These are the key events on day 1,154 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is where things stand on Wednesday, April 23:
Fighting
A state of emergency was declared in Russia’s Vladimir region, east of Moscow, following a large explosion at an ammunition storage site, the TASS state news agency said, citing emergency services.
Vladimir’s regional governor, Alexander Avdeev, said the explosion occurred when ammunition caught fire in a storage area at a military base in Kirzhach district, and emergency personnel were working at the scene.
Russia struck the southern city of Zaporizhzhia with two aerial glide bombs. The attack killed a 69-year-old woman and wounded 24 people, including four children, according to regional governor, Ivan Fedorov.
Ukraine’s air force said it took down 38 out of 77 attack drones Russia launched starting early on Tuesday morning, with 31 of the drones not reaching their targets, likely due to electronic warfare.
Overnight Russian drone attacks on east, south and central Ukraine damaged civilian infrastructure and businesses in the Poltava region and injured civilians in the Odesa region, Ukrainian officials said early on Wednesday.
Odesa came under a “massive attack” by Russian drones overnight on Tuesday, wounding at least three people, the head of the regional administration, Oleh Kiper, wrote on his Telegram page. A residential building in a densely populated urban area of Odesa, civilian infrastructure and an educational facility were hit, he said.
Air defence units repelled Russian air attacks on the Kyiv region and Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv, regional governors said in posts on Telegram channels.
Russian forces said they have retaken St Nicholas Belogorsky monastery in the village of Gornal in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops had been based, Russia’s TASS news agency quoted a security source as saying. A Russian military Telegram channel said Ukraine had deployed troops, artillery and drone launchers at the monastery, which Russia’s troops had retaken after 10 days of fierce fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Chinese citizens were working at a drone production site in Russia and suggested that Moscow may have “stolen” drone technology from China. The Ukrainian leader has already alleged that China is supplying weapons and gunpowder to Russia and has called on Beijing to stop Chinese nationals from fighting with Russian forces in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned China’s ambassador and told him of “serious concern” over Chinese involvement on Russia’s side in the war.
Ceasefire
President Zelenskyy reiterated his readiness for even a partial ceasefire with Russia: “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire, and if this ceasefire is partial, then we are ready for reciprocal measures,” he told a news conference in Kyiv.
Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine would not recognise any temporarily occupied territories as Russian: “There is nothing to discuss. This is outside our constitution”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly offered to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the current front line, the Financial Times (FT) said.
According to the FT, Putin made the proposal during a meeting with United States envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg earlier this month. Putin indicated he would be willing to withdraw Moscow’s claims to parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, and in return, the US would recognise the Crimean peninsula as Russian and also block Ukraine from joining NATO.
US envoy Witkoff will travel to Moscow again this week amid reports in the media that President Trump has proposed accepting that Moscow-annexed territory in Ukraine’s Crimea be recognised as Russia.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend talks in London later today aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said, after earlier saying he planned to travel to London.
Europe has been increasingly concerned over US President Donald Trump administration’s overtures towards Moscow, after the failure so far of Trump’s efforts to secure a ceasefire in the war.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is set to lead the peace talks in London, which will be attended by officials from Ukraine, the US, the United Kingdom and Europe.
News site Axios report that the US expects response on Wednesday to a peace framework that includes unofficial recognition of Russian control of nearly all areas occupied since the 2022 start of the war in Ukraine. According to Axios, under the proposal, which was presented last week, the US would lift sanctions imposed on Russia since 2014 and would return a small part of Russian-occupied Kharkiv to Ukraine.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant would be considered as Ukrainian territory but operated by the US, with electricity supplied to both Ukraine and Russia, Axios reports.
Aid
President Zelenskyy said Ukraine was not discussing any new aid packages with the US.
Sanctions
The European Commission is assessing whether it could legislate to forbid firms in the European Union from signing new contracts for Russian fossil fuels, according to reports, and is working on legal options to allow European Union companies to break existing gas supply contracts with Russia without facing penalties.
Regional security
Denmark will spend about four billion crowns ($614m) on building and procuring 26 navy vessels for patrolling, oil spill response and surveillance of undersea cables, Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said. The investment comes as countries bordering the Baltic Sea are on high alert after a number of underwater cables were severed and the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
Diplomacy
EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, told the AFP news agency that the US has not used up its “tools” to pressure Russia into peace in Ukraine, as she accused Moscow of playing for time with its Easter truce in Ukraine.
President Zelenskyy will attend the funeral service for the late Pope Francis, presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn told the Ukrainian news agency, RBK-Ukraine. Zelenskyy will travel to Rome together with his wife Olena, Lytvyn said.
President Putin, who is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over his invasion of Ukraine, will not attend the funeral, the Kremlin said.
