Ukraine: With the Russia-Ukraine war entering Day 48, the fight seems to have shifted to eastern Ukraine. According to satellite imagery seen by RFE/RL, the number of fighters and bombers at the Lipetsk-2 military airport in Russia has doubled to more than 30 aircraft since the end of March. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden on Tuesday said Russia’s war in Ukraine “amounted to genocide”, accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian”.
Meanwhile, 7 were killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, says the governor. Ukrainian intelligence reports that Russia’s leadership has been ordered to destroy any evidence of its army’s crimes and is using mobile crematoriums for the purpose. In particular, 13 mobile crematoriums were recorded to be operating in Mariupol to incinerate the bodies of civilians.
1,026 soldiers of Ukraine’s 36th marine brigade, including 162 officers, have surrendered in the besieged port city of Mariupol, according to a statement from the Russian defence ministry. “Russian aggression against Ukraine is an illegal war and there are war crimes. I think democratic countries and democratic-minded people should have a clear voice against such war crimes regardless of trade relations and geo-political situations,” Bernd Lange, Chair of Committee of International Trade, who’s heading an EU delegation to India.
The Pentagon will hold a meeting with top US gun manufacturers to support Ukraine. Russian troops launched an airstrike on a railway station in central Ukraine on Tuesday night. The route and schedule for 17 passenger trains had to be changed as a result of the attack. “This led to the delay of these trains by up to 7 hours,” Head of Ukrainian Railway said. According to the UN’s human rights agency, as of April 11th, Russia’s war in Ukraine has killed 1,892 and injured 2,558 civilians, including 71 children killed and 144 injured.