Day 433 since the beginning of the war: Belarus prepares to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons. A major military exercise involving 12,000 soldiers begins in Poland. All information in the blog.
The most important things at a glance
Selenskyj: Didn’t know about the data leak in advance
3.20 a.m.: According to his own statements, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj was not first informed by the US government about the explosive data leak with secret documents circulating on the Internet. This emerges from an excerpt from an interview with the “Washington Post” with Selenskyj, which the newspaper published on its website on Tuesday. “I was not informed in advance from the White House or the Pentagon,” Zelenskyj said. “We didn’t have that information, and neither did I personally.” That is clearly a bad thing. The Washington Post report says that Zelenskyi found out about it from the news.
US media first reported on the leak shortly before Easter. Secret documents from US agencies on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine had been circulating on the Internet for weeks – with information on arms deliveries, assessments of what was happening in the war and also details on alleged US spying campaigns against partners.
Report: Russian S-300 missiles en route to Zaporizhia
12:55 a.m: Five trucks with S-300 missile systems have been sighted in Mariupol and are said to be on their way towards the Zaporizhia region, which is largely under Ukrainian control. This is what Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, wrote on Telegram. The S-300 are Soviet missile systems designed for air defense. Russia uses a modified version for attacks on Ukraine. The information cannot be independently verified.
After similar transports, there had previously been attacks on populated areas in the city of Zaporizhzhia, Andriushchenko said. He urged residents not to ignore airborne alerts. Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is also located in Zaporizhia. It is currently controlled by Russian forces.
Two Russian rockets hit a private house in Zaporizhia on April 9, Zaporizhia acting mayor Anatolii Kurtiev reported on Telegram. The city has faced frequent attacks since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
EU wants to boost ammunition production with 500 million euros
9:10 p.m.: The EU Commission wants to increase ammunition production in the community with subsidies of more than 500 million euros. “When it comes to defence, our industry must now switch to war economy mode,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
The plan is to be officially presented on Wednesday, which the governments of the EU states and the EU Parliament will then have to approve. The money is to be used to invest in boosting the production of ammunition and rockets. This is intended to support Ukraine and replenish ammunition depots in EU countries.
Another attack on the Russian rail network
Dating app Tinder withdraws from Russia
7.50 p.m.: Dating app Tinder pulls out of Russia more than a year after the start of the Ukraine war. “Our brands are taking steps to limit access to their services in Russia and will complete their withdrawal from the Russian market by June 30, 2023,” parent company Match Group said in an annual report on Monday (local time).
Medvedev’s Twitter account restricted
7:26 p.m.: A post by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has been restricted to his English-language Twitter account. Twitter flagged the tweet in such a way that it was not immediately recognizable, saying it violated the Twitter Rules. However, the social media platform went on to say that because “there may be a public interest in leaving this tweet accessible”, it has been decided not to remove it entirely.
