Here is the situation on Saturday, March 30, 2024.

Fighting

• At least one person has been killed and two were injured after a drone crashed into an apartment building in Russia’s Belgorod region. Authorities there said they evacuated more than 3,500 children following a spate of Ukrainian attacks.
• Russia targeted Ukraine’s key energy infrastructure in escalated shelling, firing dozens of drones and missiles and injuring at least six people, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukraine’s Air Force said 99 missiles and drones were fired, but 84 of them were intercepted.
• Ukraine introduced emergency blackouts in three regions – Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia and Kirovograd – because of the attacks, and the authorities urged consumers in other regions to limit electricity consumption.
• The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office says the country’s law enforcement agencies have uncovered 280 cases of sexual violence committed by Russian troops in the war-torn country, including 101 cases concerning violence against men.
• Vladimir Tsimlyansky, the deputy head of the Russian General Staff’s main organisational and mobilisation department, said 130,000 conscripts were called up in its army draft late last year, according to state news agency TASS.
• Tajikistan’s state security service detained nine people for suspected contact with the perpetrators of last week’s attack by gunmen on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people, according to Russian state media. Russia has insisted Ukraine was involved in the attack, although Kyiv has denied the allegations.

Politics and diplomacy

• Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on Kyiv’s 10-point peace formula ahead of a proposed summit in Switzerland. The plan demands the complete withdrawal of Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called it “pointless”.
• Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned of the “real” threat of conflict in Europe, saying that for the first time since the end of World War II, the continent has entered a “pre-war era”. Tusk, whose country has been one of the staunchest supporters of neighbouring Ukraine, said that if Kyiv lost, “no one” in Europe would feel safe.
• French authorities are “seriously” studying the option of building a plant to convert and enrich reprocessed uranium to cut reliance on Russia. The only plant in the world that currently converts reprocessed uranium for use in nuclear power plants is located in Russia and France is majorly dependent on nuclear energy.
• Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Kyiv received a $1.5bn tranche of funding under a World Bank programme – $984m from Japan and $516m from the United Kingdom. The funds are set to cover budget spending for social and humanitarian needs and reconstruction in the country.
• President Joe Biden said the United States will “impose costs” for Russia’s “appalling attempts” to use US citizens as “bargaining chips”, on the anniversary of the jailing of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Weapons

• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said if his country does not get promised US military aid blocked by disputes in Congress, then its forces will have to “retreat, step by step, in small steps”.
• US authorities asked American companies to stop shipping goods to more than 600 foreign parties over fears the items could be diverted to Russia for use in its invasion of Ukraine. The US Department of Commerce sent letters to at least 20 companies that make and sell products found in missiles and drones recovered inside Ukraine.