As the war enters its 866th day, here are the top developments.
Here is the situation on Wednesday, July 10, 2024:
Struggle
- Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had taken control of the settlement of Yasnobrodivka in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, but kyiv did not acknowledge such a loss and identified the village as one of several where its forces were defending positions.
- A United Nations human rights mission said there was a “high probability” that kyiv’s main children’s hospital was directly hit by a Russian missile during a series of airstrikes on Ukrainian cities on Monday. The airstrikes killed 44 people across the country, including four children and two people at the capital’s Okhmatdyt children’s hospital.
- A senior NATO official told reporters in Washington, DC, that Russia lacks the ammunition and troops to launch a major offensive in Ukraine and needs to secure significant supplies of ammunition from other countries in addition to what it already has. “What we are seeing today are very high Russian losses. Russia is trying to gain ground. We have seen that Ukrainian defenses have improved significantly,” the official said.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged U.S. political leaders not to wait for the outcome of the November presidential election to take steps to repel Russia’s offensive against his country. “It’s time to come out of the shadows, make firm decisions … act and not wait for November or any other month,” he said at the Ronald Reagan Institute in Washington, DC, on the eve of a NATO summit.
- Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden welcomed NATO leaders in Washington, DC, and vowed to forcefully defend Ukraine against Russian encroachment. Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants nothing less than the total subjugation of Ukraine… and wiping Ukraine off the map,” he said in his welcome speech. “Ukraine can and will stop Putin.”
- NATO is also expected to announce details at the summit on the path Ukraine will take to become a member of the alliance. NATO, which is based on the founding agreement that an attack on one member is an attack on all, has maintained that it will not take Ukraine on board until the conflict with Russia is over.
- Meanwhile, in New York, members of the UN Security Council condemned Russia for the missile attack that destroyed part of Ukraine's largest children's hospital. Moscow's envoy denied any responsibility for the attack on the hospital, saying it was hit by a Ukrainian air defence missile.
- In Moscow, the Russian capital, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Putin that “war cannot solve problems” and urged “achieving peace through dialogue.” The Indian leader added that the deaths of innocent children were painful and terrifying, an implicit rebuke to Putin at a summit meant to underline the deepening relationship between their two countries.
- India’s foreign minister, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, also said Russia had pledged to begin decommissioning Indian citizens who had been “duped” into joining its military. New Delhi has been trying to secure the release of its citizens whose families say they were lured to Russia with the promise of “support jobs” in the military and then forced to fight actively in Ukraine.
Weapons
- Biden and the leaders of Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Romania issued a joint statement announcing the delivery of four additional Patriot air defense systems and one additional SAMP-T system to protect Ukrainian cities, civilians and soldiers. They said that in the coming months, the United States and its allies intend to provide Ukraine with dozens of tactical air defense systems, including the NASAMS, HAWK, IRIS T-SLM, IRIS T-SLS and Gepard systems.
- Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged the West to continue sending arms and ammunition to Ukraine no matter the costs, saying the outcome of the war with Russia “will shape global security for decades to come.”
- Zelenskyy, in a social media post, made clear that air defense remains his country’s top request, saying in a post on X: “We are fighting for more air defense systems for Ukraine, and I am confident that we will succeed. We are also striving to secure more aircraft, including F-16s. In addition, we are pushing for enhanced security guarantees for Ukraine, including weapons, financial aid and political support.”
