April 8, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

By Aditi Sangal, Amy Woodyatt, Ben Church, Melissa Macaya, Jason Kurtz and Meg Wagner, CNN

Updated 12:01 a.m. ET, April 9, 2022
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4:16 a.m. ET, April 8, 2022

Russian forces preparing for "massive breakthrough" attempt in Donbas region, military governor says

From CNN's Julia Presniakova in Lviv

People board a bus in Severodonetsk as they flee the city in the Donbas region of Ukraine on April 7.
People board a bus in Severodonetsk as they flee the city in the Donbas region of Ukraine on April 7. (Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images)

Ukraine sees preparations nearing completion for a "massive breakthrough" attempt by Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region, the military governor of the Luhansk region said on Friday. 

"We sense the final preparations for a massive breakthrough, the great battle that will be in our Luhansk and Donetsk regions. There are constant attempts to break through the line of defense in certain directions," Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk region military administration, said in televised remarks.

Ukrainian officials have urged residents of some cities in Donbas to evacuate in anticipation of what they say may be a major offensive.

"Since the beginning of evacuation in the Luhansk region, approximately 30,000 people have been taken out, that is only our official calculations, without including those who left voluntarily, without those people who left independently," Haidai said. 
3:20 a.m. ET, April 8, 2022

European Commission chief and EU’s top diplomat en route to Kyiv

From CNN’s Niamh Kennedy

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and top diplomat for the bloc, Josep Borrell, are en route to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

Von der Leyen tweeted a photo Friday of her walking up to a train alongside Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger, who is joining the trip.

“Looking forward to Kyiv," she said.

Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also tweeted a picture of himself and von der Leyen setting out on their journey.

The European Commission chief is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “sometime” on Friday, according to Ukrainian presidential spokesperson Sergei Nikiforov.

The visit comes as the bloc approved its fifth package of sanctions against Russia on Thursday evening, notably imposing an import ban on Russian coal.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a NATO press conference in Brussels that the sanctions would signal “serious pressure” being placed on Russia, although he lamented the bloc’s failure to target Russian oil and gas in the package.

 

3:50 a.m. ET, April 8, 2022

Hundreds attend funeral procession for slain village mayor

Fom CNN's Julia Presniakova in Lviv

A funeral procession for Olha Sukhenko, a Ukrainian village mayor who was found murdered after Russian forces left the Kyiv region, on April 8.
A funeral procession for Olha Sukhenko, a Ukrainian village mayor who was found murdered after Russian forces left the Kyiv region, on April 8. (Vadym Tokar)

A funeral procession was held on Thursday for Olha Sukhenko, a Ukrainian village mayor who was found murdered after Russian forces left the Kyiv region. 

Sukhenko was mayor of Motyzhyn, to the east of the capital, when she was killed in the custody of Russian forces, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Vadym Tokar, the head of the Makariv village council, posted video on Telegram of local residents marching behind a van carrying the coffins of Sukhenko and her husband and son, who were also killed, according to Tokar.

"In Motyzhyn, they said goodbye to Olha Sukhenko, her husband and son, who were tortured and killed by the Russian occupiers," Tokar said, adding that about 300 people came to pay their respects by following the coffins and kneeling on the road.

2:42 a.m. ET, April 8, 2022

Ukraine announces 10 humanitarian corridors for Friday

From CNN's Julia Presniakova in Lviv 

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced that 10 evacuation corridors are set to open on Friday.

The corridors include routes for civilians escaping the besieged city of Mariupol and from the Luhansk region, which has been under intense bombardment.

The corridors are:

  • In the eastern Donetsk region, an evacuation corridor is set to open from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia for those able to use personal transport.
  • In the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, corridors are set to open from Berdiansk, Tokmak, Melitopol and Enerhodar.
  • And in Luhansk, evacuation corridors are set to open from Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna, Hirske and Rubizhne to Bakhmut.
3:46 a.m. ET, April 8, 2022

Ukraine is bracing for a major Russian offensive in the country's east, officials say. Here's what we know

Smoke rises over the town of Rubizhne, in the Donbas region of Ukraine, on April 7.
Smoke rises over the town of Rubizhne, in the Donbas region of Ukraine, on April 7. (Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images)

Ukrainian officials say major fighting is underway in the east of the country, with heavy shelling reported throughout the Donbas region, ahead of what they are warning may be a major Russian offensive. 

