Ukraine updates: US sends seized Iranian weapons to Ukraine
Published April 9, 2024last updated April 9, 2024
What you need to know
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on social media that it has provided Ukraine with weapons including AK-47 machine guns and sniper rifles that were seized while being sent to Iran-backed rebels in Yemen
Meanwhile, German armaments maker Rheinmetall said it will deliver an additional 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine by the end of the year.
And another drone attack has been reported near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
Here are the main headlines from Russia's war in Ukraine on Tuesday, April 9:
UN confirms sharp rise in civilian deaths in Ukraine in March
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has verified that at least 604 civilians were killed or injured in Ukraine in March, a figure that amounts to a 20% increase from February.
At least 57 children were killed or injured in March, twice as many as in February, the mission said.
Mines and explosive remnants of war killed and injured at least 28 civilians, including 7 agricultural workers, it added.
The increase in civilian casualties in March was mainly due to attacks by Russian forces using missiles and loitering munitions across Ukraine and increased aerial bombardment near the front line, the UN mission said.
Russia fired over 3,000 guided aerial bombs, 600 drones and 400 missiles at Ukraine in March alone, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week.
Russia wants to turn 'Kharkiv into another Mariupol,' Ukrainian adviser tells DW
Ukraine needs the US Congress to vote in favor of further military aid to prevent the city of Kharkiv from suffering the same fate as Mariupol and to prevent Russia's war from spreading from further west, a key Ukrainian ministerial advisor told DW.
"By the looks of it, the [Russian] strategy seems to be to turn Kharkiv into another Mariupol, another Avdiivka," said Yuriy Sak, an advisor to the Ukraine's Minister of strategic industries,
He spoke with DW after missile and drone strikes killed eight people and wounded at least ten more in the eastern Ukrainian city over the weekend.
"We don't see any signs of Russia stopping and the situation is very serious," he added.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inspected defensive fortifications in the northeastern Kharkiv region and issued his latest call for military aid, especially for air defense systems, as Russia has intensified its aerial attacks on the area.
The Kharkiv region "is a very important area. We have to be prepared. And the Russians must see that we are ready to defend ourselves," Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
US sent seized Iranian weapons to Ukraine
The US military said it has given Ukraine small arms and ammunition that were seized while being sent from Iranian forces to Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
"The US government transferred over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s and over 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces" last week, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
"These weapons will help Ukraine defend against Russia's invasion" and are enough material to equip a brigade, the post added.
The transfer came as Ukraine suffers from significant shortages of ammunition and US Republican lawmakers block new aid, but it does not address Kyiv's need for key items such as artillery and air defense munitions.
The arms and ammunition were seized between May 2021 and February 2023 from four "stateless vessels" as the supplies were being transferred from Iran's Revolutionary Guards to Yemen's Houthi rebels, CENTCOM said.
Washington made a similar transfer to Ukraine in early October, providing 1.1 million rounds of 7.62mm ammunition that was seized from Iranian forces on the way to Yemen.
Germany to deliver another 20 Marder IFVs to Ukraine
German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall will deliver another 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) to Ukraine by the end of the year, the company announced Tuesday in Düsseldorf.
The shipment, worth tens of millions of euros and financed by the German government, brings to 120 the number of Marders Rheinmetall has delivered to Ukraine since the Russian invasion.
The tracked IFVs will be taken from Rheinmetall's inventory and modernized.
"The version of the 1A3 Marder now ordered also features integrated laser rangefinders, which enable efficient and precise target elimination," Rheinmetall said.
Germany's Bundeswehr has also transferred 20 Marders from its own inventory to Ukraine. Designed in the 1960s and produced until 1975, the Marder is being replaced in the German military by the Puma.
Meanwhile, Germany, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands are to supply Ukraine with 157 generators after recent Russian drone and missile attacks on the country's energy infrastructure.
The European Commission organized the deliveries of generators through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, a platform to coordinate and share emergency resources. The EU executive arm is also sending 10 1-Megawatt power generators to Ukraine, each large enough to power a medium-sized hospital under emergency conditions..
Russia wants to 'bomb Kharkiv to the ground,' says German FM
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called for increased international efforts to provide more air defense systems in the face of the threat of a major Russian offensive on the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to "bomb Kharkiv to the ground," warned Baerbock.
"If Russia launches a major offensive there, it would cause immeasurable suffering," she said.
"Unfortunately, the stocks, especially our own Patriot systems, are now pretty much exhausted," she said at a meeting with Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi in Berlin.
Baerbock said Patriot air defense systems available in Europe and around the world should be used to help Ukraine.
She added that a fund is being worked on with Ukraine and European partners to purchase air defense systems from other countries around the world and deliver them quickly.
New drone attack reported near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Another drone attack has been reported in the area of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
According to the Russian-installed management of the plant, a training center next to the power station was attacked.
The reported explosion is consistent with observations by experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who are stationed on site, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi posted on X, formerly Twitter.
"No direct threat to nuclear safety this time, but latest incident again underlines extremely serious situation," Grossi wrote.
On Sunday, the nuclear power plant was attacked by drones in three places.
According to an IAEA report, no serious damage was caused.
Ukraine denies attacking Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and accuses Moscow of spreading "fake" information about the drone attacks.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the largest such facility in Europe, has been occupied by Russian forces since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russia and Ukraine trade airstrikes
Russia and Ukraine exchanged a series of airstrikes throughout the day on Tuesday.
In Poltava, in the center of the country, an overnight missile attack claimed the lives of at least one person and injured 12, with a two-storey residential building damaged.
Meanwhile, two people were killed in a Ukrainian artillery strike on a Russian village in the Bryansk border region on Tuesday, the local governor said.
Ukraine's military intelligence struck a main production facility of a Russian aviation factory in Russia's Voronezh region, a Ukrainian intelligence source said.
Russia's Defense Ministry said earlier on Tuesday that two drones were downed over the region.