Burned corpses and cars are seen on the road in Kyiv Oblast on April 2, 2022. (Getty Images)
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April 4 marks 40 days of Russia's barbarous war in Ukraine.
The extent of Russia's cruelty against Ukrainians, however, was discovered just two days ago.
On April 2, Ukrainian forces regained control of Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv, revealing the many horrific atrocities of Russia's weeks-long occupation.
Hundreds of civilian residents were found dead on the streets, by their homes and in mass graves.
Following one of the darkest days of the war, one that truly shocked the Ukrainian nation and the whole world, President Volodymyr Zelensky gave the kind of address that "presidents don't usually give."
"Concentrated evil has come to our land," he said. "Murderers, butchers, rapists, looters, who call themselves an army and who deserve only to die after what they have done."
Since Moscow unleashed its all-out war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, at least 1,232 civilian Ukrainians have been killed, according to the United Nations. The actual figures, however, are expected to be much higher, as casualties from front-line areas aren't counted due to a lack of data.
At least 161 children have been killed and 264 injured by Russia's war, according to Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office.
Bodies lie on a street in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, as Ukrainian forces retook control of the town on April 2, 2022 following weeks of Russian occupation. (AFP via Getty Images)A cyclist rides past buildings on fire following an artillery fire in Kharkiv, a regional capital in northeastern Ukraine, on March 25, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Rescuers remove rubble from the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration building where at least 35 people were killed by a Russian cruise missile attack on April 1, 2022, in Mykolaiv, a regional capital in southern Ukraine. (The Washington Post/Getty Images)A partially buried body is seen in a mass grave in the town of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, on April 3, 2022. Hundreds of killed civilians were found in the town after Ukrainian forces retook it following weeks of Russian occupation. (AFP/Getty Images)President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) walks in the town of Bucha, just northwest of Kyiv, the site of Russia's massacre of civilian residents, on April 4, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)Communal workers and volunteers build a protective structure around a monument to the poet Taras Shevchenko in Kyiv on April 3, 2022. (Getty Images)A woman hugs a volunteer fighting with the Territorial Defense Force after the Russian troop withdrawal from the Nova Basan village in Chernihiv Oblast on April 1, 2022. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the 64th Annual Grammy Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 3, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Getty Images for The Recording Academy)The newlyweds, medical volunteers Nastya Gracheva and Anton Sokolov, pose for a photograph in a ruined courtyard of a shopping and business complex in central Kharkiv on April 3, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A resident walks in front of a destroyed building in Trostyanets, Sumy Oblast, on March 29, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images)U.S. President Joe Biden kisses a child while meeting refugees of Russia's war against Ukraine at PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, Poland on March 26, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)An ostrich walks on the destroyed enclosure at an eco-park in Yasnohorodka, a village north of Kyiv on April 2, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A young girl sits on a suitcase at a train station in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, on April 3, 2022. (AFP/Getty Images)A destroyed column of Russia's military vehicles is seen on the highway near Buzova village in Kyiv Oblast on April 3, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)The family of Ukrainian soldier Ivan Lipskiy grieves at his casket during a funeral of five Ukrainian soldiers in Odesa on March 29, 2022. Lipskiy was killed on March 18 during a Russian air strike that hit the 36th Ukrainian Naval Infantry Brigade killing more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers in Mykolaiv. (The Washington Post/Getty Images)
President Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted the disparity in forces, saying that Ukraine's army consists of 110 brigades, while Russia fields 220 and plans to expand to 250 this year. In contrast, Europe, including U.S. troops stationed there, has only about 82 combat brigades.
Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov met with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for the first time on Feb. 12 during the Ramstein-format meeting in Brussels.
The attack struck an industrial zone housing multiple office centers. Footage from the scene shows shattered glass, structural damage to buildings, and wrecked cars.
An attempt to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky at the onset of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 resulted in people being killed inside the Presidential Office, Zelensky said in a segment of an interview with The Guardian published on Feb. 12.
Ksenia Yudaeva is moving to Washington after the U.S. Treasury Department, still under the Biden administration, granted her permission to transition from remote to in-person duties as Russia's IMF executive director, Bloomberg reported in January.
The agenda includes ensuring a stable and timely supply of military aid in 2025, accelerating the delivery of critical weapons like air defense systems, aviation, and ammunition, and fostering joint projects with European partners.
"Our commitment is clear: NATO must be a stronger, more lethal force—not a diplomatic club. Time for allies to meet the moment," U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
The commission resumed work in December 2024, focusing on nine key sectors and over 2,000 enterprises, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.
The incidents included infiltration attempts at naval bases from land and sea, as well as direct damage to vessels, German Navy Commander-in-Chief Vice Admiral Jan Christian Kaack said.
According to the Air Force, six of the seven missiles that targeted the cities of Kyiv and Kryvyi Rih were intercepted by air defenses. Ukrainian forces also reportedly shot down 71 drones over 11 oblasts, while 40 decoy drones were lost in the airspace.
Russia has offered to manufacture its fifth-generation Su-57 stealth fighter jet for the Indian Air Force amid deepening ties between Moscow and New Delhi, Reuters reported on Feb. 11, citing two officials.
Russia may find the opportunity to launch a large-scale war on Europe within five years, if Moscow "perceives NATO as militarily weakened or politically divided," an unclassified intelligence assessment from the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS) warned.
Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Levente Magyar criticized Ukrainian officials for a so-called "slanderous campaign" against Hungary in a visit to Kyiv on Feb. 11.
Zservers, a bulletproof hosting (BPH) services provider, supported the Russian cybercrime group LockBit in perpetrating mass ransomware attacks, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
Trump directed billionaire Steve Witkoff, his close friend and special envoy to the Middle East, to play a role in the Russia-Ukraine peace process, multiple sources told the New York Times.
U.S. history teacher Marc Fogel was released on Feb. 11 in an "exchange," the White House said. The details of the deal with Russia have not been disclosed.
The project aims to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian demining, test innovations, and share experiences between Ukrainian and international partners, the Defense Ministry's statement read.
The U.S. plans to review the deployment of its troops around the world but is not going to send them to Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a press conference on Feb. 11.