It’s been a busy day of developments related to the war in Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin getting an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, additional details released about the upcoming meeting between the Russian leader and his Chinese counterpart, and an announcement of more fighter jets for Ukraine.
As nighttime approaches in Kyiv, catch up on what’s happened so far:
ICC issues arrest warrant for Putin: The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian official at the center of the alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Moscow said the court has “no meaning” for the country as Ukrainian officials praised the announcement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff, Andri Yermak, said the arrest warrant is “just the beginning.”
Turkey, Finland and NATO: Turkey has decided to start the process of ratifying Finland’s accession to NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Finland — along with Sweden — both announced their intention to join NATO in May, dropping decades of neutrality after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While Finnish President Sauli Niinistö welcomed Turkey’s decision, he said its membership is “not complete” without Sweden.
Putin and Xi will meet: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping plan to discuss the war in Ukraine and will sign documents attesting to their closer ties when they meet in Moscow next week, a Putin adviser told Russian state media.
US officials said they will be eyeing the meeting closely as China considers sending weapons to Russia. US officials also said they are working to get Xi on the phone with Zelensky, believing that hearing directly from him would be important for perspective.
More fighter jets for Kyiv: Slovakia announced it will send 13 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, making it the second NATO member to pledge the aircraft after Poland said on Thursday that it would transfer four of the jets to Ukraine in the coming days
Situation in Bakhmut: A Ukrainian soldier said that Russian forces have been “partially exhausted” in some parts of the battered eastern city of Bakhmut, but the intensity of fighting is still “extremely high.”
According to the UK’s defense ministry, while Russian and Wagner forces have obtained footholds west of the Bakhmutka River in the center of the city, “more broadly across the front line, Russia is conducting some of the lowest rates of local offensive action” since at least January.
Meanwhile, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin repeated his complaints of inadequate munitions supplies from Russia.
Here’s the latest map of control:
