On the night of April 21, the occupiers intensified their offensive along the entire line of contact in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. The Russians are shelling civilians along the entire front line, most actively in the Maryinka, Avdiyivka, Ocheretyne, and Toretsk directions. During the day, the occupiers fired at Kharkiv oblast about 15 times. Artillery shells hit the areas of Saltivka, KhTZ, Oleksiyivka. In Mykolayiv as a result of night attacks one person was killed.
In Mariupol, the Russian occupiers are currently bombing and shelling the territory of Azovstal, although Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has reported to Putin on the alleged "taking control of Mariupol" by Russian occupation forces. Putin allegedly ordered not to storm the Azovstal industrial zone, but to lay siege to it. Despite the extremely difficult situation in Mariupol, the Azov Regiment destroyed 3 tanks, 2 infantry fighting vehicles, and an armored personnel carrier in the last two days. President Zelensky stated that the Ukrainian side is working to open humanitarian corridors. In particular, Ukraine offered Russia to exchange "all the wounded for all the wounded" in Mariupol, but Russia is blocking this process.
Russian troops have set up several mass graves up to 30 meters each in the village of Manhush near Mariupol. The occupiers take the bodies of the killed Mariupol residents there, dumping them in an embankment.
Four evacuation buses managed to leave the humanitarian corridor from Mariupol. They spent the night in Berdiansk and went to Zaporizhzhia.
The sixth exchange of prisoners with Russia took place. 19 people are returning to Ukraine, including 10 servicemen, two officers among them, and nine civilians.
In the Verkhovna Rada, instead of the OPZZh faction (pro-russian party banned in Ukraine), a parliamentary group "Platform for Peace and Life" was created. This group will be headed by Yuriy Boyko. The group included 25 peopleʼs deputies of the former OPZZh, such as Nestor Shufrych, Hryhoriy Surkis, Natalia Korolevska, Serhiy Liovochkin, and others.
US President Joe Biden has announced a new $ 800 million military aid package to Ukraine. It will include artillery systems, howitzers, and drones. In addition, the United States will provide $ 500 million in financial support to Ukraine.
Austria has refused to buy Russian oil since the start of the war in Ukraine, the Kurier newspaper reports. The main supplier of oil to Austria is Kazakhstan, its share of imports is 38.9%. In second and third place there are Libya with 22.1% and Iraq with 20.7%.
The Latvian Seimas has supported amendments to the law on citizenship that deprive persons who support war crimes of their citizenship. In addition, Latvia has recognized the actions of the Russian military in Ukraine as genocide. The Seimas called on the world community for maximum sanctions against Russia and an embargo on its energy resources. Estonia also recognized Russiaʼs actions in Ukraine as genocide — the parliament made a decision. Lithuania handed over heavy mortars to Ukraine.
Cyprus has stripped a number of Russian businessmen of their "golden" passports, including Oleg Deripaska and RBC media holding owner Grigory Berezkin. Passports of their family members are also revoked.
Russia renounced the Easter Armistice during a United Nations meeting. Earlier, Ukraine agreed to such a truce for the security of civilians and humanitarian corridors.
Russian troops removed from Belarus 85% of the equipment recorded during their retreat from Kyiv Oblast.
Russiaʼs foreign ministry has added 29 US citizens to the sanctions list, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and US Vice President Kamala Harris.