Summary of the day
Two people have been killed and 26 injured in a Russian missile attack on the northern city of Sumy on Thursday, the regional administration said.
Oleg Sinegubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said that three people have been killed in the region.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, said that two people were killed in Ukrainian drone attacks.
Ukraine’s defence ministry said that “overnight, Ukrainian air defenders shot down 33 our of 37 Russian ‘Shahed’ UAVs.”
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, arrived in Turkey for a meeting with the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
He thanked Erdoğan “and all Turkish and Ukrainian defence companies for their partnership and for working together to bring peace closer and make it a lasting one.”
Petr Fiala, the Czech prime minister, said that an initiative led by his country to buy ammunition for Ukraine has already raised “enough money to buy the first batch of 300,000 artillery shells.”
The British defence secretary, Grant Shapps, said he’s in the Ukrainian capital “to raise the alarm.” He added: “What would it say, if we allow a democratic country to be taken over by a dictator like Putin? What would it say about our values of freedom and democracy?… Let’s make sure Ukraine wins this war.”
Andriy Yermak, head of Zelenskiy’s office, met with a delegation headed by Li Hui, the Chinese government’s special representative for Eurasian affairs.
The US embassy in Moscow issued an alert on Thursday to citizens, telling them to avoid crowds and be aware of their surroundings given reports that extremists have “imminent plans” to target gatherings in the Russian capital.
The exiled Belarusian opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, told reporters on Friday that she has not heard from her jailed husband for a year and described the lack of communication as “a form of torture.”
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, is visiting Turkey, where he thanked the country’s “president and all Turkish and Ukrainian defense companies for their partnership and for working together to bring peace closer and make it a lasting one.”
Visit to Türkiye. Istanbul. Shipyards where corvettes are built for our Navy. I inspected the readiness and equipment of the Ivan Mazepa corvette and spoke with Ukrainian Navy personnel. I thanked them for their service. We are strengthening our country.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 8, 2024
I also inspected the… pic.twitter.com/aZmR94icRQ
The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable, Poland’s foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, said today.
💬 The presence of #NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable. I appreciate the 🇫🇷 President Emmanuel Macron's initiative, because it is about Putin being afraid, not us being afraid of Putin.
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) March 8, 2024
| FM @sikorskiradek during a conference on NATO at @PLParliament pic.twitter.com/yVZc3AlbJZ
Updated
Here are the latest images from Ukraine.
Microsoft said today that Russian state-sponsored hacking group Midnight Blizzard have gained access to some of its source code repositories and internal systems, after a hack that was detected in January, Reuters reported.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has reiterated Kyiv’s call for western governments to confiscate frozen Russian assets.
“By proceeding with the confiscation, we are also setting a precedent that will serve as a deterrent to other potential aggressors,” he said.
💬 "By proceeding with the confiscation, we are also setting a precedent that will serve as a deterrent to other potential aggressors" — @DmytroKuleba in his address to the members of Estonian Parliament on the confiscation of frozen Russian assets. pic.twitter.com/jtTVx7CNP0
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) March 8, 2024
While the war in Ukraine continues to keep many of its residents out of the country, for others, the conflict is a pull. Cath Clarke has interviewed filmmaker Vita Maria Drygas about her latest project, Danger Zone, which follows war tourists:
In 2014, Vita Maria Drygas was filming in a war zone. She had travelled to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine to pick up footage for a documentary when she spotted a handwritten advert offering “cheap” tours of the frontline. “It was a mindfuck,” says the 39-year-old Polish director over a video call from Warsaw, with quiet intensity.
She found the idea of people buying tickets to the frontline, like a theatre production, profoundly shocking: “It was impossible. I didn’t believe it.” At first, she assumed that the advert was a sick joke or maybe a Russian provocation. But back in Poland, digging around on the internet, she discovered the hidden world of war jollies: “A huge branch of tourism that is very underground.”
She spent the next seven years making a documentary, Danger Zone, following a handful of tourists on holiday in some of the most dangerous places on the planet. There is Eleonora, an Italian living in Las Vegas who travels to Afghanistan. On an army base, she swaps her Birkenstocks for combat boots to fire ammo, and poses for a selfie holding a rifle. We also meet Rick, an American tour operator who organises bespoke trips to conflict zones that can cost $20,000 (£16,000) a week.
