Russian and Ukrainian drones strike each other; Kyiv removes the Soviet symbol
Russian air defense strikes down Ukraine’s drones and destroys a Ukrainian port, killing three people and wounding a 55 year-old man
Serhiy Tyurin, deputy head of Ukraine’s Khmelnytsky region military administration, said Sunday that Russian missiles had damaged several buildings in the area, injuring one and sparking a fire in a warehouse. A 55 year-old man was hospitalized in eastern Ukraine after being hit by missiles. The forest fire began as a result of the attack, officials said on social media.
Russia struck down Ukraine’s drones. Russia hit a key Ukrainian port on Wednesday. Kyiv’s military administration said that air defense forces destroyed almost a dozen Russian drones on the approach to the Ukrainian capital. Russian air defense shot down two Ukrainian drones, one of which was destined for Moscow, according to the Defense Ministry and regional authorities. The Russian tanker was damaged in the attack on the naval base.
Moscow’s vulnerability has been highlighted in the past month by four attacks, two on the Russian capital and two on its outskirts.
On July 30, flights were stopped at the airport after two drones crashed into the Moscow City business district, which was barricaded by Russian air defenses.
“This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “Defeating terrorists is a matter of honor for everyone who values life.”
KYIV, Ukraine — Three people have died during a night of air strikes and intense shelling across Ukraine, officials said Sunday, while Moscow’s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights following a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital.
The Azov Brigade trial in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don: Ukraine trades drone strikes; Kyiv removes Soviet symbol
The trial of 22 members of the Azov Battalion — Ukrainian POWs captured following Russia’s weeks-long siege of a steelworks plant in Mariupol in May 2022 — on terrorism charges continues Wednesday at a military court in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. The proceedings are not in line with the Geneva Conventions according to rights groups.
Following peace talks that took place in Copenhagen in June, Saudi Arabia hosted a peace summit in Jeddah on Saturday and Sunday, attended by national security advisers and representatives from more than 40 countries including the U.S., China, Turkey, India and Brazil. Many of those attending represented governments that have taken a largely neutral stand on the war in Ukraine. Russia was not invited. The parties agreed to meet again, even though a date wasn’t set.
Ukrainian authorities removed the Soviet hammer and sickle from Kyiv’s Motherland Monument, the country’s tallest statue, and began replacing it with Ukraine’s coat of arms featuring a trident, Ukraine’s national symbol. Since the start of the war, Ukrainian authorities have ordered the removal of statues depicting Russian and Soviet writers and leaders, and de-Russified street names.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian pilots will begin training to fly F-16 fighter jets in August. He said delivery and combat use of F-16s should be done as soon as possible.
Source: Latest on Ukraine: Russia and Ukraine trade drone strikes; Kyiv removes Soviet symbol
Recent State of Ukraine: Navalny and the U.S. Military Age Cap in the Light of the Crimea-Induced War in Ukraine
Alexei Navalny was sentenced to an even longer prison term by a Russian court. The ruling comes as a result of the war in Ukraine.
The military age cap was raised from 27 to 30 years old by a law signed by Putin. The move is part of a larger attempt to increase the number of Russian recruits for the war in Ukraine.
The United Nations Security Council held its monthly meeting in August, and led by the US it focused on the impact of the Ukraine war on the world’s food supply.
According to the Conflict Observatory at Yale, Ukrainians are being forced to take Russian citizenship or be deported if they don’t. Russia claims that it’s given citizenship to some 3 million Ukrainians since 2014, when Russian proxies took over parts of eastern Ukraine as well as Crimea in the south.
You can read past recaps here. For context and more in-depth stories, you can find more of NPR’s coverage here. Listen and subscribe to the State of Ukraine podcast for updates throughout the day.
