Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 404

By William On Apr 3, 2023

As the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its 404th day, we take a look at the main developments.

This is the state of affairs on Monday, April 3, 2023:

Diplomacy

The European Union said it will guard against any abuse during Russia’s presidency of the United Nations Security Council in the month of April.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany has criticized former senior politicians in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the country’s labor movement for calling for peace talks with Russia.
The U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in a rare phone call since the start of the war in Ukraine to release captured Americans, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, to be released immediately.
US basketball star Brittney Griner, released last year from a Russian penal colony in a prisoner exchange, has urged the White House to continue using “all possible means” to secure the release of Gershkovich, who was being held on charges of espionage in Russia. to win.
Russia will not send fencers to an Olympic qualifying event in Poland this month due to “unacceptable” conditions, the head of the Russian Fencing Federation said.

A well-known Russian military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed on Sunday in an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city.
A pro-Russian official in Ukraine blamed Kiev for the blast, but a top Ukrainian official speculated that internal Russian opposition to the Kremlin invasion was to blame.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the military situation around the city of Bakhmut, which has been under siege by Russian troops for months, is “particularly hot”.
Six civilians have been killed and eight wounded in Russian shelling of Kostiantynivka, an industrial city in eastern Ukraine, according to Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff.
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, has outlined a series of steps the Kiev government will take after the country reclaims control of Crimea, including dismantling the strategic bridge that seized it. Black Sea Peninsula connects to Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned he would be forced to respond if the United Kingdom supplied Ukraine with depleted uranium armor-piercing munitions.
Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defense said excessive alcohol consumption is the cause of many deaths among Russian troops in Ukraine.

Russia said it is extending oil output cuts of 500,000 barrels per day until the end of the year in response to Western sanctions due to expire at the end of June.