Here is the situation on Saturday, April 13, 2024.
Fighting
- The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskii, said the situation on the eastern front “has deteriorated significantly in recent days” in the face of a heightened Russian offensive.
- Ukraine has said the situation around the eastern front-line city of Chasiv Yar is “difficult and tense” with the area under “constant fire”. It lies 20km (12 miles) west of Bakhmut, which was flattened by months of artillery fire before it was captured by Russia last May.
- Six people, including a child, have been killed after Ukrainian troops shelled Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia, a southern region of Ukraine. Vladimir Rogov, a Russia-installed official, said 20 people were injured in the strike.
Politics and diplomacy
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An aborted 2022 peace deal between Russia and Ukraine could be the basis for new negotiations but there is no sign that Kyiv is ready for talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia and Ukraine were on the verge of agreeing to a deal to end hostilities at talks in Istanbul in April 2022, but that Ukraine backed away from it once Russian troops fell back from near the Ukrainian capital.
- The United States and the United Kingdom have imposed new sanctions prohibiting metal-trading exchanges from accepting new aluminium, copper and nickel produced by Russia, which is one of the world’s major producers of such minerals.
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The US has accused China of backing Russia’s war effort in Ukraine by helping Moscow in its biggest military buildup since the Soviet era, providing drone and missile technology, satellite imagery and machine tools. Unnamed senior US officials said US President Joe Biden reportedly raised the issue during his recent phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
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Prosecutors in Belgium are investigating suspected Russian interference in the upcoming European Parliament elections with the goal of affecting Ukraine policy, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has said.
- Russia has summoned French Ambassador Pierre Levy over French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne’s “unacceptable” comments on the Kremlin. Sejourne was quoted as saying this week that France had no interest in talking to the Kremlin, a few days after a telephone conversation between the two nations’ defence ministers ended in an argument.
Military
- Ukrainian fighter pilots likely to fly US F-16 aircraft are receiving their initial training with France’s air force, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu told the newspaper Ouest-France. Other countries including the Netherlands, Denmark and Romania are seeking to help Ukraine train its F-16 pilots after the United States gave the go-ahead.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence says Moscow had conducted a successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile at the Kapustin Yar rocket launch complex in the southern Astrakhan region.
