A young kid gives an offering of food to his mother grave as his younger brother and a neighbor stand next to it, in the town of Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, April 4, after the Ukrainian army secured the area following the withdrawal of the Russian army from the Kyiv Oblast in previous days. (Getty Images)
April 14 marks 50 days since Russia launched its brutal all-out war against Ukraine.
Moscow's unprovoked military aggression has already cost it approximately 19,900 servicemen and 5,260 units of weapons and other equipment, according to Ukraine's government estimates.
Russia hasn't achieved any significant success in its offensive, having captured only one regional capital, Kherson, which has been actively resisting the occupation.
Yet Ukraine can hardly celebrate this interim victory, as Russian forces are regrouping and preparing to focus on advancing in the country's east.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the upcoming Battle of Donbas will be similar to World War II, as Ukraine expects large-scale operations and maneuvers involving thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft, and artillery.
Russia's war has already killed 1,964 and injured 2,613 civilians in Ukraine, according to the United Nations. The true numbers, however, are expected to be much higher, as data about casualties from the occupied territories and the front-line cities is hardly accessible. In Mariupol, a besieged seaport in southeastern Ukraine alone, "tens of thousands" of people have been killed, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine still doesn't publish its military personnel losses.
Smoke rises over the town of Rubizhne, Donbas Oblast, on April 7, amid Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine. Six weeks after invading its neighbor, Russia's troops have withdrawn from Kyiv and Ukraine's north and are focusing on the country's southeast, where desperate attempts are under way to evacuate civilians. (AFP/Getty Images)Cemetery workers unload bodies of civilians killed in and around Bucha before they are transported to the morgue at a cemetery on April 7, in Bucha. The Ukrainian government has accused Russian forces of committing a "deliberate massacre" as they occupied and eventually retreated from Bucha, 25 kilometers northwest of Kyiv. Hundreds of bodies have been found in the days since Ukrainian forces regained control of the town. (Getty Images)Two men stand in front of a residential building destroyed by Russian bombing in early March, in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 9. (Getty Images)Mourners attend a memorial service for serviceman officer of Right Sector, Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, Taras Bobanych, call sign Hammer, at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on April 13, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (AFP/Getty Images)A man embraces his wife as she is about to board a train at Slovyansk central station, in Donetsk Oblast on April 12, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the Donbas have asked civilians to evacuate west in reaction to an anticipated Russian offensive to take the eastern region. (AFP/Getty Images)People walk down an avenue in Mariupol on April 12, 2022, as Russian troops intensify a campaign to take the strategic port city, part of an anticipated massive onslaught across eastern Ukraine. (AFP/Getty Images)A partially buried body is seen in a mass grave in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv on April 4. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Dmytro Sadofiev goes through his belongings in his kitchen in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6. The town has suffered from a Russian bombing in early March. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Emergency personnel walks among injured people lying on the sidewalk in the aftermath of a rocket attack on the railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, in Donetsk Oblast, on April 8. More than 50 people were killed and over 100 injured in the attack. (AFP/Getty Images)A five-story residential building destroyed by Russian bombardment in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, as seen on April 10. (AFP/Getty Images)Ukrainian soldiers on the front line with Russian troops in Luhansk Oblast on April 11. (AFP/Getty Images)Olga Antonova cries next to the grave of civilian man who was killed by Russian soldiers on the street near her house few weeks ago in Bucha, near Kyiv, on April 4. Days later, Russian soldiers allowed her to bury the man in her yard. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)Thousands of people carrying banners and Ukrainian flags lie down on the ground to represent war victims during a protest against ongoing Russian attacks on Ukraine, in front of the German Federal Assembly in Berlin, Germany on April 6. (Getty Images)Residents run near a burning house following a shelling of Severodonetsk, Luhansk Oblast, on April 6, as Ukraine tells residents in the country's east to evacuate "now" or "risk death" ahead of a feared Russian onslaught on the Donbas region, which Moscow has declared its top prize. NATO believes Moscow aims to take control of the whole Donbas region in eastern Ukraine with the aim of creating a corridor from Russia to annexed Crimea. (AFP/Getty Images)Natalia Blyzniuk (L) and her sister Liudmila, local residents who spent last month in the city, take water from the river in the town of Borodyanka in Kyiv Oblast on April 6. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)A resident searches for the graves of relatives in a cemetery in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, on April 5. Chernihiv, just 50 kilometres from the border with Belarus, was swiftly encircled in the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. City officials estimate around 350 civilians have been killed in Chernihiv since the start of the Russian invasion. (AFP/Getty Images)
A Ukrainian delegation is set to visit Washington next week to negotiate the purchase of additional air defense systems as well as HIMARS rocket systems as part of a "Mega Deal," President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press briefing on Oct. 10.
Speaking at the White House briefing, Melania Trump said Putin responded to her earlier letter and that "both sides have participated in several back-channel meetings and calls, all in good faith."
President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans to finalize the agreement, describing drone production as "one of the most promising areas of our bilateral cooperation."
The IPI said Roshchyna's death on Sept. 19, 2024 "exposed the brutal treatment suffered by the dozens of Ukrainian journalists unjustly held by Russian authorities, and brought new urgency to the need to protect the press and secure accountability for attacks on journalists."
Among the seven nations increasing their purchases, France saw a 40% jump, importing 2.2 billion euros ($2.5 billion), while the Netherlands’ imports surged 72% to 498 million euros ($579 million). Belgium, Croatia, Romania, and Portugal also raised their imports. Hungary recorded an 11% increase over the past year.
This month marks one year of the Kyiv Independent’s Explaining Ukraine weekly newsletter on Ukrainian history, literature, and culture, written by culture reporter Kate Tsurkan.
"We have not fully disclosed what was discussed in Anchorage. We remain committed to the basis of that discussion and have changed nothing for ourselves," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Igor Kartavykh, editor-in-chief of Sputnik Azerbaijan, was moved from police detention to house arrest in Baku, according to Dmitry Kiselyov, who oversees Sputnik's parent organization.
Russia launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on Ukraine overnight on Oct. 10, killing a child and injuring at least 24 people in the country while leaving a part of Kyiv without electricity and water.
"Very shortly, we'll be producing around 2,000 drones a month, deliberately shipping all of them to Ukraine so they can be used to intercept Russian drones," U.K. Defense Readiness and Industry Minister Luke Pollard said.
