As we enter the 781st day of the war, these are the most important developments.
Here is the situation as of Monday, April 15, 2024.
Battle
- Ukrainian army chief Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskii said on Sunday that Russian forces aimed to capture the town of Chasiv Yar by May 9, laying the foundation for a key battle for control of the highlands to the east where Russia has its Attacks concentrated.
- The fall of Chasiv Yar, west of the devastated city of Bakhmut, to the day Moscow marks the Soviet victory in World War II would point to increasing momentum on the Russian battlefield as Kiev faces a slowdown in Western military aid.
- Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a think tank in Philadelphia, said on X that Chasiv Yar would likely be an important battle. “Chasiv Yar is located on a defensible hill. If Russia takes over [town]they could potentially increase the rate of advance deeper into Donetsk [region] as part of an expected summer offensive,” he said.
- In addition, fragments of a launched Russian missile fell on a settlement outside the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Sunday, injuring 12 people, the region’s governor Serhiy Lysak said.
- Lysak also said that Russian forces had used artillery in 11 attacks on the city of Nikopol, a common target opposite the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. He said four people were injured.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainians in his late-night address on Sunday: “The situation at the front is always difficult during such a hot war. But these days – and especially on the Donetsk front – it is becoming more and more difficult.”
Politics and diplomacy
- President Zelensky on Sunday condemned Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel, saying his country needed the help of its allies to counter aerial threats, just as Israel had done.
- Zelensky again called on the US Congress to approve a vital aid package that has been blocked by political disputes for months.
- U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he would seek to provide aid to Israel this week, but did not say whether the legislation would also include aid to Ukraine and other U.S. allies.
- According to an exclusive report by Reuters news agency, the Russian Copper Company (RCC) and Chinese firms dodged taxes and evaded the impact of Western sanctions by trading in new copper wire rod disguised as scrap.
weapons
- Germany will deliver a US-made Patriot air defense system and anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine at a “critical time,” Zelensky said.
- “I am grateful to the Chancellor for the decision to supply Ukraine with another additional Patriot system as well as missiles for the existing air defense systems,” said the President after a telephone conversation with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
- Ukraine’s leader said last week that the country needs 25 American-made Patriot air defense systems to protect the country from Russian attacks.