Here is the situation on Wednesday, August 7, 2024.
Fighting
- At least one person was killed and 12 others, including an eight-month-old baby, injured on Tuesday when a Russian missile struck a residential area of northeastern Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city. Governor Oleh Syniehubov said a medical clinic was among many buildings that were damaged in the attack, which he said involved an Iskander ballistic missile.
- Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor of Russia’s southwestern Kursk region, bordering Ukraine, said a driver and paramedic were killed and a doctor injured when a Ukrainian drone hit an ambulance near the town of Sudzha.
- Russia said it sent reserve troops to the Kursk region, claiming some 300 pro-Kyiv fighters had stormed across the border supported by 11 tanks and more than 20 armoured vehicles. Smirnov said later that the situation was “tense” but “under the control” of Russian forces. Kyiv did not comment on the alleged incursion.
- Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, said Russia had captured 420sq km (162sq miles) of Ukrainian territory since June 14, as the Ministry of Defence said its forces had taken control of Tymofiivka, a village in eastern Donetsk region.
Politics and diplomacy
- Niger’s military rulers cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine in solidarity with Mali, which severed relations with Kyiv over remarks from an official that it said showed Ukraine’s support for groups involved in an attack that killed dozens of mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group as well as Malian soldiers in July.
- Maria Andreyeva, one of the leaders of the Put Domoy (Way Home) group that campaigns for drafted men to be brought home from Ukraine, told the AFP news agency that she had quit her campaigning amid pressure from the Kremlin. Andreyeva said she lost her job after Moscow designated her a “foreign agent”.
- A court In Prague jailed Czech volunteer Filip Siman for seven years after he was found guilty of looting from civilians and dead soldiers while serving with the Ukrainian army. Siman was posted to the ravaged Ukrainian cities of Irpin and Bucha where he stole from civilians and dead soldiers, Czech media said.
Weapons
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had used more drones in combat than Russia last month and that the weapons were “already affecting the war in strategic terms”. He did not give numbers.
- Zelenskyy also said Ukraine had put additional funding towards its domestic missile programme as it tries to narrow a gap in capabilities with Russia, which has a variety of long-range weapons. “More domestically produced missiles to come”, Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