What is it about holidaying in the hell of a conflict zone that gives some people a thrill? “Everyone has their own reasons,” she says. “Each of my subjects has a different motivation, because people are different. It’s difficult to find a single motivation. Everyone is shaped by their experiences. Their own experiences are pushing them to go there. There’s also adrenaline, which is addictive. It’s some kind of need. It’s not my way of seeing the world, but I didn’t come to judge them.”
You can read the full article here
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, told reporters on Friday that she has not heard from her jailed husband for a year and described the lack of communication as “a form of torture.”
AFP reports:
She called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to intervene, saying that other Belarusian political prisoners had also been cut off from the outside world.
“It’s been a year since I last heard from my husband Sergei Tikhanovsky. Since then, it has only been silence. No letters, no phone calls, no visits of lawyers,” Tikhanovskaya told reporters in Vilnius.
“I only received anonymous letters claiming that he had passed away and video that was published last year where I can barely recognise my own husband,” she added.
Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory against longtime Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election, has lived in exile in Lithuania since authorities staged a violent crackdown on protesters disputing the vote results.
A number of top opposition leaders are in jail. Tikhanovsky was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2021 for “organising riots and inciting social hatred”.
“Being incommunicado is a form of torture ... not only for our political prisoners, but also for their families, who live in uncertainty and don’t want to believe in the worst,” Tikhanovskaya said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has arrived in Istanbul where he is set to hold talks with his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, according to state news agency Ukrinform.
Reuters reports that Zelenskiy’s office said earlier that among topics for discussion were a potential formula for peace over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Black Sea navigation safety, and the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russia.
A Turkish government official told AP that Erdogan is expected to press for negotiations to end the war. He is also expected to emphasise its continued strong support for Ukraine‘s territorial integrity, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters.
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian border region of Belgorod killed two people on Friday, its Russian governor said.
AFP reports that Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said three Ukrainian “kamikaze drones” hit the village of Rozhdestvenska, close to the border with Ukraine.
“As a result of the explosions, two people were killed and a third man was serious wounded,” Gladkov said in a post on Telegram. An ambulance crew had been dispatched to the site to treat the victims, Gladkov added.
Russia’s defence ministry said earlier that its air defence forces had downed several Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region throughout Friday morning.
Two people have been killed and 26 injured in a Russian missile attack on the northern city of Sumy on Thursday, Reuters reports that the regional administration said on Friday.
“The premises of the school, the central city hospital, the regional emergency medical care centre, and the water utility were damaged,” it said on Facebook.
Two killed in Russia's Belgorod region, local official says
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, said today that two people were killed in Ukrainian drone attacks, Reuters reported.
“As a result of the explosions, two people were killed, a third man was seriously wounded,” he wrote on Telegram.
Updated
Rustem Umerov, the Ukrainian defence minister, has thanked his British counterpart, who has been visiting Kyiv, for his “personal efforts in assisting Ukraine’s fight for our shared values and global security.”
Thank you, Minister @grantshapps! I am grateful for all of your personal efforts in assisting Ukraine’s fight for our shared values and global security.
— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) March 8, 2024
We are indomitable when we are united. https://t.co/SFMn77vzpX
Ukraine’s defence ministry said that “overnight, Ukrainian air defenders shot down 33 our of 37 Russian ‘Shahed’ UAVs.”
Overnight, Ukrainian air defenders shot down 33 our of 37 russian "Shahed" UAVs.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 8, 2024
Every destroyed Shahed and missile is a result of an important and difficult work of our soldiers. We defend our people from brutal russian terror.
Every air defense system provided to Ukraine from… pic.twitter.com/bMsdkmoy2m
Updated
Here is footage of a woman pulled from the rubble after Russian missiles hit Kharkiv region.
The US embassy in Moscow issued an alert on Thursday to citizens, telling them to avoid crowds and be aware of their surroundings given reports that extremists have “imminent plans” to target gatherings in the Russian capital.
The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours.
Estonia’s defence minister, Hanno Pevkur, said today that he gave an order to remove from his ministry and defence forces products from companies still active in Russia.
