Here is the situation on Wednesday, April 20, 2023:
Fighting
- Russia launched a drone attack on Odesa, hitting civilian infrastructure. General Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, added that air defences had destroyed 10 of 12 “kamikaze” drones.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inspected the country’s border with Belarus and Poland, and thanked border guards for their work “protecting” the area.
Diplomacy
- Inspections of ships carrying Ukrainian grain from its Black Sea ports have resumed under a UN-brokered deal, as Ukraine faces import bans in Europe.
- German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. Steinmeier was speaking in the Polish capital at an event to mark the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and called for mediation to end the war.
- Lloyd Austin, the United States defence chief, urged Turkey and Hungary to quickly ratify Sweden’s NATO membership bid.
- Jack Teixeira, the US airman accused of leaking highly classified Pentagon documents, will remain in jail for at least two more weeks after his lawyers asked to delay a hearing on his detention to give them time to prepare.
- A court in Moscow dismissed an appeal by prominent Russian opposition figure Ilya Yashin against an eight-and-a-half year prison sentence for criticising Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Weapons
- Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine had received its first deliveries of the US Patriot air defence system.
- The Kremlin warned South Korea sending weapons to Ukraine would make it a participant in the war. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol earlier said Seoul might extend its support for Ukraine beyond humanitarian and economic aid if there were “a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, massacre or serious violation of the laws of war”.
- According to the state-owned news agency TASS, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected newly-installed, silo-based Yars strategic missile systems in the Kaluga region, south of Moscow.
