Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression continues to be robust. According to a new update from the U.K. Defense Ministry, “Ukraine retains control over the majority of its airspace. Russia has failed to effectively destroy the Ukrainian Air Force or suppress Ukrainian air defences. Ukraine continues to hold Russian air assets at risk.” Because of these Ukrainian strategic successes, “Russian air activity is primarily focused on southern and eastern Ukraine, providing support to Russian ground forces. Russia has very limited air access to the north and west of Ukraine, limiting offensive actions to deep strikes with stand-off weapons,” U.K. authorities added. Although the devastation caused by widespread Russian violence in Ukraine is immense, the targeted country’s forces have stopped Putin from making certain strategic gains.
⚡️ General Staff: Russian forces capture settlements in Donbas.
An update on April 27 by Ukraine’s Armed Forces said that Russia has seized the village of Zavody and the outskirts of Kamyshevakha near Izium, Kharkiv Oblast.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 27, 2022
Although threats continue essentially across Ukraine, Russia is focusing its efforts in areas including the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which a Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesperson recently said that the Russians are hoping to completely control. Russian forces recently captured a series of areas in those two areas and the Kharkiv region, according to reports shared by The Kyiv Independent. Seized areas include the village of Zavody and the outskirts of Kamyshevakha near Izyum, that outlet says — Izyum has already been under the control of Russia’s soldiers in Ukraine. Russian troops have also taken control of jurisdictions including Zarichne in the Donetsk region and Novotoshkivske in the Luhansk region. Evidence from temporarily Russian-occupied areas around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, make the threats to local civilians in these areas abundantly clear. A recent update from Kyiv-area police chief Andriy Nebytov revealed that over 1,000 bodies of civilians had been recovered in the area around Kyiv. Most victims were shot.
1045 bodies of civilians collected in Kyiv region – Andriy Nebytov, chief of Kyiv regional police, tells Ukraine24 TV station.
He says 80% of victims were shot dead, all of them were defenceless and posed no threat whatsoever to Russian troops.
Excavation of bodies is ongoing.— Myroslava Petsa (@myroslavapetsa) April 20, 2022
Russian forces also currently control the large Ukrainian city of Kherson, where a sham referendum on the question of splitting from Ukraine and creating an independent “republic” is in development. Russian leaders recognized sham independent areas in eastern Ukraine shortly before they began their unfolding invasion. Kherson residents have sought to evacuate, although the pace at which locals have left “began to drop on Tuesday when locals said that Russian checkpoints stopped permitting crossings out of occupied territory. Some desperate evacuees left behind their cars and set out on foot across fields, locals said,” CNN shared in a report from Tuesday, April 26.
Reed's family confirms "Trevor is safely on his way back to the United States."
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) April 27, 2022
Describing the situation in Kherson and referencing fears of conscription into the Russian military following that looming referendum, one Kherson woman who made it out said: “We are completely occupied. There is no food, no money. We have nothing, they’ll do a referendum and take our children. My son is 18 and they will take them as cannon fodder.” According to Kharkiv-area Governor Oleh Synehubov, Russians set up a concentration camp on grounds formally used by a factory in the Kharkiv region. At the camp, detainees are “submitted to torture, forced to cooperate, to join the Russian Armed Forces,” as the governor explained it.
⚡️Ukraine's intelligence: Russian occupiers plan propaganda press tour in Mariupol.
The tour for journalists of “loyal” media including the Western ones may present false witnesses to blame the killing of civilians and the bombing in the besieged city on Ukraine’s military.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 27, 2022
