Ukraine war: Five key developments to know about from Friday
1. Moscow councillor gets seven years in prison for criticising war in Ukraine
Moscow city councillor Alexei Gorinov was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday for denouncing Russia's war in Ukraine.
Gorinov was found guilty of "disseminating clearly false information" about the Russian military using his "official duties" and doing so as part of an organised group motivated by "political hatred", according to Judge Olesya Mendeleyeva.
"The defendant's rehabilitation is impossible without a sentence of deprivation of liberty," the magistrate said before sentencing him to seven years in a penal colony.
Before she handed down the sentence, the trial audience applauded the defendant, leading to the expulsion from the courtroom of spectators who had come to support him.
The 60-year-old Gorinov's sentencing came in the midst of a wave of repression to silence any criticism of Russia's war.
Read more at our story here.
2. US sending $400 million more in military aid to Ukraine
The United States will send another $400 million (€393 million) in military equipment to Ukraine, including four more advanced rocket systems, a senior defense official said Friday, in an effort to bolster Ukrainian efforts to strike deeper behind Russian frontlines in the eastern Donbas region.
The aid comes as Moscow this week claimed full control of Ukraine's Luhansk province in the Donbas, but Ukrainian officials say their troops still control a small part of the province and fierce fighting continues in several villages.
The defense official said that the eight High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, that were previously sent are still being used by Ukraine forces in the fight. And this will give them four more to help hit Russian command and
Read more on euronews.com
