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Morning Headlines
Reuters: Ukraine's military spy agency GUR said on Monday that the management of the Telegram messaging platform has blocked a number of official bots that opposed Russia's military aggression against Ukraine.
FT: Combined profit at the largest western banks that remain in Russia, including Raiffeisen Bank International, UniCredit and Deutsche Bank, jumped in 2023 to three times that of prewar levels, resulting in a fourfold increase in taxes paid to the Kremlin (archive).
Reuters: As China's big banks pull back from financing Russia-related transactions, some Chinese companies are turning to small banks on the border and underground financing channels such as money brokers - even banned cryptocurrency - the sources told Reuters. Others have retreated entirely from the Russian market, the sources said.
ISW: The continued Russian stabilization of their salient northwest of Avdiivka presents the Russian command with a choice of continuing to push west towards its reported operational objective in Pokrovsk or trying to drive northwards to conduct possible complementary offensive operations with the Russian effort around Chasiv Yar.
Reuters: Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Sunday that he named his teenage son, who was shown beating a prisoner in custody last year, a trustee of the Russian University of Special Forces named after Putin.
Kyiv Post: A German former soldier will go on trial on Monday accused of spying for Russia, as Berlin faces a surge in Moscow-linked espionage cases amid the Ukraine war.
28.04.2024
Business Insider: The US has purchased 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Kazakhstan, the Kyiv Post reports. The planes may be used for spare parts or deployed as decoys in conflict regions.
Reuters: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued a fresh plea to the international community to hurry up and deliver more air defences, start formal talks for his country to enter the European Union, and invite Ukraine to join NATO.
POLITICO: A seismic shift in Armenia’s foreign policy that has seen it forge closer relations with the European Union is not a threat to Moscow, the country’s ambassador in Brussels insisted amid increasingly tense relations with the Kremlin.
CNN: A pair of Russian journalists have been detained on “extremism” charges and face accusations of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny.
Reuters: Ukraine's top commander said on Sunday Kyiv's outnumbered troops had fallen back to new positions west of three villages on the eastern front where Russia has concentrated significant forces in several locations.
AP News: Two Ukrainian men were stabbed to death in southern Germany, police said Sunday, and a Russian man was arrested by authorities as a possible suspect in the killings.
POLITICO: The thousands of the former Wagner forces have splintered into at least four groups, according to two U.S. officials granted anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. By mixing the fighters with other mercenaries loyal to Putin, the Russian government hopes to prevent a repeat of the events of last year, when a unified Wagner turned on Putin and his defense ministry.
Reuters: Turkey is in talks with US energy giant ExxonMobil over a multibillion-dollar deal to buy liquefied natural gas, in an effort to curb its dependence on Russian energy, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
ISW: Russian forces will likely make significant tactical gains in the coming weeks as Ukraine waits for US security assistance to arrive at the front but remain unlikely to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses.
27.04.2024
POLITICO: Italy has emancipated itself from Russian natural gas and would have no problem with a proposed package of EU sanctions on liquified natural gas that the European Commission is considering, Italian Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said.
The Insider: The Russian authorities are not only kidnapping children from Ukraine, but also disabled citizens — people whose property and money they can dispose of freely by acting on their behalf in court.
Reuters: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a Russian attack on his country's energy sector on Saturday had targeted gas facilities important for supply to the European Union.
The Kyiv Independent: Russian forces managed to break in and gain a foothold in a part of Ocheretyne, a front-line village in Donetsk Oblast, Nazar Voloshyn, a spokesperson of the Khortytsia group of forces, said on April 27.
ABC News: Australia has ramped up military aid for Ukraine, with A$100 million ($65 million) in new funding to go toward short-range air defense systems, drone development and other equipment needed in the nation’s war against Russia.
UK Defence Journal: Britain estimates that 450,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded and over 10,000 Russian armoured vehicles have been destroyed in Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent: Slovak activists collected 3.9 million euros ($4 million) for the Czech ammunition initiative for Ukraine in 12 days, after the Slovak government refused to participate.
CNN: Ukraine launched drone attacks on Russia’s Kushchevsk military airfield in the southern Krasnodar region, as well as two oil refineries, a source with knowledge of the operation told CNN. The source dubbed the operation “explosive,” and said that fires broke out at the three locations.
Reuters: Russian missiles pounded power facilities in central and western Ukraine on Saturday, increasing pressure on the ailing energy system as the country faces a shortage of air defences despite a breakthrough in U.S. military aid.
POLITICO: U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Putin “likely” didn’t order opposition leader Alexei Navalny to be killed at an Arctic prison in February, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
26.04.2024
Canada will donate 3 million Canadian dollars ($2.2 million) to Ukraine's domestic drone production and around 13 million ($9.5 million) to a Czech-led ammunition initiative, Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair announced on April 26.
Reuters: Russian firms' efforts to make payments for goods in China as secondary sanctions fears spook local banks have generated a flourishing market for middlemen, four sources told Reuters, with up to half of transactions now handled by intermediaries.
AFP: Spain will send US-made Patriot air defence missiles to Ukraine, which has asked for more military equipment to resist Russian attacks, Defence Minister Margarita Robles said Friday.
CNN: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Friday a $6 billion long-term military aid package for Ukraine — the largest to date — which will allow the US to purchase new equipment produced by the American defense industry for the Ukrainian military.
BBC News: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned Washington will act if China does not stop supplying Russia with items used in its assault on Ukraine.
Reuters: The Ukrainian capital Kyiv evacuated two civilian hospitals on Friday after the head of the Belarusian KGB security service said they were housing soldiers, sparking fears of an airstrike.
Kyiv Post: Ukraine’s Military Intelligence claimed responsibility for destroying a Russian Ka-32 multi-purpose helicopter at Moscow’s Ostafyevo Airport early morning on Friday.
AFP: Russian forces have ratcheted up attacks on Ukrainian railway infrastructure with the aim of disrupting military cargo ahead of a planned offensive, a Ukrainian security source said Friday.
Reuters: A British man has been charged over alleged hostile state activity intended to benefit Russia, including by allegedly recruiting others for an arson attack on a Ukrainian-linked commercial property in London.
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