Ukraine War, Year 2, Day 52. ​​130 Ukrainian POWs return home / Russian attacks in Mykolaiv region kill two teenagers / Easter, under shelling. Ukrainians smash eggs and say “Christ is Risen” on the front

UPDATE 23:00 Bulgaria could ban Ukrainian grain imports, after the bans in Poland and Hungary

Bulgaria’s Acting Minister of Agriculture, Yavor Gechev, said on April 16 that Bulgaria will consider a ban on grain imports from Ukraine, following a similar decision taken by two other EU countries, Poland and Hungary.

According to him, this measure should “protect the interests of Bulgaria, especially when such a restriction has already been introduced by two other states”.

Gechev added that there will be too much grain in the country “if we do not take appropriate measures”.

UPDATE 22:30 The Chinese Minister of Defense met with Putin

Li Shangfu, the newly appointed Chinese Defense Minister, visited Russia on his first official visit abroad on April 16 and met with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Russia has sought to obtain Chinese weapons and technology to advance its war against Ukraine.

According to Shangfu, cooperation between the two states in the military field “is developing very well, which has a great impact on global and regional security”.

Shangfu stated that he “specially chose Russia” to “underline the special nature and strategic importance” of bilateral relations between the two countries.

UPDATE 20:45 The Border Police shot down a Shahed drone in the Kharkiv region

A Shahed-136 drone was shot down by the Ukrainian state border guard service over the Kharkiv region on April 15.

The Iranian-made drone, which was flying deep into Ukrainian territory, was shot down by automatic weapons, according to the April 16 Border Guard report.

According to a report by the General Staff, the Air Force of Ukraine shot down a Russian Su-25 on April 15.

UPDATE 19:30 Ukraine talks about the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that the total number of Ukrainian military casualties was “less than the number of those killed in the earthquake in Turkey”.

“We have casualties, of course, because we are at war. But they are critically smaller than the Russian ones,” Reznikov told the Spanish newspaper La Razon, adding that Russia uses its soldiers as “cannon fodder”.

UPDATE 16:00 One person injured following a Russian attack on the Sumî region

Russian forces launched a bomb on a psychiatric boarding house in the Sumy region of northern Ukraine, injuring a 70-year-old woman, the General Prosecutor’s Office announced on April 16.

The building was badly damaged in the airstrike, leaving the 167 patients without a roof over their heads, the report said.

The Sumî region, which was partially occupied in the first phase of the Russian invasion, was subjected to constant, almost daily bombardment.

UPDATE 14:15 Approximately two to three years will be needed to fully repair the damage caused to buildings and infrastructure in Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said

UPDATE 14:00 130 Ukrainian prisoners of war return home from Russian captivity, on Orthodox Easter

130 Ukrainian prisoners of war returned home from Russian captivity on Orthodox Easter, the head of the president’s office, Andriy Yermak, announced on Sunday.

“The quintessence of the Easter holiday is hope,” wrote Yermak. “This is exactly what the prisoners’ relatives felt, who had been waiting for them for so long.”

Among the released prisoners are soldiers, navy personnel, employees of the Special State Transport Service, border guards and members of the national guards, Yermak wrote.

They were captured during the fighting near the cities of Soledar, Bakhmut, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

On April 10, another 100 Ukrainians were released during a prisoner exchange, including 80 men and 20 women. Almost half of the released POWs had suffered serious injuries, were ill or had been tortured.

UPDATE 11:25 General Staff: Ukraine shot down a Russian Su-25 plane

UPDATE 8:00 Russian attacks in the Mykolaiv region killed two teenagers

UPDATE 5:50 – Governor: Russia launches a “massive attack” on the Zaporozhye region

Russian forces hit the Zaporizhia region overnight, on April 16, on Orthodox Easter, said the governor of the region, Yurii Malashko.

UPDATE 4:40 – Hungary temporarily bans the import of Ukrainian agricultural products

Following Poland’s decision, Hungary also temporarily blocked imports of Ukrainian grains, seeds and other agricultural products to protect its domestic market, Hungarian Minister of Agriculture Istvan Nagy said.

UPDATE 2:50 – Russia attacks at the end of April 15, the region of Sumy and Chernihiv

A Russian airstrike wounded a civilian in the Sumi region late on April 15. The Russian army also hit an enterprise in the Chernihiv region, causing a fire.

UPDATE 1:58 – Russia’s shelling of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region injured three

Russian forces bombarded Kostiantynivka with artillery on April 15, Anastasiia Miedviedieva, the spokesperson of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Donetsk region, told Ukrainian media Suspilne.

UPDATE 12:54 – Russian forces are bombing three communities in the Sumi region

Russian forces attacked the communities of Bilopillia, Velyka Pysarivka and Yunakivka, the Sumi Region Military Administration said on April 15.

Original story – Zelensky asks for security guarantees before the NATO summit

In his evening speech, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the position of member states on security guarantees should be ambitious enough to ensure security in Europe.