As the war enters its 933rd day, here are the top developments.
Here is the situation on Sunday, September 15, 2024.
Struggle
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At least seven people have been killed in Ukraine following Russian airstrikes in the south, southeast and east of the country, including three in the Zaporizhia region, regional officials said.
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Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defense units destroyed 29 drones that Ukraine launched overnight at seven Russian regions, including Bryansk, Smolensk, Oryol, Belgorod, Kaluga and Rostov.
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The Russian Navy's Caspian Flotilla has practiced repelling nighttime attacks with unmanned vessels as part of the Ocean-24 exercises with China, the TASS news agency reported. These are the largest Russian naval exercises since the Soviet era.
Politics and diplomacy
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Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and five former defence secretaries have urged current minister Keir Starmer to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles inside Russian territory even without US backing, The Sunday Times newspaper reported.
- Admiral Rob Bauer, who serves as a senior adviser to the NATO secretary general, said Ukraine would have a good military reason to strike deeper into Russia using Western weapons.
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The head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (GUR), Kyrylo Budanov, said that increased Russian production of guided bombs, as well as shipments of artillery ammunition from North Korea, present serious problems for Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.
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Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 206 prisoners, 103 on each side, in their second such swap in two days following negotiations brokered by the United Arab Emirates, officials said.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces' incursion into Kursk, Russia, helped secure a prisoner exchange with Moscow.
- President Joe Biden expects to discuss Ukraine war strategy with Zelenskyy later this month and the United States is working on a “substantial” new aid package, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.
- Sullivan also said he feared possible attacks on Ukrainian power plants and accused Russia of being “completely brazen” in its attacks on civilian energy infrastructure.
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European governments should suspend social benefits for Ukrainian men of military age living in their countries, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said, a move he said would help Ukraine call up more troops to fight Russia. More than four million Ukrainians had temporary protection status in European Union countries in July.
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Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries have condemned Iran's alleged export of ballistic missiles to Russia, including powerful surface-to-surface missiles.
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Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran is open to diplomacy to resolve disputes but not to “threats and pressure” from Western countries after the United States and three European powers imposed more sanctions over reports that Iran supplied ballistic missiles to Russia.
