Here are the key events so far on Thursday, July 7.
Get the latest updates here.
Fighting
- The Ukrainian military said it has so far staved off any significant Russian advance into the north of its Donetsk region, but pressure is intensifying with heavy shelling on the city of Sloviansk and nearby populated areas.
- Heavy shelling occurred along the front line in the Donetsk region on Wednesday, but Russian forces made few advances, the United Kingdom’s defence ministry said.
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian troops were advancing in areas of the country occupied by Russian forces, particularly in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia.
- The mayor of the southern port city of Mykolaiv stressed there are “no safe areas” left in the city and urged residents to leave.
(Al Jazeera)
Diplomacy
- Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has flown into Indonesia’s resort island of Bali for a meeting of G20 foreign ministers, which is set to be overshadowed by tensions triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
- Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong, ahead of the G20 meeting, asked China to exert its influence on Russia to halt the war in Ukraine, which she called “immoral”.
- Irish prime minister Micheal Martin, during a visit to Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, said there will be “no hiding places” for those committing war crimes.
- US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have spoken with the wife of US basketball player Brittney Griner, who is jailed in Russia, and reassured her that Washington was working to secure Griner’s release as soon as possible.
Economy
- Ukraine’s grain exports plunged 68.5 percent year-on-year to 163,000 tonnes in the first six days of July, the first month of the 2022/23 season, the agriculture ministry said.
- A Russian-flagged cargo ship, the Zhibek Zholy, which was suspected of carrying stolen Ukrainian grain, left the Turkish northwestern port of Karasu late on Wednesday, according to Refinitiv ship tracking data.
- France must be prepared for possible cuts in Russian gas deliveries linked to the context of the Ukraine war, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said.
