Top news stories about the Russia-Ukraine war on Russia's Channel One on Friday, April 29, 2022.

By Madeline Roache and Jonathan Campion

What follows is NewsGuard’s summary and translation of top news stories from Russia’s state TV Channel One. NewsGuard presents these stories in the order that they appear on the program. NewsGuard shares this summary as part of our mission to monitor and report all categories of misinformation, including Russian disinformation. Please note that these summaries of Russian state TV broadcasts may well contain falsehoods or propaganda, and NewsGuard does not vet them for accuracy or balance.

In Donetsk, a petroleum depot is damaged by an attack from the Ukrainian army

The industrial facility burst into flames after it was hit by a missile. Witnesses are sharing images on social networks. The city’s authorities have announced that four transformer stations have been left without electricity as a result of the attack. 

Meanwhile, hospitals continue to treat peaceful civilians who were injured in yesterday’s shelling by Ukrainian radical groups. The areas hit by missiles include a market. Five people were killed, and over 20 more have been hospitalized

Last night, mass shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces hit the towns of Makeyevka and Gorlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. A child has died, and dozens of people suffered injuries. The powers in Kiev used Grad missiles — and this is not the first time that they have opened fire on residential areas while retreating. They clearly don’t feel that these settlements are theirs.

Russian Ka-52 helicopters are operating in the zone where the special operation in Ukraine is being carried out

Russian pilots are tasked with identifying the positions from where the enemy is shelling, and destroying them. Our helicopters, which are also effective at low altitudes, have no equal here. Ka-52 helicopters operate in the zone where the special operation is being carried out. This helicopter has been nicknamed the Alligator for its formidable power, while the Mi-8 ensures security and covers the other crews. 

A pilot of one of the Ka-52 helicopters commented: “Our task is to destroy the enemy’s bases. We operate as far away from the enemy as possible, so as not to enter its zone. We operate at a distance of five or six kilometres, depending on the type of missiles [that the other side has].”

Maria Zakharova: Russia has done everything possible to prevent a nuclear war

[Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson] Maria Zakharova has commented on a rumor that is currently being spread in the West, that Moscow is allegedly preparing for a nuclear war. Such statements are a hatchet job, Zakharova stressed, in a commentary that was published on the Foreign Ministry’s Telegram channel.

The reason for this new round of hysteria in Western countries was an interview with [foreign minister] Sergei Lavrov, which foreign politicians and media have tried to use in their favor, saying that Russia is to blame for bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war.

Ms. Zakharova said: “Our country is against nuclear war. This is what our minister has said. This is what our diplomacy is guided by in its activities. Perhaps the problem is that western capitals read these interviews as they are narrated in the western media? That is the only possible justification. They simply should not have switched off their alternative sources of information; then they might have listened to Russia’s statements as they were originally made, and not according to NATO’s own methodology.”

The United States Congress has approved a military land lease for Ukraine

The American legislature has approved a draft law on providing Ukraine with military equipment under a land lease. This document also makes it easier for the Americans to give military support to the powers in Kiev. It is noteworthy that members of [Congress] accepted this initiative without a debate: 417 Congressmen voted for it, and only 10 voted against.

This so-called land lease act bestows a wider range of powers on the American president. It means that Washington will be sending military equipment and weapons not only for Ukraine to use on a temporary basis, but other countries in Eastern Europe as well. 

There are no clauses in the document that would prevent any particular resources from being sent. That is to say, the USA can provide its partners with anything and in any volume.

Ukraine continues to use provocations in an attempt to discredit the Russian army

Our Defense Ministry has told of new instances of the Ukrainian armed forces subjecting peaceful civilians to inhumane treatment. They are continuing to use the population as a human shield. According to information from our troops, the powers in Kiev have brought heavy weapons into residential buildings and schools in Kharkov and Odessa, and set up firing positions inside them. In addition to this, they are continuing to stage provocations with the aim of discrediting the Russian army.

The Russian Ministry of Defense commented: “In the town of Liman in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a unit of the Ukrainian armed forces is shooting at residential areas from the edges of the town using projectile missiles. While this is happening, journalists from Ukrainian and western information agencies film video footage of the destroyed buildings from safe locations, sometimes even using quadcopters. These videos are intended to be used in fake news reports about supposed ‘crimes by Russian soldiers’, which are planned to be disseminated widely in the western media and on the internet. Such inhuman acts and provocations by the neo-Nazis show once again that the Ukrainian authorities have no concept of morals, or the principles of international humanitarian law. The lives of innocent people are completely unimportant to them.”

Tank crews and motorized infantry have been given state awards for their excellence during the special operation in Ukraine

Every day, our troops accomplish their tasks bravely and faithfully, moving forward shoulder to shoulder. Our Defense Ministry has released a video of our outstanding tank crews and motorized infantry being honored with state awards.

The modest ceremony took place right on the front lines, in a rare moment of calm between battles. Around 20 fighters from the Southern Military Region were presented with medals for bravery, and their officers received the Order of Courage

The Russian Defense Ministry has released new evidence of barbarity by Ukrainian nationalists during the Second World War

The declassified documents have been published on the agency’s website as part of the ‘Archives Remember Everything’ project. These documents contain materials about the brutal crimes of the Banderites, including about how they killed Soviet pilots, and how they robbed and murdered civilians.

It is for this reason that in May 1944, it was decided to carry out a special operation against the Nazi collaborators. The recently published documents also contain details of how the Banderovites came up with their plots.