As we enter the 792nd day of the war, these are the most important developments.
Here is the situation as of Friday, April 26, 2024.
Battle
Politics and diplomacy
- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said China must stop supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine if it wants better relations with the West. Beijing says it is remaining neutral in the war. But Stoltenberg said it helped support Moscow’s war, pointing out that Russia imported 90 percent of its microelectronics from China, which were then used in the production of missiles, tanks and aircraft. “China says it wants good relations with the West. At the same time, Beijing continues to foment the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II. You can’t have it both ways,” he said.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said he plans to visit China in May. He didn’t give a date. Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to Moscow to meet Putin a year ago, and the two men met again last October on the sidelines of a Beijing forum, when Xi said “political mutual trust” between their countries was “continually deepening.” .
- Mykola Solsky, Ukraine’s agriculture minister, has resigned amid a corruption investigation into his alleged involvement in the illegal purchase of $7 million in state-owned land. A court is expected to decide on Friday whether Solsky should be taken into custody.
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Leading Russian human rights group Memorial warned that the health of Oleg Orlov, its jailed 71-year-old leader, was deteriorating. Orlov was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in February for “discrediting the armed forces” after he took part in anti-war demonstrations and published an article claiming that Russia had fallen into fascism. Orlov was scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, but the hearing was canceled.
- The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said a couple found guilty of treason for passing information to Russia that allowed its forces to launch a rocket attack on a hospital in the southern Kherson region was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
- The SBU said it also arrested a former soldier whom it accused of helping Russia plan attacks in the northeastern Kharkiv region. The suspect, who faces a prison sentence of up to eight years, tried to flee to Russian-controlled territory, it said.
- Russia has sentenced a 26-year-old Siberian to 10 years in prison for state treason and “terrorism” over plans to join Russian units fighting for Ukraine. According to the state news agency TASS, the man was arrested on his way to Ukraine.
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said a U.S. proposal to use interest from $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine is gaining support among G7 countries skeptical of a full asset seizure. Moscow said it could weaken diplomatic ties with the United States if its frozen assets were seized.
- Poland and Lithuania could help repatriate Ukrainians of military age to Ukraine, the defense ministers of both countries said.
- Prominent Russian blogger and TV host Anastasia Ivleeva, whose “almost naked” party sparked outrage in Moscow, was fined 50,000 rubles ($540) for “discrediting” the country’s armed forces by appearing in a social media post called for peace.
- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said the risk of military incidents along his country’s border with Ukraine was quite high. Lukashenko also said that “several dozen” Russian tactical nuclear weapons had been deployed in Belarus.
weapons
- The US media portal Politico reported that the US could announce a new arms package worth $6 billion for Ukraine as early as Friday. Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the package would likely include Patriot air defense systems, artillery ammunition, drones, counter-drone weapons and air-to-air missiles for fighter jets.
- Russia ignored the potential impact of Ukraine’s new long-range weapons on the battlefield. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that such weapons would “not change the outcome of the special military operation,” as Russia calls its invasion, and would “cause even more problems for Ukraine itself.”
- The Danish government announced that it is increasing its military aid fund for Ukraine by 4.4 billion crowns ($630 million). According to the Germany-based Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the country is the fourth-largest donor of military aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in 2022.