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.
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Russia attacked the city of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast on April 20, killing a 50-year-old man and injuring a 60-year-old woman, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.
Ukrainian special services, together with the military, orchestrated a large-scale drone attack on Russia's energy infrastructure overnight on April 20, a military intelligence source told the Kyiv Independent.
President Volodymyr Zelensky signed on April 20 a decree on counteracting the negative effects of online gambling, which proposes to ban it for the military until the end of martial law.
Ukrainian air defenses downed two missiles and three reconnaissance drones during a Russian attack overnight on April 20, reported Air Force commander Mykola Oleschuk.
Search and rescue operations at the sites of a Russian missile attack on Dnipro have concluded at around 8:40 a.m. local time on April 20, the State Emergency Service said.
Russian forces attacked five communities in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast, injuring four people, the regional administration reported on April 19. At least 33 explosions were recorded.
The UN's humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, issued a statement condemning the Russian military's April 19 attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
Air defenses in Russia's Bryansk, Kaluga, and Smolensk Oblasts intercepted several drones overnight on April 20, which fell and started a fire at three separate energy facilities, according to regional officials.
More than half of the U.K.'s 900 million pound (over $1 billion) military fund for Ukraine remains unused due to bureaucratic delays in handing out contracts, the Guardian reports.
"When Ukraine appeals to partners for air defense systems that they have - in warehouses, in storage bases, but that are needed here, right here, to protect lives - we are talking about a true alliance," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
In an interview with C-SPAN, Don Bacon laid out the dire situation Ukraine finds itself in on the battlefield, saying if the bills don’t pass “the Russians will be in Kyiv.”
"From our intense work with both parties and committee approval of voting procedures today, I am cautiously optimistic this time," Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, told the Kyiv Independent on April 19.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on April 19 that Senate Democrats will support House Speaker Mike Johnson's series of bills that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel, and other priorities if they pass the House.
The announcement followed comments earlier in the week from finance ministry official Lev Denisov, who said that the initial 2.3% estimate would be revised upwards due to the "strong growth of the economy" at the beginning of 2024.
In a post on Telegram, the head of the city's military administration, Roman Mrochko, said the victim was walking the streets when she was hit in an attack launched from the occupied east bank of Kherson.
According to one of the unnamed U.S. defense officials, some of the proposed military equipment is located in Europe and could reach Ukraine within days after a successful vote, while other material would likely take a few weeks.
Kropotov, the commander of the 59th Guards Communications Brigade, was killed in a Ukrainian strike on his headquarters on April 13, according to a Telegram post from a Ukrainian colonel, Anatolii Shtefan "Shtirlitz."