As the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its 373rd day, we take a look at the main developments.
This is the state of affairs on Friday, March 3, 2023:
To fight
- President Vladimir Putin says Russia was hit by what he called a “terrorist” attack in the southern Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine. He promised he would destroy what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had been firing on civilians.
- A Russian missile hit a five-story building in the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least four people, Ukrainian police say.
- A network of at least 20 torture chambers in the recently liberated southern Ukraine region of Kherson has been “planned and funded directly by the Russian state,” war crimes investigators say, citing new evidence.
- In the past 24 hours, Ukrainian troops have repelled more than 170 attacks on the five main sectors of the frontline, Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said.
- Zhdanov said Russian troops tried to encircle the eastern city of Bakhmut from the north, east and south and said that on western approaches to the city “this is probably the only part of the Bakhmut sector where our troops, rather than the Russian occupiers, , have the initiative”.
Diplomacy
- Russia and top US diplomats spoke face-to-face for the first time since the invasion of Moscow.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Russian Secretary of State Sergey Lavrov to end the war and urged Moscow to reverse the suspension of the new START nuclear treaty, according to a senior US official quoted by the Reuters news agency.
- Washington will announce a new $400 million aid package for the Kiev government, and is expected to be a key topic between US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz when they meet Friday at the White House, officials say.
- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov accuses the US of providing Ukraine with intelligence on the location of strategic sites in Russia so that it can target them with drones. Washington says that was nonsense.
Economy
- Two US citizens have been arrested on suspicion of exporting aviation technology to Russia in violation of sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
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