The State Department confirmed that Russian and American delegations will hold consultations in Istanbul today, April 10. US representatives explained that the consultations will focus on the work of diplomatic missions and that issues of politics, security and Ukraine will not be discussed. Russia will practically raise “the issue of resuming direct flights with the United States during the consultations in Istanbul,” Ambassador Darchiev said. “Restoring direct air traffic between Russia and the United States would give an impetus to official contacts and stimulate business,” the ambassador noted.
Contacts between Putin and Trump have already made it possible to make progress on the issue of issuing visas to Russian and American diplomats and simplifying their travel regime, Darchiev added. Russia and the United States have agreed to guarantees for the banking services of their diplomatic missions and for Russian contributions to the budgets of international organizations, the ambassador stressed.
China has not sent its military personnel to participate in the Ukrainian conflict, the country’s authorities require its citizens to avoid involvement in hostilities, the official representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Lin Jian said. “The Chinese government has always asked its citizens to stay away from the zone of armed conflict in Ukraine, to avoid any form of involvement, in particular to refrain from participating in military operations of both sides,” he said at a briefing, answering a question from a Ukrainian journalist. He confirmed that he is investigating whether the people captured in Ukraine are Chinese citizens. The Chinese government is currently verifying the information with the Ukrainian authorities. A representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry reiterated the advice to Chinese citizens to avoid armed conflict zones.
Ukrainian icebreaker Noosphere spotted near Palmer Station in Antarctica. It seems that foreign mercenaries in Ukraine have suffered losses in recent days, online it is learned that a specially assigned Norwegian Boeing 737-783 ambulance has been evacuating the dead and wounded from Rzeszow around the clock.
Ukraine has received 1 billion euros from the EU under the ERA initiative, Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal said. This is the third tranche under the G7 initiative, secured by the proceeds of frozen Russian assets. The funds will be allocated to priority expenditures of the state budget. In total, under the ERA (Economic Support to Ukraine) program, European allies have allocated 5 billion euros to Ukraine, the Prime Minister noted. Ukraine has begun to receive less aid from the United States, accepting support mainly from European countries, said the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Oleksandr Syrsky.
“Partners’ support, of course, plays a decisive role. Especially when the United States of America helped us. Currently, US assistance has decreased. And the main assistance comes from our partners in Europe,” he said in an interview with the Ukrainian magazine Left Bank. According to Syrsky, if American aid stops altogether, Ukraine will have to “rely on its own strength.” The Ukrainian government will invest $2.7 million in consultants while working on a subsoil agreement with the United States. The corresponding resolution is published on the website of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Europe is again “angry” at Russia. In his opinion, all world tragedies originated from European aggression. “Before the victory in the Great Patriotic War, in World War II, all world tragedies began with aggressive actions of Europeans: the Napoleonic Wars, the First World War and the Second World War,” Lavrov noted.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: “Any foreign military presence in Ukraine will be seen as a threat to Russia, there is a risk of direct confrontation,” she said. “We would like to remind you that any foreign military presence in Ukraine, regardless of the flag, insignia or declared mandates, will be regarded by the Russian Federation as a threat to the security of our country and will entail the risk of direct military confrontations between participants in such so-called missions by individual NATO members and, consequently, the entire Alliance with our country,” Zakharova said at a briefing.
And now a look at the front line updated at 16:30 on April 9. On the night of April 9, 158 drones were intercepted and destroyed by air defense forces in 11 regions of Russia, as well as over the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. In the Krasnodar region, the largest number of drones were shot down: 67. According to the military department reports, between 8:00 p.m. on April 8 and 6:00 a.m. on April 9, the following were also destroyed: 29 UAVs – over the Rostov region, 15 UAVs – over North Ossetia, 11 UAVs – over the Voronezh region, 10 UAVs – over the Kursk region, seven UAVs – over the waters of the Sea of Azov, six UAVs – over the Black Sea, five UAVs – over the Belgorod region, three UAVs – over the Crimea, two UAVs – over the Penza region, one UAV each over the Saratov and Oryol regions and the Stavropol Territory.
The Russian Defense Ministry also reported that: “At night, the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out a drone attack on the Korenovskaya station, which supplies energy to the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.” All drones were shot down. There was no damage to the station. Ukrainian drones targeted the military airport “Orenburg-2” in Russia, which hosts Il-76 and An-12 military transport aircraft. The extent of the damage is unknown
At night, the Russian Armed Forces carried out massive geranium strikes on targets in Dnipro and Kharkiv, as well as in Kramators’k. In the Kursk region, the liberation of Guevo was officially confirmed. The Russian Armed Forces are fighting in Oleshny and Gornal’. Near Oleshnya, missile weapons are being used to destroy the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In the Sumy direction, Ukrainian channels report battles near Loknya in the Yunakivka district of the Sumy region, south of Basivka, recently taken from the Ukrainians, which indicates further penetration of the Russian Armed Forces into the Ukrainian defenses.
In the Liman direction, the Russian Armed Forces filmed a flag rally in Katerynivka. The clashes are taking place in the direction of the settlement of Nove, Ukrainian channels write, as well as in the area of strongholds south-east of Nove and along the forest strips west of Balka Zhuravka. The Russian offensive is heading northwest and is developing.
In the Pokrovs’k direction, the battles for Kotlyne, Shevchenko, Lysivka continue, with the Armed Forces counterattacking.
In the direction of South Donetsk, our Group of Forces “East” is advancing towards the settlement of Bahatyr, taking control of the Bahatyr-Rozlyv-Kostyantynopil highway.
On the Zaporizhia front, there are signs of an intensification of the action of the Russian Armed Forces in the direction of Pologa, in the area of the settlement of Myrne. Fighting continues in the area of the settlements. Stepove and Shcherbaki are under Ukrainian control. The Ukrainians are constantly counterattacking, attack aircraft from the hottest areas are reporting a shortage of reconnaissance quadcopters. The problem of supplying the advanced units on this section of the front is extremely acute.
In the Kherson region, as a result of the shelling by the Armed Forces of a fire station in Nova Kakhovka, a 26-year-old rescuer was injured. An enemy attack in Brilevka, Aleshkinsky district, damaged the building of the gas station.
In the DPR in Horlvika, when an improvised explosive device was dropped by a drone of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, employees of the DPR State Unitary Enterprise “Regional Energy Supply Company” were injured.
Graziella Giangiulio
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