All information related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine this Friday, April 8, which marks the 51st day of the conflict.
– Russia promises more strikes on kyiv
Russian cruise missiles fell overnight from Thursday to Friday on a military target on the outskirts of Kyiv, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday, which intends to carry out other strikes against the Ukrainian capital. The ministry added that its troops had taken full control of the Ilyich steel plant in the port city of Mariupol, surrounded by Russian forces for weeks.
Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv in the early hours of Friday, while warning sirens sounded across Ukraine as Ukrainian forces and residents braced for further attacks. They come as Ukraine claims to be behind the sinking of the Moskva, Russia’s flagship in the Black Sea, following missile fire.
Moscow confirmed the sinking of the ship but without attributing it directly to Ukrainian strikes. The Russian ministry said in its statement that the missile strikes on Kyiv hit the Vizar factory, located on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, which it said manufactured and repaired missiles
“The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory by the nationalist regime in Kyiv,” the ministry said in a statement. He added that the Russian military shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter which he said attacked the village of Klimovo in the western Russian region of Bryansk on Thursday.
– CIA worried about nuclear risk after Putin setback
The boss of the CIA believes that facing on the back of Vladimir Putin in kyiv and in the west of the country, the risk of a nuclear attack using tactical or low-power weapons.
“Since it is possible that President Putin and the Russian leadership fall into despairgiven the military setbacks they have suffered thus far, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or low-power nuclear weapons.” , said William Burns.
From the start of the offensive, Russia had announced that it was putting its nuclear deterrent force on alert “but we have not really seen any concrete signs such as deployments or military measures which could aggravate our concerns”, for its part added the boss of the main US intelligence agency, who spoke to students at Georgia Tech University.
– Powerful explosions heard in kyiv
Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv in the early hours of Friday, while warning sirens sounded across Ukraine as Ukrainian forces and residents braced for further attacks from Russia.
These appear to be the largest explosions in the Ukrainian capital and its surroundings since the Russian military withdrew from the area earlier this month for redeployment in the south and east of the country. They come as Ukraine claimed to have caused the sinking of the Moskva, Russia’s flagship in the Black Sea, following missile fire. Moscow confirmed the sinking of the ship.
The Russian navy continues to bomb Ukrainian coastal towns as part of the offensive launched on February 24, presented by Moscow as a “special military operation” and which Westerners consider an invasion.
In Mariupol and Odessa, residents braced for more attacks, while Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky underlined in his daily video address Russia’s willingness to strike the Donbass region in the east of the country. The Ukrainian press did not immediately report any damage after the explosions that occurred Friday morning in Kyiv but also in Kherson, in the South, and Kharkov, in the East.
– “We have already lasted 50 days”, says Zelensky
“We have already lasted 50 days.” In his last daily video message, Volodymyr Zelensky assured that after “50 days of Russian invasion”, it is the Donbass region that Russia wants to “destroy”.
They’ve been trying to destroy us for 50 days, but the \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 people are heroically resisting. We fear nothing, we know what we’re fighting for. We are brave enough to put an end to evil. Stop feeding the \ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\uddfa military machine. Help \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 with weapons. Then peace & good will win faster. pic.twitter.com/WdDbZsvZ4e
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 14, 2022
– A payment default from Russia in May?
Russia could find itself in a situation of sovereign default in early May after having tried to settle its last maturities on dollar bonds in rubles, due to the lack of availability of its greenback reserves due to Western sanctions put in place in the wake of the crisis. invasion of Ukraine.
Russia settled in rubles maturities due on April 4 on two sovereign bonds maturing in 2022 and 2042, while the coupons should have been settled in dollars in view of the initial bond contracts. The contracts for the bonds in question, issued before 2018, make no provision for settlement in a currency other than the dollar, while this possibility exists for certain bonds issued after 2018, Moody’s explained Thursday in a press release.
Russia “could therefore be considered in default according to Moody’s definition if the situation is not corrected by May 4, the end date of the grace period”, indicates Moody’s, which estimates that in this case the contractual commitment with regard to the investors will not have been kept.
If Russia were to default on its foreign currency debt, it would be a first since the repudiation of the Tsar’s debt after the revolution of 1917.
– Russia accuses Ukraine of carrying out strikes on its soil
The Russian Investigative Committee claimed that two Ukrainian helicopters “equipped with heavy weapons” had carried out “at least six strikes on apartment buildings in the village of Klimovo”. Kyiv denied these accusations.
– Mariupol still under siege
After more than forty days, the fighting is limited to the vast industrial zone near the seaside, the Russian forces are gradually tightening their siege.
