As the war enters its 868th day, here are the top developments.
Here is the state of the war on Friday, July 12, 2024:
Struggle
- Ukraine's Air Force said it shot down five cruise missiles and 11 drones out of 19 launched by Russia on Friday. It added that Russia's primary target was the town of Starokostiantyniv, a crucial Ukrainian air base.
- Russian forces attacked eastern and northeastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing five people, including a child, days after the United Nations warned that attacks on civilians had become systematic, officials said.
- A Ukrainian drone strike outside a multi-storey apartment building in Russia's southern Belgorod region has injured five children, two of them seriously, the regional governor said.
- Ukraine has seized a cargo ship near Odesa and detained its captain, alleging the vessel had illegally exported Ukrainian grain.
Diplomacy
- President Joe Biden reiterated U.S. support for Ukraine at the end of a NATO summit, saying the U.S. “cannot retreat from the world.”
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told his allies at a NATO summit that they needed to lift all restrictions on kyiv carrying out long-range strikes against targets inside Russia if they wanted Ukraine to win the war.
- Zelenskyy also said Ukraine was “very close” to achieving its goal of NATO membership even though the alliance did not offer his country a formal invitation to the summit.
- Introducing Zelensky, President Biden mistakenly called him “President Putin” before correcting himself.
- China has slammed a NATO summit communiqué as “facilitating” Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, calling it biased and “sowing discord.”
- Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store announced at the summit that his country will donate 1 billion kroner ($92.69 million) to support Ukraine's air defense.
- The United Nations General Assembly has demanded that Russia “urgently withdraw its military and other unauthorized personnel” from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine and return full control to Ukrainian authorities.
- The Kremlin has said the US plan to periodically station long-range missiles in Germany would lead to a Cold War-style confrontation between Russia and the West.
Policy
- Russia has added opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late opposition leader Alexey Navalny, to its list of “terrorists” and “extremists,” two days after issuing an arrest warrant against her.
- A Moscow court has upheld a prison sentence against human rights activist Oleg Orlov, co-chair of the now-banned Memorial group that was among the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winners, for criticizing the war in Ukraine.
