WAR IN UKRAINE: April 7, 2023

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 408

  • French leader Emmanuel Macron has urged his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to help stop Russia's war in Ukraine. "I know I can count on you to bring Russia to its senses, and bring everyone back to the negotiating table," he told Mr Xi in Beijing. Mr Xi said China and France had the "ability and responsibility" to safeguard world peace. But Moscow said there were "no prospects for a peaceful settlement" so far and its offensive would continue - BBC

  • Ukraine's president has pushed for the formation of a coalition of Western powers to supply modern fighter aircraft to Kyiv and suggested that while his forces continue to control the battleground eastern city of Bakhmut, a withdrawal would be possible if it meant sparing Ukrainian soldiers' lives - RFE/RL

  • Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar says Russian forces are carrying out "uncontrolled, barbaric" industrial-scale logging in Ukraine that will "inevitably lead to catastrophic consequences for the environment."

  • Russia’s disgraced and so-called commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, told a UN Security Council meeting that Moscow is coordinating with international organizations to return Ukrainian children to their families.

  • Poland's fencing federation says it has withdrawn from hosting a World Cup competition after the International Fencing Federation ruled that athletes from Russia and Belarus could compete at the event under neutral status.

Michael Bociurkiw