Here is the status as of Thursday, March 16, 2023:
US drone incident
- The crash of a US military surveillance drone into the Black Sea after being intercepted by Russian jet fighters remains “under investigation,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
- Defense chief Lloyd Austin said after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu that the US would continue to fly wherever international law allows.
- Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said he had told US officials that Moscow “will no longer allow anyone to violate our waters,” Moscow state news agency TASS reported.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the US was “ignoring” the fact that Russia had imposed airspace restrictions around Crimea.
- Russia’s Defense Ministry said it would respond “appropriately” to any future US “provocations”.
Battle
- Ukrainian ground forces shot down a Russian fighter jet near the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, said Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office.
- Russian forces have taken control of the village of Zaliznianske and are expanding the encirclement of Bakhmut, said the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
diplomacy
- Finland expects Turkey to approve its NATO membership bid this week, as Finnish President Sauli Niinistö is due to meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Friday.
- In a televised meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Russia is fighting “Nazis” in Ukraine and expressed support for Moscow.
- The International Monetary Fund says its staff has made “very good progress” in talks with Ukrainian officials over a range of measures to support a new lending program for Ukraine.