As the war enters its 458th day, we take a look at the main developments.
Here is the situation as it stands on Friday, May 27, 2023.
Fighting
- Ukraine said it shot down 10 missiles and more than 20 drones in an overnight attack on the capital Kyiv as well as the city of Dnipro and eastern regions of the country. The Ukrainian air force said 17 missiles and 31 drones in total had been launched during the overnight raid.
- Two people were killed and 23 injured when a Russian missile hit a health clinic in Dnipro city, the regional governor said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as a crime against humanity.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it carried out an overnight attack on Ukrainian ammunition depots, the state RIA news agency reported.
- Five districts in Russia’s Belgorod region were hit by drones, artillery and mortar fire over the previous 24 hours, with the village of Kozinka being struck 132 times, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, adding that the city of Belgorod came under attack 14 times.
- Two drones damaged a residential and office building in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, east of Crimea, officials said.
- Ukraine’s general prosecutor’s office said at least 483 children have been killed and nearly 1,000 wounded since Russia’s full-scale invasion 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 issues, with potentially lasting effects.
- Russia’s foreign ministry summoned senior United States diplomats over comments by White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, whom the ministry accused of “effectively endorsing strikes” on Crimea. On Sunday, Sullivan was asked whether Ukraine should have weapons that can reach Russian targets in Crimea. He replied: “We have not placed limitations on Ukraine being able to strike on its territory within its internationally recognised borders.”
Weapons
- The European Union condemned an agreement to allow the deployment of Russian nuclear warheads to Belarus. “This is a step which will lead to further extremely dangerous escalation,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
- Germany’s military has ordered 18 new Leopard 2 tanks to replace vehicles that were sent to Ukraine earlier this year.
- Germany will move its Patriot missile defence system, stationed in Slovakia, to Lithuania to protect the NATO summit in Vilnius scheduled for July, the country’s defence 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 fails to adequately back Ukraine in its defence against Russia, it would send a signal to China that it could invade Taiwan. “There can be no backing off of helping Ukraine because if we fail here, there goes Taiwan,” Graham told reporters.
- In coordination with other Group of Seven (G7) members and sanctions related to the invasion of Ukraine, Japan will freeze the assets of 78 groups and 17 individuals, including army officers in Russia, and ban exports to 80 Russian entities such as military-affiliated research labs.
- Russia indicated that it views Pope Francis’s Ukraine peace initiative positively, while stressing there are no immediate plans for a Vatican visit to Moscow.
- The United Kingdom’s former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former US President Donald Trump discussed Ukraine and “the vital importance of Ukrainian victory”, Johnson’s spokesperson said.
- Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed gratitude for China’s “balanced position” and willingness to play a positive role in the conflict in Ukraine.
- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and reiterated his country’s willingness to talk to both sides in the conflict. Lula also thanked Putin for inviting him to the International Economic Forum in St Petersburg, but that he was unable to attend.
Politics
- Former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned that the West is underestimating the risk of nuclear war and said peace negotiations were “impossible” as long as Zelenskyy remained in power. “The Anglo-Saxons do not fully realise this and believe that it will not come to this,” he said. “It will under certain conditions.”
- Jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has appealed against a Russian court decision to extend his pre-trial 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 fertiliser from Ukrainian Black Sea ports has not yet resumed full operations, the UN said, having come to a halt before Russia’s decision last week to extend it.
