Here is the situation on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
Fighting
- Odesa Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said at least 14 people were injured after Russia struck a postal depot with a ballistic missile triggering a large fire. It was the third missile attack on the Black Sea port city in as many days.
- At least two people were killed and six injured after a Russian rocket attack on the town of Hirnyk, just over 12km (7.5 miles) from the front line in Maryinka in the eastern Donetsk region.
- At last two people were killed and 13 injured after Russia launched two guided bombs on the town of Zolochiv, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, about 15km (9 miles) from the Russian border.
- Oleh Shyriaiev, commander of Ukraine’s 225th Separate Assault Battalion, which is among forces defending the strategic eastern stronghold of Chasiv Yar, told the Reuters news agency his unit was badly in need of ammunition, particularly artillery shells, as they face near constant attack from Russian drones.
- New drone footage obtained by The Associated Press news agency showed how months of relentless Russian artillery pounding has devastated Chasiv Yar. The town was once home to 12,000 people, but the footage reveals it is now almost deserted and barely a building remains intact.
- The United States accused Russia of breaking the international ban on chemical weapons by using the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops. Chloropicrin is listed as a banned agent by the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The US said Moscow was also deploying riot control agents “as a method of warfare” in Ukraine.
- Russia said Ukrainian drone attacks caused power cuts in villages in the central Oryol and southern Kursk regions. A Ukrainian drone also hit a Russian oil refinery in Ryazan, about 190km (120 miles) southeast of Moscow.
Politics and diplomacy
- The United States announced new sanctions on nearly 300 companies over Russia’s war in Ukraine, targeting Moscow’s circumvention of existing restrictions, including through China. Sanctions were imposed on 20 companies based in China and Hong Kong, including one that allegedly exported items used in the production of drones.
Weapons
- Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered an increase in weapons production for the war in Ukraine and said deliveries also needed to accelerate.
- Moscow mounted a display of Western tanks and military hardware captured by Russian forces in Ukraine, saying the exhibition ‘Trophies of the Russian Army’, showed Western assistance would not stop Russia from succeeding in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
