weapons – mainly B-61 gravity bombs, intended to be carried by smaller fighter-bombers like the Tornado or the F-16 – according to estimates by British think tank Chatham House.
Finland and Sweden have recently voiced a desire to join NATO, and Helsinki already announced it would buy 64 F-35s in early February. Russia has responded by saying it would be forced to reposition some of its troops and nuclear deterrent accordingly.
4. The USA will allocate extra $ 800 mln to Kiev
U.S. President Joe Biden has announced an additional $800 million in heavy weapons the country will speed to Ukrainian forces, which will include more than a dozen heavy-artillery howitzers, hundreds of armored vehicles and nearly a dozen helicopters, all from U.S. stockpiles.
Especially with the 18 towed 155mm howitzers and 40,000 artillery rounds, which the U.S. is providing for the first time, the Pentagon hopes to help even the odds against Russian forces, as the war enters a new phase, concentrated in eastern Ukraine. Moscow is now expected to bolster and resupply its forces in the Donbas region, where they can take advantage of shorter supply lines and open ground to employ tanks and more long-range fires, artillery and rocket capabilities, Pentagon officials said.
5. Developments on the battlefields
High-precision, long-range sea-based Kalibr missiles struck a military facility on the outskirts of Kiev tonight. The strike on Zhulyansk machine-building plant Vizar destroyed the production and repair workshops of long- and medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems as well as anti-ship missiles.
The number and scale of missile strikes against assets in Kiev will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or sabotage on Russian territory by the Kiev nationalist regime.
Russian air defence means near Gorodnya, Chernigov Region, have shot down 1 Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter with S-400 anti-aircraft missile system while it was returning to its airbase, after attacking civilians in Klimovo, Bryansk Region on April 14th.
Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 fighter jet has been shot down near Lozovaya, Kharkov Region. Also, 8 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down near Izyum, Levkovka, Novaya Astrakhan, Novaya Kuban, Shchastlivoe, Chernobaevka and Cherniy Sokol.
During the night, 7 enemy assets were hit by high-precision air-based missiles. among them: Tochka-U tactical missile launcher and a temporary deployment point of Ukrainian nationalist group, including up to 20 armoured vehicles and up to 50 nationalists, were destroyed near Yasenovoe; the Ukrainian military equipment and weapons have been destroyed near Dergachi, Novoelizavetovka and Povstanskoe; missile and artillery weapons and fuel depots were destroyed in Nikolaev and Parutino.
Missile troops have eliminated a mercenary unit of a Polish private military campaign in Izyumskoe, Kharkov Region. Up to 30 Polish mercenaries were killed.
A total of 221 Ukrainian assets were also hit, including: 12 command posts, 176 strongholds and areas of enemy manpower concentration, 12 artillery firing positions were suppressed.
Operational-tactical aviation hit 13 military assets of Ukraine during the night. Among them: 2 depots of missile and artillery weapons, as well as 10 areas of concentration of Ukrainian weapons and military equipment.
Army aviation destroyed areas of manpower and Ukrainian military equipment concentration, including 3 strong points, 9 armoured vehicles and vehicles of various purposes in Gusarovka and Volobuevka.
From the beginning of the special military operation In total, 132 aircraft and 105 helicopters, 245 anti-aircraft missile systems S-300, Buk-M1, Osa-AKM, 456 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,213 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 249 multiple launch rocket systems, 966 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,110 special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed.
Written by Vladimir P. Kozin
