Blazes after Russia’s strikes on Odesa in southern Ukraine, April 11, 2026

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UPDATE 1523 GMT:

Despite Ukraine attacks crippling its oil terminals and ports, Russia maintained its level of crude oil exports in early April.

The Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, along with the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, loaded a combined total of around 2 million barrels per day in the first week of April, compared with an average of 1.9 million bpd in March.

Primorsk, shut in late March by the strikes, posted a sharp increase of loadings this month. High export volumes from Novorossiysk, before it was struck this week by the Ukrainians, offset the loss of Baltic exports.

“Russia’s crude oil exports from its main western ports increased in early April compared with March, trading and port sources said and Reuters calculations showed, despite disruptions to loadings caused by ‌drone attacks on energy infrastructure…

The Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, along with the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, loaded a combined total of about 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in the first week of April, compared with an average of 1.9 million bpd in March, three trading and port sources said…

However, a sharp increase in loadings at Primorsk in April, as well ⁠as high export volumes from Novorossiisk early in the month prior to a drone attack, have so far helped to offset the halt ⁠in Black Sea exports, the sources added.”

UPDATE 1448 GMT:

Ukrainian forces downed 133 of 160 drones launched by Russia overnight. Twenty drones struck 10 locations.

UPDATE 1443 GMT:

Civilian casualties in Ukraine rose by almost 49% in March compared to February, reports the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission.

At least 211 people were killed and 1,206 were injured. Of the fatalities, 66 were from short-range drone attacks.

Danielle Bell, the Mission head, noted, “Some were struck with drones while walking to collect their pensions or working in their gardens, in other words, while they tried to carry on with their everyday lives.

In 2025, civilian casualties more than doubled compared to 2024, with 580 deaths compared to 226. There were 3,295 injuries, up from 1,528.

UPDATE 1437 GMT:

Ukraine has brought back home 175 soldiers and seven civilians held in Russian captivity in the latest exchange with Moscow.

Kyiv freed 175 Russian prisoners of war.

The Ukrainians include soldiers taken prisoner during the defense of Mariupol in spring 2022, and those captured at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Kyiv region in the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

UPDATE 1424 GMT:

Estonia will refrain from detaining Russia’s “shadow fleet” vessels in the Baltic Sea, a senior commander has confirmed.

The Baltic State is worried that seizure of oil tankers and other sanctioned ships could lead Moscow to defend them militarily.

Estonian forces unsuccessfully attempted to board a Russian vessel last year.

UPDATE 1420 GMT:

Journalist Oleg Roldugin of the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper has been put in pre-trial detention until May 10 by a Russian court.

A day earlier, police raided the paper’s Moscow headquarters.

Roldugin has reported on alleged corruption among top Russian officials, including former president Dmitry Medvedev and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Just ahead of a 32-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Easter, Russia has murdered at least four Ukrainian civilians and injured dozens.

On Thursday, the Kremlin announced Vladimir Putin’s agreement to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal, with a halt to attacks from 1600 (1300 GMT) on 11 April until the end of the day on 12 April 2026″.

But Russia maintained its assault throughout Friday and early Saturday.

In Poltava in central Ukraine, one person was murdered and one wounded by an overnight drone attack on a store and a cafe.

In Odesa in the south, two people were killed and two injured. Infrastructure and dozens of homes and residential buildings were damaged.

In the Donetsk region in the northeast, a civilian was killed in Dobropillia and three wounded in Sloviansk on Friday.

In the Sumy region in the northeast, drone strikes on residential areas injured 17 people, including a 14-year-old boy and an 87-year-old woman. Eleven residential buildings and a kindergarten were damaged.