Here are the key events so far on Monday, July 18.
Get the latest updates here.
Fighting
- Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai disputed claims that the region is entirely in Russian hands, saying Ukraine still has two villages in its control and is inflicting losses on Russian soldiers and weapons in the area.
- The Russian military said it destroyed numerous weapons supplied by the United States and other NATO countries, including an advanced rocket system, during new attacks on Ukrainian positions on Sunday.
- A senior aide to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday the head of the powerful domestic security agency, Security Service of Ukraine (Sluzhba Bespeky Ukrayiny, or SBU), and the state prosecutor have been suspended pending investigations but have not been formally dismissed. On Sunday, Zelenskyy had said Ivan Bakanov had been removed as head of the SBU and Iryna Venediktova had been removed as prosecutor general, citing dozens of cases of collaboration with Russia by officials in their agencies.
- At least one person has been wounded in the overnight shelling on the southern Ukrainian town of Nikopol, the head of the district military administration, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, said.
Diplomacy
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal for a “European political community” a deliberately confrontational idea with anti-Russian intentions, according to state news agency TASS.
- The refusal of Ukraine and Western powers to recognise Moscow’s control of Crimea poses a “systemic threat” for Russia and any outside attack on the region will prompt a “Judgement Day” response, former President Dmitry Medvedev said.
- The Ukraine war shows that the West’s dominance is coming to an end as China rises to superpower status in partnership with Russia at one of the most significant inflexion points in centuries, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
Economy
- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Baku on Monday to seek more natural gas from Azerbaijan, the European Union’s executive said, as the bloc seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.
- Gazprom’s gas transit to Europe via Ukraine was stable on Sunday.
