Day 400 since the war began: A Ukrainian commander sees the pace of Russian attacks slowing down. The OSCE has announced investigations. All information in the news blog.
The most important things at a glance
Report: Russian offensives in Bakhmut slowing down
A Ukrainian commander serving in Bakhmut reported that the pace of Russian offensives in the area is slowing, according to the New York Times. The commander stated that the Russian forces had stabilized their flanks north and south of Bakhmut and that they are now concentrating on fighting through the city itself. The American Institute for the Study of War estimates that if street fighting broke out in Bakhmut, Russian forces would face significant delays and casualties.
OSCE wants to investigate kidnapping of children
1.01 am: The kidnapping of Ukrainian children in the Russian war of aggression is to be investigated within the framework of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). A group of 45 OSCE countries, in consultation with Kiev, launched a process on Thursday to investigate the allegations on the ground.
The Ukrainian government accuses Moscow of illegally deporting thousands of children from occupied Ukraine to Russia. In December, the OSCE Human Rights Office classified such reports as credible. Moscow denies war crimes and stresses that the children were taken to safety before the war.
US government: Russia wants secret arms deal with North Korea
9:16 p.m.: According to the US government, Russia is still trying to procure weapons and ammunition from North Korea. “We have new information that Russia is actively trying to acquire additional ammunition from North Korea,” US National Security Council communications director John Kirby said in Washington on Thursday.
At the center of these efforts is an arms dealer by the name of Ashot Mkrtychev. Through him, Russia is trying to mediate a secret arms deal with North Korea. This would allow Russia to obtain more than two dozen types of weapons and ammunition from North Korea. In return, Russia offers North Korea food.
Such an agreement violates a number of UN Security Council resolutions, Kirby said. The US imposed sanctions on Mkrtychev on Thursday. This freezes potential assets in the US. In addition, people, banks and other companies that do business with Mkrtychev in the future are also threatened with sanctions – a step that is likely to make international business much more difficult for those affected.
According to Ukraine, it now controls only a third of Bachmut
8:05 p.m.: According to the government, the Ukrainian army only controls a third of the city of Bakhmut in the east of the country, which has been heavily fought over for months. “Bakhmut is one-third controlled by Ukraine, international observers have noted,” said Ukrainian presidential adviser Sergey Leshchenko in a message transmitted over the presidential office’s Telegram channel. However, Leshchenko denied that the city was surrounded by Russian forces, as a pro-Russian official recently said.
The head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, declared on March 20 that his mercenaries controlled “about 70 percent” of Bakhmut. This statement has not yet been confirmed by the Ukrainian side. The Wagner mercenary group plays a central role in the battle for Bachmut.
Russian troops had been advancing north and south of the city in recent months, cutting off several Ukrainian supply routes and taking the eastern part of the city. The Ukrainian army recently declared that it had succeeded in “stabilizing” the situation in Bakhmut and that it expects to use the exhaustion on the Russian side “very soon” for a counteroffensive.
Russia: Man sentenced to seven years in prison for posts critical of the war
7.15 p.m.: A court in Moscow has sentenced a 63-year-old to seven years in prison for two anti-war posts on social networks. In March of the previous year, in two comments he condemned the attacks by the Russian military against the Ukrainian capital Kiev and the port city of Mariupol, the Russian medium “Meduza”, which works from Latvia, reported on Thursday. The court found him guilty of spreading “fakes” about the Russian army.
“While we kill children, we sing songs on Channel One; We Russia have become godless – Lord forgive us,” read a post by the man on WKontakt. In his second comment he wrote “Russian planes bomb children”.
