UCMC

🔹The expert discussion «Bulgaria 2026: Information Challenges in the Context of the Election Campaign» will take place on 28 April at 15:00 EEST (UTC+3) at the UCMC Press Center ✔️On 20 April 2026, the coalition Progressive Bulgaria, led by Rumen Radev won the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria. The expert discussion “Bulgaria 2026: Information Challenges in the Context of the Election Campaign” will focus on assessing pro-Russian information influence during the campaign, the role of the digital environment in shaping the election results, and the potential adjustments in Bulgaria’s policy towards supporting Ukraine. Particular attention will be given to practical approaches for strengthening Ukraine’s communication with Bulgarian society. #UnitedForTruth

🕯 On the 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, Ukraine honors the memory of the victims of one of the largest man-made tragedies in human history. On April 26, 1986, the accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant became a symbol of pain, loss, and shattered human lives. It reminds us of thousands of deaths, devastated lands, and the price paid by the liquidators — firefighters, military personnel, medical workers, and plant staff who, at the cost of their own lives and health, stopped the spread of the radiation disaster. ▪️ Today, in the context of war, the significance of Chornobyl for Ukraine takes on new meaning. This accident was a consequence of the command system led by Moscow. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia once again demonstrated negligence and recklessness toward the restricted site that the Chornobyl NPP represents today. Just as then, Ukrainians are now forced to confront the consequences of aggressive and irresponsible policies from Moscow, defending not only their state but also the security of all Europe. Therefore, the memory of Chornobyl unites and mobilizes generations, shaping resilience and an awareness of the value of life, freedom, and one’s own land. #UnitedForTruth

📝Oleksandr Korinnyi on predictability of decisions and budget policy rules 🖇The Head of the All-Ukrainian Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities and Mayor of Novoukrainka, Oleksandr Korinnyi, considers it unacceptable when new expenditures for preschool or extracurricular education are added to local budgets as late as December 26. 🌐The open dialogue platform “Communities of the Future: Opportunities for Every Child and Family” is a format for discussing decisions that shape community development, with a focus on service accessibility, financial capacity, and support for vulnerable groups. The initiative is implemented by the All-Ukrainian Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities in partnership with UNICEF Ukraine, the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, and the Decentralization portal.

🎯 Ukraine drones hit Gorky oil pumping station in Russia 🚁 Drones of the Alfa Special Operations Center of Ukraine’s Security Service struck the Gorky oil pumping station in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region overnight on Thursday, The New Voice of Ukraine said, citing unnamed sources in the agency. 🔥 The strike damaged three oil tanks, causing a fire that spread to 20,000 square meters. 🛢 The station is part of Transneft’s Verkhnyaya Volga branch of the company. It moves oil through major pipelines, including ones in the Surgut-Gorky-Polotsk direction, and pumps oil domestically, including to the Lukoil refinery in Kstovo. 📉 Ukraine’s Security Service said the strike disrupted operation of major pipelines and oil refineries inside Russia, causing supply problems. It affects Russia’s budget. 📍 According to media reports, Ukrainian drones also struck the Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region.

🇺🇦 Ukraine will not accept ceding land to Russia, Budanov says 🗣 Ukraine will not cede land to Russia, while the Ukrainians need to put aside all differences and unite for the sake of their country’s survival, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview on the stage of the Kyiv Security Forum on Thursday. 🚫 “The red line is simple and clear to everyone. First, we will not recognize anything [occupied land as Russian — edit.]. This will not happen, regardless of how hard they try,” Budanov said. ⚖️ Ukraine will find a solution that will serve its interests, he continued. No one “has the right to bargain away land,” he said. ❗️ “No one in Ukraine will accept the recognition even of a millimeter of our territory [as Russian]. I am absolutely convinced in that. The fact that we did not achieve an agreement is well-known. But this is what this [the negotiation] process is for. It may or may not achieve its goal. This is normal. We need to be prepared for any scenario and we need to be strong,” Budanov said. 💪 If Ukraine is strong, it will have room for a maneuver. Its weakness will encourage others to dictate their conditions. 🛡 “We need to become strong and continue to be strong to achieve success in the negotiation process. No one in the world will make agreements with those who are weak,” Budanov added. 🤝 The Ukrainians need to unite in the name of their country’s survival, he said, arguing that “there are no other options.” 📌 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi told reporters on March 31 that Russia demands Ukraine’s withdrawal from Donbas in order to end the war. If Ukraine doesn’t withdraw its troops within two months, Russia will seize Donbas and put forward other demands for a peace deal, he added. 📢 Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on April 1 that Zelenskyi should order Ukrainian troops to leave Donbas “today” or “better, yesterday”. 🚷 Zelenskyi has repeatedly stated that Ukraine will not accept territorial concessions and will not withdraw troops from Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published on March 3, he explained that an eventual withdrawal would open the way for Russia toward the central part of the country. Concessions won’t stop the Kremlin’s new demands, he warned.

