Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,133

Published

1 year ago

April 1, 2025

Press Room

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,133

These are the key events on day 1,133 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

These are the key events from Tuesday, April 1:

Fighting

Ukraine’s Air Force reported that the country had experienced its first night free of attack by Russian drones since December, though Moscow had launched two cruise missiles, which were successfully shot down. It was not immediately known why Russia had not launched drone attacks.
More than 10,700 combat drones and decoy drones – which are intended to draw fire from Ukrainian air defences – have been launched by Russia since the start of the year, Ukraine said.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces took control of the village of Rozlyv in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine’s military said Russian forces had launched five attacks on Rozlyv and the nearby village of Kostiantynopil, but did not acknowledge whether Rozlyv had fallen into Russian hands. The Ukrainian General Staff said late on Monday that three battles were still going on in the area.

DeepState, a Ukrainian blog that tracks the 1,000km (600-mile) front line between Russia and Ukraine, reported Russian advances over the past 24 hours near Rozlyv, as well as heavy fighting further east near the contested town of Toretsk.
The governor of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, Ivan Fedorov, said Russian shelling killed one person in a front-line settlement that he did not identify.
Ukrainian officials in the Dnipropetrovsk region said Russian shelling injured three people in the town of Nikopol.
The acting governor of Russia’s Rostov region, Yury Slyusar, said Ukrainian drones damaged two high-rise buildings in Taganrog city. He said 85 residents were evacuated from one of the buildings.
Russia advanced 240 sq km (93 sq miles) into Ukrainian territory in March, marking a slowdown for four months in a row, according to data from the United States-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Moscow’s advances slowed each month since peaking at 725 sq km (279 sq miles) in November 2024, ISW data shows. Russia took nearly 150 sq km (57.9 sq miles) less in March than in February. Despite these slowdowns, the last 12 months have been marked by Russian troops advancing in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told a news conference that tens of thousands of people in southern Ukraine’s Kherson were left without power after Russian strikes damaged a power facility.

The abandoned town of Marinka, in a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, on April 1, 2025 [Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters]

Ceasefire

German Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock said that “due to the deadlock” between the US and Russia on forging a ceasefire deal, support by European allies for Ukraine in its war against Moscow was “absolutely crucial”.
Russia cannot accept US proposals to end the war in Ukraine in their current form because they do not address problems Moscow regards as having caused the conflict, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. He suggested that Moscow and Washington have so far been unable to bridge differences which Russian President Vladimir Putin raised more than two weeks ago when he said US ceasefire proposals needed reworking.
Senior officials in the administration of US President Donald Trump discussed in recent days the likelihood that the US will be unable to secure a Ukraine peace deal in the next few months and are drawing up new plans to pressure both Kyiv and Moscow, two US officials familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency. White House and US State Department officials acknowledge that Putin is actively resisting Washington’s attempts to strike a lasting peace accord and have discussed what, if any, economic or diplomatic punishments could push Russia closer to a deal, the sources said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again accused Russia of violating recent ceasefire agreements mediated by the US and called for sanctions on Moscow.
Russia’s Defence Ministry likewise accused Ukraine of launching new drone attacks on energy facilities in Russia’s Belgorod region and in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region.
Half of the US Senate – 25 Republicans and 25 Democrats – joined together to propose sanctions that would be imposed on Russia if it refuses to engage in good-faith negotiations for peace with Ukraine.

Aid

Zelenskyy said he hopes Germany’s presumptive next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will approve the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to bolster Ukraine’s defence against Russia. Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz had firmly opposed sending Taurus missiles, citing fears of escalating violence.
Zelenskyy said a closed-door meeting with military officials from several partner countries will take place on Friday to further discuss the possible deployment of foreign troops to Ukraine as part of future security guarantees.
Ukraine has received another $3.8bn in financial support from the European Union, Kyiv said.

Sanctions

The value of Russian assets frozen in Switzerland since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has risen by nearly $2bn in the past year to more than $8bn, the Swiss government said.

Regional security

Polish authorities said they charged a 47-year-old Ukrainian citizen with working for Russian intelligence after he was discovered last month conducting reconnaissance of military facilities in Poland.
Sweden, where authorities have warned that the country should prepare for the risk of war, has announced a 100-million krona ($10m) investment to check and renovate its civil defence shelters. Sweden has 64,000 defence bunkers with space overall for about 7 million people. The move comes as Sweden and other European nations have announced plans to step up defence spending in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and doubts about Trump’s commitment to NATO.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said the country plans to withdraw from the international treaty banning antipersonnel mines, the latest signatory moving to ditch the ban over threats from Russia.
France said it will deliver several hundred Mistral surface-to-air missiles to Denmark, as French President Emmanuel Macron and Denmark’s King Frederik X pledged a “stronger” Europe. The move comes as Denmark has sought European backing to counter Trump’s threats to take over Greenland.
The United Kingdom government said that anyone working in the UK for the Russian state will have to register on a new list launching in July or face jail. UK Minister of State Security Dan Jarvis told parliament that Russia would be subject to the most stringent restrictions of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.

