Ukraine at War Update for April 17: ‘Russia Kidnapped 37,000 Ukrainians Since 2014’

• Russia’s main battlefield target remains Chasiv Yar
• Russian aerial attack kills two civilians and injures four at Kharkiv regional school
• Ukrainian human rights official says 37,000 people still missing
• National Security and Defense Council compiles list of hostile X (Twitter) accounts

The Kremlin’s main focus remains the high ground of  Chasiv Yar

Invading Russian forces gained an estimated 20-30 square kilometers (18 square miles) of Ukrainian territory last week, according to a note to investors sent by Kyiv-based Dragon Capital on April 15. Moscow’s main focus remains the high ground Chasiv Yar town just 15 kilometers (10 miles) west of Bakhmut in the Donetsk Region.

That town is seen as a gateway to Kramatorsk and Slovyansk in the same region, along with Kostyantynivka.

Ukrainian Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky said over the weekend that the situation in Donetsk Region is “deteriorating.”

He said that the Russian military command had issued an order to capture Chasiv Yar by May 9 when Russia commemorates the Soviet-era Victory Day holiday that observes when the USSR emerged as one of the victors of World War II.

More than 50 X accounts designated as “hostile” by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council

A list of 66 X (formerly Twitter) accounts have been labeled as “hostile” by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council as of April 15.

Most are of Russian origin.

They include former President Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry, the state-run Tass news agency and the Kremlin’s official X page.

“The list was compiled to help users of the X social network to avoid accounts that are tools for spreading hostile disinformation and manipulation,” the Kyiv-based government body said.

Other Topics of Interest

Zelensky: November-December Sees Record Russian Losses in Combat

The Ukrainian military regularly reports that Russian forces are resorting to ‘meat assaults,’ sending wounded or poorly trained fighters into battle as cannon fodder.

Two civilians killed in Russian aerial attack on Kharkiv regional school

Six civilian casualties were reported at a village school in the Kharkiv Region, following Russian aerial attacks overnight on April 15.

Two residents of Lukyantsi village were killed and four injured, the Kharkiv National Guard said. They were aged 65 and 63 years old, the region’s military administration said.

The eponymous region’s capital is located only 25 miles (40 km) from the nearest Russian border and suffers from daily cross-border aerial attacks.

Much of Ukraine’s second most populous city, Kharkiv, has had most of its power-generating capacity wiped out from aerial attacks.

 As a result, the regional government has started rolling blackouts to distribute what power it can get from the electrical grids to which it is connected. A new schedule for April 17-April 20 was introduced the previous day before the announcement.

Nearly 37,000 Ukrainians missing, says Ukraine’s top human rights official

Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets says that about 37,000 children and adults have been considered “missing,” since 2014 when Russia initially invaded the neighboring country.

Speaking at a conference in Kyiv his office conducted on April 16, the chief human rights official said that the figure consists of both “military personnel and civilians, including underage ones.”

"At the same time, we are doing everything possible to move the issue of the return of civilians from ground zero,” Lubinets said on his office’s Facebook post. “Russia has been kidnapping Ukrainians since 2014.”

Only 147 known civilians have been repatriated, he said, adding that some 1,700 other civilians are still held captive based on data from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations.