List of major events, day 791

As the war enters its 791st day, these are the most important developments.

Here is the situation on Thursday April 25, 2024.

To fight

• At least six people were injured after Russia launched a rocket attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Officials said the S-300 missiles caused damage to residential buildings, offices, a gas pipeline through the city center and dozens of cars. Russia claimed to have hit a military dormitory.
• Ukrainian intelligence sources told Reuters that their drones had hit two Rosneft oil depots in Russia’s Smolensk region, west of Moscow, as well as a major steel plant in the southern Lipetsk region. Russian regional officials said a fire broke out at oil facilities after the attack, while a drone crashed in an industrial area in the Lipetsk region. They did not say if there was any damage.

Politics and diplomacy

• The US Congress approved a long-delayed $61 billion aid package for Ukraine, which was quickly signed into law by President Joe Biden.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the approval, saying Ukraine would do its best to “make up for” the past six months as it has struggled to fend off better-equipped Russian forces. Zelenskyy said he was working closely with U.S. officials to craft a $1 billion military package that includes “exactly the weapons our soldiers need.” He specifically mentioned Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), artillery, anti-tank weapons, high mobility artillery missile systems (HIMARS) and air defense.
• Zelenskyy said 16 Ukrainian children previously “deported to Russia” had been reunited with their families after mediation talks organized by Qatar. Kiev has accused Russia of forcibly deporting thousands of children from the Ukrainian territories it occupied.

• A Moscow court has ordered that Timur Ivanov, one of Russia’s 12 deputy defense ministers, be held in custody pending his trial on bribery charges. Ivanov was in charge of military construction projects and was known for his lavish lifestyle. The 48-year-old, who wore his military uniform in court, faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.
• Ukraine’s SBU security service said it suspected Metropolitan Arseniy, a high-ranking cleric and head of the main Orthodox monastery in eastern Ukraine, of “tipping off” Russian troops about the positions of the Ukrainian army in the Kramatorsk district and “pro -Kremlin stories’. . The priest faces as many as eight years in prison if convicted.
• According to amended legislation, Ukraine has stopped issuing new passports to some military personnel abroad. The exact scope and duration of the measure were unclear. Ukraine expands conscription to increase the number of troops on the battlefield.
• Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said that Italy will sign an agreement next month with Ukraine and the United Nations cultural organization, UNESCO, for the reconstruction of the city of Odesa and its cathedral, which was severely damaged by a Russian attack.

Weapons

• White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed that the US had sent a “significant number” of long-range ATACMS to Ukraine and would “send more.” Sullivan was responding to US media reports that the missiles had been dispatched and used twice. The long-range ATACMS has a range of 300 km (186 miles).