Diplomacy

Chinese President Xi Jinping is to be the guest of honour when Russia marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square on May 9, Putin said.
Putin received the wanted leader of Bosnia’s ethnic Serbs, Milorad Dodik, in the Kremlin, a day after Dodik had announced a visit to Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, Iran’s nuclear programme, the state of affairs in Central Asia, as well as the conflict in Ukraine and the need for a lasting peace agreement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow said.
France’s new ambassador to Russia arrived in Moscow, several months after his predecessor left, as tensions between Paris and the Kremlin remain high over Ukraine.
Senior Russian official Kirill Dmitriev is expected to visit Washington, DC, this week and will meet with Steve Witkoff, a Trump administration official, for talks about strengthening relations between the two countries as they seek to end the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine said that Kyiv and Washington were holding new talks on an agreement that would give the US access to Ukrainian natural resources in return for more support.

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What Middle Powers Fear from the Trump-Xi Summit

Published

7 hours ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

What Middle Powers Fear from the Trump-Xi Summit

Poland will soon host production lines for South Korean tanks. Australia is buying warships from Japan. Canada will send uranium to India, while India offers cruise missiles to Vietnam, and Brazil builds military transport planes for the United Arab Emirates.

All of these deals were sealed in the past few weeks. Each one represents an attempt by middle powers to protect themselves as the conflict in Iran throttles global energy supplies, and as a high-stakes summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping of China looms.

Global polls show the world has little trust in the United States and China. Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi have both used their enormous leverage over trade and security to coerce or punish. And in response, smaller nations are behaving as if they are stuck in “Godzilla” or “Dune” — moving quietly in small groups, trying not to provoke the wrath of petulant giants.

“It’s fifty shades of hedging,” said Richard Heydarian, a Filipino political scientist at Oxford University. Or, as Ja Ian Chong, a security analyst in Singapore put it, “No party wants to cross Beijing and now Washington, too.”

For countries watching from afar, dread and hope hover over the Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, which is scheduled for this week. In Asia, which has been hit hardest and fastest by oil shortages caused by the war and China’s tight control of oil-product exports, the mood is particularly grim. Interviews with officials, and statements from leaders traveling the globe to secure trade and defense deals, suggest that most middle powers feel overwhelmed by the deteriorating world order.

Many believe the summit carries more potential for harm than help. And Mr. Trump’s gut-driven approach to complex issues is the main source of anxiety.

For months, officials in Asia have worried that the president might be too eager to make a deal with Mr. Xi, ending weapons sales to Taiwan or agreeing to softened policy language that could make it easier for China to undermine the democratic island.

“That would be the biggest nightmare,” said one Taiwanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal government matters. He insisted that reduced support from the U.S. was unlikely.

But any concession on Taiwan could lead other American partners to fear abandonment. Beijing’s push for compliance on contested territory elsewhere would be bolstered, from the border with India to the South China Sea.

Vietnamese officials said that if President Trump makes a conciliatory gesture or flatters Xi, even without bigger compromises, China will gain leeway to press harder on smaller countries.

Another concern being discussed across the region: that Mr. Trump might alter long-term security plans in exchange for better economic terms with China.

Mr. Trump’s decision to redirect a carrier strike group from the Pacific and munitions from South Korea for the war in Iran may have created momentum for broader redeployments. When the Pentagon announced it would pull at least 5,000 troops from Germany after Mr. Trump expressed annoyance with the German chancellor, allies in Asia were again reminded how quickly collective deterrence can be weakened.

Mr. Trump has threatened in the past to make troop withdrawals from Japan, which hosts around 53,000 American military personnel — more than any other country — and South Korea, where another 24,000 Americans are stationed. If he could get something big from Mr. Xi for a drawdown, would he turn down the deal?

Analysts noted that plans opposed by China, such as AUKUS, a pact between Australia, England and the U.S. designed to counter Beijing’s influence by equipping Australia with nuclear-powered submarines and advanced technology, could also be suddenly canceled.

“The sense that U.S. allies have to look to one another because they can no longer look to America is very real,” said Hugh White, a former Australian intelligence official who teaches strategic studies at the Australia National University.

That sentiment is much stronger than “the cautious public language” of national leaders might suggest, he added.

European and Asian officials often talk privately in frank terms about giving up their faith in America, prompting a no-turning-back effort to diversify away from the United States. In casual discussions with reporters, they can sound a lot like Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada, who received a standing ovation in Davos this year for a speech that declared, “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.”

But in public, they’re more circumspect. Some officials admit their countries are trying to buy time and evade Mr. Trump’s fits of pique, while continuing the performance of imperial fealty.

South Korean officials have simply expressed resignation over American military diversions, after making clear they felt betrayed in 2004, when President George W. Bush announced plans to move troops from Asia to the war in Iraq. Australia, Taiwan and Japan publicly and repeatedly stress the value of American leadership without caveats — even as U.S. tariffs and the war Mr. Trump started with Iran kneecap their economies.

Walking with Caution

No one wants to be seen stepping out of line.

Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has been bolder than most in trying to foster stronger relationships with other countries. Yet even as she crisscrossed the region promoting military cooperation, officials in Tokyo worried about how Washington would view her efforts.

“The Japanese don’t want Takaichi’s security cooperation and tour, especially to Australia, to be seen as a version of Mark Carney,” said Michael J. Green, the author of several books on Japan, and chief executive of the United States Study Centre at the University of Sydney.

Others have apparently reached the same conclusion. Mr. Carney’s recent visits to India and Australia did not yield strong statements from their leaders echoing his criticism of great power rivalry or his warning that if middle powers are “not at the table, we’re on the menu.”

At the same time, many countries — including some that are benefiting from the thickening of middle-power bonds — have been careful not to anger the world’s other hegemon, China.

Nations managing their own disputes with Beijing, such as Indonesia, have done less to rally around Japan than some in Tokyo would have liked, since Ms. Takaichi became embroiled in a diplomatic crisis after telling her Parliament that if China attacked Taiwan, Japan could respond militarily.

Vietnamese officials even pressed Ms. Takaichi to avoid directly criticizing China in her speech at a university on May 2 in Hanoi, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions. It is not clear if adjustments were made. Chinese officials later condemned her diplomatic efforts as “war preparation.”

And yet, in a sign of how middle powers are still doing more while saying less, the two countries signed six cooperation agreements, including one on satellite data sharing and another to secure deliveries for Vietnam’s largest oil refinery, potentially easing shortages.

“The U.S. has become more unreliable, so it makes sense to try to develop alternatives,” said Robert O. Keohane, an international relations professor at Princeton University. Even if what’s been formed so far is insufficient, he added, “having a weak alternative is better than having no alternative at all.”

Reporting was contributed by Tung Ngo from Hanoi, Vietnam; Javier C. Hernández from Tokyo; Amy Chang Chien from Taipei, Taiwan; Jim Tankersley from Berlin; Ian Austen from Ottawa; and Matina Stevis-Gridneff from Toronto.

World

Remains recovered of US soldier who went missing in military exercises in Morocco, 2nd soldier still missing

Published

8 hours ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

Remains recovered of US soldier who went missing in military exercises in Morocco, 2nd soldier still missing

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The remains of a U.S. Army officer who went missing during military exercises in Morocco were recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, while the search continues for a second missing soldier, according to military officials.

The remains of 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr., 27, of Richmond, Virginia, were recovered Saturday, U.S. Army Europe and Africa announced Sunday. Key, a 14A Air Defense Artillery officer, was one of two U.S. soldiers who reportedly fell from a cliff during an off-duty recreational hike near the Cap Draa Training Area on May 2.

A Moroccan military search team found Key in the water along the shoreline at about 8:55 a.m. local time Saturday, roughly one mile from where both soldiers reportedly entered the ocean, the Army said.

“Today, we mourn the loss of 1st Lt. Kendrick Key, whose remains were recovered in Morocco,” Brig. Gen Curtis King, commanding general of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, said in a statement. “Our hearts are with his Family, friends, teammates, and all who knew and served alongside him. The 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command Family is grieving, and we will continue to support one another and 1st Lt. Key’s Family as we honor his life and service.”

LONG-LOST SOLDIER’S GRAVE DISCOVERED AT REMOTE US NATIONAL PARK AFTER 150 YEARS

The remains of 1st Lt. Kendrick Lamont Key Jr. were recovered. (U.S. Army Europe and Africa)

Key and the second soldier were reported missing on May 2 after participating in African Lion, an annual multinational military exercise hosted across Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal.

The two were reported missing around 9 p.m. near the Cap Draa Training Area outside Tan-Tan, a terrain featuring mountains, desert and semi-desert plains, the Moroccan military said.

The disappearance of the two soldiers led to a search-and-rescue mission involving more than 600 personnel from the U.S., Morocco and other military partners. Ships, helicopters and drones were deployed as part of this operation.

Search efforts will continue for the second missing soldier.

PENTAGON HONORS AMERICAN TROOPS KILLED IN OPERATION EPIC FURY: ‘NEVER BE FORGOTTEN’

The two soldiers were reported missing after participating in African Lion, an annual multinational military exercise held in Morocco. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)

A U.S. contingent remained in Morocco after the military exercises ended on Friday to provide command and control and to support the ongoing search and rescue mission.

Key was assigned to Charlie Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, according to the Army.

His decorations include the Army Achievement Medal and Army Service Ribbon.

He entered military service in 2023 as an officer candidate and earned his commission through Officer Candidate School the following year as an Air Defense Artillery officer. He later completed the Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Key is survived by his parents, his sister and his brother-in-law.

Search efforts will continue for the second missing soldier. (Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP via Getty Images)

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African Lion 26 is a U.S.-led exercise that began in April across Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Senegal, with more than 5,600 civilian and military personnel from more than 40 nations.

For more than 20 years, it has been the largest U.S. joint military exercise in Africa.

In 2012, two U.S. Marines were killed, and two others injured during an MV-22 Osprey crash near Cap Draa while participating in Exercise African Lion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.