On 13 April, the mayor of Mariupol announced that gas weapons had been used against Ukrainian soldiers. Some of the defenders of the Azov Regiment surrendered and were taken prisoner. According to Russia’s Defence Ministry, these were 1,026 servicemen, including 162 officers. 

The spokesman for the regional military administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, Ivan Arefiev, reported that the Russians had used phosphorus bombs in their attack on the village of Novodanylovka. 

The European Council revised the mandate of the European Union Advisory Mission for Civilian Security Sector Reform in Ukraine (EUAM Ukraine).

Under its revised mandate, EUAM Ukraine will provide support to the Ukrainian authorities to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of international crimes committed during Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine.

On 14 April, the Russian side reported that Ukraine had carried out air raids on residential buildings in the Bryansk oblast, leaving seven people injured, and that Ukrainian armed forces had shelled a border crossing located in that oblast. In addition, Ukraine was accused of shelling the town of Klimovo and the village of Spodorashino. 

On 16 April, the Ukrainian side reported that 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers were still fighting in the Azovstal steel factory complex, describing their situation as hopeless. Moreover, the Ukrainian police reported the discovery of 900 bodies of civilians in Kyiv. 

On 17 April, Russian airstrikes on Kharkiv claimed the lives of five people. Similar attacks on Lviv killed six individuals. The bombardments continued the following day, raising the death toll in Lviv by seven more and in Kharkiv by 15. 

On 20 April, Ukraine accused Russia of bombing a hospital in Mariupol, which was sheltering 300 civilians. 

At the end of April, Russian forces resumed their attacks on Kyiv after a two-week hiatus. Odessa and Mykolaiv also came under shelling. The Ukrainian authorities reported the abduction of 35 out of 49 mayors from the Kherson region. Additionally, they claimed that Russian forces had seized several hundred thousand tons of grain harvested in the occupied regions of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk. 

In early May, Russian attacks on targets in western Ukraine intensified once more. Missile strikes hit Lviv, Vinnytsia, and the Zakarpattia oblast. Odessa and Mariupol were also attacked, to sever Ukrainian supply routes and inflict lasting damage on the country’s economy. One-third of Ukraine’s grain stocks (approximately 400,000 tons) had been transported away from the occupied territories, raising concerns about a potential famine. 

On 6 May, the European Council adopted a mandate to enable Eurojust to preserve evidence of core international crimes, including war crimes. Under the new regulations, Eurojust may store and secure evidence relating to war crimes, including satellite images, photographs, video and audio recordings, DNA profiles, and fingerprints. It may also process and analyse this evidence, in close cooperation with Europol, and make it available to relevant national and international bodies, including the International Criminal Court.

Photo: Azov infantry column in Mariupol in 2021. Wanderer777/CC-BY 4.0