Weekly Russia-Ukraine war summary: Chinese soldiers captured in Ukraine, Russian forces advance in Sumy, fighting continues in Belgorod

Over the course of the week, the Ukrainian Air Force reported the downing (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) 242 Shahed-type and other unidentified drones out of 486 launched across Ukraine. An additional 185 drones were “radar-lost.” No report was issued regarding the April 7 drone raid, and no attacks were confirmed that night. Additionally, 24 missiles of various types were launched (23 of them on the night of April 6), with 13 intercepted.

Since Ukraine’s proposal for a temporary ceasefire in March, Russian forces have launched around 70 missiles and over 2,200 Shahed drones against Ukrainian territory, according to a statement by Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, claimed to have shot down 416 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over Russian territory and occupied Crimea during the week. Of these, 158 were intercepted on the night of April 9, marking the largest Ukrainian drone attack since the so-called “energy truce,” as noted by the independent Russian publication Agentstvo.

Over the past week, several sites across Russian territory were reported to have come under attack:

According to volunteers from the open source intelligence project Conflict Intelligence Team (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), between 8:00 PM on April 3 and 8:00 PM on April 10, at least 57 civilians were killed and 332 injured from attacks on civilian infrastructure on both sides of the frontline.

Losses

As of the end of March 2025, an estimated 68,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the war, according to figures from the UALosses project. The independent outlet Mediazona then compared these figures to Russian losses.

Open-source data compiled by Mediazona, BBC News Russian, and a team of volunteers, indicates that the number of confirmed Russian military deaths now stands at 101,883. The publications’ tally rose by 1,882 over the past two weeks — since it was last updated. An additional 10,377 obituaries are currently being verified.

The Associated Press published video footage of the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war near the village of Pyatykhatky in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Region; the incident occurred on March 13, 2025. The 47-second drone video shows four Ukrainian soldiers emerging from a destroyed house at gunpoint. All four lie face-down on the ground before being shot in the back. Journalists also uncovered a second video, apparently filmed from the Russian side, but it does not show the moment of the execution.