This Week in the Russia-Ukraine War (April 4)

A snapshot of recent news from sources around the world on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

Political Developments

The Trump administration rolled out wide-spread tariffs on Wednesday, hitting nearly every country with what the administration described as ‘reciprocal tariffs’. Ukraine was included on the list of countries whose exports will subject across-the-board to a tariff, but Washington for now is only imposing a 10 percent levy on Ukrainian exports. Ukraine is also subject to a steel and aluminum tariff issued by the Trump administration in March.

Russia was not included on the tariff list, and neither was Cuba, Belarus, or North Korea. Asked about the exclusion of those countries, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that these countries are all under sanctions already that “preclude any meaningful trade.” The Russian economy may nevertheless suffer reverberations from the new U.S. tariffs, which prompted oil prices to take a nosedive.

Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s special representative for economic cooperation with foreign countries, traveled to the U.S. this week to continue dialogue with the Trump administration regarding the war in Ukraine and U.S.-Russia bilateral relations more generally. Dmitriev said in a statement that the restoration of relations between the two countries has been the focal point of negotiations, and that his visit to Washington was “three steps forward” towards that goal.

But U.S. President Donald Trump is becoming increasingly frustrated at his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the perception that the Kremlin is dragging its feet in talks to enable its troops to advance on the battlefield. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that President Trump will not be caught in “endless negotiations” with Moscow, adding, “We will know soon enough, in a matter of weeks, not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not.” At the same time, a Kremlin official said the effort to end the war is a “drawn-out process.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she believes negotiations between the U.S. and Russia are deadlocked, making it crucial for Europe to continue supporting Ukraine. Meanwhile, the U.K. has said the war can only end if Russia is deterred from further aggression, and that Ukraine’s international partners must provide Kyiv with “real and credible security assurances.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will not attend the next meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which will take place on April 11 in Brussels. The meeting will be chaired by Germany and the U.K. The group, an international coalition that meets regularly to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine, was originally formed by Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin. The upcoming meeting will be the first time the U.S. defense secretary has not attended.

Finland announced it will withdraw from the Ottawa Convention that bans the use of anti-personnel landmines. Finland shares a 1,340 kilometer border with Russia, the longest of any NATO country. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland have are also considering leaving the treaty.

Military Assistance to Ukraine

The Swedish government has announced a new military aid package to Ukraine worth SEK16 billion ($1.6 billion), addressing Ukrainian requests for more air-defense equipment, artillery, and satellite communications gear. Around SEK9 billion of this total will procure weapons from Sweden, while SEK5 billion will be injected into the Ukrainian defense industry. The new tranche of aid brings Stockholm’s military support for Kyiv in 2025 to SEK29 billion; the Swedish government has sent SEK80 billion in aid since 2022.

The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded Babcock a contract to develop digital blueprints and CAD files of military equipment, enabling Ukraine’s armed forces to 3D print necessary parts within the country. This initiative involves reverse engineering existing equipment to create digital designs for on-demand manufacturing using various methods, including 3D printing.

TEKEVER has announced that its AR3 drone platform has successfully completed over 10,000 operational flight hours in Ukraine, supporting critical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions in real-world combat scenarios.

Battlefield Updates

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned this week that Russia is rearming ahead of new offensives in Ukraine, which are expected to begin in the coming months despite the ongoing peace process between the U.S. and Russia.

“They’re dragging out the talks and trying to get the U.S. stuck in endless and pointless discussions about fake ‘conditions’ just to buy time and then try to grab more land,” President Zelensky said this week regarding the Russian Federation’s talks with the United States.

In a briefing to lawmakers, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, who is the head of U.S. European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said military losses have been staggering on both sides of the conflict. Over the past year, he estimates Russia has lost around 3,000 tanks, 9,000 armored vehicles, 13,000 artillery systems, and more than 400 air defense systems. Russia has expanded its production capacity and is working to replace that equipment. This year, Russia expects to produce 1,500 tanks, 3,000 armored vehicles, and 200 Iskander ballistic and cruise missiles, according to Cavoli. He did not outline Ukraine’s losses in the conflict.

Aerial bombing campaigns continue. Russian forces fired 131 attack drones and two ballistic missiles during the night of March 30-31, as well as two Iskander-M ballistic missiles.  Another strike involving two Kh-59/69 missiles fired by tactical fighter aircraft occurred the following night. The Ukrainian government has announced that over the past week Russia had launched 100 attack drones and nine missiles in different operations.  In addition, Kyiv said Moscow had used 1,310 aerial bombs in these strikes.

Ukraine, for its part, also launched drone attacks on Russia this week.  During the night of April 1-2, nearly 100 drones struck targets inside Russia.  Russian air defense forces claim to have shot down 93 drones overnight.

The Ukrainian military has mounted the M901 Patriot missile system on a KrAZ-260 truck.  The Ukrainian military is merging different Western defense systems with others produced locally.  The KrAZ-260 is a Soviet era truck that entered production in 1979.

Russia claims it will ramp up production of the MiG-35, the latest variant of the MiG-29 that has struggled to find customers. The move reflects an effort to bolster the size of the Russian Aerospace Forces fighter fleet.

Russia has placed netting on dozens of buildings near the Russian border, including apartment buildings, to protect them from Ukrainian drone attacks. Russian military forces have also experimented with tunnels made of netting to offer some level of protection from drones.