Here is the situation as it stands on Wednesday, April 26, 2023:
Diplomacy
- A senior Ukrainian official has said improving and extending a deal on the export of its grain can only succeed if the international community pressures Russia. Earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin proposing a “way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion” of the agreement.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has blamed the West for a deadlock over the Black Sea grain deal, claiming Moscow had seen “practically no results” from the pact for its grain and fertiliser exports.
- Ukraine’s presidential adviser has accused Russia of “hypocrisy” after Lavrov chaired a UN Security Council meeting on upholding the principles of the UN Charter on Monday.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa has resolved to quit the International Criminal Court (ICC) because of the court’s alleged unfair treatment of certain countries. His call comes a month after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin on accusations that Russia unlawfully deported Ukrainian children.
- Russia’s foreign ministry has expelled a Moldovan diplomat in retaliation for the removal of a Russian diplomat from Moldova last week.
- Sweden said it will expel five Russian diplomats who allegedly breached the rules on diplomatic ties.
- The United Kingdom and France have demanded a ban on Russian and Belarusian state-funded athletes.
Fighting
- Russian forces hit a museum in the Ukrainian town of Kupiansk, killing at least two people and wounding 10, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
- Russia has begun using its new T-14 Armata battle tanks to fire on Ukrainian positions, the RIA state news agency reported.
- Ukrainian forces on the western side of the Dnieper River have been conducting frequent raids on Russian troops on the river’s eastern bank near the city of Kherson, a regional official said.
- Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the world is “probably” on the verge of a new world war, with the risks of a nuclear confrontation rising.
- Patriarch Kirill, the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church and a close ally of Putin, has said Russians who failed to serve their country were “internal enemies”, aiming his comments at those who have dodged the military draft or moved abroad after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Weapons
- Russia’s TASS news agency reported the country might abandon the moratorium on deploying intermediate and shorter-range missiles.
