WAR IN UKRAINE: April 3, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 404
An explosion in a cafe in St Petersburg Sunday evening has killed a Russian military blogger/war reporter - Vladlen Tatarsky - who reported from the Ukraine frontline, Russian media/social media report. At least 25 people were injured in the Street Bar Cafe explosion during a “creative evening” shortly after he was handed a figurine by an alleged wanted figure. Ukrainian social media channels reported VK images of Tatarsky purportedly just before the blast and of the cafe moments afterwards. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation has reportedly confirmed Tatarsky’s death. Ukrainian media Suspilne reports that ‘Vladlen Tatarsky’ is the pseudonym of propagandist Maksym Fomin, who fought in the so-called "Vostok" battalion of the DPR and was in the intelligence of the LPR. He himself comes from Makiivka, in Donetsk region, Suspilne reports. Fomin was already sanctioned by Ukraine.
Russian forces in Ukraine have failed to meet a key deadline for progress in eastern Ukraine ahead of a long-touted counteroffensive from Kyiv, according to a new assessment. Moscow did not manage to "achieve the Kremlin's goals" of exerting control over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by March 31, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said on Saturday. The two regions, which collectively make up the Donbas, saw fighting between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatists break out in 2014. They have seen many of the heaviest clashes since the start of the all-out war in February 2022. The slow pace of Russian progress in the Donetsk cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka has been noted by the influential milblogger community, who judged that Moscow cannot continue "a large-scale offensive operation" without taking Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the coming weeks, the ISW wrote - Newsweek
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for the "immediate release" of a detained American journalist during a rare call Sunday with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov - CNN
On the ground, eastern Ukraine faces the worst of Russia's assault. Shelling killed at least six peoplein the city of Kostiantynivka, and Ukrainian officials report ceaseless attacks on the town of Avdiivka - CNN
It is especially hot near Bakhmut today, - Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky: "The only way for the security of our regions is a military victory over the terrorist state. There will be a day when we will say that the last occupier on our territory has been killed. We will return everything that is ours."
North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, accused Ukraine of calling for nuclear weapons, state media KCNA reported on Saturday, basing her assertion on an online petition in that country that has drawn under 1,000 signatures so far. Kim said this kind of petition could be a political plot by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office, but did not provide any evidence for the assertion. Following Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement last week that Moscow plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a public petition was filed to the Ukrainian presidential office's website on Thursday, calling for Ukraine to host nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory, or for it to be armed with its own nuclear weapons. By Saturday afternoon, the petition had gained only 611 signatures, far short of the 25,000 needed for a response from Zelenskiy. Kyiv officials have not commented on the petition so far - Reuters