Day 410 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Zelensky still sees Ukraine on the Path of Joining NATO

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Day 410 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

• Zelensky said he still sees Ukraine on the path to joining NATO
• Vitaly Votanovsky, who photographed a "Wagner" cemetery, fled Russia
• Thousands of Germans are protesting with demands for peace and an end to the war in Ukraine

Zelensky said he still sees Ukraine on the path to joining NATO

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he still sees his country on the path to joining NATO, even though Russia's war of aggression shows no signs of ending after 13 months of fighting, DPA reported.

This week has seen a good "move towards NATO", which is expressed in new military aid from the West and other manifestations of international support, Zelensky said in his evening video address from Kyiv.

Zelensky said this on the occasion of Lithuania's proposal to invite Ukraine to become a NATO member at the alliance's summit in Vilnius in July. He thanked Lithuania.

Ukraine's bid to join NATO is often cited by the Kremlin as one of the reasons for Russia's full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.

Last year, Zelensky pushed for "expedited" Ukraine's accession to NATO, hoping for preferential treatment. The US and other NATO member countries, such as Germany, have expressed reservations on this issue, considering that one of the preconditions for joining the alliance is that the candidate country does not participate in international conflicts.

Vitaly Votanovsky, who photographed a "Wagner" cemetery, fled Russia

The Russian activist and blogger Vitaly Votanovsky, who published photos from a cemetery of the private military company "Wagner" near Krasnodar, has left Russia, the BBC reported.

In December of last year, Vitaly Votanovski discovered a cemetery of soldiers from PMC "Wagner" near Krasnodar and uploaded the photos to his blog. He fled Russia on April 4 after receiving numerous death threats. Votanovski spoke to the BBC from the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

The activist was arrested and imprisoned on the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On February 24, 2022, Vitaly Votanovski went to protest wearing a shirt with the inscription "No to Putin!" and "No to war!". Photos of Vitaly's clothing are included in official court documents. "I got 20 days in jail for that shirt!" he told the BBC.

"Vanger Cemetery"

Votanovsky discovered the "Wagner Cemetery" in the small village of Bakinskaya in the Krasnodar Territory. This is where the mercenary group, known for its brutal cruelty, buries many of its dead from Ukraine - men who either have no relatives or whose bodies have not been claimed.

He painstakingly recorded the names and details of all the graves discovered. By the time he fled Russia, his database contained over 1,300 names, including the dead from the Krasnodar region alone.

Vitaly identified the graves of the men who died in the war - as opposed to ordinary civilian deaths - by interviewing local people as well as by studying wreaths and photographs of the graves.

"It was obvious that they were convicts and mercenaries. They were recruited from the prisons. Journalists checked the names and found out what they went to prison for," Vitaly answers when asked if it is known who these men were.

"Deaths have skyrocketed"

Vitaly documented not only the deceased Wagner fighters in the Bakinskaya cemetery. He continues to monitor all fallen military personnel at all cemeteries in the Krasnodar Territory. What he discovers shocks him:

"The fact is that since December 2022, Russia's losses on the battlefield have increased several times. Deaths have simply skyrocketed. And lately, in the cemeteries, the graves are all of mobilized soldiers and Wagner boys. There are very few professional soldiers."

"Get ready. He's coming"

The threats began as soon as Vitaly published his first article about the "Wagner" graves. "In January, someone called me and offered me a 'place in the cemetery.' There were three calls - I received two, and my driver Victor - one. A man called me and said, ‘Now is the time to think about ending your life,’" the activist told the BBC.

Last week, when Votanovsky passed a police station in Krasnodar, a policeman told him: "Get ready. He's coming."

"He meant the state's reaction to the interviews I gave. They already had enough grounds to open a serious criminal case against me," Vitaly explained. He eventually managed to escape to Armenia, and now plans to seek political asylum in Germany.

When asked why the Russian authorities do not want people like him to publish information about "Wagner" and about the victims in the war, Vitaly Votanovski answers:

"For our country, these are terrifying statistics - claims Vitaly - and the Russian people simply do not know the real numbers. I wanted to show people the true scale of the catastrophe. If people find out the real numbers about the losses on the battlefield, they will go crazy."

Thousands of Germans are protesting with demands for peace and an end to the war in Ukraine

Thousands joined today the traditional Easter marches across Germany of the peace movement with demands for talks to end the war in Ukraine, DPA reported.

According to the Peace Cooperation Network, there were actions in about 70 cities, including the capital Berlin, Bonn, Bremen, Hanover, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart.

The demonstrators also demanded an end to the export of German weapons to Ukraine, which is attacked by Russia, as well as a refusal of the announced rearmament of the Bundeswehr - the German armed forces.

According to estimates by the organizers, who in the afternoon still did not have final data for the entire country, about 2,000 people gathered in Berlin, approximately 1,200 in Hanover, and several hundred in Bremen, Munich, Cologne, Mainz and Leipzig. German police reported 1,500 demonstrators in the capital.

The call for the Easter March in the Rhine/Ruhr region states that the German government and the European Union must make serious efforts for "peace talks without preconditions". "No" to the delivery of tanks and other heavy weapons that can escalate and prolong the war, the text also says.

The Bonn call said: "While Ukraine has the right to defend itself, more and heavier weapons are not a solution, but fuel this war." Flags and posters in Berlin featured phrases such as "Peace, heating, bread instead of weapons, war and death" and "NATO is an aggressor - peace with Russia".

According to the Peace Cooperation Network, more than 120 actions were planned across the country from Thursday to Monday.

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