live blog
Status: 04/20/2023 08:30 a.m
Ukraine is preparing new troops for the frontline. Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov traveled to Central America for talks. The developments in the live blog.
8:24 a.m
Ukraine fends off numerous drone attacks
According to the General Staff in Kiev, Ukraine has repelled numerous Russian drone attacks. Within 24 hours, 21 of 26 Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drones were shot down, the Ukrainian general staff said in Kiev this morning. In addition, the Ukrainian armed forces reported 55 Russian ground attacks, which had been withstood.
The fighting was therefore concentrated in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, where the heavily contested city of Bakhmut is located. Most recently, the Russian Ministry of Defense and the private army had informed Wagner that they were taking more and more districts of Bakhmut under their control. The Ukrainian General Staff has now announced that Russian losses there are very high. The reasons for this are the lack of ammunition and poor morale.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
8:24 a.m
Zelenskyj: New troops for frontline operations
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine is preparing new troops for action at the front. Specifically, these are border troops that he visited yesterday in Volhynia in the border triangle of Ukraine with Belarus and Poland. Border troops from Ukraine are already deployed on the fronts, including in the heavily contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
“Together with all our defense and security forces, the border guards are fighting at the front, even in the most difficult areas,” said Zelenskyy in his evening video address. “We are also preparing new units – border guard units – to join our active operations, to join the movement that we are gradually developing.”
8:24 a.m
Zelenskyj speaks before the Mexican Congress
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address members of Mexico’s Congress via video link tonight. Congress announced last night that Zelensyi would be speaking during a meeting of a group in the Lower House and that his speech would emphasize the friendship between Mexico and Ukraine.
The government of Mexico stressed that the country wanted to remain neutral in the war against Ukraine.
8:24 a.m
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in Nicaragua
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was received in Nicaragua as part of his trip to strengthen relations with Latin America. Lavrov met with President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, in the capital Managua yesterday. “We welcome him very warmly as fraternal peoples, as peoples who believe in peace,” Murillo said just before the meeting.
The government of the Central American country has repeatedly expressed its approval of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Russia and Nicaragua are for constructive and respectful dialogue between states and for a multipolar world order, Murillo added in her daily audio message to state media after Lavrov’s arrival. In the evening, Lavrov traveled to Cuba, as announced by the foreign ministries of Russia and the socialist Caribbean state.