Here is the situation on Friday, May 3, 2024.
Fighting
- At least eight children were injured in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region when Russian guided bombs struck a site close to the sports centre where they were training.
- Human Rights Watch said Russia should be investigated for war crimes over evidence allegations that its forces executed at least 21 Ukrainian soldiers as they attempted to surrender or had already surrendered between December 2023 and February 2024.
- Russia claimed to have captured the village of Berdychi in eastern Ukraine, about 12km (7 miles) northwest of the Moscow-occupied town of Avdiivka. Kyiv said its forces had retreated from the settlement over the weekend.
- The Kremlin rejected US allegations that it had used chloropicrin on the battlefield in Ukraine. The use of the chemical, which causes severe irritation to the eyes, skin and lungs, is banned in war.
Politics and diplomacy
- The United States’ Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, the country’s top spy, said the war in Ukraine was unlikely to end soon, although Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely to press on with aggressive tactics because he believed domestic and international developments were trending in his favour.
- French President Emmanuel Macron told the Economist newspaper that he had not ruled out sending ground troops to Ukraine if Russia broke through Ukrainian front lines and the government in Kyiv requested assistance.
- Ukraine has consistently demanded more air defence equipment from its Western allies as its outnumbered and outgunned forces struggle to fend off Russia during the war, now in its third year.
- Russia repeated its view that there was no point in the peace conference being planned by Switzerland in mid-June.
- The Swiss government said it had extended invitations to more than 160 delegations to the talks but “at this stage” Russia was not among them because it had repeatedly stressed it had no interest in attending.
Weapons
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia used more than 300 missiles, about 300 Shahed-type drones and more than 3,200 guided bombs in April attacks on Ukraine.
- United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Cameron visited Kyiv and said the UK would gather Ukraine’s backers next month to raise more funds for its under-pressure forces. Meeting Zelenskyy and other senior Ukrainian officials, Cameron detailed Britain’s “unequivocal support” for the country in the form of precision-guided bombs, and air defence missiles and equipment for 100 mobile air defence teams.
