Ukrainian servicemen unload a plane with US Javelin anti-tank missiles at Kyiv’s Boryspil Airport, February 11, 2022 (Sergey Supinsky/AP/Getty)

Friday’s Coverage: 9+ Killed, Including 3 Children, in Russia Strikes on Dnipropetrovsk

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1113 GMT:

Ukraine air defenses downed two of seven missiles and all three reconnaissance drones during an overnight Russian attack.

The Russians launched a total of ten missiles and drones, targeting the Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Mykolaiv regions.

A port facility in the Odesa region was struck, destroying agricultural products bound for Asia and Africa, by ballistic missiles fired from occupied Crimea.

UPDATE 1100 GMT:

Two civilians have been killed and two wounded by Russian attacks on Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.

The Russians struck a nine-story building and house in the city, about 50 km (31 miles) northeast of Kharkiv and less than 10 km (6 miles) from the Russian.

UPDATE 0639 GMT:

The head of a Russian institute on hypersonic aircraft has been sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of treason.

Alexander Kuranov, 76, was among physicists arrested in 2021. He was accused of working with and passing secrets on scientific advances to foreign nationals.

Kuranov was also fined 100,000 rubles in the closed-door trial in St. Petersburg.

UPDATE 0628 GMT:

A man from Texas who fought for almost 10 years with Russian proxy forces has died in eastern Ukraine, says Russian State propagandist Margarita Simonyan.

Russell Bentley — a former lumberjack, marijuana dealer, and arborist — joined the forces of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” in 2014. He posted videos on social media justifying Russia’s invasion.

Russian Telegram channels said Bentley went missing on April 8 after he entered an area targeted by Ukrainian artillery “to go see if he could help the wounded”.

But Bentley’s wife said he had been detained by a Russian military unit. Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov said he was abducted by the 5th Tank Brigade on suspicion of “spying for NATO countries”.

UPDATE 0618 GMT:

More than half of a £900m ($1.1bn) military fund for Ukraine, overseen by the UK’s Defense Ministry, is unused because of bureaucratic delays in handing out contracts.

Critics have said delivery of weapons to the frontline by the International Fund for Ukraine is too slow.

Of the £900 million donated by the nine member countries over the last two years, just £404 million ($500 million) has been committed or spent. Some equipment will not reach Ukraine until spring 2025.

A Ministry of Defense official said delays arise from a need to assess each of the defense companies tendering for contracts.

UPDATE 0552 GMT:

Ukraine says it downed a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber inside Russia, from a distance of 308 km (180 miles), after it was involved in long-range airstrikes that killed nine people — including two children — in the Dnipropetrovsk region on Friday.

Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, said, “I can only say the plane was hit at a distance of 308 km, quite far away.”

An intelligence official said the warplane was shot down with a modified S-200 Soviet-era long-range surface-to-air missile system.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed a crash in the Stavropol region in southern Russia, but said it appeared to have been caused by a technical malfunction. Four aircrew ejected with one dead, two rescued, and another missing.

On Friday afternoon, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited a damaged residential area in Dnipro city. In a video address, he said:

Russian terrorists have already had enough time —years — to destroy Ukrainian life. This year cannot be a year of further discussions. Everything is very specific. Ukraine needs air defense, and partners can help us with that. We need artillery, and the world has it.

UPDATE 0543 GMT:

Ukraine has reportedly carried out overnight drone attacks on electrical and petrochemical facilities inside Russia.

An oil facility was set ablaze in Kardymovo in the Smolensk region, about 100 km (62 miles) from the Ukrainian border. An electrical substation was attacked in the Bryansk region, about 50 km (31 miles) inside Russia, with unconfirmed videos and pictures showing a large fire.

As usual, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that all 50 Ukrainian drones were downed. Local officials declared that any damage was from falling debris.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The US House has cleared the final hurdle for a Saturday vote on $61 billion in vital aid to Ukraine.

A motion on the procedure for the vote passed 316 to 94. Bipartisan support overcame the objections of Trumpists and hard-right Republicans, who have held up the assistance since last October.

Separate bills are also being considered for funds to Israel and humanitarian aid to Gaza; assistance to Taiwan and other US partners in the Asia-Pacific region; and border security. The measures which are adopted will be combined and sent to the Senate, which passed a similar bill in mid-February.

The Trumpist/hard-right blockade was finally broken this week by House Speaker Mike Johnson. Installed in October after the Republican faction ousted his predecessor Kevin McCarthy, Johnson had stalled for months on a vote. He reportedly shifted his position after intelligence briefings and Iran’s missile and drone attacks on Israel last Sunday.

See also Ukraine War, Day 785: US House Scheduled To Vote on Ukraine Aid on Saturday

On Friday morning Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that if there was further delay in aid, “there is a real risk it will arrive too late” to check Russia’s 26-month invasion.