Russia calls for “real men” for the new recruitment. The Ministry of Defense of Russia has started a large-scale campaign to attract volunteers to the army. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow “will not forgive” Washington for denying US visas to Russian journalists who were supposed to accompany him during his visit to the UN headquarters.

Synthesis of the last 24 hours of the war:

• The Ukrainian army has strengthened its military positions on the eastern bank of the Dnieper near the city of Kherson, reports the Institute for the Study of War with reference to Russian military bloggers. This may be the first step towards an attempt to dislodge the Russians from their positions for an offensive on Kherson.

• China’s ambassador to France has sparked outrage in Eastern Europe and Ukraine after questioning the sovereignty of post-Soviet countries. Ambassador Lu Shaye suggested that the countries that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union “have no effective status under international law because there is no international agreement confirming their status as sovereign states.”

• Former Russian President Dmytro Medvedev said that if the G7 bans exports to Russia, Moscow will respond by terminating the Black Sea Grain Agreement, which allows grain exports from Ukraine. Russia has made it clear that it will not allow the agreement to be extended after May 18.

• According to experts, in 2022, Europe’s military spending increased at a record pace, reaching a level not seen since the Cold War after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In Europe, military spending reached $2.24 billion, or 2.2 percent of global gross domestic product, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow “will not forgive” Washington for denying US visas to Russian journalists who were supposed to accompany him during his visit to the UN headquarters. “We will not forget this, we will not forgive,” he said. In April, Russia presides over the 15-member Security Council.

• Russia recommends that citizens avoid traveling to Canada, citing “numerous cases of discrimination against its citizens, including physical violence,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

• Anti-Kremlin protesters in Paris on Sunday demanded the EU impose sanctions on the wife of Russia’s deputy defense minister, whom they accuse of evading sanctions. Protesters also say that Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov divorced his wife Svitlana Maniovych last year to allow her to live in luxury in France and avoid sanctions.

• Russia calls for “real men” for the new recruitment. The Ministry of Defense of Russia has started a large-scale campaign to attract volunteer conscripts into the army, reports the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain.

Main information about the war in Ukraine, day 424, TEXT:

06:56Since the start of the full-scale war on February 24, 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (UAF) have tripled their personnel, currently amounting to about 700,000 servicemen, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said. “If you include border guards, the National Guard and the police, it’s about 1 million,” he added.

06:36Sevastopol was attacked by drones in the morning of April 24, confirmed the head of the Russian-appointed government in Sevastopol Mykhailo Razvozhaev.

03:45On the night of April 23-24, explosions rang out in Zaporizhzhia, Suspilne reported. The air raid started at 2:40 am, and as a result of the shelling of the village of Mala Tokmachka, a family (she is 54 years old, he is 65 years old) who was in the yard of the house died.

00:30Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a message on Sunday evening: “Our victory in this war will be shared by everyone who made it possible.”

The entire address of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to his compatriots on Sunday evening was devoted to thanks and gratitude to those who are fighting at the front and in the rear, and separate movements of troops in Kherson raised suspicions that the expected Ukrainian counteroffensive will be very close to the beginning.

23:45 France promises Ukraine ships, buses and rails for the railway.

The French government promised on Sunday to supply ships, buses and railway tracks to Ukraine, whose transport infrastructure has been badly hit by the Russian invasion.

Transport Minister Clément Beaune, who ended a four-day visit to Ukraine on Sunday, asked French companies “from now on” to “be present, especially in the transport sector.”

23:07Demonstration in Paris for the introduction of sanctions against the wife of a Russian official. “Family of War Criminals”

On Sunday in Paris, dozens of demonstrators demanded that the European Union extend sanctions against Russia regarding the wife of Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, who is accused of evading European enforcement measures. We are talking about Svitlana Maniovich, with whom a Russian official divorced in the summer of 2022 in order to protect her. Before the divorce, she changed her last name to Ivanov, but the deputy defense minister remains her only source of financial support.

An investigation by Navalny’s foundation into Svitlana Maniovych shows a luxurious life in Europe with vacations in Saint-Tropez in the south of France and Rolls-Royce cars.