Return of men from abroad, additional funds for drones from the government, and assistance from Latvia. Highlights for April 30

Return of men from abroad

Ukraine does not plan to forcibly return men of military age from abroad, said Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna.

According to her, providing one's data to the territorial centers of recruitment and social support does not mean automatic mobilization to the front.

“Ukraine has adopted a law on mobilization, and we need to understand to what extent we can replace the men at the front. We are talking about the mobilization potential —registration and information. And this is the primary goal of our decision,” the Deputy Prime Minister explained.

Estonia, by the way, decided not to deport Ukrainians of military age from the country. There are 6,500 such men there.

Additional funds for drones

The Cabinet of Ministers has agreed to allocate an additional UAH 15.5 billion for the purchase of drones, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during a government meeting.

According to him, this is an additional resource to the UAH 43.3 billion already allocated for drones this year.

The funds will be directed to the State Special Communications Service, which is responsible for procurement. With the funds allocated on April 30, the Security and Defense Forces will receive 300,000 drones.

Latvia provides new weapons

The Latvian government has approved the transfer of a new package of weapons to Ukraine. Officials in Riga will transfer NBS (presumably Mantis) anti-aircraft systems and tactical unmanned surveillance systems to the Ukrainian Defense Forces. According to the official, this will help Ukraine “improve both air defense and intelligence capabilities”.

The case of Metropolitan Pavlo

The Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv has decided to remove the electronic bracelet from Metropolitan Pavlo (Lebid) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, his lawyer Mykyta Chekman told hromadske.

The spokesperson for the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, Olena Kovaleva, told hromadske that at a meeting on April 30, the prosecutor requested that all the Metropolitan's duties be extended, but the court granted the request in part and did not extend the obligation to wear an electronic bracelet.

Metropolitan Pavlo is still obliged:

• not to leave his place of residence without a court order;
• refrain from communicating with victims and witnesses in criminal proceedings.

North Korean missiles fired at Ukraine

United Nations experts have confirmed that the debris from the missile that fell in Kharkiv in winter belonged to a North Korean Hwasong-11 ballistic missile, Reuters quotes a report from the UN Security Council Committee.

As noted in the report, UN observers concluded that the wreckage of the missile that fell in Kharkiv on January 2, 2024, came from a DPRK Hwasong-11 missile and violated the arms embargo imposed on North Korea.

In early April, three UN observers arrived in Ukraine to examine the wreckage. They found evidence that the missile was manufactured by Russia. But they could not independently determine where the missile was launched and by whom, Reuters quoted.

Shelling of Kharkiv

On the morning of April 30, Russian troops shelled Kholodnohirskyi and Kyivskyi districts of Kharkiv. One person was killed and 9 others were wounded in the attack.

Two hits on civilian facilities were recorded in the city. In the Kyivskyi district, there was a hit in a residential area. According to the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, the occupiers also struck near the park area. The city was attacked with guided aerial bombs.

A woman who fled the occupation will have a new home

A new house will be bought for 98-year-old Lidiia Stepanivna, who walked about 10 km under fire to leave the occupied part of Ocheretyne village in Donetsk region, Monobank co-owner Oleh Horokhovskyi said.

“You bear it, you bear it, and you bear it emotionally, you try to do what you have to do and what you can do, and then you read a story like this, and it all comes out,” he wrote.

Horokhovskyi said that monobank would buy Lidiia Stepanovna a house: “And she will live in it until this filth disappears from our land.”

Other important news:

• The Council of Europe decided to start preparations for the creation of a special tribunal to bring the Russian leadership to justice for war crimes.
• The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has announced the creation of its third combat brigade, the “Hart”.
• Lithuanians are planning to build new bomb shelters in 6 regions of Ukraine — Odesa, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv.
• The High Anti-Corruption Court changed the measure of restraint for former MP Maksym Mykytas from house arrest to bail in the amount of UAH 908,400.
• Over the next two months, the Israeli Air Force plans to give up Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems, replacing them with more modern air defense equipment.