WAR IN UKRAINE: April 29, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 430
#BREAKING Death toll from the horrific overnight Russian missile attack on #Ukraine jumps to 23. In Uman, 21 killed including a child on the strike on a residential complex, says head of Oblast Military Administration. A woman and her three-year-old daughter were also killed in Dnipro. Rescuers still working at the site in Uman.
First responders are still searching for missing children thought to be caught under the rubble of an apartment building heavily damaged by a Russian missile early on April 28 in the central city of Uman, according to a CNN team on the scene.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has argued that Russia's April 28 mass missile strike on Ukraine is another proof the country needs to be supplied with F-16 jets. Kuleba called the attack, which has claimed at least 16 lives, Moscow's "response to all peace initiatives….The way to peace is to kick Russia out of Ukraine. The way to peace is to arm Ukraine with F-16s and protect children from Russian terror," Kuleba said on Twitter - Kyiv Independent
Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a law imposing a life sentence for treason Friday, as well as stiffening of penalties for a raft of crimes that the Kremlin has used to crush dissent and antiwar sentiment in the country. The amendments to Russia’s criminal code, passed by parliament earlier this week, are the latest incremental tightening of authority by the Kremlin as it steels itself for a protracted war in Ukraine. The law introduces a life sentence for high treason, from a 20-year sentence under the current law, and raises the maximum penalty for terrorist attacks to 20 years, from 15, according to Russia’s state-run Tass news agency. It also raised the minimum sentence for terrorist crimes to seven years from five, and raised the sentence for abetting terror to 12 years from 10 - WSJ
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that allows the deportation of residents of illegally annexed Ukrainian territories who refuse Russian citizenship, prompting accusations of ethnic cleansing and war crimes by Moscow.
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
The European Commission said Friday that it had agreed in principle to resume the transit of Ukrainian grain through five European Union countries that had imposed restrictions. Meanwhile, Ukrainian allies have delivered almost all promised combat vehicles to Ukraine, including more than 1,550 armored vehicles and 230 tanks - VOA
In a meeting with Russian lawmakers, President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow would expand ties with countries in Eurasia, Africa and Latin America to counter what he called the West's "economic aggression."