Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 401 of the invasion

Ukraine will never forgive the Russian troops responsible for alleged atrocities in Bucha, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, as the town near Kyiv marked the anniversary of its recapture after 33 days of occupation in 2022. The leaders of Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia travelled to Ukraine on Friday to take part in commemorative events, the Croatian government said.



Turkey’s parliament has approved a bill to allow Finland to join Nato, clearing the way for Helsinki to join the western defence alliance. The Turkish parliament was the last among the 30 members of the alliance to ratify Finland’s membership, after Hungary’s legislature approved a similar bill this week. Sweden’s Nato bid faces objections from Ankara over claims it is harbouring what it considers members of terrorist groups.

Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, has said he has intensified talks with Russia about deploying tactical nuclear weapons in his country, alleging there were plans to invade Belarus from neighbouring Poland. Belarus had deployed a special forces contingent to its southern border with Ukraine “to prevent provocations”, he added.

The White House says it has new evidence that Russia is looking again to North Korea for weapons and munitions to fuel the war in Ukraine. “We also understand that Russia is seeking to send a delegation to North Korea and that Russia is offering North Korea food in exchange for munitions,” White House national security council spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday.

The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, has said “severe violations” of human rights and international humanitarian law have become “shockingly routine” in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The number of civilian casualties in Ukraine was far higher than official figures showed, Türk said in an address to the UN’s human rights council in Geneva, where he said Ukraine was a nation “struggling to survive” in the face of Russia’s invasion.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has encouraged the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to speak to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and learn first-hand about Ukraine’s peace formula to help end Russia’s invasion. Sanchez, speaking at a news conference during his visit to China, said he had informed Xi that Spain supported Zelenskiy’s proposals, which include a demand to restore Ukraine’s territory to before Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. A readout of the meeting from the Chinese side said Xi called for an end to a “cold war mentality” and to the pressure of “extreme” sanctions against Russia.

Russian authorities have arrested a US journalist working in the country and accused him of espionage, a charge that could carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years. Evan Gershkovich, a well-respected reporter from the Wall Street Journal, was detained on Wednesday during a reporting trip to the Urals city of Ekaterinburg.

The US is “deeply concerned” over Gershkovich’s detention. The state department “has been in direct touch” with the Russian government over the journalist’s detention, “including actively working to secure consular access” for him, the White House confirmed.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will chair a UN security council meeting in April when Russia assumes the international body’s presidency, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said. Russia’s coming UN security council presidency was “the worst joke ever for April Fool’s Day”, said Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, and a “stark reminder that something is wrong with the way international security architecture is functioning”.
Turkey’s parliament approved a bill on Thursday to allow Finland to join Nato, clearing the way for the country to become part of the western defence alliance as war rages in Ukraine. The Turkish parliament was the last among the 30 members of the alliance to ratify Finland’s membership after Hungary’s legislature approved a similar bill earlier this week.

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