{"id":1863492,"date":"2026-04-03T09:06:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T06:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1863492"},"modified":"2026-04-03T09:06:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T06:06:55","slug":"the-success-ukraine-doesnt-want-to-talk-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1863492","title":{"rendered":"The success Ukraine doesn\u2019t want to talk about"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76651765_6.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"sk6xmai\">\n<div class=\"content-area sa7l9jt s9mg977\">\n<section data-tracking-name=\"sharing-icons-inline\" class=\"c75t7t0 hh5424a in-line closed\">\n<div class=\"copy-button-wrapper closed\"><span class=\"svdcmki\">https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5Bci8<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<figure class=\"s4bcs45\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76651765_800.webp 50w, https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76651765_801.webp 129w, https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76651765_802.webp 352w, https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76651765_803.webp 575w\" media=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 575px)\" height=\"100\" width=\"100\" \/><figcaption class=\"c1oedowi lofg86o m4xla6a s16w0xvi rcjjkz7 w128axg5 b1fzgn0z\">Residential buildings in several districts of Kharkiv have come under repeated missile and drone attacks<small class=\"copyright c19ed66t ihwmx5 idu7i8u lxmvniw icns9en rcjjkz7 w128axg5 b1fzgn0z\">Image: Sofiia Gatilova\/REUTERS<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div data-tracking-skip=\"true\" data-tracking-name=\"rich-text\" class=\"c17j8gzx rc0m0op r1ebneao s198y7xq rich-text l1evdo4u blt0baw s16w0xvi rcjjkz7 w128axg5 b1fzgn0z\">\n<p><a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/ukraine\/t-17295382\">Ukraine<\/a>&#8216;s second-largest city, <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/life-returns-to-shelled-out-district-of-kharkiv\/a-64311292\">Kharkiv<\/a>, was facing wave after wave of Russian air strikes on Thursday night and Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said, as <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/russias-war-in-ukraine\/t-60931789\">Russia&#8217;s full-scale assault on its neighbor<\/a> continued into its 1,500th day.<\/p>\n<p>According to local authorities in Kharkiv, which lies just 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) from the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine, four rocket attacks took place overnight and at least 20 drones struck the city, damaging houses and offices and injuring five people, including an eight-year-old girl.<\/p>\n<p>The rockets were reportedly followed by repeated drone attacks, with Moscow deploying <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/iran\/t-18996175\">Iranian<\/a>-built Shahed drones fitted with jet engines, which can cover the short distance from <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/russia\/t-19065060\">Russia<\/a> to Kharkiv so quickly that they are difficult to shoot down.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"placeholder-image master_landscape big\"><img data-format=\"MASTER_LANDSCAPE\" data-id=\"76651681\" data-url=\"https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76651681_${formatId}.jpg\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\" alt=\"Firefighters work at the scene of an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike\"><figcaption class=\"img-caption\">An apartment building in Kharkiv was struck on Thursday<small class=\"copyright\">Image: Sofiia Gatilova\/REUTERS<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the capital Kyiv and its surrounding areas, &#8220;massive&#8221; daytime Russian missile and drones strikes on Friday had killed at least one person, the head of the local military administration,\u00a0Mykola Kalashnyk, said.<\/p>\n<p>Three more people were killed in Ukraine&#8217;s northern Sumy region, one person was killed in the northwestern Zhytomyr region and another in Kharkiv, local officials said.<\/p>\n<p>The Ukrainian Air Force said on Friday that Russia had launched a total of 542 \u200cdrones \u2060and 37 \u2060missiles since \u200bThursday night targeting Ukraine&#8217;s \u200bcritical infrastructure \u200cfacilities. Air \u200bdefence units reportedly\u00a0shot down \u200b515 drones and \u206026 \u200bmissiles.<\/p>\n<h2>Zelenskyy accuses Russia of &#8216;Easter escalation&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>Ukrainian President <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/volodymyr-zelenskyy\/t-65603134\">Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> on Friday accused Russia of escalating its attacks on Ukraine just days before Easter and said he spoke by phone with Pope Leo XIV during the latest aerial assaults.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At the very moment of our conversation, the Russians attacked Ukraine yet again,&#8221; Zelenskyy said. &#8220;The Russians have only intensified their strikes, turning what should have been silence in the skies into an Easter escalation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Zelenskyy had previously said Kyiv was prepared for a truce over the Easter holidays, but the Kremlin said it had not received any proposals.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Russian terrorists reject diplomacy and peace efforts,&#8221; said\u00a0Ukrainian\u00a0Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on X. &#8220;They must get strong responses that they deserve.