Key developments on April 10:
- Parliament starts considering updated mobilization bill in 2nd reading
- Germany delivers artillery shells, drones, armored vehicles to Ukraine
- Russian attacks against Kharkiv, Odesa oblasts kill 7, including 2 children, injure 18
- Ukrainian military denies Russia gained foothold in Robotyne
- UK government, BAE Systems sign agreements to repair equipment in Ukraine
Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has begun considering an updated mobilization bill in the second reading, lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko said on April 10.
The bill is a key component of the government's efforts to update the legal framework around conscription in order to ramp up mobilization in 2024.
The parliament is considering an updated version of the bill after the first contentious proposal was withdrawn. The re-submitted draft law passed the first reading on Feb. 7. Lawmakers have proposed over 4,000 amendments to the bill since then.
The bill will come into effect after it passes the second reading and is signed by the president.
Honcharenko said that the parliament's National Security and Defense Committee finished reviewing all the amendments on April 9 after removing provisions on demobilization and rotation of military personnel. The latter two points are to be developed separately from the main bill.
Alexander Query
The Defense Ministry presented key points of the revised mobilization bill on March 27. The proposal includes mobilization from the age of 25 to 60 and an introduction of basic military training instead of conscript service.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said back in December 2023 that the original version of the mobilization bill called for a draft of 450,000-500,000 additional conscripts. Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on March 29 that this number has been "significantly reduced."
The Ukrainian parliament also passed on April 10 in the first reading a bill permitting military service of citizens convicted of minor offenses, said Honcharenko, one of the bill's authors.
This does not include those convicted under serious and violent charges, such as murder, sexual violence, or crimes against national security.
The bill still has to pass in a second reading by parliament.
Francis Farrell
Germany delivers artillery shells, drones, armored vehicles to Ukraine
Berlin sent a new batch of military aid to Ukraine, containing artillery shells, drones, and armored vehicles, among other supplies, the German government said on April 10.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced a new aid package for Ukraine worth 500 million euros (roughly $540 million) earlier in March, including 10,000 artillery shells from military stocks, 100 armored vehicles for infantry, and 100 logistical vehicles.
In its latest delivery, Germany provided Ukraine with 6,000 rounds of 155 mm ammunition, one million rounds of small arms ammunition, 680 MK 556 assault riffles, 50 HLR 338 precision rifles, and 120 CR 308 rifles.
Berlin also handed over 16 Vector and 30 RQ-35 Heidrun reconnaissance drones, as well as 30 frequency range extensions for anti-drone devices.
Ukraine also received one Warthog command armored vehicle, two Wisent mine-clearing tanks, 11 remote-controlled mine-clearing systems, three mine plows, 70 IR cameras, 24 outboard motors, and 5,000 detonators.
The previous batch of German military aid was sent to Ukraine on March 28 and contained tank ammunition, drones, and artillery shells.
Germany has become one of Ukraine's leading military donors, second only to the U.S. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany has supplied Ukraine with 17.7 billion euros (around $19 billion) in military assistance as of January.
Russian attacks against Kharkiv, Odesa oblasts kill 7, including 2 children, injure 18
Russian attacks against the Odesa area as well as Lyptsi and Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast on April 10 killed seven people, including two children, and wounded another 18, including two other children, regional officials reported.
Russian forces struck the Odesa area on the evening of April 10, killing four people, including a 10-year-old girl, and wounding another 14, according to the latest update by Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper.
Ukraine’s southern regions, such as Odesa, are frequent targets of Russian attacks. A March 29 Russian missile strike on Odesa injured at least five people, including three children, according to local officials.
Russia attacked Odesa Oblast with Iskander-M ballistic missiles from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. local time on April 10, Kiper said without specifying how many missiles hit the region.
Those injured reportedly included a man in severe condition whose lower limbs were amputated and a four-year-old girl.
Transport infrastructure and trucks were also damaged in the attack, according to Kiper.
Russian forces targeted the village of Lyptsi in Kharkiv Oblast, killing three people, including a 14-year-old girl, and wounding two more, including a 16-year-old boy, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.
A Russian attack on a medical facility in the city of Vovchansk wounded two civilian men aged 54, according to Syniehubov.
Settlements in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv Oblast suffer from daily Russian attacks due to their proximity to the front line and the border with Russia.
Francis Farrell
Ukrainian military denies Russia gained foothold in Robotyne
Russian forces did not manage to gain a foothold in the front-line village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine's Southern Forces said on April 10, denying earlier claims by a regional official.
The village of Robotyne, which lies some 15 kilometers (nine miles) south of Orikhiv and 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) southeast of Zaporizhzhia, was liberated by Ukraine during its counteroffensive in the summer of 2023 and has been on the front line since.
Recent weeks saw an escalation of hostilities in the sector, with the Ukrainian military saying that the situation was "in flux" but not critical.
Serhii Lyshenko, a member of the Zaporizhzhia oblast council, said on air on Espresso TV on April 9 that Russian forces managed to break into Robotyne and that fighting continued within the village itself. The Ukrainian Telegram monitoring channel DeepState also claimed that Russian troops gained a foothold in the settlement.
"In the area held by the 65th Mechanized Brigade, which defends Robotyne, there are indeed regular clashes with enemy sabotage groups," the military reported on Telegram.
Russian units reportedly entered the village and tried to gain a foothold there "but had no success," the Southern Forces stressed.
"Our forces repel enemy attacks with artillery on the approach toward Robotyne, and soldiers of the 65th Brigade and adjacent units destroy scattered enemy groups with drones and mortars," the statement read.
"Today, the settlement is held by Ukrainian defense forces."
Robotyne sits by the main road toward Russian-occupied Tokmak and further to occupied Melitopol, one of the key logistic hubs for Russian forces in southern Ukraine.
Moscow has been intensifying offensive operations along the front in the past months as Ukraine faces ammunition shortages, compounded by the delays in U.S. aid.
Kateryna Hodunova
UK government, BAE Systems sign agreements to repair equipment in Ukraine
The British government and BAE Systems, the U.K.'s largest arms company, announced on April 10 that they had signed agreements to support Ukraine's defense industry.
Ukraine aims to further invest in domestic arms production amid growing uncertainty about the supply of weapons from partners abroad.
The U.K. government signed an agreement with the Ukrainian government to encourage defense industry cooperation and support joint projects between British and Ukrainian companies.
The signing took place in Kyiv during the U.K's largest-ever trade mission to Ukraine. A delegation of 29 British defense companies was present at the signing, together with representatives from 70 Ukrainian defense companies.
During the trade mission, BAE Systems signed an agreement with the U.K. government for the maintenance, repair, and overhaul services in Ukraine of the L119 light gun, a 105 mm howitzer.
The agreement provides a framework for other BAE-produced weapons to be repaired and maintained in Ukraine, Gabby Costigan, BAE Systems' group managing director for business development, told reporters in Kyiv.
As well as the L119, the Ukrainian Armed Forces currently use 17 different types of weapons and equipment made by BAE Systems, such as Challenger tanks and Bradley armored vehicles.
