As the war enters its 458th day, we take a look at the main events.
This is the situation as it stands on Friday, May 27, 2023.
Struggle
- Ukraine said it shot down 10 missiles and more than 20 drones in a night attack on the capital kyiv, as well as the city of Dnipro and the country’s eastern regions. The Ukrainian air force said a total of 17 missiles and 31 drones were launched during the overnight raid.
- Two people were killed and 23 wounded when a Russian missile hit a health clinic in the city of Dnipro, the regional governor said. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as a crime against humanity.
- Russia’s Defense Ministry said it carried out an attack overnight on Ukrainian ammunition depots, the state-run RIA news agency reported.
- Five districts in Russia’s Belgorod region have been hit by drones, artillery and mortars over the past 24 hours, and the village of Kozinka has been hit 132 times, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, adding that the city of Belgorod has been hit 14 times. .
- Two drones damaged a residential and office building in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, east of Crimea, authorities said.
- Ukraine’s attorney general’s office said at least 483 children have been killed and nearly 1,000 injured since the full-scale invasion of Russia last year. Nearly 1,500 Ukrainian children have been orphaned, the National Social Service of Ukraine said.
- The United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, said an estimated 1.5 million Ukrainian children are at risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health problems, with potentially long-lasting effects.
- Russia’s Foreign Ministry has summoned senior US diplomats over comments by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, whom the ministry accused of “effectively supporting attacks” in Crimea. Sullivan was asked on Sunday whether Ukraine should have weapons that can hit Russian targets in Crimea. He replied: “We have not placed limitations on Ukraine being able to attack on its territory within its internationally recognized borders.”
weapons
- The European Union condemned a deal to allow the deployment of Russian nuclear warheads in Belarus. “This is a step that will lead to an extremely dangerous escalation,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
- Germany’s military ordered 18 new Leopard 2 tanks to replace the vehicles that were shipped to Ukraine earlier this year.
- Germany will move its Patriot missile defense system, stationed in Slovakia, to Lithuania to protect the NATO summit in Vilnius scheduled for July, the country’s Defense Ministry said.
- Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands is “seriously considering” sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine but has not made a final decision.
Diplomacy
- US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that if the US did not adequately support Ukraine in its defense against Russia, it would send a signal to China that it could invade Taiwan. “You can’t stop helping Ukraine because if we fail here, Taiwan goes,” Graham told reporters.
- In coordination with other members of the Group of Seven (G7) and the sanctions related to the invasion of Ukraine, Japan will freeze the assets of 78 groups and 17 individuals, including military officers in Russia, and will ban exports to 80 Russian entities, as military affiliates. research laboratories
- Russia indicated that it views positively Pope Francis’ peace initiative in Ukraine, stressing that there are no immediate plans for a Vatican visit to Moscow.
- Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former US President Donald Trump discussed Ukraine and “the vital importance of Ukraine’s victory,” Johnson’s spokesman said.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed gratitude for China’s “balanced position” and its willingness to play a positive role in the Ukraine conflict.
- Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin and reiterated his country’s willingness to talk with both parties in the conflict. Lula also thanked Putin for inviting him to the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg, but that he was unable to attend.
Policy
- Former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the West is underestimating the risk of nuclear war, saying peace talks were “impossible” as long as Zelenskyy remained in power. “Anglos don’t fully realize this and they think it won’t come to this,” he said. “It will do so under certain conditions.”
- Jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has appealed a Russian court’s decision to extend his pretrial detention by three months, court data showed. Gershkovich was arrested in March on espionage charges after Russia’s security service accused him of collecting military secrets.
Aid
- A deal allowing the safe wartime export of grain and fertilizer from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports has yet to fully resume operations, the UN said, halted ahead of Russia’s decision last week to extend it.
