Ukraine

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has kept the interest rate on hold at 15.5% after raising the key policy rate three times since the beginning of 2025, it announced on April 17.

This move will help maintain the sustainability of the forex market, keep inflation expectations under control, and gradually reduce inflation to the 5% target over the policy horizon, the NBU said.

Загальні бойові втрати противника з 24.02.22 по 17.04.25 (орієнтовно)

#NOMERCY #stoprussia

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t.me/GeneralStaffZSU/23187

A Moscow court sent former Kursk Oblast Governor Alexei Smirnov to a two-month pre-trial detention center on April 16 in connection with a fraud case, the press service of Moscow courts reported.

Smirnov and his deputy Alexei Dedov are accused of embezzling over a billion rubles ($12 million) from the budget allocated to the Kursk Oblast Development Corporation for the construction of fortifications on the border with Ukraine.

Russia has been intensifying its use of chemical agents on the battlefield in Ukraine, with Kyiv recording over 6,000 cases of use of munitions containing hazardous chemicals between February 2023 and 2025.

A capsule with CS gas, a riot control agent, has been found in one of the Russian drones, the center said, adding it had verified the information with Ukraine's security services and the State Emergency Service.

The Danish Armed Forces plan to send unarmed troops to Ukraine for short-term training courses to study the country's drone warfare tactics, Major General Peter Boysen, Denmark's commander-in-chief, told state broadcaster TV 2 on April 16.

Cross-posted from "War in Ukraine: Kremlin-run media publishes — then deletes — video showing drone operators directing strikes in Ukraine from Moscow residential high-rise" by @randomname@scribe.disroot.org in !europe@feddit.org

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On the morning of April 15, Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti published — and later deleted — two Telegram posts that appeared to show military drone operators directing strikes against Ukrainian territory from a makeshift control center located inside a residential high-rise in Moscow City, the Russian capital’s business district.

The first post claimed that a “combat FPV drone, controlled from Moscow, struck an Armed Forces of Ukraine target in Chasiv Yar at an ultra-long distance for the first time.” The second post said the UAV, piloted remotely from Moscow, had been launched by the drone unit of the Espanola brigade, which was operating near Chasiv Yar — a city in the Bakhmut District of Ukraine’s Donetsk Region, most of which is under Russian control.

A six-minute video accompanied the posts, showing the coordination of the drone strike in detail. Both posts, along with the video, were removed within 90 minutes of publication. The Telegram channel CHTD first noticed that the posts had been taken down.

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Загальні бойові втрати противника з 24.02.22 по 16.04.25 (орієнтовно)

t.me/GeneralStaffZSU/23148

Cross-posted from "US Derails G-7 Condemnation of Russian Missile Strike on Ukraine" by @Hubi@feddit.org in !world@lemmy.world

A Russian court has sentenced Roman Ivanishin, a soldier from Sakhalin, to 15 years in a maximum security prison for surrendering to Ukrainian forces, Russian pro-state media outlet Kommersant reported on April 15, citing an undisclosed source.

The case marks the first known conviction in Russia for voluntary surrender during the full-scale war against Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces have recaptured the village of Dniproenerhiia in Donetsk Oblast's Volnovakha district and advanced in two key front-line sectors in the past two months, Lieutenant General Serhii Naiev, commander of the Vuhledar tactical group, reported on April 15.

"I have been in command of the tactical group for two months. During this period, we managed to reduce personnel losses by 20%, regain control of the village of Dniproenerhiia, and improve the tactical situation in two critical areas," Naiev wrote on Telegram.