WAR IN UKRAINE: April 28, 2023

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 429

• Another massive overnight Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine has killed 23 people. Yet again, a large civilian residential building was targeted - this time in Uman - an important Jewish cultural centre - where 21 were killed. The attacks around 4am local time were launched from Tu-95 bombers over the Caspian Sea region. Nationwide 21/23 cruise missiles were destroyed & 2 drones. A woman & child of three killed in Dnipro, according to the mayor. Sounds of explosions also reported in Kremenchuk and Poltava. In Kyiv’s Obolon district, debris cut off a local power line, and the road was also damaged.

• Coming just two days after the long awaited call between Chinese President Xi and Ukrainian President Zelensky, tonight’s attack shows that China is unable or unwilling to restrain the warrior instinct in Russian President Putin. As I’ve written in an OpEd, Beijing is showing itself to be an unreliable peace partner for Kyiv

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has welcomed a resolution adopted on April 27 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe saying Russia's forced transfer of Ukrainian children amounts to genocide - RFE/RL

• Russia refused to coordinate the movement of four ships in and out of Ukrainian ports under the terms of a grain deal that has been in place since last summer, the Ukrainian Navy said, in an apparent further complicationof efforts to extend the deal.

• The Kremlin said it welcomed anything that could bring an end to the Ukraine conflict closer when asked what it thought of a phone call the day before between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.