18:03
Ukrainian museum recognizes almost a hundred stolen paintings in Russian TV report
The Kherson Art Museum in Ukraine has identified nearly 100 paintings stolen by Russian forces. Russia previously denied having stolen the paintings from Ukrainian museums.
The museum came across the nearly one hundred paintings in a Russian TV video about the Tavrida Central Museum in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia. It shows shelves full of stolen paintings. “Looters record their crimes with their own hands, and this allows us to record the locations of at least some of the stolen art,” the Kherson Art Museum wrote on Facebook.
In November 2022, the identified paintings along with 15 thousand other works of art were taken from the Ukrainian museum by Russian troops. According to museum employees, the art was carelessly wrapped in rags. The Russians called it a ‘temporary evacuation’, but the museum already spoke of theft at the time.
A year later, Russian TV broadcast the report about the museum in Crimea. The Kherson Art Museum knew for sure at the time: ‘Every painting, every graphic work, every piece of art, everything we can identify is indisputable proof that the stolen works are in the hands of Russian art thieves.’
One of the stolen paintings is Fishermen on the coast (1932) by the Ukrainian artist Ivan Shulha. The artist was known for his idealized depiction of the working class during the Soviet Union.
Ukrainian museum directors and experts call the attempts to steal and destroy Ukrainian cultural heritage a cultural genocide. Archives, churches and museums have been emptied by Russia since the start of the war.
Eline van Ekert
Also read: In this way, Ukraine and the West are trying to safeguard the cultural heritage that Russia wants to destroy
16:47
Russian army has already contracted 100,000 soldiers this year, Kremlin says
About 100,000 Russians have already signed a contract this year to join the army and fight in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry says. 16 thousand of them are said to have signed up after the attack on a concert hall in Moscow to ‘avenge those who were killed’, the Kremlin claims.
The Kremlin’s claims cannot be independently verified, but fit seamlessly into the narrative that Moscow has maintained since the attacks: the attack may have been committed by Islamic fundamentalists from Tajikistan, but Ukraine and the West are actually behind it. Russia has not provided any evidence of the involvement of Ukraine and other countries.
In any case, Russia appears to be planning a major offensive in Ukraine. Since the autumn, some minor successes have been achieved on the battlefield, including the capture of Avdiivka. Russia seems to want to continue to take advantage of Ukraine’s lack of ammunition.
There may also be a new round of mobilization in order to obtain sufficient soldiers. Ukrainian President Zelensky said today at a meeting with Finnish President Stubb that he has information that Russia wants to quickly call up 300,000 soldiers. That number is in addition to the number of recruits who have signed a contract with the army.
Joram Bolle
13:26
Gradual restoration of the Ukrainian electricity grid, exports are starting again
Ukraine is gradually recovering from the major Russian attacks on the electricity grid in recent weeks. Grid operator Oekrenergo expects to export electricity again today, after exports have virtually stopped for a week and a half.
The Russian attacks, the largest of which took place on March 22, severely damaged Ukraine’s power grid. As a result, Ukraine had to significantly increase imports of electricity from neighboring countries such as Slovakia, Romania and Moldova. Electricity exports virtually came to a standstill.
Electricity was rationed in several Ukrainian provinces. Meanwhile, only residents of Kharkiv, where Russia has shut down an important power plant for a long time, have to go without power for a few hours a day. In the Central Ukrainian city of Kryvy Rih, restrictions only apply to industrial electricity customers.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy, the national electricity grid is now ‘stable’ and Ukraine can gradually reduce electricity imports. The country is helped by the weather conditions, which are favorable for the generation of wind and solar energy.
Daan de Vries
Also read: Ukraine must significantly increase power imports due to Russian attacks on the electricity network
12:35
NATO wants a bigger role in Ukraine, talks about a fund of possibly 100 billion euros
NATO wants to play a greater role in coordinating arms supplies to Ukraine. International news agencies report this in the run-up to a two-day summit that is about to start in Brussels. The proposals put forward by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg should ensure that support to Ukraine remains ‘reliable and predictable’ in the long term, he said at the start.
