Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on
day 436 of the invasion
Kyiv downs own drone after it lost control; Russian
forces too degraded to mount any significant offensives, says US intelligence
chief
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Ukraine coverage
Guardian
staff
Thu 4 May
2023 19.50 EDT
Ukraine’s air force said it downed one of its own
drones after it lost control over Kyiv on Thursday. Andriy Yermak, Ukraine
presidential chief of staff, initially said an enemy drone that had been shot
down. But the air force later clarified it was Ukrainian and had been destroyed
to avoid “undesirable circumstances”. No casualties were reported.
The White House has dismissed as “ludicrous”
claims by Russia that Washington orchestrated drone strikes on Moscow, saying
the US was not involved in the incident and accusing Russia of lying. National
Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: “One thing I can tell you for
certain is that the US did not have any involvement with this incident,
contrary to [Vladimir Putin spokesman] Mr Peskov’s lies, and that’s just what
they are: lies.” Earlier, Dmitry Peskov said: “Decisions about such terrorist
attacks are taken in Washington” and that Kyiv “just implements these
decisions”.
Russian forces in Ukraine are so degraded they
cannot mount any significant offensive moves and are focused for now on
consolidating control of occupied territory, the US intelligence chief said.
Avril Haines said Putin’s strategy is likely to be to prolong the conflict
until western support for Kyiv wanes.
Vladimir Putin must be brought to justice for his
war in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday during a visit to The
Hague, where the international criminal court (ICC) is based. “We all want to
see a different Vladimir here in the Hague, the one who deserves to be
sanctioned for his criminal actions here, in the capital of international law,”
Zelenskiy said in a speech. “I’m sure we will see that happen when we win,” he
said, adding: “Whoever brings war must receive judgment.”
The US ambassador to Russia visited former US
marine Paul Whelan, who has been detained in a remote Russian prison for more
than four years. Ambassador Lynne Tracy said: “The US government will continue
to engage Russian authorities on his case so Paul can come home as soon as
possible.” She did not reveal his condition or what they discussed. Whelan was
detained in 2018 and is serving a 16-year sentence for espionage. Analysts have
pointed out that Moscow may be using jailed Americans as bargaining chips over
the war in Ukraine.
Residents of the key southern Ukrainian city of
Kherson were stocking up on food and water after another night of heavy Russian
shelling and before an announced 56-hour curfew due to begin on Friday evening.
A number said they planned to stay indoors before the curfew and planned
closure of the city, adding that they had slept in their clothes or gone to
shelters because of the intensity of the Russian attack.
Ukrainian air defences said they downed 18 out of
24 kamikaze drones that Russia launched in a pre-dawn attack on Thursday. In a
statement, Kyiv city administration said that all missiles and drones targeting
the Ukrainian capital for the third time in four days, have been destroyed. No
casualties were reported.
Russian emergency services extinguished a fire at
a large oil refinery in Russia two hours after it was hit in a drone attack,
Tass news agency reported early on Thursday. TASS said the incident occurred at
the Ilsky refinery near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar
region, and that four drones were used. A day earlier, a fuel depot further to
the west caught on fire near a bridge linking Russia’s mainland with the
occupied Crimea peninsula.
Finland has received a diplomatic note from
Russia complaining over vandalism at a Russian consulate on the demilitarised
Aland island located in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden, the Finnish
foreign ministry said on Thursday.
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