Dispatches from Ukraine, provided by Forbes Ukraine’s editorial team.
As Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues and the war rages on, reliable sources of information are critical. Forbes Ukraine’s reporters gather information and provide updates on the situation.
Tuesday, April 26. Day 62. By Daryna Antoniuk
More than eight million people may leave Ukraine by the end of the year, according to a forecast by the UN. Around 5.2 million refugees have already left Ukraine as of April 25.
Donetsk. Russian shelling killed two people and injured six in Donetsk Oblast, according to Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Mariupol. Russia attacked the Azovstal steel plant 35 times overnight, trapping civilians in the rubble.
New satellite imagery has shown a third mass grave near Mariupol. Putin said on Tuesday that Russia has already captured Mariupol and there is no more fighting there.
There are more than 100,000 civilians trapped in the city, including over 1,000 people hiding in the basement of the Azovstal steel factory complex.
Kharkiv. Russian troops have attacked residential areas in Kharkiv, killing three people and wounding seven more, according to Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synegubov.
Odesa. A road and railway bridge across the Dniester estuary near Odesa have been damaged by a missile strike.
Zaporizhzhia. Two guided Russian missiles hit the city of Zaporizhzhia in central Ukraine. One person was killed, and another was injured.
Two cruise missiles had flown over the nuclear power plant near the city of Zaporizhzhia earlier on Tuesday, according to the Ukrainian state nuclear energy company Energoatom.
Zaporizhzhia’s nuclear plant is the largest in Europe. It was seized by Russia on March 4 and remains under its control, but continues to be a part of the Ukrainian energy system.
U.S. diplomats have returned to Ukraine for the first time since the start of the invasion, according to CNN. The diplomats crossed into the country from Poland and traveled to the western city of Lviv for a day trip.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. During the conversation, he invited Putin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused NATO of engaging in a proxy war and warned that there is a risk of armed conflict spreading beyond Ukraine.
Earlier on Tuesday Germany announced that it will deliver Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Moscow on Tuesday to meet with Putin and Lavrov. He will then travel to Kyiv to meet Zelensky and the Ukrainian foreign minister on Thursday.
An explosion damaged two radio towers in Moldova's breakaway territory of Transnistria. Earlier on April 25, a series of explosions were heard near the Ministry of State Security building in Transnistria’s capital Tiraspol. Ukraine called it a planned provocation by the Russian security services.
Transnistria has a population of nearly 500,000 and is internationally recognized as part of Moldova. Russia has maintained a military presence in Transnistria since the early 1990s.
There are currently about 8,000 soldiers in Transnistria, including nearly 3,000 Russian troops. Soldiers are at “full combat readiness,” according to Vadym Denysenko, advisor to the Ukrainian interior minister.
Russia and Belarus will hold joint training sessions of the air force and air defense on April 26 through 29, according to Belarusian Defense Ministry.
