Because the conflict enters its 714th day, these are the principle developments.
Right here is the scenario on Wednesday, February 7, 2024.
Combating
- Vadym Filashkin, the governor of Ukraine’s jap Donetsk area, mentioned Russia was firing between 1,500 and a pair of,500 shells and rockets on the space day by day and concentrating on essential infrastructure. Filashkin informed the Reuters information company that Russia had dropped 200 guided aerial bombs on the front-line city of Avdiivka over the previous month and was “completely destroying it”.
- Individually, Vitalii Barabash, the pinnacle of Avdiivka’s army administration, mentioned the scenario there was “very troublesome and in some locations, essential”. About 32,000 folks lived within the city, the positioning of Europe’s largest coking plant, earlier than the conflict. Fewer than 1,000 stay, in response to officers.
- A two-month-old child boy was killed and his mom injured after two Russian S-300 missiles hit Zolochiv in northeastern Ukraine, in response to Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov. The village is 20km (12.4 miles) from Ukraine’s border with Russia. Two different folks had been injured within the assault, which additionally broken dozens of buildings.
- Ukraine mentioned a particular forces unit blew up a drilling platform within the Black Sea that Russia was utilizing to reinforce the vary of its drones. Tools on the platform was used for drones concerned in assaults on Ukraine’s essential infrastructure and to regulate the northwestern a part of the ocean.
- Russia’s Defence Ministry mentioned it thwarted an alleged assault by seven Ukrainian drones on the Belgorod area. There have been no studies of casualties. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the area’s governor, mentioned 4 properties had been broken.
Politics and diplomacy
- America and Russia traded accusations at a United Nations Safety Council (UNSC) assembly on Ukraine referred to as by Moscow. The US accused Russia of firing at the least 9 North Korean-supplied missiles at Ukraine and urged UNSC members to carry the 2 nations accountable for breaching UN sanctions on Pyongyang. Moscow, in the meantime, accused Washington of being a “direct confederate” in last month’s crash of a Russian army transport aircraft within the Belgorod area. Moscow has claimed Kyiv shot down the aircraft. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement and has referred to as for a global investigation.
- US President Joe Biden mentioned Congress would play into the Kremlin’s arms if it didn’t move a $118bn bill tying Ukraine aid to immigration curbs demanded by right-wing Republicans. Biden mentioned the “clock is ticking” for Ukraine and criticised former President and certain 2024 rival Donald Trump for discouraging lawmakers from passing the laws.
- European Union overseas coverage chief Josep Borrell visited Kyiv on a visit to underline the EU’s “unwavering help” for Ukraine.
- Rafael Grossi, the chief of the Worldwide Atomic Power Company (IAEA) met Ukrainian Power Minister Herman Halushchenko and different officers in Kyiv forward of his go to to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Energy Plant on Wednesday. Grossi famous that the variety of workers on the plant had dropped from 12,000 to as few as 2,000.
- A Moscow court docket ordered the arrest of bestselling Russian language author Boris Akunin for allegedly spreading “disinformation” concerning the Russian military. The 67-year-old was charged in December final yr after he expressed help for Kyiv in a telephone name with Russian pranksters posing as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Akunin has lived abroad since 2014.
- Ukraine mentioned it had arrested 5 former and present intelligence officers it mentioned had been secretly working for Russia. The SBU mentioned the suspects had been caught passing info to Russia’s FSB safety service about Ukrainian army websites, its defensive fortifications, private knowledge and strategic power amenities.
- Norway rejected an asylum software from Andrei Medvedev who claimed to have abandoned the Russian mercenary group Wagner after combating in Ukraine for 4 months. The 27-year-old sought asylum after fleeing to Norway in January 2023.
- A senior official with Ukraine’s intelligence company was fired after revelations that investigative journalists together with at outlet Bihus.data, had been wiretapped, a supply on the company informed the AFP information company.
Weapons
- Zelenskyy ordered the creation of a separate department of Ukraine’s Armed Forces dedicated to drone warfare. In December, he mentioned Ukraine would produce 1,000,000 drones in 2024.
- Turkish defence firm Baykar has began constructing a manufacturing facility close to Kyiv to make both its TB2 or TB3 drone fashions, chief govt Haluk Bayraktar informed the Reuters information company.