As the war enters its 786th day, the main developments include:
This is the situation on Saturday, April 20, 2024.
finding
- Russia's Ministry of Defense reported that there were drone attacks by Ukraine overnight and into Saturday. According to the statement, 26 drones were detected over the Belgorod region, 10 over Bryansk, and 8 over Kursk and other areas.
- Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced on Saturday that the airstrike killed two people in Russia's Belgorod region. The governors of Kursk, Kaluga and Bryansk in western Russia also reported strikes in their regions.
- The Ukrainian Air Force announced that it had shot down a Russian strategic bomber with an anti-aircraft missile for the first time since the war began in 2022.
- The fighter jet was shot down in Russian airspace 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border on Friday after taking part in a long-range airstrike over central Dnipropetrovsk.
- Russian attacks killed at least nine people and injured at least 28 in the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk and surrounding areas, regional officials said.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the site of the airstrike in Dnipro and called on allies to strengthen their air defenses.
- President Zelenskiy said Russian missiles also struck the Black Sea port of Pivdeni in the southern Odesa region, destroying grain storage facilities and food inside.
politics and diplomacy
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended Germany's military aid to Ukraine on Friday, saying the war could drag on for several more years.
- Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) countries have expressed “strong concern” about the transfer of supplies and weapons parts from Chinese companies to Russia for military attacks in Ukraine.
- During talks on the Italian island of Capri on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this poses “the greatest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War.”
weapons
- The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote later Saturday to approve $95 billion in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies. The package includes $61 billion for Ukraine.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told a gathering of NATO defense ministers via video link on Friday that the alliance must decide whether to be an ally of Ukraine and called on member states to step up arms to their struggling forces. Ta.
- “Our skies must become safe again,” he said, telling ministers that Ukraine could not protect itself without Western support.