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The attacks come as peace talks brokered by the US have <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/zelenskyy-meets-macron-as-iran-war-overshadows-ukraine\/a-76350086\">stalled in recent weeks<\/a>due to the war in the Middle East, which has also led to uncertainty over future supplies of weapons to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>But Zelenskyy said he had invited US negotiators to Kyiv, saying:\u00a0&#8220;The delegation will do everything possible\u00a0under the current circumstances \u2013 during the war with Iran \u2013 to come to Kyiv. &#8220;This is an alternative format to a trilateral meeting at the level of technical teams.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Ukraine: Russia using &#8216;new tactics&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;We see that the enemy is using new routes, increasingly modernized drones and new tactics,&#8221; said a Ukrainian Air Force spokesman on state television.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the \u200bsecond time this week Russia has followed up an overnight drone barrage with heavy \u200bdaytime attacks \u2014\u00a0seemingly a new tactic as Moscow probes ways to \u200bpenetrate Ukraine&#8217;s air defenses.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The enemy is exerting [pressure] on our population, paralyzing the work of certain public institutions, as well \u200bas learning institutions,&#8221; the spokesman said.<\/p>\n<p>Such is the scale of the ongoing attacks that <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/poland\/t-19070837\">Poland<\/a> also scrambled fighter jets, the Polish armed forces confirmed on Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Due to the activity of the Russian Federation&#8217;s long-range aviation, which is carrying out strikes on the territory of Ukraine, military aviation operations have commenced in our airspace,&#8221; the Polish army wrote on social media. &#8220;Duty \u200bjets have been scrambled, and \u200bground-based air defense systems as \u2060well \u200bas \u200bradar reconnaissance \u200bhave reached a state of \u200bmaximum \u2060readiness.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Russia: Ukrainian\u00a0drones intercepted<\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have intercepted 192 Ukrainian drones overnight, which, based on their flight paths, were possibly targeting oil export facilities near the northern port city of <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/st-petersburg\/t-38270088\">St. Petersburg<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/moscow\/t-19038132\">Moscow<\/a>, one-time Russian president and outspoken firebrand <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/dmitry-medvedev\/t-39069882\">Dmitry Medvedev<\/a> said Russia should drop &#8220;tolerant \u2060attitude&#8221; \u2060towards Ukraine&#8217;s possible future membership of the <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/european-union-eu\/t-17440066\">European Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The EU is no longer just \u200ban economic union; it can transform, and \u200brather quickly, into a full-blown \u200bmilitary alliance, overtly hostile to Russia, and in some ways worse than,&#8221; claimed Medvedev who, when he&#8217;s not posting on social media, serves as deputy chairman of Russia&#8217;s Security Council.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s time to \u200bthe tolerant attitude toward our neighbors joining what is now a military economic European Union,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Medvedev added \u200bthat, while he did not believe the <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/united-states-of-america\/t-19065189\">United States<\/a> would leave the \u2060<a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/nato\/t-19016346\">NATO<\/a> \u200bmilitary alliance as President <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/us-president-donald-trump-russia-ukraine-israel-gaza-tariffs-trade-war\/t-19434433\">Donald Trump<\/a> has threatened, Washington could make symbolic moves such \u200bas cutting the number of US troops deployed in other NATO countries.<\/p>\n<p>He posited that the &#8220;obvious divisions&#8221; within NATO could \u2060push \u200bthe EU towards becoming more than simply an economic union.<\/p>\n<h2>Zelenskyy: currently no &#8216;large-scale threat&#8217; on frontline<\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that the situation along the 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) frontline in eastern Ukraine was largely stable and &#8220;slightly in the positive&#8221; from Ukraine&#8217;s point of view.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At this point, we do not see a large-scale threat,&#8221; he said, claiming that Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian offensive last month.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The offensive they were planning for March was thwarted by the \u200bactions of our armed forces,&#8221; he said, but predicted that &#8220;the Russians will now simply step \u200bup their assault \u200coperations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Russia controls just under 20% of Ukraine&#8217;s territory \u2013 much of which was seized before the \u200c2022 full-scale invasion. Russian President <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/vladimir-putin\/t-17449200\">Vladimir Putin<\/a> has said that full control of Ukraine&#8217;s eastern Donbas region is a prerequisite for any ceasefire negotiations, but open source intelligence suggests the pace of the Russian advance has slowed considerably since last year, with troops capturing only around 500 square kilometers since the start of January.