As we enter the 803rd day of the war, these are the most important developments.
Here is the situation as of Tuesday, May 7, 2024.
Battle
- Russia claimed to have taken control of two more Ukrainian settlements – Soloviove in the eastern Donetsk region and Kotliarivka further north in the Kharkiv region. The Ukrainian military did not mention either area in its evening report.
- About 400,000 households in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region were without power after Russian drones attacked high-voltage power lines. Officials said power was later restored to most homes but warned of “urgent challenges” in maintaining the power grid.
- Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, said six people were killed and 35 injured after Ukrainian drones hit two buses taking people to work at a meat factory.
- The Ukrainian Weightlifting Federation (UWF) announced that Olympian and two-time European champion Oleksandr Pielieshenko was killed at the age of 30 on the front lines of the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Olympic Committee said Pielieshenko signed up in the early days of the war.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russia said it would conduct tactical nuclear weapons exercises after some Western European countries expressed greater military support for Ukraine. Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.
- Russia warned the United Kingdom that Moscow could attack United Kingdom military facilities and equipment in Ukraine and elsewhere if Ukraine used British weapons to attack Russian territory. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said last week that Ukraine had the right to attack Russia with British weapons.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping began his European tour by meeting French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris. Von der Leyen said the EU hoped Xi would help persuade Russia to end its “war of aggression against Ukraine.”
- After the talks, Xi said he supported Macron’s proposal for a ceasefire during the Olympics, which are scheduled to begin on July 26 in Paris. He said China had worked “vigorously” to facilitate peace talks for Ukraine.
- Germany has recalled its ambassador to Russia over alleged cyberattacks linked to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency on its defense and aerospace companies. The Ambassador (Otto) Graf Lambsdorff will stay in Berlin for a week before returning to Moscow.
- The Russian secret service FSB said it had charged a Russian man in his mid-40s with terrorism. The man was arrested near a train station in downtown Tambov and accused of trying to blow up two courthouses on behalf of Ukraine.
- Poland said it is funding the operation of 20,000 Starlink internet devices in Ukraine, a key network for the country’s military communications.
weapons
- Chancellor Olaf Scholz supported the proposal to channel around 90 percent of the revenue from frozen Russian assets into arms purchases for Ukraine.