April 25, 2022 | Daily briefing

6.00

Russian Orthodox Church plays one of the key roles in the forced deportation of Ukrainians to Russia.

Before crossing the Russian border, Ukrainians are subjected to so-called filtration conversations, that is, interrogations. Then the Russians take away the documents and phones – the further fate of those taken away is mostly unknown.

The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations passes information about the deportees to the Russian Orthodox clergy; after that the forcibly deported Ukrainians are placed in churches and monasteries.

7.00

Since the start of the invasion, Russians killed 3,818 civilians in Ukraine and wounded more than 4 thousand people – Attorney General Iryna Venediktova

8.00

Head of the Ukrainian Railway Company Oleksandr Kamyshin reported that Russians shelled five railway stations in central and western Ukraine this morning.

At least 16 passenger trains were delayed. Injuries have also been reported.

9.00

Russians shelled the towns of Zhmerynka and Koziatyn in the Vinnytsia Region; there are dead and wounded, according to the head of the Vinnytsia regional military administration, Serhii Borzov.

9.30

The Luhansk region was left without electricity – the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, Serhii Haidai, reports that the occupiers have depowered the new Kreminna electricity substation.

Alternative options for power supply to the region are currently being explored.

10.00

In the Luhansk Region, Russians destroyed seven houses and hit the Lysychansk oil refinery for the third time.

“On an Orthodox holiday, a shell hits an apartment – sent by an Orthodox man. This is a hallmark of the “Russian peace” – thoughtlessly killing and destroying, only following orders. On Sunday, Russians heavily shelled the entire region. Three apartment buildings and four private houses were burned down,” said Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional military administration.

Lysychansk, Sievierodonetsk, Rubizhne, and Hirske settlements sustained the heaviest damage from the Russian army on April 24.

Russians also entered Novotoshkivske in the Luhansk region. First, the Russians destroyed the town with air strikes, and then “captured” the scorched earth:

10.30

On April 24, the Russian army launched a missile attack on Kremenchuk – Poltava Regional Military Administration Head Dmytro Lunin.

“9 enemy missiles struck the Kremenchuk combined heat and power plant and the Kremenchuk oil refinery. Unfortunately, one person died, and seven people were injured; they have injuries of varying severity. There is substantial damage to buildings, but all fires have been contained,” said Lunin.

11.00

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russian invaders have killed 215 children in Ukraine and wounded another 391, Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova told on the Telegram messenger channel.

Mother shot in Bucha with two children

12.00

Two Russian cruise missiles flew today in critical proximity over the Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant

The state-owned National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom reported this on Telegram messenger.

“This is another act of nuclear terrorism. The number of these terror attempts has been increasing since the beginning of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine,” Energoatom noted.

13:00

The Ukrainian Security Service intercepted a conversation between a Russian reconnaissance battalion commander and a fire spotter in the south of Ukraine. The spotter says that the children “went with their backpacks to school” through the archway. When asked if he had dealt with them, he said no, but he might when the children returned. The commander encouraged the spotter and told him to “be a man.”

Video: https://youtu.be/UySezPOTvCY 

16:00

According to preliminary data from the prosecutor’s office, Russian shelling in the Vinnytsia region killed five people and wounded 18 more this morning. One person was also injured in the missile attack in the Rivne region.

18:00

At noon, Russian occupation troops shelled a village in the Kharkiv region. Three civilians were killed.

19:00

The satellite footage already revealed a third mass grave near the besieged Mariupol. The mass gravesite is located in the cemetery of the Russian-occupied village of Stary Krym, 5 km from the city. The length of the trenches exceeds 200 meters (650 feet).

“[The Russians] use the local population to bury the dead in exchange for food. They (locals) told us that they have to work “labor hours” in exchange for food, water… The humanitarian supplies that the Russians bring to Mariupol are not enough for everyone, so people are forced to do it,” said the mayor Vadym Boychenko.

21:00

In temporarily occupied Kherson, Russian troops seized the city council premises. The invaders told all the employees to leave and removed the Ukrainian flag from the building.