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Overall, the front line is holding,&#8221; said Zelenskyy. &#8220;The situation is complex, but it&#8217;s the best it has been in the last 10 months.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"vjs-wrapper embed big\">\n<h2 aria-label=\"Embedded video \u2014 The success Ukraine doesn\u2019t want to talk about\" class=\"headline\">The success Ukraine doesn\u2019t want to talk about<\/h2>\n<p><video id=\"video-76653101\" controls playsinline preload=\"none\" poster=\"image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=\" data-id=\"76653101\" data-posterurl=\"https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76651818_605.webp\" data-duration=\"08:36\"><source src=\"https:\/\/hlsvod.dw.com\/i\/vps\/webvideos\/ENG\/2026\/NEWS\/NEWSENG260402_QUKRAINEWAR_01SCW_,AVC_480x270,AVC_512x288,AVC_640x360,AVC_960x540,AVC_1280x720,AVC_1920x1080,.mp4.csmil\/master.m3u8\" type=\"application\/x-mpegURL\" \/><\/video><\/div>\n<p><em>Edited by: Karl Sexton<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div data-tracking-skip=\"true\" data-tracking-name=\"rich-text\" class=\"c17j8gzx rc0m0op r1ebneao s198y7xq rich-text l1evdo4u blt0baw s16w0xvi rcjjkz7 w128axg5 b1fzgn0z\">\n<p><a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/ukraine\/t-17295382\">Ukraine<\/a>&#8216;s second-largest city, <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/life-returns-to-shelled-out-district-of-kharkiv\/a-64311292\">Kharkiv<\/a>, was facing wave after wave of Russian air strikes on Thursday night and Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said, as <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/russias-war-in-ukraine\/t-60931789\">Russia&#8217;s full-scale assault on its neighbor<\/a> continued into its 1,500th day.<\/p>\n<p>According to local authorities in Kharkiv, which lies just 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) from the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine, four rocket attacks took place overnight and at least 20 drones struck the city, damaging houses and offices and injuring five people, including an eight-year-old girl.<\/p>\n<p>The rockets were reportedly followed by repeated drone attacks, with Moscow deploying <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/iran\/t-18996175\">Iranian<\/a>-built Shahed drones fitted with jet engines, which can cover the short distance from <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/russia\/t-19065060\">Russia<\/a> to Kharkiv so quickly that they are difficult to shoot down.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"placeholder-image master_landscape big\"><img data-format=\"MASTER_LANDSCAPE\" data-id=\"76651681\" data-url=\"https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76651681_${formatId}.jpg\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\" alt=\"Firefighters work at the scene of an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike\"><figcaption class=\"img-caption\">An apartment building in Kharkiv was struck on Thursday<small class=\"copyright\">Image: Sofiia Gatilova\/REUTERS<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the capital Kyiv and its surrounding areas, &#8220;massive&#8221; daytime Russian missile and drones strikes on Friday had killed at least one person, the head of the local military administration,\u00a0Mykola Kalashnyk, said.<\/p>\n<p>Three more people were killed in Ukraine&#8217;s northern Sumy region, one person was killed in the northwestern Zhytomyr region and another in Kharkiv, local officials said.<\/p>\n<p>The Ukrainian Air Force said on Friday that Russia had launched a total of 542 \u200cdrones \u2060and 37 \u2060missiles since \u200bThursday night targeting Ukraine&#8217;s \u200bcritical infrastructure \u200cfacilities. Air \u200bdefence units reportedly\u00a0shot down \u200b515 drones and \u206026 \u200bmissiles.<\/p>\n<h2>Zelenskyy accuses Russia of &#8216;Easter escalation&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>Ukrainian President <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/volodymyr-zelenskyy\/t-65603134\">Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> on Friday accused Russia of escalating its attacks on Ukraine just days before Easter and said he spoke by phone with Pope Leo XIV during the latest aerial assaults.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At the very moment of our conversation, the Russians attacked Ukraine yet again,&#8221; Zelenskyy said. &#8220;The Russians have only intensified their strikes, turning what should have been silence in the skies into an Easter escalation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Zelenskyy had previously said Kyiv was prepared for a truce over the Easter holidays, but the Kremlin said it had not received any proposals.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Russian terrorists reject diplomacy and peace efforts,&#8221; said\u00a0Ukrainian\u00a0Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on X. &#8220;They must get strong responses that they deserve.