📌 Paul von Kittlitz on changing the approach to budgeting in Ukraine 📝 The Head of Social Policy at UNICEF Ukraine, Paul von Kittlitz, proposed rethinking the very logic of budget planning. According to him, the budget should be built not around available assets or infrastructure, but around the real needs of people at the community level. In other words, it should start with understanding what a child, a family, or a person in difficult life circumstances actually needs — and only then calculate the resources required to meet those needs. ✅ The open dialogue platform “Communities of the Future: Opportunities for Every Child and Family” is a format for discussing decisions that shape community development, with a focus on service accessibility, financial capacity, and support for vulnerable groups. The initiative is implemented by the All-Ukrainian Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities in partnership with UNICEF Ukraine, the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, and the Decentralization portal.

🌍 Russia’s is Tehran regime’s key ally, Ukraine’s UN Ambassador says 🗣 Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UN, Andriy Melnyk, exposed Russia’s false claims at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday. The meeting was called at Ukraine’s request following intense Russian strikes last week. 📢 Russia’s UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia told the Security Council that the President of Ukraine is actively engaging with the countries in the Gulf out of fear that the international attention is shifting to the Middle East. ⚖️ Melnyk responded by saying: “In reality, this assertion reveals something else, namely Russia’s complete loss of credibility and growing irrelevance in this region. The truth is that it is Ukraine that is extending a hand of practical assistance to its partners in the Gulf, helping them protect their energy infrastructure from criminal strikes by Iranian drones and missiles, supported by Russia.” 🔻 Russia is the main accomplice of the Tehran regime, he continued, it “has betrayed the Gulf countries, delivered them a knife in the back, and abused its veto to block a crucial draft resolution on freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.” ⚔️ He also said Russia is having a problem with drafting and has sustained staggering losses. ❗️ “Instead of spreading disinformation about the Ukrainian army aimed at driving a wedge and sowing division in our society, perhaps Mr. Nebenzya should reflect on the alarming reality inside Russia’s armed forces,” Melnyk said. 📉 Russia is losing no less than 30,000-35,000 soldiers a month with battlefield casualties exceeding its recruitment plans. 💰 “The Kremlin is increasingly struggling to attract volunteers for its vicious war of aggression despite unprecedented financial incentives. Russian regional authorities are engaged in an unsustainable bidding contest, offering ever-higher signing bonuses that far exceed average incomes,” he said. 🚨 “Recruitment relies on coercion, pressure on vulnerable social groups, prisoners, migrant workers, recently naturalized citizens, and foreign mercenaries,” he added.

📉 India’s March crude imports slide on Iran war, Russian volumes hit record high, according to Reuters 🛢️ India's crude oil imports fell 13% in March from pre-war levels in February, with half coming ‌from Russia, after the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran halted Middle Eastern shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, shipping data showed, Reuters said Tuesday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article. 📊 The world's third-largest oil importer and consumer imported 4.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in March, the data obtained from industry sources showed. Imports from Russia nearly doubled from February to 2.25 million bpd in March while shipments from the Middle East slumped 61% to 1.18 million bpd. 🚧 Traffic at the Strait of Hormuz, which typically handles roughly ⁠one-fifth of the world's oil supply, has come to a standstill after Iran and the United States blocked vessels from passing. 🔄 To replace Middle East oil, Indian refiners snapped up Russian oil floating at sea after New Delhi was the first to get a waiver from the United States to buy the sanctioned supply. 📈 India's Russian oil imports are expected to remain robust after the Trump ‌administration ⁠on Friday renewed a waiver allowing countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil at sea for about a month. 🌍 Russia continued to be the top oil supplier to India in March, while Saudi Arabia replaced Iraq to emerge as the second-biggest supplier. Angola was at No. 3 as Indian refiners raised imports from Africa to replace Middle East supply, followed by United Arab Emirates and Iraq, the data showed. 📜 The U.S. Treasury Department’s waiver lets countries purchase Russian oil and petroleum products loaded on vessels as of Friday through May 16. 🚢 India is set to import the most oil from Venezuela in almost six years, helping the world’s third-largest crude importer replace Middle East grades disrupted by the Iran war, Bloomberg News said on April 7. 📦 Indian refiners have bought about 60 million barrels of Russian oil for delivery in April, according to people familiar with the matter, easing supply concerns as the Middle East war chokes flows, it said in March. 💰 Russia’s revenues from crude oil and refined products rose in March, rebounding from February when they fell to their lowest level since the ‌start of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, as prices surged due to the Iran war, the International Energy Agency said on April 14, according to Reuters.