I ordered to remove from @MoD_Estonia and 🇪🇪 @Kaitsevagi all the products of the companies (PepsiCo, Mars, Nestle, Unilever, Mondelēz International, Philip Morris International, JTI etc), which are still active in 🇷🇺 and thereby support 🇷🇺 war machine against 🇺🇦. @rustem_umerov
— Hanno Pevkur (@HPevkur) March 8, 2024
British defence secretary in Kyiv to 'raise the alarm,' he says
In a video posted from Ukraine, the British defence secretary, Grant Shapps, said he’s in the Ukrainian capital “to raise the alarm.”
What would it say, if we allow a democratic country to be taken over by a dictator like Putin? What would it say about our values of freedom and democracy?
And it doesn’t have to be this way. Because we easily have the resources of the west, if we have the will. So the message is simple: this is a wake up call for the world.
Let’s make sure Ukraine wins this war.
I’m in Kyiv to raise the alarm to the democratic world - we must make sure Ukraine wins this war.
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) March 8, 2024
The UK has stepped up to do more than ever, with our largest military support package to date. Every nation must now do the same and ensure freedom triumphs over tyranny. pic.twitter.com/DYbOcCUkho
Czech Republic raised funds to buy 300,000 shells for Ukraine, prime minister says
Petr Fiala, the Czech prime minister, said that an initiative led by his country to buy ammunition for Ukraine has already raised “enough money to buy the first batch of 300,000 artillery shells.”
“However, our goal is to deliver much more,” he added.
Many thanks to all the countries that have joined the Czech initiative to purchase ammunition for Ukraine so far. We have managed to raise enough money to buy the first batch of 300,000 artillery shells. However, our goal is to deliver much more!
— Petr Fiala (@P_Fiala) March 8, 2024
Our work and our help to Ukraine…
Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back enemy in Mariinka
At night, Sasha and his drone team go in search of the enemy. They set off in a dirt-covered vehicle towards the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariinka, occupied by Russia since December. They unload a large drone. And then they fly it in darkness across the frontline, above a ghostly landscape of fields and ruined houses, towards the twinkling city of Donetsk. The drone carries a deadly arsenal of six grenades.
Sasha, who uses the call sign “Tourist”, has bombed more than 100 pieces of Russian military equipment.
The list includes tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and self-propelled guns, as well as hidden ammunition dumps. Russian howitzers are another key target. Recently his special operations unit forestalled a large-scale attack. It spotted seven Russian tanks massed for a dawn raid and disabled two of them.
Despite these successes, Ukrainian forces are struggling to hold back the Russians in and around Mariinka and all across the Donbas region. After two years of full-scale war, and last summer’s failed Ukrainian counteroffensive, Moscow is on the move. Its troops captured the city of Avdiivka, next to Donetsk, the provincial capital held by the Kremlin since 2014. Russian reinforcements are taking further territory, village by shattered village.
“The Russians have more of everything. Tanks, artillery, human resources and planes,” Sasha admitted, speaking as he conducted a test flight with his bomb-carrying quadcopter.
In the distance, next to a slag heap, black smoke billowed into a white sky. He added:
“We have a lot less. And they prepared for this war for a long time. Unfortunately, we didn’t. We can only survive if the west steps up and gives us more weapons.”
Zelenskiy to visit Turkey today
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, is expected to visit Turkey today for talks with the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
A Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters that Turkey is expected to underscore its continued support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and “it is planned to convey that Turkey is continuing its efforts to end the war as soon as possible on the basis of negotiations.”
The meeting, set to take place this afternoon, will include discussion of a new regulation on the navigational safety of commercial ships between Russia and Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Chinese delegation meets senior Ukrainian official
Andriy Yermak, head of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, has met with a delegation headed by Li Hui, the Chinese government’s special representative for Eurasian affairs.
Held a briefing on the security situation in 🇺🇦 and other topical issues for the delegation of the 🇨🇳 headed by Li Hui, Special Representative of the 🇨🇳 Government for Eurasian Affairs. pic.twitter.com/vSEPHQIMWW
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) March 8, 2024
Three dead in Kharkiv region due to Russian shelling, Ukrainian official says
Oleg Sinegubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said this morning that three people have been killed in the region.
About 18 settlements in the Kharkiv region were hit by Russian artillery and mortar attacks, he wrote in a social media post, adding that a 64-year old woman, a 58-year old man, and a 40 year old woman died.