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The attacks come as peace talks brokered by the US have <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/zelenskyy-meets-macron-as-iran-war-overshadows-ukraine\/a-76350086\">stalled in recent weeks<\/a>due to the war in the Middle East, which has also led to uncertainty over future supplies of weapons to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>But Zelenskyy said he had invited US negotiators to Kyiv, saying:\u00a0&#8220;The delegation will do everything possible\u00a0under the current circumstances \u2013 during the war with Iran \u2013 to come to Kyiv. &#8220;This is an alternative format to a trilateral meeting at the level of technical teams.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Ukraine: Russia using &#8216;new tactics&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;We see that the enemy is using new routes, increasingly modernized drones and new tactics,&#8221; said a Ukrainian Air Force spokesman on state television.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the \u200bsecond time this week Russia has followed up an overnight drone barrage with heavy \u200bdaytime attacks \u2014\u00a0seemingly a new tactic as Moscow probes ways to \u200bpenetrate Ukraine&#8217;s air defenses.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The enemy is exerting [pressure] on our population, paralyzing the work of certain public institutions, as well \u200bas learning institutions,&#8221; the spokesman said.<\/p>\n<p>Such is the scale of the ongoing attacks that <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/poland\/t-19070837\">Poland<\/a> also scrambled fighter jets, the Polish armed forces confirmed on Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Due to the activity of the Russian Federation&#8217;s long-range aviation, which is carrying out strikes on the territory of Ukraine, military aviation operations have commenced in our airspace,&#8221; the Polish army wrote on social media. &#8220;Duty \u200bjets have been scrambled, and \u200bground-based air defense systems as \u2060well \u200bas \u200bradar reconnaissance \u200bhave reached a state of \u200bmaximum \u2060readiness.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Russia: Ukrainian\u00a0drones intercepted<\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have intercepted 192 Ukrainian drones overnight, which, based on their flight paths, were possibly targeting oil export facilities near the northern port city of <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/st-petersburg\/t-38270088\">St. Petersburg<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/moscow\/t-19038132\">Moscow<\/a>, one-time Russian president and outspoken firebrand <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/dmitry-medvedev\/t-39069882\">Dmitry Medvedev<\/a> said Russia should drop &#8220;tolerant \u2060attitude&#8221; \u2060towards Ukraine&#8217;s possible future membership of the <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/european-union-eu\/t-17440066\">European Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The EU is no longer just \u200ban economic union; it can transform, and \u200brather quickly, into a full-blown \u200bmilitary alliance, overtly hostile to Russia, and in some ways worse than,&#8221; claimed Medvedev who, when he&#8217;s not posting on social media, serves as deputy chairman of Russia&#8217;s Security Council.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s time to \u200bthe tolerant attitude toward our neighbors joining what is now a military economic European Union,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Medvedev added \u200bthat, while he did not believe the <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/united-states-of-america\/t-19065189\">United States<\/a> would leave the \u2060<a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/nato\/t-19016346\">NATO<\/a> \u200bmilitary alliance as President <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/us-president-donald-trump-russia-ukraine-israel-gaza-tariffs-trade-war\/t-19434433\">Donald Trump<\/a> has threatened, Washington could make symbolic moves such \u200bas cutting the number of US troops deployed in other NATO countries.<\/p>\n<p>He posited that the &#8220;obvious divisions&#8221; within NATO could \u2060push \u200bthe EU towards becoming more than simply an economic union.<\/p>\n<h2>Zelenskyy: currently no &#8216;large-scale threat&#8217; on frontline<\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that the situation along the 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) frontline in eastern Ukraine was largely stable and &#8220;slightly in the positive&#8221; from Ukraine&#8217;s point of view.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At this point, we do not see a large-scale threat,&#8221; he said, claiming that Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian offensive last month.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The offensive they were planning for March was thwarted by the \u200bactions of our armed forces,&#8221; he said, but predicted that &#8220;the Russians will now simply step \u200bup their assault \u200coperations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Russia controls just under 20% of Ukraine&#8217;s territory \u2013 much of which was seized before the \u200c2022 full-scale invasion. Russian President <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/vladimir-putin\/t-17449200\">Vladimir Putin<\/a> has said that full control of Ukraine&#8217;s eastern Donbas region is a prerequisite for any ceasefire negotiations, but open source intelligence suggests the pace of the Russian advance has slowed considerably since last year, with troops capturing only around 500 square kilometers since the start of January.