🛩️ Russian drone strike on Sumy damages civilian sites, injures 23, including 10 children 🚑 A Russian drone strike on the city of Sumy overnight on Tuesday injured 23 people, including 10 children, head of the regional military administration, Oleh Hryhorov said on social media. Five children were taken to hospital. Most of the adults injured in the attack are seniors, Hryhorov said. 🏙️ Several strikes hit a residential neighborhood, shattering windows in apartment buildings and setting cars on fire. A medical facility and a sports center were damaged, the authorities said. 🚀 Russia launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 143 attack drones at Ukraine overnight on Monday. The drones included ones of the Shahed, Gerbera and Italmas types as well as other unmanned aerial systems, of which around 80 were the Shaheds, the Ukrainian Air Force said Tuesday. 🛡️ Ukraine’s military said it had shot down or otherwise neutralized a missile and 116 drones of the Shahed, Gerbera, Italmas and other types in the north, south and east of the country. Twenty-two drones hit target in 17 locations and the falling debris fell in seven other places, it added.

❓Will Telegram engage in dialogue with the state? ✅Ihor Rozkladai, Chief Media Law Expert at the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law, shares his thoughts on what Ukraine could gain from adopting a law regulating social platforms such as Telegram. 🌐The expert discussion “Telegram in Ukraine: To Ban or to Regulate” was held within the framework of the “United for Truth” project with the support of the Canada Ukraine Foundation. #UnitedForTruth

🪖 The Battle of Hurby (April 21–25, 1944) was the largest open clash between the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and Soviet NKVD punitive forces during World War II. In an unequal battle against tens of thousands of enemy troops, UPA fighters demonstrated a high level of organization, combat spirit, and maneuverability, managing to break out of encirclement and preserve the core of their forces. Hurby became not only a symbol of armed resistance but also a demonstration of the skill of Ukrainian fighters. 🛡 On the anniversary of these events, we recall that the Battle of Hurby is also an important link in the continuity of Ukrainian military tradition — from the insurgent struggle of the mid-20th century to the modern defense of the state carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Like the UPA fighters, today’s Ukrainian soldiers are resisting a much larger enemy, yet they stand strong, relying on mobility, motivation, and the support of society. The idea of defending statehood, for which UPA fighters once fought, continues today on the frontlines of the Russian-Ukrainian war, shaping historical memory and the moral foundation of the modern Ukrainian military. #UnitedForTruth

📉 Russian economy is faltering despite oil windfall, according to FT 🛢️ Russia’s ailing economy has failed to recover even as rising oil prices during the war in the Middle East have boosted the Kremlin’s depleted coffers, according to Sweden’s military intelligence chief, cited by a Financial Times article published on Monday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article. 👤 Thomas Nilsson, head of Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security Service, told the FT that Russia would need prices for Urals crude, its main blend of oil, to remain above $100 a barrel for a year to close its budget deficit, and for significantly longer than that to smooth over its other economic problems. ⚠️ But Nilsson said Russia would struggle further to finance its own invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year, if the US and Israel’s ceasefire with Iran held and oil prices stabilised. 💬 “They still have a systemic problem,” Nilsson said in a rare interview in his Stockholm office. “It’s not a sustainable growth model to produce material for the war that is then destroyed on the battlefield,” he said. 🏭 Nilsson said Russia’s economic problems had spread to the defence sector itself, which has accounted for most of the country’s growth as the civilian sector struggles. 🔄 Moscow was diverting funding to the areas where the nature of the war was changing, particularly unmanned systems and long-range weapons, he said. 💸 But outside the drone industry, Russia’s military-industrial complex was lossmaking, rife with corruption and embezzlement, and dependent on lending from state-run banks, Nilsson added. 🧾 Sweden had intelligence indicating that Russia was systematically manipulating data to fool Ukraine’s western allies into believing its economy had withstood the strain of its lavish war spending and western sanctions, Nilsson said. 📊 Nilsson said the real situation was even worse and the Russian central bank was underestimating inflation, which it believed was closer to the 15 per cent key interest rate than the official 5.86 per cent. 🏦 Sweden agreed with the BND, Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, that Russia was understating its budget deficit by $30bn, and had also noticed some financial indicators that could point to a future banking crisis, he added. 🗣️ “If you have created a system like Putin has, he might not know how bad the economic situation really is. But even with the false info he gets, you ultimately can’t run from all of this,” Nilsson said. 📢 In other news, Germany’s foreign intelligence agency said in February that Russia’s military spending last year accounted for half of its budget and 10 per cent of its GDP. 📑 Latvia’s intelligence agency SAB said in a report earlier this month that “despite Russia’s public announcements claiming its economy is successfully adapting to the impact of the Western sanctions, internal estimates made by several Russian institutions confirm that sanctions have already inflicted and will continue to create losses.”

