As the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its 412th day, we take a look at the main developments.
This is the state of affairs on Tuesday, April 11, 2023:
To fight
- The Moscow-installed head of the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, said Russian troops control “more than 75 percent” of Bakhmut.
- Ukrainian ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russian troops in Bakhmut had switched to scorched earth tactics.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned Russian airstrikes on Orthodox Palm Sunday, including one that killed a man and his daughter at their home in the city of Zaporizhzhia.
- Ukraine released 106 Russian prisoners of war in exchange for 100 Ukrainians, both countries said.
- The governor of the frontline city of Avdiivka, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, said the city’s population had fallen to just 1,800 from 32,000 before the war.
Diplomacy
- The United States has said it is still assessing an apparent leak of US military intelligence documents, which a Pentagon spokesman said could pose “a very serious risk to national security” and could lead to the spread of misinformation.
- The US administration will try to rally allies this week to ramp up economic pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and bolster support for Kiev, Undersecretary of the Treasury Jay Shambaugh said.
- Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister began a visit to India and said Kiev is seeking a visit from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top officials. Emine Dzhaparova also said that New Delhi should become more involved in resolving the war in Ukraine.
- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing this week to discuss trade and war in Ukraine.
- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for an unannounced meeting in Minsk and said he had received indications from Moscow that Russia would defend Belarus “as its own territory” in the event of an external attack.
- The Kremlin said it is hard to imagine France playing the role of a mediator in Ukraine because Paris had sided with one of the parties to the conflict.
- Washington accused Moscow of violating international law by denying US officials consular access to detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The US has formally labeled Gershkovich as “unjustly detained”.
- Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza said he stood by all of his political statements, including those he made against Russia’s war on Ukraine, for which he risked 25 years in prison.
- A Russian court has sentenced two former officials to 19 years in prison for throwing Molotov cocktails at a town hall in protest of military mobilization, Russian news agencies said.