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Overall, the front line is holding,&#8221; said Zelenskyy. &#8220;The situation is complex, but it&#8217;s the best it has been in the last 10 months.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"vjs-wrapper embed big\">\n<h2 aria-label=\"Embedded video \u2014 The success Ukraine doesn\u2019t want to talk about\" class=\"headline\">The success Ukraine doesn\u2019t want to talk about<\/h2>\n<p><video id=\"video-76653101\" controls playsinline preload=\"none\" poster=\"image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=\" data-id=\"76653101\" data-posterurl=\"https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76651818_605.webp\" data-duration=\"08:36\"><source src=\"https:\/\/hlsvod.dw.com\/i\/vps\/webvideos\/ENG\/2026\/NEWS\/NEWSENG260402_QUKRAINEWAR_01SCW_,AVC_480x270,AVC_512x288,AVC_640x360,AVC_960x540,AVC_1280x720,AVC_1920x1080,.mp4.csmil\/master.m3u8\" type=\"application\/x-mpegURL\" \/><\/video><\/div>\n<p><em>Edited by: Karl Sexton<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/ukraine\/t-17295382\">Ukraine<\/a>&#8216;s second-largest city, <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/life-returns-to-shelled-out-district-of-kharkiv\/a-64311292\">Kharkiv<\/a>, was facing wave after wave of Russian air strikes on Thursday night and Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said, as <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/russias-war-in-ukraine\/t-60931789\">Russia&#8217;s full-scale assault on its neighbor<\/a> continued into its 1,500th day.<\/p>\n<p>According to local authorities in Kharkiv, which lies just 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) from the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine, four rocket attacks took place overnight and at least 20 drones struck the city, damaging houses and offices and injuring five people, including an eight-year-old girl.<\/p>\n<p>The rockets were reportedly followed by repeated drone attacks, with Moscow deploying <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/iran\/t-18996175\">Iranian<\/a>-built Shahed drones fitted with jet engines, which can cover the short distance from <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/russia\/t-19065060\">Russia<\/a> to Kharkiv so quickly that they are difficult to shoot down.<\/p>\n<p>In the capital Kyiv and its surrounding areas, &#8220;massive&#8221; daytime Russian missile and drones strikes on Friday had killed at least one person, the head of the local military administration,\u00a0Mykola Kalashnyk, said.<\/p>\n<p>Three more people were killed in Ukraine&#8217;s northern Sumy region, one person was killed in the northwestern Zhytomyr region and another in Kharkiv, local officials said.<\/p>\n<p>The Ukrainian Air Force said on Friday that Russia had launched a total of 542 \u200cdrones \u2060and 37 \u2060missiles since \u200bThursday night targeting Ukraine&#8217;s \u200bcritical infrastructure \u200cfacilities. Air \u200bdefence units reportedly\u00a0shot down \u200b515 drones and \u206026 \u200bmissiles.<\/p>\n<p>Ukrainian President <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/volodymyr-zelenskyy\/t-65603134\">Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> on Friday accused Russia of escalating its attacks on Ukraine just days before Easter and said he spoke by phone with Pope Leo XIV during the latest aerial assaults.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At the very moment of our conversation, the Russians attacked Ukraine yet again,&#8221; Zelenskyy said. &#8220;The Russians have only intensified their strikes, turning what should have been silence in the skies into an Easter escalation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Zelenskyy had previously said Kyiv was prepared for a truce over the Easter holidays, but the Kremlin said it had not received any proposals.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Russian terrorists reject diplomacy and peace efforts,&#8221; said\u00a0Ukrainian\u00a0Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on X. &#8220;They must get strong responses that they deserve.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The attacks come as peace talks brokered by the US have <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/zelenskyy-meets-macron-as-iran-war-overshadows-ukraine\/a-76350086\">stalled in recent weeks<\/a>due to the war in the Middle East, which has also led to uncertainty over future supplies of weapons to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>But Zelenskyy said he had invited US negotiators to Kyiv, saying:\u00a0&#8220;The delegation will do everything possible\u00a0under the current circumstances \u2013 during the war with Iran \u2013 to come to Kyiv. &#8220;This is an alternative format to a trilateral meeting at the level of technical teams.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We see that the enemy is using new routes, increasingly modernized drones and new tactics,&#8221; said a Ukrainian Air Force spokesman on state television.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the \u200bsecond time this week Russia has followed up an overnight drone barrage with heavy \u200bdaytime attacks \u2014\u00a0seemingly a new tactic as Moscow probes ways to \u200bpenetrate Ukraine&#8217;s air defenses.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The enemy is exerting [pressure] on our population, paralyzing the work of certain public institutions, as well \u200bas learning institutions,&#8221; the spokesman said.