The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine due to the war unleashed by Russia has reached 7.1 million, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on April 6, which previously estimated this figure at 6.5 -6.7 million
“More than a quarter of Ukraine’s population has been forced to leave their homes. To date, more than 4.3 million refugees have left Ukraine, making this the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II,” the report on its website says.
According to the UN map, there are about 2.9 million IDPs in western Ukraine, 1.4 million in the central regions on the right bank of the Dnieper, 1.3 million to the northeast of Kyiv, south near Kiev and north of Odessa and Nikolaev – 357 thousand each and on the left bank of the Dnieper in Zaporozhye and Kherson regions – 857 thousand.
As of April 9, according to the Ministry of Social Policy, about 900,000 IDPs were officially registered in Ukraine.
UNHCR also reports that as of 13:00 Kyiv time on April 9, the number of people who left Ukraine since the beginning of the war has reached 4.5 million people.
The flow to leave is gradually slowing down: if in the first 19 days of the war 3 million people left Ukraine, then it took six days to increase by another half a million, then nine, and for the last half a million, eleven days.
The UNHCR specifies that 2.59 million went to Poland, 755.3 thousand to Romania and Moldova, 419.1 thousand to Hungary, 404.4 thousand to Russia, 314.5 thousand to Slovakia, and 19 to Belarus. .1 thousand
At the same time, these data do not take into account the return flow to the entrance. According to the data, in particular, of the Polish border agency, as of the morning of April 8, since the beginning of the war, 2.573 million people have crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border, while in the opposite direction – 516 thousand, or about 20% of those who left. This allows us to roughly estimate the number of refugees from Ukraine at 3.6 million, while the UN currently predicts it at 4 million.
The German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann offered Ukraine to buy 100 Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers, the German edition of Welt reports, citing its own sources in the Ukrainian government.
It is noted that the corresponding proposal of the company was redirected by Ukraine to the Federal Ministry of Economics of Germany.
“The cost of 100 howitzers, including training kit and spare parts, is 1.7 billion euros. We are talking about the Panzerhaubitze 2000. As an alternative, KMW also offers howitzers in an unmanned version on the Boxer armored personnel carrier for 1.2 billion euros. No comments from the manufacturer in not received in the near future,” the statement said.
It clarifies that tank-like howitzers are not usually found in the front ranks of an army, but follow, for example, main battle tanks for support from the background at longer ranges.
“For self-defense, a self-propelled howitzer can also attack the target directly, like a main battle tank with a horizontal barrel. After firing off the ammunition, howitzers usually change position so as not to become a target themselves,” the journalists of the publication emphasize.
They note that the Panzerhaubitze 2000 can fire at a distance of more than 30 kilometers. Their delivery to Ukraine, according to Ukrainian government sources with reference to the KMW proposal, will be carried out according to the ring scheme.
“The Bundeswehr will provide Kiev with 100 of its howitzers as soon as possible. The resulting gaps will then be filled by the military industry in the second stage,” the publication specifies.
They add that the first new howitzers can be delivered 30 months after the signing of the contract, that is, not earlier than in the second half of 2024.
“The full delivery will not be completed until 2027. The Ministry of Economy, which, according to the Ukrainian version, received the offer, did not wish to comment on the request and referred to the fundamental confidentiality of individual decisions on arms exports. Any such decision must be approved by the Federal Security Council,” the statement said. journalists.
The Cabinet of Ministers has legally confirmed the decision to terminate trade relations with the Russian Federation, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko has said.
“A very important decision was made. This is a legal confirmation of the actual termination of trade relations with the Russian Federation, which happened on February 24,” Svyrydenko said on the national telethon on Saturday evening following the government meeting.
According to her, such a decision would annually block Russia’s foreign exchange earnings by at least $6 billion.
Losses among civilians from February 24, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, until 24:00 on April 8, amounted to 4149 civilians (in the report a day earlier – 3893), including 1766 dead (1626), reports the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Saturday.
The daily summary traditionally states that the increase in indicators in it should not be attributed to the previous report only for cases that occurred on April 8, since during the day OHCHR also verified a number of cases that occurred in previous days, however, the increase in the number of deaths is largest in the entire war.
“OHCHR believes that the actual figures are much higher as information is delayed from some areas of intense fighting and many reports are still awaiting confirmation,” the document says.
