Russian irredentism

For years, the United States has insisted that Crimea is still part of Ukraine. Yet the Biden administration has held to a hard line since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, refusing to provide Kyiv with the weapons it needs to target the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia has been using as a base for launching devastating strikes.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will host Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Washington on Wednesday, a belated official visit by Turkey's top diplomat that will focus on the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets and Ankara's refusal to green light NATO membership for Sweden and Finland.

The fate of a devastated salt-mining town in eastern Ukraine hung in the balance Wednesday in one of the bloodiest battles of Russia's invasion, while Ukraine's unflagging resistance and other challenges prompted Moscow to shake up its military leadership again.

Russian forces used jets, mortars and rockets to bombard Soledar in an unrelenting assault.

The Russian military claimed Sunday to have carried out deadly missile strikes on barracks used by Ukrainian troops in retaliation for the deaths of dozens of Russian soldiers in a rocket attack a week ago. Ukrainian officials denied there were any casualties.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has hit the 10-month mark. With western backing, Ukraine has staunchly resisted the incursion of Russia, which is caught up in a costly conflict with no clear exit strategy. 

"We remind Russia that the right to information is enshrined in the international documents to which Moscow is a party", said today a spokesperson for the European Commission in response to a question related to the announcement that the Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev is wanted by the Russian authorities, BTA reported.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Kyiv reported 400 Russian fighters killed in a missile attack

Ukraine claims to have killed around 400 Russian soldiers in a missile attack in the occupied Donetsk region, the BBC reported.

"Ukrainian side, maintaining unconditional right to defense and protecting its own sky, expressed readiness in the same time, to conduct unbiased research into the incident that occurred in the sky above the territory of Belarus as a result of the rejection of the forced missile attack of Russia," it is said in the commentary published on the site of Defense Ministry.

Moscow on Saturday suspended its participation in a landmark agreement that allowed vital grain exports from Ukraine, blaming drone attacks on Russian ships in Crimea.

Russia made the announcement after its army accused Kiev earlier Saturday of a "massive" drone attack on its Black Sea fleet, which Ukraine labelled a "false pretext" and the UN urged the deal's preservation.

After extending efforts for establishing a "grain corridor" and for the exchange of prisoners, Türkiye will be taking on a new task in the Ukraine War by becoming a "unity corridor" for the war children to unite with their parents.