As the war continues into its 753rd day, here are the key updates on Sunday, March 17, 2024.
Fighting
In the Velykopysarivska community of Ukraine’s Sumy region, which shares a border with Russia, one person was killed and another injured, according to the region’s military administration. There were a total of 60 reported shelling incidents on border territories and settlements, causing damage to buildings such as a hospital, kindergarten, library, and a gas pipeline, as reported by Sumy officials.
Following a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv, one man was killed and at least eight individuals were wounded. This attack came after an overnight strike on the port city of Odesa. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that his armed forces in Ukraine were currently defeating the enemy, seizing control of towns and villages in the east of the country.
In retaliation, Ukrainian shelling in the southern Russian city of Belgorod resulted in the deaths of two individuals and injuries to eleven others, according to regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Additionally, in the village of Glotovo near the Ukrainian border, five people were wounded by a Ukrainian drone striking a car. These actions were described as election sabotage by Moscow, with a Ukrainian drone attack causing a fire at a Russian oil refinery that burned for hours before being extinguished.
Politics and Diplomacy
President Putin declared victory in early election results, showing him on track for another six-year term with approximately 87 percent of the vote. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized Putin as a dictator, obsessed with power and seeking to rule indefinitely.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who recently passed away in a Russian prison colony, stated that she wrote Navalny’s name on the ballot while voting at the Russian Embassy in Berlin.
Amnesty International condemned Russia’s efforts to suppress Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar identities in Crimea, which they viewed as a blueprint for Russia’s occupation of other parts of Ukraine. In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.