Global Courant 2023-04-28 08:12:07
As the war enters its 429th day, we review key developments.
This is the state of affairs on Friday, April 28, 2023:
Diplomacy
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the first known wartime phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but noted that Beijing has still not condemned the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine since it began in February 2022. The Kremlin said relations with European countries were at the lowest possible level and that each wave of expulsions of Russian diplomats reduced the space available for diplomacy. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said he invited Pope Francis to visit Ukraine and discussed the Kiev peace formula during talks at the Vatican. A Russian court fined the Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, two million rubles ($24,510) for failing to remove “banned content” related to the Russian military, Interfax reported. Russia rejected a request from the US embassy to visit imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
To fight
Russian troops on Thursday attempted to cut off key supply routes to the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and put more pressure on defending troops, Ukrainian military officials said. One person was killed and 23 injured in a Russian missile strike on an apartment building and houses in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper announced that Ukrainian journalist Bogdan Bitik, who worked as an interpreter at the paper, was “most likely killed by Russian snipers” as he traveled to Kherson with reporter Corrado Zunino on Wednesday. Russia’s defense ministry said its forces have taken over four blocks in Bakhmut’s northwest, west and southwest, the TASS news agency said. Ukraine’s long-awaited counter-offensive could push the war into a critical new phase, military expert Justin Bronk told Al Jazeera. A deserter from Russia’s Wagner group of mercenaries seeking asylum in Norway has been convicted of being involved in a bar fight and carrying an air pistol. Andrey Medvedev, 26, received a 14-day suspended sentence.
Weapons
According to NATO’s Stoltenberg, NATO members and their partners have supplied Ukraine with 1,550 armored vehicles and 230 tanks. That amounts to 98 percent of what has been committed.
