Here is the situation as it stands on Friday, April 14, 2023:
Fighting
- Kyiv and Moscow announced separate investigations into a disturbing video showing the alleged beheading of a Ukrainian soldier and believed to have been filmed by Wagner Group mercenaries from Russia.
- Russia’s defence ministry said its forces were “blocking” Ukrainian troops from leaving or entering Bakhmut, but Kyiv rejected the claim. Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner mercenary group said it was “too early” to say Russia had the ruined city surrounded.
- A Russian mine exploded near the generator room of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station, Ukraine’s state nuclear plant operator Energoatom said.
Diplomacy
- The FBI arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, from the United States Air Force National Guard in connection with the alleged leak of classified military intelligence documents online.
- In the latest revelations from the leaked files, the documents suggested the US was monitoring United Nations chief Antonio Guterres because it believed he was too soft on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.
- Norway said it would expel 15 Russian diplomats suspected of spying while working at the Russian embassy in Oslo.
- Moscow said there would be no extension of the Black Sea grain deal beyond May 18 unless obstacles to exporting Russian grain and fertiliser were removed.
- Romania, Ukraine and Moldova signed cooperation agreements in Bucharest after a trilateral meeting on ways to strengthen security to counter threats posed by Russia.
- Chinese and Russian foreign ministers discussed the conflict in Ukraine during a meeting in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand city, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
- The US Commerce Department said it was imposing export controls on more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and other countries for supporting Russia’s military and defence industries.
- Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz said Russia has been ordered by an arbitration court in The Hague to pay $5bn in compensation for expropriating Ukrainian assets in Crimea.
- The Kremlin denied a report that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been charged with spying.
- Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) said it had yet to be given access to provide aid to Moscow-occupied areas of Ukraine, despite talks last month with Russian diplomats in Geneva.
Weapons
- Berlin approved Poland’s request to send five MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in a statement.
- President Aleksandar Vucic said Serbia never sold weapons or ammunition to Ukraine or Russia, although Serbian arms might have reached the battlefield via third countries.
