This Saturday, April 2, marks 38 days since the Russian army invaded Ukrainian territory. After the negotiation round in Turkey between the two countries culminated and was completed this Friday with a telematic meeting between the diplomats, this Saturday it was learned that the Russian forces are beginning to withdraw from kyiv and Chernigov.
Officials from the Ukrainian government stated that Russia’s plans now are to move its troops to the east and south of Ukraine.
Ukraine assures that Russia “orally” accepted its proposals in the negotiations; April 2, 17:06 p.m.
The chief Ukrainian negotiator in the peace talks with Russia, David Arakhamia, assured this Saturday that Moscow accepted “orally” the main Ukrainian proposals and that kyiv was waiting for a written confirmation.
In a television program, the negotiator suggested that the negotiations to end the conflict had made considerable progress. “The Russian Federation has given an official response to all positions, that is that they accept the position [ucraniana]except on the issue of Crimea,” annexed by Russia in 2014, Arakhamia said.
He also added that although there was “no official confirmation in writing”, the Russian side said so “orally”. On the other hand, Arakhamia stated that if a meeting between the Ukrainian presidents, Volodimir Zelensky, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, were organized, it would “very likely” take place in Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was hosting Russian and Ukrainian delegations in his country this week, “called us and Vladimir Putin” on Friday, saying he would host such a meeting, it revealed.
Ukraine recovers the kyiv region, devastated by the war with Russia; April 2, 14:58 p.m.
Ukraine announced on Saturday that it had regained control of the entire kyiv region following almost a month of Russian occupation, which left an apocalyptic scene and macabre pictures such as that of 20 corpses scattered on a street in Bucha, northwest of the capital.
Russian forces, as announced a few days ago, have reduced their presence in the kyiv and Chernigov regions (north), following having failed in their attempt to surround the capital.
Now they seem to be concentrating their efforts on the east and south, five weeks following the start of the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24.
The towns of “Irpin, Bucha, Gostómel and the entire kyiv region were liberated from the invader,” announced the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, Ganna Maliar. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podoliak said shortly before that Moscow changed “tactics” and now intends to “maintain control of vast occupied territories” in the east and south and “gain a powerful foothold there.”
Due to the siege of the cemeteries, 300 people are buried “in mass graves” in Bucha; April 2, 12:12 p.m.
Some 300 people had to be buried “in mass graves” in Bucha, the mayor of this city northwest of kyiv reported on Saturday. has just been recaptured by Ukrainian forces following weeks of bombing and fierce fighting with Russian troops.
“In Bucha, we have already buried 280 people in mass graves”, as it was impossible to do it in cemeteries, still exposed to Russian bombing, the mayor, Anatoly Fedoruk, said in a telephone interview with AFP.
More than 170 arrested in Russia during protests once morest the conflict in Ukraine; April 2, 11:48 am
More than 170 people were arrested on Saturday in Russia for protest actions once morest the offensive in Ukraine, announced the NGO OVD-Info, which specializes in monitoring arrests in the country.
“More than 178 people were arrested in 15 Russian cities”, the NGO said in a statement. In Moscow, a sit-in once morest Russian military intervention in Ukraine was scheduled for 11:00 GMT in Zariadié Park, near the Kremlin. Shortly following, Police began arresting people sitting on park benches in the middle of a snowstorm.
More than 30 police vans were deployed around the park and near the red walls of the Kremlin, and more than twenty people were arrested, according to an AFP journalist.
Arrests also took place in Saint Petersburg (northwest) during a similar demonstration, as part of a national action announced on social networks.
Russian forces carry out “rapid withdrawal” from northern Ukraine, April 2; 8:00 am
Russian forces are carrying out a “rapid withdrawal” from areas near the Ukrainian capital, kyiv, and from the city of Chernigov, in northern Ukraine, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podoliak said on Saturday.
“With the quick withdrawal of the Russians from kyiv and Chernigov (…) it is quite clear that Russia chose another priority tactic: retreat to the east and south, maintain control of vast occupied territories and gain a powerful foothold there,” Podoliak wrote on Telegram.
“Certainly we cannot avoid using heavy weapons if we want to liberate the east and Kherson (southern region) and push the Russians as far as possible,” he stressed.
The governor of the Chernigov region, Viacheslav Chaus, pointed out on his side that the city of the same name, devastated by fighting in recent weeks, did not suffer new attacks in the night from Friday to Saturday. “The Russians are withdrawing from the Chernigov region,” he said.
Ukrainian photographer found dead near kyiv, April 2; 7:50 a.m.
Ukrainian photographer and documentary filmmaker Max Levin He was found dead near the Ukrainian capital kyiv following being missing for more than two weeks, presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said on Saturday.
“He disappeared in the zone of hostilities March 13 in the kyiv region. On April 1, his body was found near the village of Guta Mezhyguirska, ”said the head of the presidential administration, Andrey Iermak, on Telegram.
According to the Ukrainian NGO IMI (Institute of Mass Information), citing preliminary information from the general prosecutor’s office, the “unarmed” journalist would have been hit by “two shots” of Russian soldiers.
Levin, 40, the father of four children, collaborated with various Ukrainian and international media.
In 2014, at the beginning of the war once morest Moscow-backed pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, managed to get out of a southeastern city that was surrounded at that time, where hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers died in a few days.
Pope Francis does not rule out a possible visit to kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, April 2; 7:30 am
The pope might travel to Ukraine, the scene of a war following the invasion of Russia, because when asked during the flight that took him to Malta if he was considering the invitation to go to kyiv, Francis replied: “Yes, it’s on the table.”
Both the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, and the mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, have invited the pontiff to travel to that country to show its proximity to the Ukrainian population for a war that the pope has repeatedly criticized, in addition to offering to do “whatever is necessary” to bring regarding its end.
Francisco and Zelenski had already spoken by phone on March 22, when the Ukrainian president assured the pontiff that “he is the most awaited guest in the country”while the pope told him that he is “praying and doing everything possible to end the war, provoked following the invasion of Russia.”
Previously, Mayor Klitschko sent a letter to Francis inviting him to visit the city: “We believe that the presence of the world’s religious leaders in kyiv is key to Save lifes and pave the way to peace in our city, in our country, and everywhere,” the mayor wrote at the time.
The Vatican confirmed the arrival of the letter and added that Francis “He was close to the sufferings of the cityits people, those who had to escape and those who are called to administer it”.
