Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

Past 24 hours in the war zone
Hostilities continue during hybrid "Easter truce"... Russian proxies launch 38 attacks on Ukrainian positions in Donetsk, Luhansk and Mariupol sectors.
No casualties reported on the Ukrainian side.

On his visit to Mariupol, President Petro Poroshenko declared that deployment of an international peacekeeping mission to Donbas will make the Russian occupation troops leave the occupied east of Ukraine.

Pope Francis in Easter Urbi et Orbi message: "We also beseech fruits of peace for Ukraine, that the steps taken to favour harmony may be consolidated, and facilitated by the humanitarian initiatives needed by its people."

Ukraine will launch spring military conscription campaign on Monday, April 2. 15,190 servicemen will be conscripted into to the Armed Forces and other military formations of Ukraine.

[Natalka]

Happy Easter to all who are celebrating!

The Ukrainian Roman Catholics, who observe the Gregorian calendar, as well as some Protestant denominations, are celebrating too. But there is not a lot of them - only around 3% of the population. Most Catholics in Ukraine belong to the Greek Catholic Church, and will celebrate Easter together with the Orthodox Church according to the Julian calendar, next Sunday.

While Ukraine got the "Catholic" Christmas on December 25 as an official state holiday for the first time in 2017, only the Julian calendar Easter is celebrated as a state holiday so far.

[Natalka]

Volodymyr Shamchuk, call sign “Shama”, was killed by a landmine near Maryinka, Donetsk Oblast on March 28, 2018.
Volodymyr was born on July 16, 1970 in Drabove-Baryatynske, Cherkasy Oblast. He served in the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade.
Volodymyr leaves behind his grieving wife.
Вічна Пам’ять! Eternal Memory!
Герої не вмирають! Heroes Never Die!

[Natalka]

Sunday was Kvitna/Verbna Nedilya (Blooming/Willow Sunday, i.e. Palm Sunday). After the pussy willow branches have been blessed in church, people symbolically tap friends, family and passers-by with the branches for strength, happiness and health.

[Natalka]

Past 24 hours in the war zone
Russian-backed troops launch 30 attacks against Ukrainian positions in Donetsk, Luhansk and mariupol sectors.
No casualties on the Ukrainian side.

[Natalka]

The main Easter pysanka of Lviv

[Natalka]

Past 24 hours in the war zone
As Ukrainians prepare for the blessed feast of Easter, Russian proxies continue observing the "Easter truce" in the war zone, launching 24 attacks against Ukrainian positions in Luhansk, Donetsk and Mariupol sectors.
One Ukrainian serviceman wounded.
Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on the settlement of the situation in Donbas plans to discuss the release of hostages on April 4.

[Natalka]

Kyiv Post‏Verified account @KyivPost





Even if the war were to stop tomorrow, it would take up to 40 years to make the Donbas region safe again, says Ukraine's top minesweeping officer.

[Natalka]

Russia has deployed 19 battalion tactical groups of the first and second echelons numbering more than 77,000 troops near the border with Ukraine.



Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said this in an interview with the government's Uriadovy Kurier newspaper.
"The continuation of aggressive actions in eastern Ukraine is quite anticipated. Moreover, there is a probability that the conflict will escalate into the Kremlin's full-scale aggression.
The groups consist of almost 1,000 tanks, 2,300 combat vehicles, over 1,100 artillery systems and about 400 multiple launch rocket systems," the minister said.

"The Russian leadership is looking for a way to turn its aggression into a frozen conflict, rather than resolve it. Moreover, Putin's regime is still hoping for the return of our state to the so-called Russian world and for Ukraine's rejection of Euro-Atlantic integration. Moscow is not going to implement the Minsk agreements - it is not part of its plans, as well as the withdrawal of occupation troops from our territory and the return to the Ukrainian side of control over the section of the Ukrainian-Russian state border," he said.

Poltorak stressed that Ukraine would continue to support the course for political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Donbas. "At the same time, we can and will use the sovereign right to self-defense. Therefore, our country will operate as part of a complex of political and diplomatic measures, sanctions and other measures aimed at restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine and rebuffing and deterring Russia's armed aggression," he said.

https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-def...-ministry.html

[Natalka]

War kills randomly…
Serhiy Bibko died of a heart attack in Popasne, Luhansk Oblast on April 3, 2018.
Serhiy was born in Narodychi, Zhytomyr Oblast, but resided in Lanivtsi, Ternopil Oblast. He graduated from the M.P. Drahomanov National Pedagogical University and worked as a radiologist at the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Narodychi. He and his family moved to Lanivtsi after the Chornobyl disaster. Serhiy volunteered for the front and served in the 44th Separate Artillery Brigade.
Serhiy leaves behind his brother, wife, daughter and grandson.
Вічна Пам’ять! Eternal Memory!
Герої не вмирають! Heroes Never Die!

[Natalka]

Past 24 hours in the war zone
Russian-backed militants launch 39 attacks on Ukrainian positions in Luhansk, Donetsk and Mariupol sectors.
No casualties on the Ukrainian side.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin says that over 1,600 Ukrainians have been killed or injured since 2014 when Russia unleashed aggression against Ukraine.

[Natalka]

Past 24 hours in the war zone
Russian hybrid troops launch 27 attacks on Ukrainian positions in Donetsk, Luhansk and Mariupol sectors.
No casualties on the Ukrainian side.

The Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) in eastern Ukraine will end in May and will be reformatted into the Allied Forces Operation pursuant to the law on the reintegration of Donbas. ATO is coordinated by the Security Service of Ukraine, while the Allied Forces Operation will be led by the Armed Forces of Ukraine

[Natalka]

Today is “Velykodnya Piatnytsia”/”Velyka Piatnytsia, Good Friday (Easter Friday/Great Friday), a solemn time that commemorates the day our Lord was crucified.

Religious services include the ancient custom of the Veneration of the Holy Shroud (“Plaschenytsia”). The Holy Shroud is a representation of the sheet that Christ was buried in following his death on the cross. The body of Jesus with His wounds is depicted, laying in repose.

[Natalka]

Blessing the Easter "baskets" on the front lines

[Natalka]

Another hero returns home…
Eduard Slobodian, junior sergeant serving in the 80th Brigade, was killed in combat near Tsvitni Pisky, Luhansk Oblast on September 5, 2014. Eduard was recently identified through DNA testing. He was listed MIA for over 3 years.

Ihor Bezdukh, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Veterans Union, then commander of APC No.125, remembers: “I brought 5 bodies out of the combat zone in my APC. Eduard Slobodian was a machine gunner in APC No.129 that hit a landmine and went off the road. The boys fought to the bitter end. On a video that was posted by the Russian mercenaries, we see a burning APC, and we hear a Russian fighter yelling: “Hey, Ukrops! Give yourselves up!”… but his words are met with machine-gun fire. We were able to get their bodies out and bury them in Starobilsk Cemetery. They were in terrible condition, and couldn’t be identified. It took experts in Dnipro three and a half years ago to identify Eduard. “

Eduard will be buried in his native village of Hrynchuk, Kamyanets-Podilsky Raion, Khmelnytsky Oblast.
Вічна Пам’ять! Eternal Memory!
Герої не вмирають! Heroes Never Die!