Here is the situation on Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
Fighting
- Ukraine’s navy said it damaged four Russian naval ships in a weekend missile attack on Crimea. Among those hit was the Konstantin Olshanskya large landing warship that Moscow captured from Kyiv when it annexed the peninsula in 2014. Ukraine also struck the Ivan Khurs, a Russian naval reconnaissance vessel. There was no comment from Moscow.
- Ukraine’s navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk told the Associated Press news agency that Ukrainian forces had sunk or disabled a third of all Russian warships in the Black Sea.
- Belgorod regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said five people, including two firefighters, were injured in Ukrainian shelling of two villages in the border region. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said air defence systems shot down 13 Ukrainian rockets.
- Ukraine shot down 12 Iranian-made Russian attack drones over the southern Mykolaiv and eastern Kharkiv regions. No injuries or damage were reported.
- The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it arrested two people suspected of acting on behalf of Russia as they tried to blow up a railway line used to supply weapons to the east of the country.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named 51-year-old Oleksandr Lytvynenko to head the National Security and Defence Council. Lytvynenko takes over from Oleksiy Danilov who had been in the job since October 2019.
- A Russian court extended the pre-trial detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by a further three months. The 32-year-old US journalist was arrested and accused of espionage nearly a year ago. Gershkovich, the Journal and the United States government deny he is a spy.
- Ukraine beat Iceland 2-1 to qualify for the Euro 2024 finals starting in June, their fourth successive appearance in Europe’s top international football tournament.
Weapons
- French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said France will soon be able to deliver 78 Caesar howitzers to Ukraine and will boost its supply of shells to meet Kyiv’s urgent needs for ammunition.
- Lecornu also said he was prepared to use his powers to requisition industrial capacities or order manufacturers to prioritise military over civilian orders to speed up the production of arms and shells needed on the battlefield in Ukraine and elsewhere.
