Captured Chinese soldiers talk to the media, while Trump finds those to blame for war in Ukraine - Monday brief

Russia-Ukraine war: Update

• US President Donald Trump reacted to the Russian strike on Sumy on April 13: "It was terrible, they made a mistake."
• The Russian army attacked Odesa with drones. Five people were injured. A medical facility was damaged.

Zelenskyy on Ukraine’s losses during the war: 'We are paying the highest price'

During an interview with CBS News, a voiceover in the video stated that Russian forces strike Ukrainian cities every day. The journalist mentioned that since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, 1,700 attacks on schools have been recorded. The video also reports that more than 600 children have been killed and 780 medical facilities have been attacked. According to the journalist, civilian casualties amount to 13,000, and up to 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died. At the same time, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, did not cite specific numbers regarding Ukraine's losses but said the following:

"Our people are paying the highest price of all possible. There is no higher price. We have given all our money — everything we have financially. But most importantly, we have given (the lives — ed.) of our people."

Chinese soldiers captured by Ukraine spoke to the media for the first time

They signed a contract with the Russian army, although they had no combat experience. One had planned to work in medical rehabilitation, but Russia decided otherwise, and he ended up on the front line.

One of the prisoners said there were ten Chinese in his unit; another said there were two in his. The Chinese claim they did not kill any Ukrainian soldiers. One was wounded, and the other surrendered. They want to return home, are open to a prisoner exchange, and hope that China will help in this.

Zelenskyy states that Ukraine is ready to buy ten US Patriot systems

"I told President Trump very clearly what we can do. There is the Patriot system, and you have many of them, and you have the production. There are several steps to protect Ukraine. First step: one system costs $1.5 billion — we are ready to buy it, and we need at least ten systems to cover several cities, only for civilians, the city centers as much as possible, where there are large gatherings of people. That's $15 billion. We are ready to pay these 15 billion. We will find this money and pay everything," said the President of Ukraine.

Ukraine submitted Kyiv's proposals regarding minerals deal to US

According to Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, this took place during technical consultations in Washington. She also stated that she could not disclose many details about the agreement, but the fact that consultations are taking place is already a positive sign.

"As for what can be said at this stage: the Ukrainian delegation had the opportunity to present to the American side all the proposals we had prepared here in Kyiv, which had been coordinated. All of them became the subject of discussion," said Stefanishyna.

Trump found those to blame for war in Ukraine, and it's not Putin

"President Zelenskyy and Crooked Joe Biden did an absolutely horrible job in allowing this travesty to begin. There were so many ways of preventing it from ever starting. But that is the past. Now we have to get it to stop, and fast. So sad," said the US President.