Here is the situation as it stands on Thursday, March 16, 2023:
American drone incident
- The crash of a US military surveillance drone in the Black Sea after being intercepted by Russian jet fighters continues to be “under investigation”, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
- Defense Chief Lloyd Austin said the United States would continue to fly where international law permitted, after speaking with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu.
- Russia’s Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said he told US officials that Moscow “won’t allow anyone to violate our waters anymore”, Moscow news agency TASS reported.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the United States was “ignoring” the fact that Russia had established airspace restrictions around Crimea.
- The Russian Defense Ministry said it would react “proportionately” to any future US “provocation”.
Struggle
- Ukrainian ground forces shot down a Russian fighter jet near the besieged eastern town of Bakhmut, said Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office.
- Russian forces have taken over the village of Zaliznianske and are expanding the encirclement of Bakhmut, Russian mercenary force leader Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin said.
Diplomacy
- Finland expects Turkey to approve its NATO membership application 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 was fighting “Nazis” in Ukraine and expressed support for Moscow.
- The International Monetary Fund says its staff have made “very good progress” in talks with Ukrainian officials on a policy package supporting a new loan program for Ukraine.