As the war enters its 884th day, here are the top developments.
This is the state of the war on Sunday, July 28, 2024:
Struggle
- A 14-year-old boy was killed and 12 people were injured, six of them children, in a Russian airstrike in the centre of the city of Glukhiv in the Sumy region of Ukraine.
- One person was killed in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, while five were wounded in eastern Donetsk, officials said.
- In Ukraine's southern Kherson region, a 37-year-old woman was killed and a 67-year-old man was seriously injured in Antonivka as a result of Russian shelling of the town of Bilozerka, a few kilometres from the Dnipro River, the military administration said.
- One civilian has been killed in Ukrainian attacks in the Russian border region of Belgorod, which is under almost daily attack by Kiev forces, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.
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Ukrainian attack drones shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber at a military airfield in the Russian town of Olenya, Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing a military intelligence source. The airfield is 1,800 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
- At least five people were injured, including an 11-year-old boy who was in the courtyard of a private house, following an airstrike by Russian forces on the town of Myrnograd in the Donetsk region.
- Russia said its army captured the village of Lozuvatske in Donetsk amid heavy fighting, as its forces advanced towards the town of Pokrovsk.
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The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian air defense systems destroyed seven drones launched from Ukraine overnight. Five drones were destroyed over the Belgorod region and two over the Kursk region, the ministry added.
- Ukraine's Defence Ministry said its forces stopped 37 Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk area, with the heaviest fighting reported in the village of Novooleksandrivka, 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) from Lozuvatske.
- A source in Ukraine's defence ministry also told AFP news agency that three Russian military helicopters were targeted in “acts of sabotage”, one in Samara and two in the Moscow region.
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Three oil storage tanks in Russia's Kursk region caught fire as a result of a drone attack launched by Ukraine, acting regional governor Alexei Smirnov said. There were no injuries in the attack and the fire in one of the tanks was quickly extinguished with the help of 82 firefighters and 32 pieces of equipment.
Politics and diplomacy
- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken that Beijing denies accusations it is helping Russia wage war in Ukraine. At their meeting in the Laotian capital, Wang also said China would take “strong measures” to defend its interests.
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that the Russian leadership is “hyperrational” and that Ukraine will never be able to fulfil its hopes of becoming a member of the European Union or NATO. He also predicted that in the coming years Asia “will be the dominant centre of the world.”
- According to Indian media reports, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ukraine next month, his first trip to the country since the war with Russia began, and just weeks after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. India has refrained from directly blaming Russia, but has urged the two nations to resolve their conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.
Weapons
- A Russian Su-34 bomber has crashed while on a scheduled training flight, state news agency RIA reported, citing the Russian Defense Ministry. The crew ejected and the plane crashed in a deserted area. The flight was conducted without ammunition.
