As the war enters its 806th day, these are the main events.
Here is the situation on Friday, May 10, 2024.
Struggle
- Two people were killed in the Russian bombing of the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol, while the Ukrainian air force said air defense systems destroyed 17 of 20 Russian attack drones targeting the Odessa region, In the south. No casualties were reported from those attacks.
- Eight people were injured and dozens of buildings were damaged in a Ukrainian airstrike on Belgorod, Russia, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine's military was facing “a really difficult situation” against Russian forces on the Eastern Front, but the US' $61 billion military aid package was coming and would change the situation.
- Ukraine's state energy company Ukrhidroenergo said two hydropower plants were no longer operational after Russian attacks earlier this week caused “devastating damage.”
- Anonymous intelligence sources in kyiv told news agencies Reuters and AFP that a Ukrainian drone attacked a major oil refinery in Russia's Bashkortostan region on Thursday from about 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away, in the most far-reaching attack. since the start of the large-scale attack on Moscow. invasion.
- Russian emergency services said a building at Gazprom's Neftekhim Salavat oil, petrochemical and fertilizer processing complex in Bashkortostan was damaged, state news agency RIA reported.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukrainian President Zelenskyy fired the head of the state guard, the unit that provides protection to senior officials, after intelligence services said two of its members were involved in a Russian plot to assassinate him.
- Zelenskyy appointed Brigadier General Oleksandr Trepak as commander of Ukraine's special forces, replacing Colonel Serhiy Lupanchuk. It is the second time in six months that the president changes the head of the unit operating in the territories occupied by Russia. No reason was given.
- Popular former Ukrainian army chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who led Ukraine's defense in the first two years of Moscow's large-scale invasion, was named kyiv's ambassador to the United Kingdom. The previous ambassador was fired in July 2023 after criticizing the president.
- Ukraine's parliament has backed a bill to crack down on draft evaders. The legislation includes increasing fines for anyone caught trying to avoid the draft and allowing authorities to detain draft evaders for up to three days.
- Speaking at Russia's Victory Day military parade, President Vladimir Putin accused “arrogant” Western elites of forgetting the decisive role played by the Soviet Union in the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II and of fanning conflicts around the world. Putin ordered a full-scale Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow currently occupies about 18 percent of the country.
- South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Seoul would maintain strong ties with Ukraine and a “fluid” relationship with Russia, but ruled out direct arms shipments to kyiv.
Weapons
- German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Ukraine's Western allies would deliver three more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). The system can launch multiple guided missiles in rapid succession.
