As the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its 402nd day, we take a look at the main developments.
This is the state of affairs on Saturday, April 1, 2023:
Diplomacy/assistance
- A new $2.6 billion US military aid package could be announced early next week, US officials said, and is expected to include air-surveillance radars, anti-tank missiles and fuel trucks for the Ukrainian military.
- US President Joe Biden called on Russia to release the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, as the newspaper’s editors said that Washington should expel the Russian ambassador to the US in retaliation.
- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in an hours-long contradictory speech to his nation, called for a ceasefire in Ukraine and also said “a third world war” was looming as he defended the host country Russian nuclear weapons in his country.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a foreign policy update to President Vladimir Putin that his country faces “existential threats” to its security and development from “unfriendly states”.
- The board of directors of the International Monetary Fund has reportedly approved a four-year, $15.6 billion financing package for Ukraine to help the country obtain urgent financing.
- Slovakia plans to increase production of critical munitions and artillery shells for Ukraine, Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad told journalists during a trip to Kiev. The country recently delivered a Kub air defense system and the first of 13 promised Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets.
- Wimbledon said it will accept Russian and Belarusian tennis players as “neutral” athletes, after players were banned after Ukraine’s invasion last year. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the decision “immoral”. “Has Russia ceased its aggression or atrocities? No, it’s just that Wimbledon decided to house two accomplices in crime,” he added in a post on Twitter.
To fight
- The Ukrainian military leadership accused Russian forces of refocusing on civilian targets because they could make little gain on the battlefield by attacking the city of Zaporizhzhia and other places with ballistic missiles. At least six Russian missiles hit the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv late Thursday night.
- The advance of Russian soldiers on the outskirts of the city of Bakhmut on the eastern front has been “halted – or nearly halted,” said the director of the Ukrainian defense magazine Defense Express.
- The head of Wagner’s mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Ukrainian forces suffered “serious casualties” in Bakhmut. On Telegram’s messaging app, Prigozhin said, “No, the Ukrainian army is not running anywhere. The Ukrainian army is fighting bloody battles and defending Artemivsk [Bakhmut] at the cost of very serious losses.”
- Ukrainians gathered in Bucha with President Volodymr Zelenskyy to celebrate one year since the city was liberated from Russian occupiers who left behind evidence of atrocities. Zelensky said fierce Ukrainian resistance to the invasion has deterred Russia from committing more such atrocities in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world.