Victory Chronicles-DAY 797

According to Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa Oblast State Emergency Service, the Russian army launched a missile attack on Odesa on April 29. The missile was fitted with a cluster munition, which is used to target people rather than buildings. 

As a result of the attack, four people and a dog were killed, and 32 people were injured. Among the injured were two children and a pregnant woman. One of the wounded individuals later died in the hospital, bringing the total number of victims to five. 

Currently, 23 victims are receiving treatment in medical institutions, with eight in serious condition and four in extremely serious condition, including a four-year-old girl. Following the attack, a day of mourning was declared in the region on April 30.

According to the Ukrainian Defense Forces, in the past 24 hours, they have killed 1,037 enemy personnel and destroyed various enemy assets in the eastern direction. The destroyed assets include 20 tanks, 33 armored combat vehicles, a multiple rocket launcher system, 24 artillery systems and mortars, an anti-aircraft missile system, 19 vehicles, 2 electronic warfare systems, 490 unmanned aerial vehicles, 24 dugouts, and 2 ammunition depots. The command of the Khortytsia operational and tactical group reported this information. According to the General Staff, Russia has suffered 468,720 combat losses since February 24, 2022.

Since the morning of April 30, the city of Kharkiv in Ukraine has been under Russians’ attack. The mayor, Igor Terekhov, reported that  one person has been killed, with nine residents wounded. The Air Force has warned of the threat of ballistic weapons, including guided aerial bombs. Terekhov later reported two more incidents of attacks on civilian targets in the Kyiv and Kholodnohirsk districts. In Kyivskyi district, there was a hit in the area of residential buildings, and in Kholodnohirsk district, one person was killed and two were injured. 

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has released a video of Russians shelling Odesa with a rocket with a cluster munition. “The attack was carried out by an Iskander ballistic missile with a cluster munition. This is an indiscriminate weapon, the use of which can lead to significant civilian casualties. Metal fragments and missile debris were recovered within a radius of 1.5 km from the site of the attack. The investigation has grounds to believe that officers of the Russian Armed Forces made the decision to use such weapons deliberately to kill as many Ukrainian civilians as possible,” said Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated during an unexpected visit to Kyiv on April 29 that Ukraine’s Western allies must provide long-term, predictable military assistance to Ukraine and signal to the Kremlin that Russia cannot “wait out” Western support for Ukraine. Stoltenberg stated during a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that serious delays in Western military support have resulted in serious battlefield consequences. 

Stoltenberg noted that Ukrainian forces have been “outgunned” and have downed fewer Russian missiles over the last several months due to materiel shortages and that Russian forces are currently advancing in several areas of the frontline due to manpower and material shortages. Stoltenberg stated that he expects Ukraine’s Western allies to soon announce additional unspecified military assistance commitments and stressed that NATO member states need to make “major,” multi-year financial commitments to support Ukraine and emphasize to Moscow that Russia cannot win by “wait[ing] out” Western support for Ukraine. Zelensky noted during the press conference that NATO and Ukraine continue to work towards further interoperability of their forces, and Stoltenberg expressed confidence in Ukraine’s eventual accession to NATO.

The consistent provision of key Western systems to Ukraine will play a critical role in Russia’s prospects in 2024 and beyond, as well as in Ukraine’s ability to contest the theater-wide initiative, conduct future counteroffensive operations, and liberate Ukrainian territory from Russian occupation.

US and European failures to sustain the timely provision of critical systems to Ukraine will not only continue to constrain Ukraine’s ability to plan and wage offensive and defensive operations, but also signal weakness and hesitancy in Western support for Ukraine to the Kremlin. These signals in turn strengthen the Kremlin’s belief that it can “wait out” Western support for Ukraine and achieve its objectives of destroying Ukrainian statehood and subjugating the Ukrainian people after the West abandons Ukraine thereby encouraging Putin to persist in his aggression. Recent Kremlin information operations targeting the West have specifically emphasized the idea that Russia can and will outlast Western military assistance to Ukraine and Ukraine’s will and ability to defend itself.

American volunteer Cooper Andrews, known by his call sign Harris, tragically lost his life on April 19, 2023, near Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast. Alongside his fellow fighters Dmytro Petrov and Finbar Cafferkey, he volunteered to safeguard a humanitarian corridor that day. During a combat operation, they encountered an ambush by enemy forces and bravely fought until the end, succumbing to the battle with the occupiers.

Cooper, hailing from the United States, had served in the US Marine Corps and was an advocate for leftist causes. His courage and moral fortitude set him apart. When full-scale war erupted in Ukraine, Cooper saw an opportunity to contribute his skills in the fight against fascism. He promptly applied to join the Foreign Legion, arriving in Ukraine upon acceptance. He later transitioned to the “Bratstvo” Battalion within the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence. Remaining at the frontlines for nearly a year, he participated in battles near Kyiv and Kherson before ultimately defending Bakhmut in the months leading up to his untimely demise.

“This fight requires great sacrifices, but there is no alternative. For us and everyone who faces the shadow of Putin’s aggression, there is only victory or death. Love and struggle.

As for what we do here, we are not something special, just another group of fighters with different roles. Our time is occupied with training and boredom, interspersed with the thrill and stress of combat. I am honored to be a part of this great fight, and I hope that our efforts will lead to a free Ukraine and beyond,” Cooper wrote a month before his death. 

“Cooper was funny, not too serious, but deeply committed to what he believed in. We mourn his loss. We will soon begin working on a memorial of sorts. Rest in peace, brother,” wrote American journalist and documentary filmmaker Jake Hanrahan. The defender is survived by his family, friends and colleagues.

*Cooper’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

• Zelenskyy: NATO will only accept Ukraine as a member after victory
• UK Defence Intelligence: Attack on a Russian military airfield in the Kuban would force Russia to redeploy air defense assets and disperse its fighters
• WSJ: Ukraine Bets on Long-Range Drones, Raising Costs of War for Russia
• Iceland approves long-term policy of support for Ukraine
• Germany supplies Ukraine with ammunition for IRIS-T and 10 Marder vehicles
• Bloomberg: Macron hopes to convince Xi to sway Putin toward ending invasion of Ukraine.