<\/p>\n<p>Such is the scale of the ongoing attacks that <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/poland\/t-19070837\">Poland<\/a> also scrambled fighter jets, the Polish armed forces confirmed on Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Due to the activity of the Russian Federation&#8217;s long-range aviation, which is carrying out strikes on the territory of Ukraine, military aviation operations have commenced in our airspace,&#8221; the Polish army wrote on social media. &#8220;Duty \u200bjets have been scrambled, and \u200bground-based air defense systems as \u2060well \u200bas \u200bradar reconnaissance \u200bhave reached a state of \u200bmaximum \u2060readiness.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have intercepted 192 Ukrainian drones overnight, which, based on their flight paths, were possibly targeting oil export facilities near the northern port city of <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/st-petersburg\/t-38270088\">St. Petersburg<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/moscow\/t-19038132\">Moscow<\/a>, one-time Russian president and outspoken firebrand <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/dmitry-medvedev\/t-39069882\">Dmitry Medvedev<\/a> said Russia should drop &#8220;tolerant \u2060attitude&#8221; \u2060towards Ukraine&#8217;s possible future membership of the <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/european-union-eu\/t-17440066\">European Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The EU is no longer just \u200ban economic union; it can transform, and \u200brather quickly, into a full-blown \u200bmilitary alliance, overtly hostile to Russia, and in some ways worse than,&#8221; claimed Medvedev who, when he&#8217;s not posting on social media, serves as deputy chairman of Russia&#8217;s Security Council.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s time to \u200bthe tolerant attitude toward our neighbors joining what is now a military economic European Union,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Medvedev added \u200bthat, while he did not believe the <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/united-states-of-america\/t-19065189\">United States<\/a> would leave the \u2060<a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/nato\/t-19016346\">NATO<\/a> \u200bmilitary alliance as President <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/us-president-donald-trump-russia-ukraine-israel-gaza-tariffs-trade-war\/t-19434433\">Donald Trump<\/a> has threatened, Washington could make symbolic moves such \u200bas cutting the number of US troops deployed in other NATO countries.<\/p>\n<p>He posited that the &#8220;obvious divisions&#8221; within NATO could \u2060push \u200bthe EU towards becoming more than simply an economic union.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that the situation along the 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) frontline in eastern Ukraine was largely stable and &#8220;slightly in the positive&#8221; from Ukraine&#8217;s point of view.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At this point, we do not see a large-scale threat,&#8221; he said, claiming that Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian offensive last month.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The offensive they were planning for March was thwarted by the \u200bactions of our armed forces,&#8221; he said, but predicted that &#8220;the Russians will now simply step \u200bup their assault \u200coperations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Russia controls just under 20% of Ukraine&#8217;s territory \u2013 much of which was seized before the \u200c2022 full-scale invasion. Russian President <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/vladimir-putin\/t-17449200\">Vladimir Putin<\/a> has said that full control of Ukraine&#8217;s eastern Donbas region is a prerequisite for any ceasefire negotiations, but open source intelligence suggests the pace of the Russian advance has slowed considerably since last year, with troops capturing only around 500 square kilometers since the start of January.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Overall, the front line is holding,&#8221; said Zelenskyy. &#8220;The situation is complex, but it&#8217;s the best it has been in the last 10 months.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"vjs-no-js\">To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that <a href=\"https:\/\/videojs.com\/html5-video-support\/\" target=\"_blank\">supports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Edited by: Karl Sexton<\/em><\/p>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/ukraine-kharkiv-under-repeated-attack-on-1500th-day-of-war\/a-76652096&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/76651765_6.jpg&#8221;] https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5Bci8 Residential buildings in several districts of Kharkiv have come under repeated missile and drone attacksImage: Sofiia Gatilova\/REUTERS Ukraine&#8216;s second-largest city, Kharkiv, was facing wave after wave of Russian air strikes on Thursday night and Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said, as Russia&#8217;s full-scale assault on its neighbor continued into its 1,500th day. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,74],"class_list":["post-1863492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dw-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1863492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1863492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1863492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1863492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}