As the war enters its 818th day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
Struggle
- At least 10 people were injured in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, after a Russian-directed bomb destroyed a cafe and damaged a high-rise apartment block and a nearby trolleybus. Regional prosecutors said the bus driver had to have both legs amputated as a result of the attack.
At least seven people were injured after a Russian attack with S-400 missiles on the northeastern city of Chuhuiv, in the Kharkiv region. According to regional police, the attack damaged a daycare building and a private home.
- Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said a police officer was killed after a Russian drone dropped explosives on a police vehicle while two officers were on their way to evacuate civilians from Vovchansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Klymenko did not say what happened to the other officer.
- According to local authorities, one person was killed after Ukrainian shelling hit villages in the Russian border region of Belgorod.
- At least two people were killed and four wounded in the Ukrainian bombing of Lysychansk in the eastern Luhansk region, according to Russian-installed governor Leonid Pasechnik. Moscow has occupied Lysychansk, near the eastern front, since mid-2022.
- Russian news agencies, citing the Defense Ministry, said Moscow's forces had taken control of the village of Klishchiivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, near the town of Bakhmut. The Ukrainian military said it had been repelling attacks on the village but that the situation was under control. Ukraine recaptured Klishchiivka from the Russians in September last year.
Russian drones attacked energy facilities in Ukraine, cutting power to more than 500,000 people in the northern Sumy region, according to regional authorities. The attacks targeted the cities of Shostka and Konotop, northeast of kyiv and near the border with Russia.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia's Chechnya region, said he had met with President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin and offered to send more fighters to Ukraine. Kadyrov said tens of thousands of “well-trained and equipped reserve fighters” were prepared to fight for Russia in Ukraine if such an order was given. In total, 43,500 soldiers have already served there, including 18,000 volunteers, he said.
- A Russian court is considering a prosecutor's request to designate former Russian television news anchor Alexander Nevzorov and his wife Lidia Nevzorova as an “extremist group.” Nevzorov, 65, runs a YouTube channel with almost 2 million subscribers where he often criticizes the war in Ukraine. He and his wife fled Russia in March 2022. Nevzorov was sentenced in absentia last year to eight years by a Russian court for spreading “fake news” about Moscow's military.
Russia handed over six more Ukrainian children (ranging in age from six to 17) to kyiv in a deal brokered by Qatar, Russian news agency TASS reported. Ukraine has accused Moscow of forcibly deporting thousands of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories to Russia.
Russian patriotic bloggers expressed anger over the arrest of Major General Ivan Popov, former commander of Russia's 58th Army, who was detained for “large-scale fraud.” Popov was fired last July after criticizing army leaders and expressing concern about the high casualty rate in Ukraine.
Weapons
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated his call to improve defense systems, in particular to protect against guided bombs, which he said were now Russia's “main instrument” in its attacks on Ukrainian cities.
- The Swedish government agreed to provide additional military support to Ukraine totaling 75 billion crowns ($7.01 billion) over three years. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said Swedish-made weapons had “already proven themselves on the battlefield.”
- Ukraine has equipped some of its naval drones with multiple rocket launch systems and used them to fire on Russian positions in combat, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters news agency. The source, who did not want to be identified, said that some “Sea Babies”, a model of naval drones used by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), had been equipped with graduated multiple rocket launch systems.
- British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps accused China of providing or preparing to provide Russia with lethal aid for use in its war against Ukraine. Shapps said this was a “significant development” but provided no evidence to support his claim.
