President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen presented the fifth package of sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine. The new sanctions include: * an import ban on coal from Russia, worth €4 billion per year; * a full transaction ban on four key Russian banks, including VTB, the second largest
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, called the article of the Russian propaganda news website RIA Novosti about what Russia should do with Ukraine “pure fascism.” An article released earlier in the state-run news agency RIA Novosti calls for genocide. According to the occupiers, the whole Ukrainian nation
Head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration Serhii Haidai reported that Russian troops had hit a nitric acid tank in Rubizhne (Luhansk Region). Citizens are asked to close their windows.
Half of the pharmacies in Ukraine have been shut down, World Health Organization reports on Twitter. Also, many medical workers are either displaced or unable to work.
An analysis of satellite images by The New York Times [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/04/world/europe/bucha-ukraine-bodies.html] rebuts claims by Russia that the killing of civilians in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, occurred after its soldiers had left the town. When images emerged over the weekend
Ukrainian mothers write their family's contacts on children's bodies in case they get killed and the child survives.
Given Russia's atrocities in Ukraine & elsewhere, the United States, together with Ukraine and other countries, is seeking Russia's suspension from the UN Human Rights Council.
Wargaming, World of Tanks developer, announced the decision to leave Russia and Belarus. This means that the company will not own or operate any businesses in Belarus and Russia.
Ukrainian troops took control over the Pripyat area and reclaimed control of the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.
> "The U.S. Government is providing the Government of Ukraine with life-saving equipment and supplies that could be deployed in the event of Russian use of chemical and biological weapons against Ukraine," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told ministers that he intends to supply Ukraine with weapons to protect Odessa and thwart Putin's plans for southern Ukraine. Britain is pushing to arm Ukraine with anti-ship missiles to sink Russian warships off Odessa. This will also eliminate the possibility of bombarding
British Foreign Secretary said that the UK is now working with others to collect evidence and support the International Crime Court war crimes investigation.
The Russian military killed the famous Lithuanian director and documentary filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius as he was trying to leave Mariupol. Mantas Kvedaravičius is the author of the documentary film Mariupolis presented in 2016 at the Berlin International Film Festival.
> "Once again, some potentate, sadly caught up in anachronistic claims of nationalist interests, is provoking and fomenting conflicts, whereas ordinary people sense the need to build a future that, will either be shared, or not be at all," Pope Francis said, Reuters reports.
Dozens of bodies of civilians killed by Russian invaders are found in the liberated suburbs of Kyiv. Irpin and Bucha have already been liberated, but it is still dangerous to be there. After the liberation of the Kyiv region (particularly Bucha, Irpin, and along the Zhytomyr highway), dozens of bodies