100 defenders returned from captivity and 30 thousand additional payment restored to military: highlights of today

Prisoner exchange

Ukraine has returned another 100 defenders from captivity, including the defenders of the cities of Mariupol, Hostomel, Bakhmut, and Zmiinyi Island.

Almost half of the liberated prisoners have been seriously injured, ill, or tortured. The youngest of the liberated is 19 years old.

Among those freed from captivity is poet and Mariupol defender Valeriia Karpilenko with a call sign “Nava”. In May 2022, the servicewoman got married in the catacombs of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, and her beloved husband died soon after.

Dariia Zarivna, Communications Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office, noted that since March, Ukraine has returned 2,093 people from captivity.

Transfer of seriously wounded

Ukraine has handed over five more seriously wounded occupiers to Russia, including the only woman who was in Ukrainian captivity. According to international humanitarian law, the repatriation took place without any conditions for Russia.

Also, on the occasion of Ramadan, Ukraine handed over two Russian Muslim prisoners of war. Ukraine offered to exchange Muslims “all for all” as a sign of respect for culture and traditions, but Russia did not support the idea of such an exchange.

Additional payment to the military

The Verkhovna Rada supported the return of UAH 30,000 in additional payments for the military, police, and others during martial law.

At the same time, the amount of additional remuneration for military personnel directly involved in hostilities or carrying out national security and defense measures while in the areas of such actions is increased to UAH 100,000 per month in proportion to the time spent in such actions.

Situation at the frontline

According to the General Staff, Russia is focusing on an offensive in the Liman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Marinka sectors. Over the course of April 10, Ukrainian defenders repelled more than 20 Russian attacks there.

The aviation of the Defense Forces carried out 8 strikes on the areas of concentration of occupiers' personnel and military equipment over the day. They also shot down a Russian Mi-24 helicopter and 6 drones of various types: two of them were strike drones, and four were reconnaissance drones.

Ukrainian missile and artillery units hit the area where Russians concentrated manpower, weapons, and military equipment, as well as an ammunition depot.

New developments around the UOC-MP

The Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy of the Verkhovna Rada recommends checking compliance with the terms of the agreement on the use of the facilities of the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Meanwhile, the Rivne Regional Council supported the ban on the UOC-MP in the region, and the Rivne City Council terminated the right of the church to use land plots on the territory of the community.

And in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, about two hundred parishioners of the UOC-MP blocked the entrance to the cathedral, which the local authorities decided to transfer to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Other news for the day:

• Ukraine resumes electricity exports to Moldova on April 11.
• In Kherson Oblast, Russians dropped an explosive grenade from a drone on a boat carrying a boy and a girl, both 20 years old. They were seriously injured.
• Cyber specialists of the Security Service of Ukraine in cooperation with Polish law enforcement exposed fraudsters who were extorting money from those wishing to leave Bakhmut.
• In 2023, UAH 5.5 billion is allocated to provide housing for war veterans, their families, and the families of the deceased.
• In Kyiv, a native of Donetsk, having quarreled with a shopkeeper, fired several times in the direction of a kiosk where people were at the time.
• In Zakarpattia, Tiachiv District Court sent a 40-year-old man to prison for 3 years for evading military service during mobilization.
• The National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office put the former head of the State Property Fund Dmytro Sennichenko on the wanted list. According to the investigation, he headed a criminal organization involved in the embezzlement of more than half a billion hryvnias.