Here is the situation on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.
Fighting
- Oleksandr Pivnenko, the commander of Ukraine’s National Guard, said Russia was preparing “unpleasant surprises” and could try to advance on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the second-biggest in the country, in the coming months. Pivnenko said Kyiv’s forces were prepared to thwart any assault.
- Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow would “increase the intensity of attacks on logistics centres and storage bases for Western weapons” in Ukraine, as he claimed advances on the front line in Pervomaiske, Bohdanivka and Novomykhailivka this month.
- At least nine people were injured after a Russian drone attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa, which damaged more than a dozen residential apartments. Four children, including two babies, were among the injured and were taken to hospital.
- Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched a total of 16 attack drones and two short-range Iskander ballistic missiles in the attack, which was also aimed at Kyiv, but all were shot down. One person was injured by falling drone debris in the Mykolaiv region.
- A Russian rocket attack on the Dnipropetrovsk region left four people in hospital, Governor Serhiy Lysak said in a post on Telegram.
- Emergency services in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region said four people travelling in a car north of the town of Melitopol were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack.
- Vladimir Saldo, the Russia-installed governor of occupied parts of the Kherson region, said five people were injured in Ukrainian shelling that hit a market in the town of Kakhovka.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the country would suspend consular services for military-age men overseas unless they are returning home, as it tries to mobilise more men to fight on the front lines.
- Ukraine announced a corruption investigation into Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi in connection with the illegal acquisition of state-owned land in 2017 and 2018. Solskyi has denied the allegations and promised his full cooperation.
- Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had detained Timur Ivanov, one of the country’s 12 deputy defence ministers, on suspicion of taking bribes. Ivanov, 48, oversaw property management, housing and medical support for the military, as well as the construction and reconstruction of facilities. According to Forbes magazine, Ivanov is one of the wealthiest men in Russia’s security apparatus.
- China condemned as “groundless accusations” United States claims that Beijing is fuelling the Ukraine war by supplying dual-use components to Russia. Beijing says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine conflict but has been criticised for refusing to condemn Moscow for its full-scale invasion. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Beijing this week.
- A Russian court rejected the latest appeal by Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich against his pre-trial detention on spying charges. Gershkovich, the Journal and the US government have rejected the accusations.
Weapons
- The United States is preparing a $1b military aid package for Ukraine, which will be the first from the long-delayed Ukraine-Israel bill that is soon set to become law. The aid package includes Stinger air defence munitions, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), artillery ammunition, and other weapons that can be put to immediate use on the battlefield, US officials told the Reuters and Associated Press news agencies on condition of anonymity.
