As we enter the 791st day of the war, these are the most important developments.
Here is the situation as of Thursday, April 25, 2024.
Battle
- At least six people were injured after Russia launched a missile attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Officials said the S-300 missiles damaged residential buildings, offices, a gas pipeline through the city center and dozens of cars. Russia claimed to have attacked a military dormitory.
- Ukrainian intelligence sources told Reuters that their drones attacked two Rosneft-owned oil depots in Russia’s Smolensk region, west of Moscow, as well as a large steel plant in the southern Lipetsk region. Russian regional officials said fires broke out at oil facilities after the attack, while a drone was shot down in an industrial zone in the Lipetsk region. They did not say whether there was any damage.
Politics and diplomacy
- The United States Congress passed a long-delayed $61 billion aid package for Ukraine, which was quickly signed into law by President Joe Biden.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the approval, saying Ukraine would do its best to “make up for” the past six months as it struggled to fend off better-equipped Russian forces. Zelensky said he was working closely with U.S. officials to craft an upcoming $1 billion military package that includes “exactly the weapons our soldiers need.” He specifically mentioned the Army’s Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), artillery, anti-tank weapons, High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and air defense.
- Zelensky said 16 Ukrainian children previously “deported to Russia” had been reunited with their families after mediation talks organized by Qatar. Kiev has accused Russia of forcibly deporting thousands of children from the Ukrainian territories it occupied.
- A court in Moscow ordered Timur Ivanov, one of Russia’s 12 deputy defense ministers, to be held in custody on bribery charges. Ivanov was responsible for military construction projects and was known for his lavish lifestyle. The 48-year-old, who wore his military uniform in court, faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.
- Ukraine’s security service SBU said it suspected Metropolitan Arseni, a senior cleric and head of the main Orthodox monastery in eastern Ukraine, of giving “tips” to Russian forces about Ukrainian army positions in the Kramatorsk district and spreading “pro-Kremlin narratives.” . If convicted, the priest could face up to eight years in prison.
- According to the changed legislation, Ukraine will no longer issue new passports to some men of military age abroad. The exact scope and period of the measure were unclear. Ukraine is expanding conscription to increase the number of troops on the battlefield.
- Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Italy will sign an agreement next month with Ukraine and the United Nations cultural organization UNESCO to rebuild the city of Odessa and its cathedral, which was badly damaged by a Russian attack last July.
weapons
- White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed that the US had sent a “significant number” of long-range ATACMS to Ukraine and was “sending more.” Sullivan was responding to reports in the US media that the missiles had been sent and used twice. The long-range ATACMS has a range of 300 km (186 miles).