Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is optimistic about receiving F-16 fighter jets from Western allies, citing it’s a matter of time. President Zelensky also highlighted the jets’ importance for Ukraine’s counteroffensive but noted the operation won’t hinge on their arrival.
On April 30, Russian forces made no confirmed advances in Avdiivka, shifting focus to increased attacks in the Bakhmut-Chasiv Yar area, repelled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Tensions escalated between Russia and Tajikistan over migrant treatment.
Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said his mercenaries would no longer capture Ukrainian defenders and would instead kill everyone on the battlefield, citing an unverified audio recording that he claimed showed Ukrainian soldiers deciding to shoot a wounded fighter.
Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov urged world leaders not to fall for hollow calls for peace negotiations with Russia and to give Ukraine enough weapons instead, saying weapons are the best mediator and the only argument Russia gets.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi recently ordered officials to produce up to 40,000 rockets to be covertly shipped to Russia, The Washington Post reports, citing a leaked US intelligence document. Egypt denied the report; Washington said it saw no sign of transfers.
Leaked classified Pentagon documents show US intelligence knew the Wagner Group sought to buy weapons and equipment from NATO member Turkey for its operations in Mali and Ukraine, The Washington Post reports, and that US spies had deeply penetrated Russia’s military.
Classified military documents detailing secret US and NATO plans to build up Ukraine’s army ahead of a planned spring counteroffensive were posted on social media, The New York Times reports, prompting the Pentagon to investigate who was behind the leak and how it happened.
Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin said his fighters had raised a Russian flag over Bakhmut’s city hall and that the city was now Russian in a legal sense, but Ukraine’s military said Russian forces were very far from capturing it and fighting was continuing.
With its invasion of Ukraine stalling, the Kremlin is preparing Russians for a long war by recasting the conflict as an existential struggle for survival against the West, The Guardian reports, with Dmitry Peskov reportedly saying the war would last a very, very long time.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has confirmed that the Leopard 2 tanks Germany promised to Ukraine have been delivered, with Der Spiegel reporting that all 18 tanks reached Ukraine after Ukrainian crews completed their training in Germany, including live-fire exercises.
Ukraine cannot yet launch a large-scale counteroffensive because it lacks enough equipment and ammunition, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, urging allies to speed up deliveries and saying Russian forces fire about three times as many shells a day.
Russia is forming military reserves for ongoing operations in Ukraine but faces material and manpower shortages. These reserves are unlikely to operate as large-scale formations. Despite losses, Russia continues to pressure Ukrainian defenses, relying on artillery and drones.