The foreign ministers of the NATO member states will discuss, among other things, whether the military alliance can play a greater role in supplying weapons and ammunition and training soldiers. Sources report that there is talk of a 100 billion euro fund to support the government in Kyiv over the next five years, but Stoltenberg declined to confirm that amount.
The alliance would thus take over some of the tasks of the so-called Ramstein group, which coordinates arms aid to Ukraine under the leadership of the United States. The aim is at least partly to make support for Ukraine less dependent on Washington, in view of the presidential elections in November, according to anonymous diplomats. Donald Trump, who is in the race on behalf of the Republicans, has already hinted several times that he will not hesitate to turn off the money tap.
According to the anonymous sources, there is a consensus within NATO that military support to Ukraine must be more sustainable and that the alliance could best ensure this together. Due to the war with Russia, Ukraine itself is still not a NATO member, but it will become one, Stoltenberg emphasized again today.
Maartje Geels
10:40
New Ukraine mobilization law comes into effect, minimum age lowered to 25 years
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a new mobilization law, which lowers the minimum age for mobilization from 27 to 25 years. The controversial law has been on Zelensky’s desk for 10 months after the Ukrainian parliament passed the law in June last year.
Even more than then, the Ukrainian army is in urgent need of new soldiers. Russia is launching attacks along the entire front, while Ukraine is facing shortages of weapons, ammunition and manpower. There are soldiers who have not had leave since the beginning of the Russian invasion. In December, Zelensky said the army had asked him for around 500,000 new soldiers. The army has now backtracked on that number: last week, Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrsky said the required number had been “significantly reduced.”
Zelensky signed three laws related to mobilization. The rules for the medical examination are being revised. Previously, men could be found ‘suitable’, ‘unsuitable’ or ‘partially suitable’. With the new law, the latter category will disappear, and people who have previously been found ‘partially suitable’ will have to be re-examined. A third law provides for the creation of an online register of conscripts, which should make mobilization faster and more efficient.
Daan de Vries
02:52
Former Ukrainian President Poroshenko wants to participate in elections
Ukraine’s former president Petro Poroshenko plans to run for office in the next presidential election. Poroshenko said this in an interview with Al Jazeera on Tuesday. Poroshenko still has a significant following in Ukraine, especially among people dissatisfied with the war policies of the current president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
The presidential elections in Ukraine were supposed to take place on March 31, 2024, but were canceled due to martial law and general mobilization since Russia’s invasion. Zelensky stated that now is “not the right time” for elections. Poroshenko also believes that before elections the war with Russia must first be ‘won’, he told Al Jazeera.
Poroshenko, one of Ukraine’s richest people, served as the country’s president from 2014 to 2019. In 2019 he lost the elections to Zelensky. After his presidency, Poroshenko was indicted for treason. He is said to have been involved in the sale of large quantities of coal. That money is said to have been used to finance Russian-backed separatists who fought with government forces and nationalist militias in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015.
The now 56-year-old former president has always maintained that these charges are politically motivated. The case against him is at a standstill now that the war with Russia is a priority.
ANP
11:59 PM, Yesterday
Welcome to the live blog of Wednesday April 3
This was the most important news about the war in Ukraine on Tuesday, April 2:
• Ukraine bombed several targets in the Russian republic of Tatarstan during the night from Monday to Tuesday. One of the targets was a major refinery, one of the largest in the country. According to Russian authorities, the damage was not so extensive that production had to be halted.
• The Netherlands will host an international institution that will monitor compensation for war damage in Ukraine. The 44 member states of the Council of Europe decided this during a conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine, which took place at the World Forum in The Hague. The counter is an initiative of the Council of Europe, a European organization that deals with human rights, the rule of law and democracy.
Read Tuesday’s full live blog here.
