Here is the situation on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.
Fighting
- Authorities in Kyiv said Russia had used five of its new hypersonic Zircon missiles to attack the Ukrainian capital since the start of the year. The attacks were among more than 180 Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv in the first three months of the year, the city administration added.
- Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s border region of Belgorod, said 10 people were injured in Ukrainian shelling of the region. He added that defence units had brought down 19 airborne targets.
- Valery Chaika, a Moscow-appointed official in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Luhansk region, was killed in what authorities said was a car bomb attack.
Politics and diplomacy
- Speaking on a visit to China, France’s Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said China should send “clear messages” to Russia over its war in Ukraine. Beijing “plays a key role in… the respect of international law, including on Ukraine’s sovereignty”, Sejourne said. China maintains it is neutral in the conflict but has not condemned Moscow for its full-scale invasion.
- Foreign diplomats joined Ukrainian officials and members of the armed forces at a memorial service for the victims of the 33-day Russian occupation of Bucha northwest of Kyiv. Russian troops left the bodies of civilians lying in the streets as they retreated.
- A court in the Russian city of Kazan extended the pre-trial detention of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until June 5. Kurmasheva, who is a dual Russian-US citizen, is accused of violating a law on “foreign agents”. She denies the charges.
Weapons
- Illya Yevlash, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force, said Ukrainian forces brought down a Russian Forpost reconnaissance drone, which is capable of conducting surveillance at an altitude of 5km (3 miles) over a period of 16 hours.
- Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern group of forces, said Russia was using Forpost drones more frequently after losing at least two of its A-50 surveillance aircraft. “In the past 24 hours, we observed more than 200 reconnaissance drones in our area of responsibility from Odesa to Zaporizhia,” she told national television.
