As the war enters its 454th day, we review key developments.
This is the state of affairs on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.
To fight
- Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his mercenaries would leave Bakhmut from Thursday and hand over control of the eastern Ukrainian city to Russian conventional forces. Ukraine has denied Russian claims that Bakhmut has fallen.
- According to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin, one person died of shrapnel injuries after Russia shelled the village of Stanislav in Ukraine’s Kherson region.
- According to the region’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov, two women were wounded by Russian shelling in Kupiansk in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkov province. He said residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were damaged in the attack.
- Ukrainian military intelligence officer Kyrylo Budanov addressed Russian soldiers in a movie and urged them to surrender if they don’t want to die.
- Power at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was restored after Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the latest blackout.
- Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, Russia’s southern region, said authorities helped people leave the area after an armed attack by a “sabotage” group from Ukraine. Kiev denied any involvement and said the attack was the work of armed groups in Russia.
- The United Kingdom said Russian troops likely formed a new “elite” aviation group as the West promised to bolster Kiev’s air defences.
Diplomacy
- The United Nations has expressed concern that the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi, in the Black Sea town of Yuzhne, has not received ships since May 2 under an agreement allowing the safe export of wartime grain and fertilizers.
- NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly recognized Russian actions in Ukraine as “genocide,” said Yehor Cherniev, the head of the Ukrainian delegation at the meeting.
- Six African leaders suggested that Ukraine agree to open peace talks with Russia even if Russian troops remain on its territory, the South African presidency said, as South African officials prepared to visit both countries to test the idea. to sell.
- Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the country planned to organize a peace summit for Ukraine in July, according to the Danish news agency Ritzau.
- Tens of thousands of Moldovans gathered in the capital, Chisinau, to support their pro-Western government move to Europe amid what officials say are Russian attempts to destabilize their country.
Weapons
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Poland is in advanced talks to buy Swedish early warning aircraft and hopes the negotiations will be concluded soon, said Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak. Poland has ramped up military spending since Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, with the government pledging to double the size of its army and spend 4 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense by 2023.