Here's what we know about the situation in the east:

  • Russian troops redeployed: The UK's Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence report Russian troops have “fully withdrawn” from northern Ukraine to Belarus and Russia, and many could be transferred to eastern Ukraine to fight in the Donbas region.
  • Battle akin to WW2: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said “the battle for Donbas ” is underway and will be reminiscent of World War II. It “has not reached its maximum scale," he said, warning the offensive will involve "thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, planes, artillery."
  • "Significant battle" ahead: Echoing those words, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley said there’s a battle ahead in southeastern Ukraine as Russia has refocused its war efforts there.
“They've managed to defeat the Russian onslaught on to Kyiv, but there is a significant battle yet ahead down in the southeast, down around the Donbas-Donetsk region where the Russians intend to get mass forces and continue their assault,” Milley said.
  • The next target of the invasion: Ukrainian military officials say they have observed a buildup of Russian forces to the east. Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the Interior Minister, said the destruction of cities in the area of ​​Rubizhne and ​​Popasna in the Luhansk region is ongoing. And recent advances by Russian forces around Kharkiv could be setting the stage for the eastern city of Sloviansk to become the next target of Russia's offensive, said the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.
  • US intelligence: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US is providing intelligence to Ukrainian forces to conduct operations in the Donbas region. It is significant because it's the first time a US official has publicly acknowledged the US role in Ukraine’s operations in the contested region. 
  • Luhansk hospitals destroyed: The head of the Luhansk state administration said Thursday that all medical institutions and hospitals in the Luhansk region have been destroyed by the Russian forces. In the same post, the leader Sergey Gaidai posted several pictures of the damaged Rubizhne hospital, a medical facility that was "new" and filled with "high-tech equipment.” 
  • Blocking evacuation routes: The heads of the Donetsk and Luhansk regional military administrations have asked residents in some of those eastern regions to evacuate. However, Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration, said Thursday that Russian forces struck a railway overpass near Barvinkove, blocking an evacuation route for civilians from eastern Ukraine. He said almost 500 evacuees from Luhansk region are stuck at a train station. Three evacuation trains were temporarily blocked in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, both in Donetsk region, Haidai said. 
3:12 a.m. ET, April 8, 2022

Russian troops “fully withdrawn” from northern Ukraine: UK Ministry of Defense

From CNN's Lauren Lau in Hong Kong 

An employee rises the Ukrainian flag at the city hall of Bucha, Ukraine, on April 7.
An employee rises the Ukrainian flag at the city hall of Bucha, Ukraine, on April 7. (Photo by Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian troops have “fully withdrawn” from northern Ukraine to Belarus and Russia, the UK's Ministry of Defense said in its latest military intelligence assessment.

A number of the Russian troops will be transferred to eastern Ukraine to fight in the Donbas region, the MoD said on Twitter.

“Many of the forces will require significant replenishment before being ready to deploy further east, with any mass redeployment from the north likely to take at least a week minimum," the ministry said.

Russian shelling of cities in the east and south of Ukraine persists, the MoD said, and Russian forces have moved further south from the city of Izium, which remains under Russian control, it said.

12:40 a.m. ET, April 8, 2022

Analysis: Emmanuel Macron has a grand vision for the West. Putin has exposed the limits of his influence

Analysis from CNN's Luke McGee

Ever since the Ukraine crisis began, French President Emmanuel Macron has assumed the role of Europe’s statesman, willing to talk face-to-face and on the phone multiple times with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a way that other world leaders would be either unwilling or, Macron’s supporters believe, unable to do. 

Critics might argue that Macron’s indulgence legitimizes a man that Biden has described as a war criminal.

