WAR IN UKRAINE: April 11, 2022 — Michael Bociurkiw

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 45

Satellite imagery shows a 12-kilometer-long Russian military convoy east of Kharkiv, CNN is reporting. Satellite images by Maxar Technologies show a military convoy of armored vehicles and “trucks with towed artillery” moving south through Velyky Burluk, a village in Kharkiv Oblast not far from Ukraine’s border with Russia, on April 8.
Western allies are ready to start helping Ukraine shift from Soviet-era weapons to more modern NATO-style equipment in the conflict with Russia, given the prospect the war drags on for months or even years. Some allies may start training Ukrainian troops to be able to maintain and use more sophisticated weapons outside the country, reports Bloomberg. Meanwhile, the Slovak government is said to be discussing with Ukraine the sale of Zuzana self-propelled artillery units, the Slovak newspaper Niezalezna.pl reported. A Zuzana can hit a target at a distance of up to 39.6 km - the type of missile range the Ukrainians have been asking for over the course of weeks.
The World Bank says it expects Ukraine's economy to shrink by 45% this year as a result of the war with Russia. The Bank says enormous financial support is needed immediately - BBC World Service
Ukraine Ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova says some 12,000 passports have already been issued to Ukrainian nationals who have been forcibly deported to Russia. “Forced passportization is illegal and is not recognized in Ukraine, it is contrary to the principles and norms of international law and is a direct violation of the Geneva Convention.”
Journalists and parliamentarians from Petro Poroshenko’s European Solidarity Party are demanding that Ukraine’s Broadcasting, Radio-communications and Television Concern renew the broadcasting licences of the TV channels Channel 5, Pramij and Espreso. The delegation said that combined, the three channels employ more than 1,500 editorial and other staff. Channel 5 is owned by Poroshenko and Pramij is also believed to be owned by the oligarch and former president. At the start of the war, under (what is believed to be) a direction from the Presidential Administration, major TV channels banded together to create a 24/7 ‘tele-marathon’ to bring news of the war to Ukrainians. It was a notable move as previously, the Ukrainian media landscape was very fractured - with all major channels controlled by oligarchs with vested interests. In February 2021, President Volodymy Zelensky banned three TV channels - ZIK, NewsOne and 112 Ukraine - on the basis that they had been broadcasting pro-Russian content. At the time, it sparked a heated debate in Ukraine over the correct balance between national security considerations and freedom of speech. At the time, I wrote for the Atlantic Council: “With the closure of these TV stations, it behooves Ukraine’s allies to further target and strengthen technical assistance to Ukraine’s ailing media sector, particularly those who are committed to the craft of independent journalism. This should apply not only to established entities but to promising media startups as well.”
While there is increasing talk of Kyiv re-opening up for business soon, it is difficult to see this happening anytime soon based on my own observations from here on the ground. The Ukrainian capital resembles a ghost town with few people and most shops and services closed. While purchasing food and other essentials appears fairly easy in the central core, most pharmacies are closed and most restaurants shutter their doors at 5pm. Several checkpoints dot the city and a curfew from 9pm to 6am remains in effect. As much of the service sector relies on female staff, re-opening retail and hospitality outlets will be difficult as the majority of the millions who have fled are female. Returning to the capital and other parts of the country under government control is complicated by long travel times by road and rail, as well as the complete closure of Ukrainian airspace to civilian aircraft. Public transit in the capital remains limited. A major constraint for movement of people from rural areas where they’ve been sheltering is the presence of landmines and unexploded ordnance. Oleh Bondar, of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, told me that the sheer volume and sophisticated of mines left behind by Russian forces - including remote-controlled mines and one which scatter bomblets - are widespread and of a sophisticated nature.
A shopkeeper in central Kyiv who opened here small grocery store after more than a month told me today: “People are still afraid to come back.”