Ukrainian President Selenskyj is calling on the population to persevere. Russia has tested an ICBM. An overview.
In view of the difficult situation at the front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on his compatriots to persevere. “We are now at a stage of the war where it is important for our society and our partners not to lose a sense of the path ahead,” Zelenskyy said in his evening video message on Tuesday.
In Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where the situation is particularly tense, the notorious Russian mercenary group Wagner reported on their own successes. In Russia itself, a law was passed that should make it much easier for the state to recruit men for the front.
Zelenskyj: “The road still lies ahead of us”
“Compared to last year, things are now quieter in many places,” said Zelenskyj. “But that doesn’t mean that you can ignore the war somewhere or focus less on helping the state,” he said to the Ukrainian population. The Ukrainian head of state emphasized that it was by no means the time to “rest on our laurels”: “The road still lies ahead of us.”
More than a year after the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, the Ukrainian army is currently under pressure, especially in the east around the city of Bakhmut, where costly fighting has been raging for months.
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Moscow reports testing of an ICBM
According to Russia, it is testing an ICBM. In the southern region of Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea, the long-range ballistic weapon was successfully fired from a ground-based missile system at the Kapustin Yar training ground on Tuesday, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow announced on Wednesday night. The training warhead was later scheduled to hit a test site in the neighboring country of Kazakhstan in Central Asia, the statement said – and further: “The goal was to test the promising combat equipment of ICBMs.”
Especially since the war of aggression against Ukraine began more than a year ago, international observers have repeatedly accused Russia of building up military threats. Most recently, Moscow caused a stir with the announcement that it would station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus. However, these are weapons with a shorter range than ICBMs.
Russian Mercenaries: Bakhmut captured more than 80 percent
According to their own statements, the Russian mercenary unit Wagner recently made further gains in the city, which was home to around 70,000 people before the start of the war. “In Bakhmut, the majority, more than 80 percent, is under our control,” said the head of the Wagner mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a video published by a Russian military blogger. The information cannot be verified independently. Ukraine repeatedly declares that it will ward off Russian attacks on Bakhmut.
Russians are more easily drafted into military service
In Russia, it will be much easier for men to be drafted to fight Ukraine in the future than it has been in the past. The deputies of the State Duma decided that the draft notices no longer have to be handed over in person, but can be sent electronically via the state service portal “Gosuslugi”.
The pending third and final reading and a signature from Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin are considered a formality. As a result of the changes, a conscript is electronically recorded and can no longer leave the country until he is presented to the drafting office. Observers feared that the new method would prepare a new mobilization for war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected this.
US Secretary of Defense was informed of data leak on April 6th
According to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, he learned about the data leak in secret service documents on the war in Ukraine last Thursday. “I was first briefed on the morning of April 6 about the reports of the unauthorized release of sensitive and classified material,” Austin said in Washington. Since then, he has consulted with senior staff in his ministry on a daily basis and taken immediate action across departmental boundaries. “We have referred the matter to the Justice Department, which has opened a criminal investigation.”
Apparently secret documents from US agencies on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine have been circulating on the Internet for weeks. US media have been reporting sensitive material on both warring parties for days without publishing the documents themselves. It is unclear who published the documents that were circulated weeks ago on pro-Russian channels.
