Here is the situation as it stands on Wednesday, April 12, 2023:
Fighting
- The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said nearly 8,500 civilians had been killed in Russia’s war on Ukraine but that the actual figures were likely “considerably higher”.
- The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his forces controlled more than 80 percent of Bakhmut. The now ruined eastern Ukrainian town has seen the heaviest fighting of the nearly 14-month war.
- Sergey Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed leader of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, said the region is on guard for a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive.
- Russia will introduce electronic military draft papers for the first time in its history, making it harder for men to avoid being drafted.
- Tearful mourners bid farewell to celebrated Ukrainian opera conductor Kostiantyn Starovytskyi, who was killed fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Diplomacy
- Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken had assured him of Washington’s “ironclad” support for Kyiv’s efforts to win the war.
- The US said there was no evidence to suggest that Egypt is supplying Russia with lethal weapons after a leaked US document claimed Cairo secretly planned to supply rockets to Moscow.
- US President Joe Biden said Russia’s jailing of US journalist Evan Gershkovich on spying charges was “out of bounds”. The Kremlin says the Wall Street Journal reporter “violated Russian law” and was caught “red-handed”.
- Spanish Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said Europe could not ignore China’s role as a key trading partner and geopolitical player with the potential to help end the war in Ukraine.
- Ukraine’s youth and sports minister said Kyiv will maintain pressure on the International Olympic Committee to prevent Russian athletes from taking part in next year’s games in Paris.
Weapons
- Canada will send 21,000 assault rifles, 38 machine guns and 2.4 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine and impose sanctions on 14 Russian individuals and 34 entities, including security targets linked to the Wagner Group, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said after meeting Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Toronto.
- Denmark’s defence minister said he expects a decision on whether to donate fighter jets to Ukraine “before the summer”, as Poland and Slovakia began deliveries of MiG-29s to Kyiv.
- Romania plans to buy the latest generation of US F-35 fighter planes to boost its air defences, the country’s supreme defence council said.