But his allies say that, at the very least, keeping the line open to Moscow eliminates any claim Putin could make that he’d been isolated and had no diplomatic alternative other than invasion. 

Macron is a man who sees himself and France as a force for good on the world stage. And though his interventions often don’t live up to expectations the statesman persona plays well with French domestic audiences. All of which helps Macron as he fights for reelection this month. 

But the war has cast a shadow over the French presidential election campaign, the first round of which takes place on April 10. 

Read the full analysis:

12:14 a.m. ET, April 8, 2022

Why Russia might struggle to maintain its digital iron curtain

From CNN Business' Rishi Iyengar

On March 14, the same day Russia banned Instagram, Russian tech entrepreneur Alexander Zobov announced he would soon launch a local version of the popular photo and video sharing app called Rossgram.

Two weeks later, Rossgram shared an update on its Telegram channel telling prospective users that the app was undergoing “internal testing." The launch is still pending.

Rossgram’s apparent launch delays highlights the broader hurdles Russia’s technology sector has to overcome in order to build a self-contained internet that isn’t dependent on western platforms.

The Russian government has been trying to make this break for years but that effort has been further accelerated by Russia’s war with Ukraine and the resulting exodus of, and crackdown on, US big tech companies.

Russia does have established homegrown tech companies such as VK, the biggest Russian social network, and Yandex, whose services include a popular search engine and a ride-hailing platform. But those companies are smaller and also under pressure from global sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine invasion, given their dependence on western firms for key infrastructure.

Read the full story:

12:00 a.m. ET, April 8, 2022

It's 7 a.m. in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know

Rescuers remove rubble of a damaged building in Borodianka, Ukraine, on April 7.
Rescuers remove rubble of a damaged building in Borodianka, Ukraine, on April 7. (Aleksey Filippov/AFP/Getty Images)

Ukraine's President warned the situation in Borodianka, near the capital, will be worse that what was seen in Bucha, following the retreat of Russian forces. Meanwhile, the US said it has committed tens of thousands of weapons to Ukraine, including "hundreds" of suicide drones.

Here's the latest:

  • Borodianka situation "much scarier": Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation in the Kyiv suburb was worse than in Bucha, warning there were "more victims of Russian invaders." He said similar atrocities were seen in the southern city of Mariupol. His speech came after 26 bodies were found under the rubble of two houses in the town, according to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General.
  • Russia dropped from UN Human Rights Council: The UN General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council after allegations of atrocities committed by Russian soldiers. The US called the move “an important and historic moment” and Zelenksy said the vote from UN member states was “fair and logical."
  • US sends more weapons: The US has committed more than 12,000 anti-armor systems, 1,400 anti-aircraft systems and “hundreds” of suicide drones to Ukraine, the Biden administration said Thursday. It comes after the US approved on Tuesday another $100 million in weaponry for Ukraine drawn from US inventories, bringing the total US assistance to Ukraine to about $1.7 billion since the start of Russia’s invasion.
  • Fears for Ukraine's east: Ukrainian officials say major fighting is underway in the east, with the regional military governor of the Luhansk region urging civilians to evacuate some towns. The region's state administration head said all medical institutions and hospitals in Luhansk had been destroyed by Russian forces. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said “the battle for Donbas” is underway and will be reminiscent of World War II.
  • Australia sends armored vehicles: Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the country would send 20 of its home-built Bushmaster armored personnel carriers to Ukraine, following a request by Zelensky. The Bushmasters have been painted olive green with a Ukrainian flag on the side, and two are "ambulance variants" that carry the Red Cross emblem.
  • More EU sanctions: The European Union approved a fifth round of sanctions against Russia, according to the French Presidency of the Council of Europe. The new measures include a ban on imports of Russian coal as well as embargo on arms exports to Russia. Japan also announced it will gradually reduce imports of Russian coal.
  • Pink Floyd: The legendary rock band will release a new single on Friday in support of the people of Ukraine. It's the first new music from the band since 1994, and all proceeds will go to Ukrainian humanitarian relief.

Here's a look at the situation on the ground as Russia attacks eastern Ukraine: