Here is the situation on Thursday, May 9, 2024.
Fighting
- Three people were injured after Russia launched more than 70 missiles and drones at power stations and energy infrastructure in Kyiv and six other cities. The attack, one of the biggest in weeks, also led to power cuts in nine Ukrainian regions.
- At least four children and three adults were injured after a Russian air attack hit a school stadium in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv. Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said two of the injured – two teenagers – were in serious condition in hospital.
- Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces made additional advances along the 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) front, taking control of the village of Kyslivka in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and the village of Novokalynove in the Donetsk region.
- Ukraine’s parliament passed a law that would allow some convicts to enlist in the army in return for a chance at parole, as part of an effort to get more men to the front and relieve exhausted troops.
- Indian police said they had arrested four people on suspicion of luring young men to Russia with the promise of lucrative jobs or university places only to force them to fight in Ukraine. About 35 Indian men were duped in this manner, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in March.
Politics and diplomacy
- European Union nations reached a tentative breakthrough deal to provide Ukraine with billions in additional funds for arms and ammunition using the windfall profits from frozen Russian central bank assets held in the 27-member bloc. Ministers still need to approve the legal text that will see 90 percent of the proceeds channelled into an EU-run military aid fund for Ukraine, with the remainder supporting Kyiv in other ways, four EU diplomatic sources told the Reuters news agency.
- British Home Minister James Cleverly said the United Kingdom would expel Russia’s defence attache, remove diplomatic status from some properties and impose new restrictions on Russian diplomatic visas and visits in response to what he described as Moscow’s “malign activity”. Cleverly said the attache was an “undeclared military intelligence officer”. Britain has introduced several waves of sanctions on Russian companies and individuals since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia would make an “appropriate response” to Britain’s move.
- The Kremlin said it had no comment on Ukrainian claims that it had uncovered a plot by Russian agents to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
- Polish border guards said they had detained a Russian defector, who illegally crossed into Poland from Belarus, a staunch ally of Moscow. Border guard spokeswoman Katarzyna Zdanowicz told the AFP news agency that the man “had his military papers on him”.
Weapons
- Herman Smetanin, head of Ukraine’s state arms manufacturer, told the Defence Ministry’s media outlet, ArmyInform, that Ukraine was now producing the same number of long-range attack drones as Russia. He provided no figures.
- Hungary reiterated that it would not participate in a NATO plan to provide long-term military assistance to Ukraine through a fund worth 100 billion euros ($107bn). Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the plan was a “crazy mission”.
