Putin may still try to reinvade Kyiv, warn Western officials
From CNN's Natasha Bertrand and Katie Bo Lillis
NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a press conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on April 5. (François Walschaerts/AFP/Getty Images)
Russia's recent strategic change may not mean President Vladimir Putin has given up on trying to capture the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv, according to US and Western officials.
Putin is set to launch a brutal new offensive in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.
"They will be rearmed, because they've used a lot of ammunition and they will be resupplied with fuel and all the things they need, food and so on, to launch a new big offensive," Stoltenberg said.
Putin's long-term goals are unclear, according to a senior defense official, yet US and European officials have told CNN that a reinvasion of the Kyiv region is still a possibility -- despite Russia's strategic shift and ongoing talks with Ukraine.
"In order to protect any territory it seizes in the east, we expect that Russia could potentially extend its force projection and presence even deeper into Ukraine, beyond Luhansk and Donetsk provinces," US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday. "At least that is their intention and their plan."
The US expects Russia to continue launching air and missile strikes across Ukraine, including against the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Lviv, Sullivan added.
"Russia's goal, in the end, is to weaken Ukraine as much as possible," he said.
At least 55 people were injured in Mykolaiv Region from Russian shelling in the past 24 hours, the head of Mykolaiv regional administration, Hanna Zamazejeva, wrote in a statement on a Telegram page.
All the victims were taken to hospitals and are receiving the necessary assistance, she said.
As of Wednesday, 306 people injured in attacks on the Mykolaiv region are getting treatment in local hospitals, Zamazejeva added.
8:14 a.m. ET, April 6, 2022
Sales of new cars in Russia slumped 63% in March
From CNN’s Clare Sebastian in London
The body shell of a Skoda Auto AS Radi automobile passes along the production line at the Volkswagen Group Rus OOO plant in Kaluga, Russia, on September 19, 2017. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
As the backlash against Russia's actions in Ukraine starts to bear consequences, sales of new cars fell by almost 63% in Russia in March compared to the same month a year earlier, according to data out Wednesday from the Association of European Businesses (AEB), a group representing foreign investors in Russia.
The numbers mark a significant and sudden decline in the Russian car market, as foreign companies have pulled out, parts shortages have led to work stoppages at factories, and the collapse in the ruble has sent the price of a new car soaring. AEB numbers show that sales fell by only 4.8% in February.
A number of foreign carmakers stopped operations in Russia in March and banned vehicle exports to the country. Volkswagen suspended production at its two plants and banned exports. Ford stopped operations at its joint venture and Renault, which owns Russian carmaker Avtovaz, recently said it was suspending all activities at its Moscow factory, and “assessing the available options” regarding its stake in Avtovaz.
Avtovaz, whose Lada brand represented nearly 21% of the car market in Russia in 2021, is facing severe parts shortages. The company has brought forward a company-wide summer vacation to April, and announced it will move to a four-day week for three months from June to try to save the jobs of its more than 40,000 employees. The company says it is also designing new versions of several Lada models to be less reliant on imported parts.
Meanwhile, the average price of a new car in Russia rose by 35-40% in March, according to Russian car market analytics website Avtostat.
8:11 a.m. ET, April 6, 2022
Mariupol mayor compares besieged city to Nazi concentration camp
From CNN's Nathan Hodge and Yulia Kesaieva in Lviv
Local residents walk past an apartment building in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 4. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)
The mayor of the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol has compared the city to a Nazi concentration camp, calling the situation a "new Auschwitz or Majdanek."
In a statement Wednesday, Mayor Vadym Boychenko said:
The world has not seen the scale of a tragedy like in Mariupol since the Nazi concentration camps. The ruscists [Russian fascists] turned our whole city into a death camp.
"Unfortunately, the eerie analogy is gaining more and more confirmation. This is no longer Chechnya or Aleppo. This is the new Auschwitz and Majdanek. The world should help punish Putin's villains."
Dire humanitarian situation: Hundreds of thousands have evacuated the city, which had a pre-war population of more than 400,000. Ukrainian officials have said around 100,000 people still require evacuation from the city, demolished by weeks of shellfire. Russian forces have not allowed evacuation buses to reach the city.
In an intelligence update issued Wednesday, the UK's Ministry of Defence said the humanitarian situation in the city is "worsening," and added "most of the 160,000 residents remaining have no light, communication, medicine, heat or water."
"Russian forces have prevented humanitarian access, likely to pressure defenders to surrender,” said.
Over 1.1 million men, women and children perished at Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration and extermination camps, according to the Auschwitz Memorial. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the Russian war in Ukraine a "genocide."
Shocking images and review into war crimes: The White House has assessed that the world will see more shocking images such as those emerging from the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Biden National Security Council official Matthew Miller said Tuesday. Pressed on whether crimes allegedly committed by Russia rise to the level of genocide, Miller said there will be a “full review from the State Department,” which is just beginning to collect evidence.
The Mariupol City Council released a statement Wednesday claiming that Russian forces had started operating mobile crematoria to dispose of bodies in Mariupol. CNN could not verify that claim.
"Murderers are covering their tracks," the statement said. "Russian mobile crematoria have started operating in Mariupol. After the widespread international resonance for genocide in Bucha, Russia's top leadership ordered the destruction of any evidence of crimes committed by its army in Mariupol."
The statement noted earlier estimates that put the civilian death toll in Mariupol at 5,000, figures that have not been independently verified.
"But given the size of the city, catastrophic destruction, the duration of the blockade and fierce resistance, tens of thousands of civilians from Mariupol could have fallen victim to the occupiers," the statement said. "That is why Russia is in no hurry to give the green light to the Turkish mission and other initiatives to save and fully evacuate Mariupol."