🚀 Ukraine strikes Russia’s two large landing ships, oil refinery, drone plant ⚓ The Prymary (Phantoms) unit of the Main Intelligence Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry struck two large Russian landing ships, the Yamal and Nikolay Filchenkov, in occupied Crimea overnight on Sunday, the agency said in a post to social media Monday. 🌊 The vessels are part of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. They were docked at the Sevastopol Bay at the moment of the strike. Both warships were disabled, Ukraine’s defense intelligence said. 📦 The Yamal is a Project 775 large landing ship that was built in 1988. It is 112.5 meters long and can carry up to 500 tons of cargo, including armored vehicles and infantry. The ship’s tentative cost exceeds 80 million dollars. 🚢 The Nikolay Filchenkov is a Project 1171 large landing ship that was built in 1975. It has a capacity for carrying up to 1,000 tons, or dozens of armored vehicles and a large infantry contingent. The ship’s tentative cost exceeds 70 million dollars. 📡 The Prymary unit also destroyed a Russian Podlet-K1 radar system in Sevastopol worth of around 5 million dollars. 🔥 Ukrainian troops struck the Tuapse oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight on Monday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said. The strike hit an oil storage tank, igniting a fire. The facility was earlier targeted by Ukrainian attacks. 🛰️ The Russian Service of RFE/RL released a satellite image of the Atlant Aero plant in Russia’s Taganrog on Monday, which it said showed that at least two workshops had been damaged in a Ukrainian strike with Neptune missiles overnight on Sunday. 🏭 The plant that manufactures Molniya drones was earlier struck on January 13. A building damaged in the earlier attack was demolished. Atlant Aero is situated next to the Beriev Aircraft Plant that was also targeted a number of times, RFE/RL said.

📌On April 23-24, Kyiv will host the 18th annual Kyiv Security Forum (KSF) – an event that has become Ukraine’s leading international platform for discussing issues of war, peace and global security. 📍The theme of this year’s Forum is: ‘Darkness or Dawn: is light ahead?’ 🔎The event takes place at a time of profound transformation in the global security architecture. Russia’s war against Ukraine, the spread of military conflicts, the nuclear factor, hybrid attacks on democracies, and disinformation campaigns are shaping a new reality in international relations. uacrisis.org/en/18-j-kyyivs…

Advisor to Ukraine’s defense minister wounded in overnight Russian drone attack 🚁 Russia launched 142 attack drones at Ukraine overnight on Monday. The drones included ones of the Shahed, Gerbera and Italmas types as well as other unmanned aerial systems, the Ukrainian Air Force said Monday. 📍 The drones were fired from the area of Russia’s Kursk, Bryansk, Oryol, Millerovo, Shatalovo, Primorsko- Akhtarsk as well as from occupied Donetsk and Hvardiyske in occupied Crimea. Around 100 of the unmanned aerial systems were the Shaheds. 🛡️ The Air Force and other branches of the Ukrainian military deployed aircraft, surface-to-air missile troops, electronic warfare units and mobile teams to repel the attack. 📊 Ukraine’s military said it had shot down or otherwise neutralized 113 drones of the Shahed, Gerbera, Italmas and other types in the north, south and east of the country. Twenty-eight drones hit target in 18 locations and the falling debris fell in six other places, it added. 💥 Advisor on defense technology to the Ukrainian Defense Minister, drone and electronic warfare expert Serhiy “Flash” Beskrestnov was wounded when a Russian jet powered Shahed drone hit his house overnight on Monday. 🏠 “Last night, the Russians tried to kill me. They fired four jet powered Shaheds. One guided jet powered Shahed drone hit a wall of my house. I no longer have a house,” Beskrestnov said in a post to social media Monday. 🩺 He also posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed, saying that he was injured. “I was injured, but what’s key is that I miraculously survived. I was morally prepared for such a turn of events, and it will not stop me,” Beskrestnov said.

