On the 135th day of the Russia-Ukraine War, let’s take a look at the key developments.
Here are the key events from Friday 8th July so far.
Get the latest updates here.
Battle
- Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Kyiv and its western allies that Moscow has not yet started its military campaign in Ukraine “in earnest”.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted defiantly in his late night video message, saying the two-month-long operation to recapture Snake Island was a warning to all Russian forces that Ukraine would not be crushed.
- According to Governor Oleh Synehubov, three people were killed and five others wounded after Russian forces fired rockets at a district in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. He said other attacks have occurred across the Kharkiv region, including populated areas in the cities of Chuhuiv, Izyum and Bohodukhiv.
- At least one person was killed and several injured in a Russian airstrike on the city of Kramatorsk, Mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko said, while the nearby city of Sloviansk also came under fire.
- Russia’s more immediate “tactical target” to the east is likely to be the city of Siversk than the capture of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the UK Ministry of Defense has said.
diplomacy
- The joint summit of G20 foreign ministers opened in Bali on Thursday, with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi urging her counterparts to find ways to end the war in Ukraine sooner rather than later.
- Russia’s Lavrov dismissed what he described at the G20 meeting as “frantic” Western criticism of the war in Ukraine, and berated Russia’s rivals for missing a chance to address global economic problems.
- Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said the economic sanctions imposed on Russia by Western sanctions had not worked.
Business
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the “world is in deep trouble” over multiplying issues including Russia’s war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic, adding that multilateralism is the only way to address these issues.
- Russia is ready to negotiate grain with Ukraine and Turkey, but it is unclear when such talks could take place, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
- EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “The blockade of the Black Sea must end”.