Victorious news of 776th day of war: Ukrainian drones attack Russian aviation training center, Germany to supply Kyiv with 20 more Marder IFVs

Explosions heard in temporarily occupied Sevastopol

Several explosions occurred in the temporarily occupied Sevastopol on the night of April 9. The Russian forces report air defense operations and targets shot down over the sea.

According to the Crimean Wind channel, residents heard an explosion in Sevastopol. The channel's subscribers reported two explosions.

The channel noted that the explosion was heard in Yevpatoriya, which is located 61 kilometers by air from Sevastopol.

The Russian Telegram channel SHOT reported the alleged operation of air defense systems.

"Preliminary, at this moment air defense is repelling an enemy attack. As eyewitnesses told SHOT, several loud pops were heard in the Nakhimovsky district of the city and in the waters of Sevastopol. There has been no official information yet, and eyewitnesses have not yet reported any hits or casualties," the channel wrote.

Ukrainian drones attack training aviation center in Russia's Voronezh region

On Tuesday, April 9, Russia announced that drones attacked and damaged the Borisoglebsk training aviation center in the Voronezh region at night. Ukrainian intelligence confirmed damage to the company's main production facilities.

Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, reported this on Radio Liberty.

He confirmed the attack on the training aviation center in Borisoglebsk and declared that the "main production facilities" of the enterprise had been damaged.

"Yes, the aircraft factory. This is what we can ascertain from various sources. There was a rumble, we can also confirm it. We will not reveal the details, but according to preliminary information, the main production facilities of the enterprise were affected," he said.

The Ukrainian mass media, citing their own sources of the Main Intelligence Directorate, also write that Ukrainian intelligence was behind the night attack in the Voronezh region. They report significant damage to the main production plant.

In Georgia, translated works by four Ukrainian writers were nominated for a prestigious award

Georgian translations of books by Ukrainian writers Artem Chekh, Kateryna Babkina, Andriy Kurkov, and Ostap Slyvynsky have been shortlisted for the Saba Literary Award.

This was reported by Chytomo with reference to the award's website.

The annual Saba Literary Award of Georgia, which recognizes the best original literary works (novel, prose anthology, poetry collection, play), translations of foreign works into Georgian, as well as texts in the genres of literary criticism and documentary prose, has published a longlist. It includes, among other things, four books by Ukrainian writers translated into Georgian.

'My Grandfather Danced Better Than Anyone' (2019) by Kateryna Babkina. In Georgia, the novel in short stories was published by Siesta Publishing House in 2023. It was translated by Sophie Chkhatarashvili, Nino Naskidashvili, and Ivane Mchedeladze.

'Point Zero' (2017) by Artem Chekh. The collection of documentary prose about ten months of service in the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2015-2016 in Georgia was translated by Sophie Chkhatarashvili and David Kakabadze.

'Dictionary of War' (2023) by Ostap Slyvynsky was translated by Tamta Gugushvili.

'Picnic on Ice' (1996) by Andriy Kurkov was published in Georgia under the title Penguin. The work was translated by Sergo Tsurtsumia.

The annual Saba Literary Prize has been awarded since 2002. It was founded by Tbis and Rati Amaglobeli. The purpose of the prize is to evaluate the literary processes of the previous year and to reward the best authors of the year.

Germany to supply Ukraine with 20 more Marder infantry fighting vehicles in 2024

The German defense concern Rheinmetall has received an order from the German government to supply Kyiv with 20 more Marder infantry fighting vehicles.

The vehicles are to be delivered in 2024, Deutsche Welle reports, citing a press release from the concern.

The 1A3 model ordered by the German government has a laser rangefinder for efficient and accurate target engagement. Rheinmetall handed over the first 20 vehicles of this type to Ukraine in March 2023. Since then, several more batches have been delivered.

Developed for the German Armed Forces, the Marder IFV is considered one of the most effective and reliable combat vehicles in the world. However, the Bundeswehr is gradually switching to more modern Puma vehicles.

Ukraine returns two more children from Russian occupation

The volunteer organization Save Ukraine managed to return an orphan boy and a girl from Russian occupation to the free territory of Ukraine.

This was announced by the head of the organization Mykola Kuleba.

The rescued boy had been living with his grandmother for the past seven years when their village was occupied by Russians. They finally decided to leave the village, which was constantly shelled, only when a shell hit their yard early in the morning and destroyed part of the house with a shock wave.

The boy was sleeping in his bed and found himself covered in clay, and for the next three days he slept in his clothes because he was afraid that he would not have time to escape before the shelling started again.

"It was very difficult for the family to leave the occupation. At the border, the Russian special services arranged a real mockery for an elderly woman and an orphan boy - they disemboweled all their belongings, threw everything out of their bags," Kuleba said.

The family of the rescued girl lived in a city where only civilians remained in the first days of the full-scale invasion, so it was occupied quickly. At the same time, communication and the Internet disappeared, and only explosions could be heard somewhere far away.

"The only thing that kept us going all this time was the synthesizer they had at home. They locked all the doors, closed the windows tightly, and then an 8-year-old girl learned to play it on her own. She played the Anthem of Ukraine, 'Chervona Kalyna', and 'Glory to our Ukrainian Armed Forces'" Kuleba said.

Kuleba emphasized that “our most important duty today is to save as many children and families with children as possible from Russian aggression and return them to Ukraine.”

He also reminded that as of today, 284 children have been returned from the occupation, 73 of whom are orphans.

Ukraine receives confiscated weapons from the US that Iran planned to give to the Houthis

Last week, the US government handed over more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s, and over 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition to the Ukrainian military

This is stated in the message of the US Central Command.

These small arms and ammunition were seized by the US Central Command and allied naval forces from 4 stateless transit vessels between May 2021 and February 2023 - they were transferred by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the Houthis in Yemen in violation of UN sanctions, according to the US Central Command.

"These weapons will help Ukraine defend against Russia’s invasion," the US military said.