According to him, this applies, for example, to Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Izyum (Kharkiv region), Popasnaya (Luhansk region), Borodyanka (Kyiv region), where there are reports of numerous civilian casualties. They are subject to further verification and are not included in the above statistics.
“The majority of civilian deaths or injuries were caused by the use of explosive devices with a wide area of effect, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as rocket and air strikes,” the report says.
According to confirmed UN data, 452 men, 284 women, 43 boys and 27 girls died, while the sex of 69 children and 891 adults has not yet been determined.
Among the 2,383 wounded are 45 girls and 44 boys, as well as 126 children whose gender has not yet been determined.
Compared to the previous day, seven children were killed and 18 more injured, according to the UN.
OHCHR indicates that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on April 9, there were 560 (432) dead and 944 (842) injured in government-controlled territory, and 70 (67) dead and 269 (263) injured in territory controlled by self-proclaimed “republics”.
In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporozhye, Kiev, Sumy, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnepropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 1136 (1127) dead and 1170 (1162) wounded .
The report also states that, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, as of 08:00 on April 9, 176 (167) children were killed, 324 (306) were injured.
In the week from April 4 to 8, the National Bank of Ukraine again sold more currencies than it bought: dollars – by $ 211 million, euros – by EUR 84.9 million, which, however, is more than two times less than a week earlier, when the “net” sale amounted to $282.1 million and EUR299.8 million.
According to the NBU on its website, this week it bought only $11.5 million and EUR5.5 million, while their sale amounted to $222.5 million and EUR90.3 million.
As reported, in the first week and a half after the war started by Russia on February 24, the “net” purchase of foreign currency by the National Bank amounted to $690.3 million and EUR20 million, since the ban on the purchase of foreign currency had just been introduced, and the list of critical imports had not yet been significantly expanded.
However, in the following weeks, the volume of currency purchases by the central bank began to fall, while the volume of its sale increased. At the same time, last week was the first when the growth trend of “net” sales stopped, and its volumes even slightly decreased compared to the previous week: to the equivalent of $611.9 million from $618.6 million a week earlier, and this week they fell twice at once.
In total, since the beginning of the year, the National Bank has purchased $1 billion 778.8 billion and EUR80.2 million on the market, and sold $4 billion 501.9 million and EUR1 billion 82.7 million, including since the beginning of the war the purchase of foreign currency amounted to $1 billion 121.9 million and EUR80.2 million, and the sale of $1 billion 731.7 million and EUR1 billion 82.7 million.
Ukraine’s international reserves as of April 1, 2022, according to preliminary data, amounted to $28 billion 107.5 million (in equivalent), which is 2% more than at the beginning of March ($27.538 billion).
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, handed over to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky a questionnaire for joining the EU.
“Here we have intersecting roads, your road to the EU begins, this is already a close path. I will give you this folder, this questionnaire, here are the questions, you need to answer them. These are formal recommendations,” Leyen said at a press conference with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday.
Leyen stressed that Ukraine’s place is in the European family.
“We are with you in your dreams of Europe. I want to say very clearly: Ukraine has a place in the European family. We heard this statement from all your people, and we give you a positive answer to your request. This folder contains a very important stage of your arrival to this family. This is the basis for our discussions in the coming weeks,” she said.
In addition, the President of the European Commission stressed that this process will not last for years, as usual, but only weeks.
“Whatever the result, Ukraine has a very big step to recover, because Russia is brazenly destroying the infrastructure of Ukraine, the city of Ukraine. Therefore, we want to work together with you to reform Ukraine, restore Ukraine. This will positively determine Ukraine’s path to the EU “, Leyen also said.
She explained how the process usually takes place. “After a country submits an application, the Council of the EU decides that the Commission should issue its conclusion. Usually, it takes years. In the case of Ukraine, we are talking about weeks. We handed over our questionnaire, it will be filled in negotiations between Ukraine and the EU. This will be a picture of what is happening in the country, whether the country meets the Copenhagen criteria,” she said.
According to Leyen, Ukraine and the EU have agreed and committed that they will work on this important step to get all the answers to these detailed questions.
“It’s not just one question that determines our conclusion, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. We want to work shoulder to shoulder in order to paint a picture of the country and the path to Europe. After that, the Commission issues its conclusion, which is recommendation to the Council of the EU and after that the Council is already deciding on the next steps,” she said.
