As the conflict enters its 419th day, we take a look at the main developments.
Here is the situation on Tuesday, April 18, 2023:
Fighting
Moscow said Wagner mercenary units captured more areas of Bakhmut as fighting continues in the ruined eastern city.
Russian recruiters in Crimea are using prop guns and grenades to entice people to join the military.
Diplomacy
Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu said his country’s ties with Moscow were “very strong” and had “entered a new era”, during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “They surpass the military-political alliances of the Cold War era… They are very stable,” he said in translated remarks broadcast on Russian TV.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Brazil as President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pushed for dialogue in Ukraine.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition politician and long-term critic of Putin as well as Moscow’s war in Ukraine, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of “treason” and discrediting the Russian military.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom were among Western governments which condemned the sentence, the harshest of its kind since the invasion began. Kara-Murza also has United Kingdom citizenship.
US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy said she visited journalist Evan Gershkovich in Russia and found him in good spirits. Moscow has accused the Wall Street Journal reporter of spying.
Germany pushed for the European Union to include the nuclear sector in a new sanctions package against Russia, the economy ministry said.
Weapons
Slovakia has handed over all 13 MiG-29 fighter jets it had pledged to Ukraine, the Slovak Ministry of Defence said.