The Turkish government has offered to evacuate people trapped in the besieged city by sea, the country's defense minister announced previously.
8:14 a.m. ET, April 6, 2022
China's state media is taking a different tone on the horrors of Bucha
From CNN's Simone McCarthy and Yong Xiong
Ludmyla Verginska, 51, attends a burial of her friend Igor Lytvynenko in Bucha, Ukraine, on April 5. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)
Shocking images showing the bodies of civilians scattered across streets in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha have sparked global horror in recent days and raised the urgency of ongoing investigations into Russian war crimes. But a starkly different narrative is playing out on China's state-run media.
Domestic media reports in China on the civilian casualties in Bucha have been quick to emphasize the Russian rebuttal, with two prominent televised reports from national broadcaster CCTV this week highlighting unsubstantiated claims from Moscow that the situation was staged after Russian forces withdrew from the area.
In one report, a caption citing Russia with the words "Ukrainians directed a good show," flashes over heavily blurred footage from the Ukrainian town.
There is no evidence to suggest this is the case. Satellite images suggest some bodies had been there since at least March 18, while eyewitnesses have said the carnage began weeks ago.
Russian forces make dozens of overnight strikes on Kharkiv
From CNN's Katharina Krebs in London
A woman walks past a church that was damaged during heavy shelling in the town of Derhachi outside Kharkiv, Ukraine, on April 6. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)
Russian troops carried out 27 strikes on residential areas of Kharkiv overnight, the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleg Synegubov, said in a statement on a verified Telegram page.
"The enemy wants to demoralize us and continues to carry out chaotic attacks on civilian infrastructure," he said.
Currently, there are active battles taking place in the direction of the city of Izium and there is an ongoing evacuation of civilians, Synegubov added, claiming that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding their positions while Russian troops are failing in their attempt to break through and are suffering “heavy losses.”
He also warned residents of the Kharkiv region to not touch unexploded ammunition.
"Do not try to transfer them, eliminate them alone, etc. As soon as you see the ammunition -- call 101. Also, please do not ignore the alarms and immediately go into a shelter. The danger is not over," he said.
8:12 a.m. ET, April 6, 2022
Drone footage shows moment cyclist is gunned down by Russian forces in Bucha
From CNN's Eoin McSweeney and Gianluca Mezzofiore
A drone video taken before March 10has captured the moment a person riding a bicycle is gunned down by Russian soldiers in Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv.
The incident occurred on the same street where the bodies of at least 20 civilian men were found Saturday following the withdrawal of Russian forces from the area.
The suburb's name has this week become a byword for war crimes, after accounts of summary executions, brutality and indiscriminate shelling emerged in the wake of Russia's hasty retreat, as the Kremlin shifts its focus away from the Ukrainian capital to the country's east.
A second video posted to Twitter and geolocated by CNN to the same street shows a body sprawled alongside a bike and two more lying prone on the road. Buildings have been extensively damaged, and an electricity pole has been uprooted. Burned-out cars have been abandoned and debris litters the street.
Dominica-flagged civilian ship attacked in Mariupol by Russian military is "completely destroyed"
The Caribbean island of Dominica has condemned an “indiscriminate” attack by Russian troops on a Dominica-flagged civilian cargo ship which was “completely destroyed” before sinking in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol.
Dominica’s Maritime Administration alleged that the vessel was “intentionally” struck by two missile shells while berthed in the port on Sunday and “heavily fired upon by Russian armed forces” on Monday in another attack.
“The crew reported shelling, bombing and repeated hits by missiles, causing a fire in engine room,” according to Dominica maritime officials. The crew was evacuated and are currently staying onboard neighboring vessels.
Dominica officials warned that heavy fighting and intensive shelling by Russian armed forces is still ongoing in the port area. The crew members are under an “immense amount of fear and stress,” it said in a statement and urged for their immediate evacuation to a safe area.
Eric R. Dawicki, deputy administrator of Maritime Affairs of the Commonwealth of Dominica Maritime Administration, said in the statement: “An act of war is an act of cowards, bullies and fragile men. The indiscriminate shelling of a merchant vessel with a civilian crew with no place to seek refuge is the lowest of lows. It is an act of war against all of humanity and basic human rights.”
Dominica “deplores” the attack and “insists that the emotionally and intellectually stunted men behind this heinous act look themselves closely in the mirror and discover how to end such senseless motives. There is nothing good that comes out of war -- NOTHING,” he added.
7:20 a.m. ET, April 6, 2022
Red Cross convoy of 500 Mariupol refugees reaches Zaporizhzhia
From CNN’s Benjamin Brown in London and Ann-Claire Stapleton in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine
A woman and children eat a meal after their arrival at at a displaced persons' hub in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on April 5. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
A convoy of buses and private cars carrying more than 500 civilians who had fled Mariupol has arrived in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Wednesday.
The group led by the ICRC had left Berdiansk on Tuesday and reached Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday. The civilians in the convoy had fled the besieged city Mariupol on their own, the ICRC said.
“This convoy’s arrival to Zaporizhzhia is a huge relief for hundreds of people who have suffered immensely and are now in a safer location,” said Pascal Hundt, the ICRC’s head of delegation in Ukraine.
“It’s clear, though, that thousands more civilians trapped inside Mariupol need safe passage out and aid to come in. As a neutral intermediary, we’re ready to respond to this humanitarian imperative once concrete agreements and security conditions allow it,” he added.
Humanitarian situation worsens: Russian airstrikes and heavy fighting continue in the city, and most of the 160,000 residents remaining have no light, communication, medicine, heat or water, according to an intelligence update from the UK Ministry of Defence issued Wednesday.
The ICRC said that it had tried to reach Mariupol over the course of five days and four nights, coming within 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the city. Security conditions on the ground, however, have made it impossible to enter, it added.
