As the war enters its 423rd day, we review key developments.
This is the situation on Friday, April 21, 2023:
To fight
- The Russian defense ministry said in a briefing that assault troops were fighting in the western parts of Bakhmut, the last part of the embattled Ukrainian city still held by Kiev forces.
- Ukraine said Russian troops had made some progress in the fierce fighting for Bakhmut, but the situation was still under control.
Aid and diplomacy
- German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius rejected the possibility of supplying German fighter jets to Ukraine during a meeting with Western allies at US Ramstein airbase in Germany.
- Latvia announced at the Ramstein meeting the delivery to Ukraine of all Stinger anti-aircraft missiles still in Latvia’s armed forces.
- NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg invited Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to the NATO summit in July as he stressed the need to support Ukraine’s battlefield logistics.
- A spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry said NATO wanted to beat Russia and kept Ukraine motivated by promising membership after the end of the war.
- The UK has imposed sanctions on a Russian judge and four others in connection with the arrest of British-Russian Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was sentenced this week to 25 years in prison.
Trade
- A deal allowing the safe export of Ukraine’s grain to the Black Sea could expire next week after Russia said it would not approve any new ships unless their operators guarantee transit will take place on “the expected date of.. . closure”, namely 18 May. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Moscow believed that the conditions for extending the United Nations-brokered agreement guaranteeing safe exports through the Black Sea had not been met.
- Ukraine’s prospects of unblocking grain shipments to Eastern Europe improved as Romania opted against a unilateral ban on food imports. Ukraine increased exports of agricultural and food products through European Union countries after Russia’s invasion disrupted the usual Black Sea shipping route.