Fighting in the south, new sanctions being prepared: last night's highlights
The National Security and Defense Council is preparing a new powerful sanctions list of those working for aggression; the President held a regular meeting of the Supreme Commander—in—Chief's Staff. Here's what you may have missed from the previous night.
New sanctions and Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced the preparation of a new "powerful" sanctions list of those working for aggression. This is being done by the National Security and Defense Council apparatus together with the government and ministries.
Zelenskyy also spoke about the meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff, where they discussed the battles for Avdiyivka, Bakhmut, and Luhansk Oblast. In addition, they discussed the preparation of new brigades, the supply of ammunition and weapons to the troops.
Petition for demobilization
A petition calling for the right to discharge soldiers a year and a half after mobilization has garnered more than 25,000 votes. Now it must be considered by the president.
The author of the petition notes that a bill has already been registered in the Verkhovna Rada that proposes to give Ukrainian citizens the right to be discharged 18 months after mobilization if they do not express a desire to continue military service. The head of state is asked to address the parliament with a request to immediately consider the bill and set deadlines for demobilization.
Dismantling of monuments in Poltava
At a session of the Poltava City Council on April 7, councilors voted to dismantle monuments to Nikolai Vatutin, Alexander Pushkin, and Alexei Zygin.
Nikolai Vatutin was a general in the Soviet Union's army. The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory included Vatutin in the list of people involved in the struggle against Ukraine's independence, the organization of the Holodomor, and political repression. Alexei Zygin is a Soviet soldier in the Second World War.
Fighting in the south
On the southern front, Ukrainian troops destroyed nine Russian soldiers, a Merlin unmanned reconnaissance vehicle, a large-caliber artillery system, four vehicles and three observation posts over the last day. Counter-battery counteraction along the front line continues. The occupiers continue their tactics of air attacks using guided aerial bombs.
Operational Command "South" warned that the threat of missile attacks remains, and an attack by kamikaze drones is "quite likely".
Other news
- Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine's accession to NATO will be a key issue at the July summit of the Alliance.
- Occupants shelled Sumy Oblast again, including from aircraft, causing damage.
- In Kharkiv Oblast, three people were injured in an explosion of an unknown object.
- In Bulgaria, a pro-Russian party demands a referendum against the introduction of the euro: it has collected half a million signatures.
- A blogger-priest of the Moscow Patriarchate church is suspected of thanking the occupiers for their "dirty bloody work" in Ukraine.