At least two Ukrainian soldiers die in Donbas armed fighting

At least two Ukrainian soldiers died in the Donbas war
zone on Apr. 2 from mortar fire, according to various state reports. The
casualties, including machine gunner Yana Chervona, were members of the Donbas
volunteer battalion, as reported on the Ukrainian president’s Facebook page.
The press center of Operation Joint Forces reported two military casualties
this morning, though it wasn’t clear whether they were the same victims. It
also reported two injured soldiers in the last 24 hours.

At least 17 members of Ukraine’s Armed Forces died in
March, nine of which occurred on the Donbas warfront, the gazeta.ua news site
reported on Apr. 3. Two of the battlefield casualties were 19 years old. The
Russian-backed forces shot at Ukrainian positions 185 times throughout the
month.

Zenon Zawada: We expect the Russian-backed fighters in Donbas to maintain the
intensity of their attacks in April, particularly ahead of the Apr. 21 runoff
vote. The Putin administration believes that the strong election results for
Volodymyr Zelenskiy reflect the public’s willingness to pursue
compromise/capitulation (though the extent to which it’s true or not is
unclear). Therefore, keeping the war in the news cycle, particularly
casualties, will help elect Zelenskiy, in the view of the Kremlin. We believe
the Putin administration would strongly prefer to have the political neophyte
as president to advance its destabilization plans for Ukraine.