As the war enters its 873rd day, these are the main developments.
This is where the war stands on Wednesday, July 17, 2024:
Fighting:
- Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s Kursk region triggered a fire at a factory producing electrical devices and wounded at least six people, according to local governors. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones overnight, including one over the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.
- Russian authorities announced plans to restrict civilian access to 14 villages in the southern Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, due to relentless Ukrainian shelling.
- The chief of Russia’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, thanked Russian forces for capturing the village of Urozhaine in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and “set new tasks for further activity”, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.
- Russian investigators said they were looking into the shooting of a wounded Russian soldier by Ukrainian forces in a video published online by Ukraine’s Azov Brigade.
- Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said it is providing its under-resourced military with munitions that had been sent to be scrapped before the Russian invasion. The rounds would undergo thorough quality checks before they are distributed to Ukrainian forces on the front, it said.
Politics and diplomacy
- The Kremlin responded cautiously to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s apparent invitation to a future peace summit, saying Moscow needs to understand what Kyiv means before attending talks. The Ukrainian president had said that Russia “should be” represented at a second summit on the war, following high-level talks last month in Switzerland that Moscow did not attend.
- Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a member of the country’s security council, said the accession of Ukraine to NATO would be a declaration of war against Moscow and only “prudence” on behalf of the alliance could prevent the planet from being shattered into pieces.
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban sent a letter to leaders of the European Union, saying that US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is ready to act “immediately” as a peace broker in the Russia-Ukraine war if he is elected in November.
- The president of the European Council Charles Michel responded to Orban’s letter telling the Hungarian leader that he had no EU mandate for talks on the war. Michel also rejected Orban’s assertion that the EU had pursued a “pro-war” policy in Ukraine.
- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formally notified Russia and Belarus that they would exit a 2001 agreement that kept the three Baltic countries connected to an electricity transmission system controlled by Moscow. The move is part of an effort to sever ties with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
- At the United Nations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the US of demanding “unquestioning obedience” from allies and threatening multilateralism
- The Russian Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan has dismissed a priest who opposed Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Hieromonk Lakov had advocated for the creation of a breakaway Orthodox Church, free of Moscow’s influence.
- Japan meanwhile is making final arrangements to loan $3.3bn to Ukraine using interest from frozen Russian assets, about 6 percent of the G7’s total $50bn package, the Kyodo news agency reported, citing diplomatic sources.
Economy
- Ukraine’s parliament voted to scrap taxes and duties on imports of energy equipment – including for wind and solar generation – as the country battles a severe energy crisis due to Russian bombardments.
- Ukraine’s state company Ukroboronservice and Czech ammunition maker, Sellier and Bellot, have signed an agreement to to build an ammunition factory in Ukraine, the two countries announced.
- Russia-based global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky announced it would wind down US operations after Washington sanctioned its senior officials and banned the sale of its popular antivirus software.
- Russia’s communications regulator meanwhile demanded Google reinstate more than 200 Russian YouTube channels that the US company blocked for spreading pro-Kremlin content, including over the conflict in Ukraine.