📝What is the danger of Telegram for Ukraine? 📍The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’s Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy has reviewed a draft law proposing amendments to certain laws of Ukraine regarding the regulation of information-sharing platforms through which mass information is disseminated. 📌Mykola Kniazhytskyi, Chair of the Subcommittee on Cultural Policy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’s Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, explains the key features of this legislative initiative. 🛎The expert discussion “Telegram in Ukraine: To Ban or to Regulate” was held within the framework of the “United for Truth” project with the support of the Canada Ukraine Foundation. #UnitedForTruth

📍From the speech of Mykyta Poturaiev, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine and Chair of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, during the expert discussion “Telegram in Ukraine: To Ban or to Regulate”. 📝The event was held within the framework of the project “United by Truth” supported by the Canada Ukraine Foundation. #UnitedForTruth

📌 Weekly roundup. Ukraine resists Russia’s invasion. Days 1,510–1,514 ⚔️ This week, battles intensified along the front lines. Russia stepped up its drone and missile attacks as Ukraine is facing a critical shortage of missiles for the Patriot air defense systems, according to President Zelenskyi’s statement. Russia breached an Easter ceasefire more than 10,000 times, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Monday. It further increased the intensity of attacks since then. 💥 A Russian missile strike on the city of Dnipro on Tuesday killed five people and injured 25 others. Drone attacks on Kherson on Tuesday injured five people, of whom four were hospital workers. Russia dropped six glide bombs on the Pechenihy dam in Kharkiv region that same day. 🛡️ A deficit of missiles for the Patriot systems “could not get any worse,” Zelenskyi told German public broadcaster ZDF on Tuesday. Russia’s major drone and missile strikes on Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipro overnight on Thursday killed at least 18 people and wounded dozens of others. 🇭🇺 Viktor Orbán’s election defeat opened a possibility for a change in Ukraine-Hungary relations. Commenting on the election results in Hungary, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andriy Sybiha said the two countries “deserve to be good neighbors.” The Kremlin is downplaying Orbán’s election defeat to project confidence that Ukraine will still face pressure, the Institute for the Study of War said. 💶 The EU is hoping to unblock its 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine. It plans to send the first tranche under the loan to supply Ukraine with domestic drones. The UK provided 120,000 drones to Ukraine in the largest delivery of its kind. 📉 Russia’s offensive is on decline, 2026 could become war’s turning point, Welt says. A Russian spring offensive is on the decline with the declared goals not being achieved, BBC Ukraine said Thursday, citing a Welt article. In parallel, Ukraine is building up its own defensive capabilities, including drone production in the first place. This contrast creates momentum. A turning point in Russia’s war against Ukraine does not look distant anymore. Instead, it begins to look much like a real scenario that could happen sometime soon, maybe even this year, Welt said.

✔️From the speech of Mykola Kniazhytskyi, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine and Chair of the Subcommittee on Cultural Policy of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, during the expert discussion “Telegram in Ukraine: To Ban or to Regulate”. ✅The event was held within the framework of the project “United by Truth” supported by the Canada Ukraine Foundation. #UnitedForTruth

💶 EU to send first tranche of its 90 billion euro loan to supply Ukraine with domestic drones 🛡️ The first tranche of EU’s military assistance to Ukraine under a 90 billion euro loan will be used to procure Ukrainian-made drones, EU Commissioner for Defense and Space, Andrius Kubilius said Wednesday, speaking to the European Parliament’s Committee on Security and Defense. 📦 “For 2026, Ukraine has requested defense assistance to a total of 28.3 billion euro. This first product schedule focuses on drones from Ukraine’s cutting edge defense industry,” Kubilius said. 🏭 “For the next product schedules we expect more involvement of European defense industry,” he added. 💰 The European Commission said Ukraine will get the first installment under the loan in the second quarter, European Pravda said early in the week, citing the Commission’s spokesperson. 🇪🇺 Following the defeat of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the elections on 12 April, the EU is hoping that both its 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine and the 20th package of Russia sanctions can be swiftly unblocked. 📊 The European Commission is expected to give 45 billion euros to Ukraine in 2026, including 16.7 billion euros for the country’s state budget and 28.3 billion euros for its defense production.