As the war enters its 715th day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Thursday, February 8, 2024.
Fighting
- At least five people were killed and 50 injured, after Russia fired a wave of missiles and Shahed-type drones at six regions of Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv. The Ukrainian military said it intercepted 44 of the 64 drones and missiles that Russia launched. About 20,000 homes were left without power in Kyiv. Moscow claimed it was targeting Ukrainian weapons factories.
- A preliminary assessment of the Russian attacks concluded that two of the five missiles that targeted Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine were made in North Korea, said Serhii Bolvinov, head of the National Police’s investigation unit in the region.
- Russia said its air defence systems intercepted two separate Ukrainian air attacks, destroying 12 rockets and drones over the southwestern region of Belgorod. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said two people were injured.
- The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said civilian casualties in the war have begun mounting again after falling last year. Last month, it documented 158 civilian deaths and 483 wounded, up 37 percent from last November. So far, the conflict has killed more than 10,000 civilians and wounded nearly 20,000 others, according to the UN.
- Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, visited the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. He welcomed the reduction in shelling around Zaporizhzhia but said security remained fragile.
Politics and diplomacy
- Sweden dropped its investigation into the 2022 explosions that crippled the Nord Stream gas pipelines transporting Russian gas to Germany beneath the Baltic Sea. Russia, Ukraine and Western countries have blamed each other for the incident. Sweden said it had passed the evidence it had gathered to Germany.
- An amended bill to lower the age of the military draft and make service harder to avoid passed its first reading in Ukraine’s parliament. Further revisions are expected and it is not expected to become law for weeks.
- Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said he hoped China would “give us a hand” in Ukraine peace talks it agreed to host after a request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukraine has said it invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to participate in the summit of world leaders. A date and venue have yet to be set.
- Russian courts jailed two Russians in separate cases for treason over their support for Ukraine, according to state-run news agencies.
- After a brief discussion, the upper house of Russia’s parliament unanimously backed a bill allowing the authorities to confiscate money, valuables and other assets from people convicted of spreading “deliberately false information” about the country’s military.
- The Ukrainian Olympic Committee asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to investigate the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Paris Olympics following alleged breaches of neutrality.
- The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had granted an interview to right-wing US television host Tucker Carlson who used to work for Fox News.
Weapons
- Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s Western allies to speed up and increase their delivery of artillery shells as he offered his condolences to the families of the victims of Wednesday’s Russian attack. Zelenskyy earlier met visiting European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to discuss weapons deliveries and other aid. Borell said the EU needed to provide Ukraine with “whatever it takes” to defeat Russia.
- US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States “can and will” deliver further military aid to Ukraine, as NATO chief Jen Stoltenberg stressed such support was “vital”. The two men made the comments after a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
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