Because the battle enters its 716th day, these are the principle developments.
Right here is the scenario on Friday, February 9, 2024.
Combating
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Oleksandr Syrsky, who has led Ukraine’s floor forces since 2019, as the brand new head of Ukraine’s armed forces, after he dismissed Common Valerii Zaluzhnyi within the largest navy shake-up since Russia started its full-scale invasion. Zaluzhnyi conceded that navy technique “should change”.
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Mayor Vitaly Barabash advised state media that enormous numbers of Russian forces have been “storming” Avdiivka, which has been beneath sustained Russian assault since mid-October and lies about 20km (12 miles) east of the Russian-occupied metropolis of Donetsk. Dmytro Lykhovyy, a Ukrainian navy spokesperson, advised nationwide tv that Russian and Ukrainian forces have been engaged in combating “throughout the city”.
- Russia and Ukraine exchanged 100 prisoners of battle every with the United Arab Emirates performing as an middleman, each international locations stated. Zelenskyy stated most of these introduced residence had been captured within the three-month defence of Mariupol, which fell in Could 2022.
- In one of many solely unbiased assessments of the demise toll from the brutal battle for Mariupol, Human Rights Watch stated at the least 8,000 folks have been killed by combating or war-related causes, and named Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu amongst 10 folks with “command duty” it stated ought to be the main focus of potential battle crimes investigations.
- Ukraine’s air drive stated 11 of 17 Russia-launched drones concentrating on 4 areas of the nation have been shot down. No casualties have been reported.
- Russia’s Defence Ministry stated it destroyed a dozen Ukrainian missiles headed for the border metropolis of Belgorod.
Politics and diplomacy
- The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Little one urged Russia to “put an end to the forcible transfer or deportation of children from occupied Ukrainian territory” and return these taken to their households. Kyiv alleges some 20,000 youngsters have been taken from Ukraine to Russia with out the consent of their households or guardians. The Worldwide Prison Courtroom has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s youngsters’s commissioner over the deportations.
- The Kremlin stated Putin spoke on the phone with Chinese language President Xi Jinping for an hour and that the 2 leaders rejected the “US coverage of interfering within the inner affairs of different states”. Putin and Xi additionally noticed eye-to-eye on the battle in Ukraine, the Kremlin added with out elaborating. Beijing has not condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion and claims neutrality within the battle.
- Presidential hopeful and distinguished Ukraine battle critic, Boris Nadezhdin stated the elections fee had blocked his bid to problem Putin in March’s elections and that he would problem the choice within the nation’s highest courtroom.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin advised right-wing US journalist Tucker Carlson that Western international locations wanted to know that it was “not possible” to defeat Russia in Ukraine. He additionally stated Russia would combat for its pursuits, however had little interest in increasing its battle into different international locations reminiscent of Poland and Latvia. Putin and Carlson spoke for greater than two hours in an interview that was dubbed into English and uploaded to Carlson’s web site.
- Putin additionally advised Carlson, who requested few powerful questions and principally simply listened, that he thought “an settlement might be reached” within the case of jailed Wall Avenue Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich who has been detained since March final yr accused of spying. Gershkovich and the Journal have rejected the costs.
- A courtroom within the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don jailed a Ukrainian lady for 10 years for spying, after she was accused of offering details about Russian air defence and navy tools to Ukraine’s armed forces.
Weapons
- A invoice that features $61b in help for Ukraine moved ahead within the US Senate after the failure of a broader invoice together with border management measures demanded by right-wing Republicans failed. It was not clear when the Senate would think about remaining passage, and the invoice is more likely to face hostility within the Republican-led Home of Representatives.
