As the war enters its 712th day, here are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Monday, February 5, 2024.
Struggle
- At least 28 people, including a child, were killed in the Russian-occupied eastern city of Lysychansk after a restaurant and bakery were hit by shelling. Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack. Ukraine did not comment on the incident. According to Ukrainian officials, only about a tenth of Lysychansk's pre-war population, 110,000 people, remains in the city.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Ukrainian soldiers who were under relentless attack by Russian forces on the front line in the village of Robotyne in the southeastern region of Zaporizhia. Zelenskyy met with troops from the 65th Mechanized Brigade and presented medals.
- During his visit to the front, Zelenskyy also appointed Ivan Federov as the new head of the Zaporizhia regional state administration. Federov was kidnapped in March 2022 by Russian soldiers as they entered the city of Melitopol, where he was then mayor, after refusing to cooperate with Moscow.
Politics and diplomacy
- Zelenskyy told Italian state broadcaster RAI that he was considering a “reset” to replace several senior officials. When asked about his plans for army chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, he said any changes “do not concern a single person, but the direction of the country's leadership.”
- US senators released the text of a long-awaited bipartisan deal that would unlock $60 billion in new aid for Ukraine while tightening US border laws. US President Joe Biden said he “strongly supported” the bill and urged Congress to back it. The first vote is expected for Wednesday.
- Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would discuss a new mechanism to allow Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Turkey. The date has not been confirmed but local media have said that it will take place on February 12.
- Moscow police detained about 20 journalists for several hours at a demonstration in which wives of Russian soldiers in Ukraine called for their husbands to return home.
- Serbian actor Milos Bikovic has been removed from the cast of the popular TV show The White Lotus, an HBO spokesperson said, after the Serbian native's ties to Russia drew a sharp rebuke from Ukraine.
Weapons
- South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Chung Byung-won expressed Seoul's “grave position” on Russia's growing military cooperation with Pyongyang during Russian Vice Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko's visit to Seoul. Chung urged Russia to take “responsible actions,” according to a statement from South Korea's Foreign Ministry. Seoul and Washington have said North Korea is sending weapons to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine.
