WAR IN UKRAINE: April 20, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 421
Ukraine says it has received its first Patriot air-defense systems as Russia launched a fresh wave of drone attacks on the southern port city of Odesa and Ukrainian defenders repelled more attacks in the eastern region of Donetsk.
The United States is sending Ukraine about $325 million in additional military aid, including an enormous amount of artillery rounds and ammunition, the Pentagon said on April 19.
Bulgaria on April 19 announced that it will temporarily ban the import of grain, milk, meat, and other food products from Ukraine, following in the footsteps of fellow European Union member states Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia - RFE/RL
A massive Russian cargo plane that has been grounded at Toronto Pearson International Airport for more than a year will be confiscated by Ukraine, the country’s prime minister says. “(We are) preparing to confiscate the AN-124 aircraft and other assets of the aggressor in Canada and transfer them to the benefit of Ukraine,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote in a Facebook post - CTV
Western leaders are preparing for Vladimir Putin to use “whatever tools he’s got left” including nuclear threats and cyber-attacks in response to an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russia. British officials at the G7 foreign ministers’ summit in Japan said they were expecting Russia to retaliate and “must be prepared” for extreme tactics as it attempted to hold on to Ukrainian territory. The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said last month that Moscow was ready for the Ukrainians to hit back, warning that his country would use “absolutely any weapon” if Kyiv attempted to retake Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014 - The Guardian
More needs to be done to protect the UK from the threat posed by Russia-aligned cyber groups, the head of the National Cyber Security Centre has warned. It comes as Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden warned that the “cyber equivalent of the Wagner group” posed a serious threat to the UK, as he announced that the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was issuing an “official threat notice” to operators of critical national infrastructure amid concerns about the growing cyber threat. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, as he made the comparison to the private Russian military company, announced plans for more ambitious cyber resilience targets for all critical national infrastructure sectors to meet by 2025, as well as moves to bring private sector businesses working on critical infrastructure into the scope of resilience regulations - PA Media
Russian President Vladimir Putin was attempting to demonstrate that he's not isolated "in a bunker" by meeting with commanders in two regions of Ukraine that Moscow claims to have annexed. That's the conclusion of Angela Stent, a senior adviser to the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies and professor emerita of government and foreign service at Georgetown University. The Kremlin's announcement that Putin had visited Kherson and Luhansk followed a leak of Pentagon documents that suggest infighting within the ranks of Russia's military. Moscow's federal security service, known as the FSB, estimates the number of dead and wounded Russian troops to be near 110,000. Stent, who is also a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, tells NPR's Michel Martin on Morning Edition that Russian progress in a "grinding war of attrition" in Ukraine has been hindered by corruption in the military, poor training, and poorly maintained equipment.
Images of the Russian president's travel also offered a counterpoint to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's frequent visits to his country's troops. Zelenskyy traveled to the small eastern city of Avdiivka Tuesday to hear a battlefield briefing and thank Ukrainian troops for their services - NPR
The Bolshoi Theatre's director general confirms they've cancelled Serebrennikov's 'Nureyev' ballet about the life and work of one of Russia's greatest dancers once the new anti-LGBT-law was passed ... just because the protagonist is gay.
Required reading…
Poland and Ukraine: The emerging alliance that could reshape Europe
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent high-profile visit to Poland underlined the deepening cooperation between these two neighboring countries and the increasingly prominent role their partnership is playing in European politics. At a time when the likes of Germany and France are struggling to find the right response to resurgent Russian imperialism, Poland has emerged as Ukraine’s most steadfast European supporter in the fightback against Putin’s invasion. This is now sparking debate over a possible eastward shift in Europe’s geopolitical center of gravity. If ties between Warsaw and Kyiv continue to strengthen, today’s budding Polish-Ukrainian alliance could become a key factor shaping the future of Europe.
During his visit to Poland, President Zelenskyy reflected on the deep roots of today’s close bilateral relationship. “We Ukrainians and Poles have known each other for a long time,” he noted. Polish President Andrzej Duda praised Ukraine for saving Europe from what he called “the deluge of Russian imperialism,” while Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki confirmed his country’s strong backing for Ukraine’s EU and NATO membership aspirations, commenting, “we know that when Ukraine is in NATO, we will be even safer.”
Read the full Atlantic Council analysis here