What did 12 April 2022 reveal about Kyiv's standing abroad?
A look back at a day of genocide rhetoric, a high-profile arrest and a visit by four presidents to Kyiv.
What did 12 April 2022 show about Ukraine's position in the war and in the wider world? A day of symbolism, solidarity and continued fighting offers some answers.
In Iowa, US President Joe Biden used the word "genocide" for the first time to describe events in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky called the gesture the real words of a real leader. He had himself first used the word on 3 April, describing the massacre in Bucha.
In Kyiv, the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia visited the Mariinsky Palace to send a strong signal of shared European solidarity and to discuss continued political and military support. They also visited sites of alleged war crimes in nearby Borodianka. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had proposed joining them, but the trip was reported to be unwelcome in Kyiv, a reaction attributed to his close ties with Russia in earlier political posts.
The Security Service of Ukraine also detained Viktor Medvedchuk, a prominent pro-Russian politician and oligarch, in what Zelensky announced on Telegram as a special operation. Zelensky said he planned to use Medvedchuk in a future exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
On the front line, a five-hour battle was fought in the Polohy district. Local territorial defence units took part of the area but were forced back by Russian reinforcements, according to Colonel Ivan Arefiev of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration. Ukrposhta, meanwhile, issued a stamp showing the attack on Snake Island, where Ukrainian troops refused to surrender.
The day before, Zelensky had said Russian forces retreating from northern Ukraine deliberately left tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of unexploded mines, which he called a war crime. He also said Mariupol could be relieved with adequate military weapons.
