Here is the situation on Thursday, March 21, 2024.
Fighting
- At least five people were killed and eight injured after a Russian missile hit an industrial area in Kharkiv. Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of the northern Ukrainian city, said five others were missing after the strike, which also started a massive fire in a printing house.
- Two people were killed outside Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson in Russian shelling, while another was killed in the northeastern Sumy region on the border with Russia.
- Three people were killed and four injured in Ukrainian shelling and rocket attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod, according to Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
- Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told senior generals that the country’s soldiers “continue to squeeze the enemy out of their positions” in eastern Ukraine. Shoigu said Moscow would bolster its military by adding two new armies and 30 new formations, including 14 divisions and 16 brigades, by the end of this year.
- A Ukrainian intelligence source told the Reuters news agency that Ukrainian drones attacked the Engels airbase – home to Russia’s long-range strategic bomber fleet – about 730km (about 450 miles) southeast of Moscow. The governor of the region around the base said Ukrainian drones had been brought down. There were no reports of damage.
Politics and diplomacy
- The United Nations’ Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) accused Russia of creating a “climate of fear” in the territory of Ukraine it occupies. The report said many people in the occupied territory “endured intimidation and repression, facing a constant threat of violence, detention, and punishment”. It also accused Moscow of trying to suppress Ukrainian identity. Russia occupies just over 17 percent of Ukrainian territory. It denies committing atrocities against civilians.
- Visiting Kyiv, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan insisted that a major US aid package that Republicans have been blocking for months would “get to Ukraine”.
- Sullivan, who held talks with presidential aide Andriy Yermak, stressed Washington’s support for Kyiv would continue. Yermak said discussions covered Ukraine’s current battlefield needs, the NATO military alliance’s summit in Washington in July and a peace summit in Switzerland that Kyiv wants to happen in the coming weeks. Yermak said there was “cautious hope” that China would participate.
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held separate phone calls with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed strengthening ties with both, in advance of a visit next week by the Ukrainian foreign minister to New Delhi to build support for Ukraine’s peace initiative.
- A court in Saint Petersburg jailed Russian filmmaker Vsevolod Korolyov for three years for posting criticism of the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine on social media. Korolyov, 36, had been in custody since July 2022.
- A separate Saint Petersburg court sentenced a woman to eight days in prison for writing “no to war” on a ballot paper during last week’s presidential election.
Weapons
- Speaking after a two-day visit to Kyiv, Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren said the country would provide Ukraine with 350 million euros ($382.7m) for F-16 fighter jet ammunition and advanced reconnaissance drones. The Netherlands has pledged two billion euros ($2.19bn) in military aid for Ukraine in 2024.
