5 key updates in what’s going on with Russia and Ukraine
Russian attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities have increased in recent weeks, despite Ukraine shooting down a large majority of the strikes.
Ukraine’s air defenses managed to intercept 29 of the 30 missiles fired into the country Thursday. But there were explosions “heard in Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions in the early hours of Thursday,” CNN reported.
Information on the number of people killed or injured has not been made available yet, except that officials said one person was killed and two were wounded from a missile strike on the Black Sea port of Odesa, per BBC.
Here are five of the key updates on what is going on in Ukraine.
1. Attacks in Kyiv
Thursday’s attacks mark “the ninth attack on the capital this month,” The New York Times reported.
“A series of air attacks on Kyiv, unprecedented in its power, intensity and variety, continues,” Serhiy Popko, Kyiv’s military administrator, said in a post on Telegram, per the Times.
2. Fighting continues in Ukraine’s eastern city of Bakhmut
The eastern city of Bakhmut continues to face heavy and intense fighting, but according to CNN, “Ukraine’s forces are holding on to substantial areas around Bakhmut that it claims to have taken back from Russian troops.”
3. Russia says train derailment in Crimea caused by explosion
Rail traffic has been suspended between the cities of Simferopol and Sevastopol following a freight train carrying grain that got derailed.
According to BBC, “Simferopol is the regional capital of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014,” and Russia’s head of regional parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, claims “the derailment was caused by an explosion.”
Eight cars total derailed, and no injuries were reported.
4. China calls on Russia, Ukraine to negotiate peace talks
On Thursday, China sent special representatives to both China and Russia seeking to bring the two countries to negotiate peace talks, saying “there is no panacea to resolve the crisis,” CNBC reported.
“There will definitely be an important face-saving component to any Chinese peace-brokering efforts,” Etienne Soula, a research analyst with GMF’s Alliance for Securing Democracy focusing on China, told CNBC. “Beijing will likely try to help Russia concede as little as possible while convincing the Ukrainians and their Western supporters to bury the hatchet.”
5. Ukraine makes plans to advance on Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine
The Wall Street Journal reported that “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and others have talked extensively about a looming campaign to push Russian troops from the 18% of the country they control.”
Some of the largest gains for Ukraine have come in Bakhmut — capturing “several square miles of land on the outskirts,” per the Journal.
