April 14 events in “Babel” review: the Armed Forces of Ukraine lined up the cruiser “Moskva”, there was an exchange of prisoners, and Russian contractors refuse to go to Ukraine

From the very beginning of Russiaʼs full-scale war against Ukraine, Babel has been conducting daily live text coverage and promptly informing about the main news in the telegram channel. We also do a daily digest of the highlights of the day in case you havenʼt been able to follow live.

On the night of April 14, the Russian occupiers again fired on residential areas of Kharkiv, which do not have any military infrastructure. The Armed Forces of Ukraine counter offense in one of the directions of the oblast. In the south, the Ukrainian army pushed the front line 40 to 50 kilometers from Kryvyi Rihю

Russiaʼs Defense Ministry has acknowledged that the cruiser "Moscow" suffered serious damage and the ship was on fire. However, they did not mention that missiles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were aimed at the cruiser. They claim that they simply "detonated ammunition" on board, saying that this was the cause of the fire. The crew was evacuated, now the Russians are trying to take the ship to Sevastopol for repairs. "Moskva" was the flagship cruiser of the Black Sea Fleet.

Up to 40% of Russian contractors who took part in the war against Ukraine refuse to return to Ukrainian territory. This was reported by the Conflict Intelligence Team. To date, none of those Russians who refuse to fight have been prosecuted.

Ukraine held its fourth prisoner exchange with Russia. We exchanged 5 officers and 17 servicemen. Eight civilians were also released, including one woman. A total of 30 of our citizens go home.

Reckit, a manufacturer of medicines and hygiene products, is completely leaving the Russian market. The owner of the rights to the Times New Roman and Arial fonts, Monotype, has closed access to Russians. Ordinary users will be able to use them, but companies, publishers, or software manufacturers will not. The Russian-language version of National Geographic magazine stops publishing in Russia.

Google stops monetizing content that spreads fakes about Russiaʼs war against Ukraine or denies or justifies it. This also applies to materials that promote violence and deny tragic events. This decision will hit Russian propagandists hard.

Australia has imposed a new package of sanctions against Russia. They affected Gazprom, Transneft, KAMAZ, Russian Railways, the diamond company ALROSA, Rostelecom, and eight other Russian companies.

The United States has said that the administration will begin to actively fight against those people and companies that are helping Russia circumvent sanctions in the next two weeks. The United States has already imposed a major package of sanctions against Russia itself.

Colombia is ready to help European countries if they eventually decide to give up Russian energy resources. Colombian President Ivan Duque has said the country will increase coal supplies to Germany, which recently approved phasing out of Russian coal. Duque also called Russiaʼs actions in Ukraine the genocide.

Moldova has accused the Russian army of recruiting its citizens to replenish its forces for the war in Ukraine. In addition, Moldova officially banned the St. George ribbon as a "symbol used in the context of military aggression".

Russia is spreading fake reports that its border oblasts are being shelled from Ukraine. Allegedly, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a missile strike on Bryansk oblast, fired mortars at the Novi Yurkovichi checkpoint, the border town of Klimovo, and a border patrol in Kursk oblast.