As the war enters its 893rd day, here are the key developments.
Here is the situation on Tuesday, August 6, 2024.
Struggle
- Russia sent multiple missiles and drones into kyiv, while airstrike warnings sounded in the capital at around 11 p.m. (2000 GMT). “Air defense forces and equipment operated in the capital and on the outskirts of the city. According to preliminary data, enemy missiles were hit,” Serhiy Popko, the head of the city’s military administration, said on social media. “So far, no damage or casualties have been reported in kyiv.”
- The head of Ukraine's Air Force said the military shot down all 24 Russian drones launched at targets across Ukraine. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
- One person was killed and three others injured after a drone hit a bus belonging to an agricultural company in the village of Vyazovoe in Russia's Belgorod region, according to local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
- Ukraine has announced that it has exchanged the bodies of soldiers with Russia in a deal brokered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). kyiv handed over the remains of 38 Russian soldiers, while Ukraine received the bodies of 250 of its servicemen on August 2.
Politics and diplomacy
- Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Russia’s Security Council and a former defense minister, that Tehran was determined to expand relations with its “strategic partner Russia,” according to Iranian state media. Russia has cultivated closer political and military ties with Iran since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and has said it is preparing to sign a broad cooperation agreement with the country. The Reuters news agency reported in February that Iran had provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.
- Ukraine has denied any involvement in last month’s fighting in northern Mali that left Malian soldiers and mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Group dead. Mali cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine after a senior official in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said the rebels behind the attack had all the “information” they needed. kyiv regretted the decision and stressed its commitment to “the norms of international law, the inviolability of sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries.”
- Pavel Kushnir, a 39-year-old Russian pianist and anti-war activist, has died in prison after going on a hunger strike, his mother said. A Telegram channel with links to Russian security services reported in May that Kushnir had been arrested and charged with inciting “terrorist” activity after posting anti-war material online. The European Union called Kushnir’s death a shocking case of political repression.
- Ukraine's newly crowned Olympic high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh urged Russian athletes to speak out against the invasion, saying she was disappointed they remained silent in Paris, where a small team of about 15 athletes are competing as “neutrals.” Athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus were banned from world sport following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
