As the conflict enters its 421st day, we review key developments.
This is the situation on Wednesday, April 20, 2023:
To fight
- Russia launched a drone strike on Odessa, hitting civilian infrastructure. General Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of the Ukrainian air force, added that air defenses had destroyed 10 of the 12 “kamikaze” drones.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky inspected the border with Belarus and Poland and thanked border guards for their work in “protecting” the area.
Diplomacy
- German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. Steinmeier was speaking in the Polish capital at an event marking the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and called for mediation to end the war.
- Lloyd Austin, the US defense chief, urged Turkey and Hungary to quickly ratify Sweden’s NATO membership offer.
- Jack Teixeira, the US pilot accused of leaking top secret documents from the Pentagon, will remain in jail for at least another two weeks after his lawyers asked that a hearing on his detention be postponed to give them time to prepare.
- A Moscow court rejected an appeal by prominent Russian opposition leader Ilya Yashin against an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence for criticizing Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Weapons
- Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine has received the first deliveries of the US Patriot air defense system.
- The Kremlin warned that by sending weapons to Ukraine, South Korea would join the war. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol previously said Seoul would extend its support to Ukraine beyond humanitarian and economic aid if there were “a situation that the international community cannot approve, such as a large-scale attack on civilians, a massacre or a serious violation of the laws.” of war”.
- According to the state TASS news agency, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected newly installed silo-based Yars strategic missile systems in the Kaluga region, south of Moscow.