Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: List of key events on day 63

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 63rd day, we take a look at the main developments.

Here are the key events so far on Wednesday, April 27.

Get the latest updates here.

Fighting

Ukraine’s general staff said Russian forces were pressing their offensive in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions and they had captured several settlements.
Ukraine retains control over the majority of its airspace, Britain’s defence ministry said, adding that Russia has failed to effectively destroy Ukraine’s air force or suppress its air defences.
A series of blasts were heard in the early hours of Wednesday in three Russian provinces bordering Ukraine, authorities said, and an ammunition depot in the Belgorod province caught fire around the same time.
Ukraine accused Russia of trying to drag Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria into its war after authorities in the Russia-backed region, adjacent to southwest Ukraine, said they had been targeted by a series of attacks.
Britain’s foreign minister Liz Truss says she plans to call on allies to “ramp up” tank and military plane production to help sway the conflict.

Russia’s Gazprom has suspended gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria, citing the two countries’ refusal to pay in Russian roubles, prompting accusations of “blackmail”.

On the 36th anniversary of what is considered the world’s worst ever nuclear disaster, there is relief the hulking sarcophagus covering the reactor’s radioactivity has returned to Ukrainian control.
But concerns have far from dissipated for atomic sites in Ukraine, with missiles flying over a nuclear power station near the southern city of Zaporizhzhia in the latest close call.

Ukrainian authorities dismantled a Soviet-era monument in the centre of Kyiv meant to symbolise friendship between Russia and Ukraine, a response to Moscow’s invasion, according to the city’s mayor.
Ukrainian farmers in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia that borders the front line are wearing body armour to plough their fields. Ukraine is the world’s fifth-biggest exporter of wheat.

The United States hosted defence talks in Germany, involving at least 40 countries, that sought to speed and synchronise the delivery of arms to Ukraine.
Germany announced its first delivery of heavy weapons – Gepard tanks with anti-aircraft guns – to Ukraine after weeks of pressure at home and abroad.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” to UN and International Committee of the Red Cross involvement in the evacuation of civilians from a besieged steel plant in Ukraine’s southern city of Mariupol, the United Nations said.