Because the battle enters its 708th day, these are the primary developments.
Right here is the state of affairs on Thursday, February 1, 2024.
Preventing
- A Russian bomb hit a hospital in northeastern Ukraine, forcing the evacuation of dozens of sufferers, smashing home windows and damaging gear. Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv regional department of the nationwide police, stated the bomb made a direct hit on the hospital within the city of Velykyi Burluk, northeast of Kharkiv, and a second bomb landed close by. 4 folks had been barely injured.
- Ukraine’s air defences shot down 14 out of 20 drones launched by Russia in an in a single day assault that injured one individual and broken industrial buildings. The air pressure stated the Iranian-made Shahed drones and three Iskander missiles focused 5 Ukrainian areas within the south and the east.
- Russia stated it destroyed 20 missiles launched by Ukraine over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow invaded in 2014 after which annexed.
- Ukraine’s air pressure commander Mykola Oleshchuk stated its forces struck the Belbek navy airfield in Crimea. He didn’t go into element.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russia and Ukraine exchanged lots of of prisoners of battle. Russia’s Defence Ministry stated 195 of its troopers had been freed, whereas Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated 207 folks, together with some civilians, had been returned to Ukraine.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz advised his nation’s parliament that he would rally European companions to ship assist for Ukraine that was “so enormous” it will weigh on Russian President Vladimir Putin. His feedback got here forward of a key European Union summit on 50 billion euros ($54bn) of funding for Ukraine that’s being blocked by Hungary.
- Victoria Nuland, the US performing deputy secretary of state, visited Kyiv and stated she was inspired by Ukraine’s strengthening defences and that Moscow ought to anticipate some “surprises” on the battlefield. A US navy assist package deal for Ukraine is being held up in Congress by Republicans who need to hyperlink it to coverage adjustments on the US border. Nuland stated she was assured it will be adopted.
- The Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ) rejected a lot of a case filed by Ukraine that accused Russia of bankrolling separatist rebels in jap Ukraine a decade in the past, saying solely that Moscow had failed to analyze alleged breaches.
- Boris Nadezhdin submitted his bid to run for the Russian presidency in March’s election after delivering 105,000 signatures backing his marketing campaign to the Central Election Fee (CEC). The 60-year-old has emerged as a outstanding critic of the Kremlin and promised to finish the battle in Ukraine.
Weapons
- The EU’s overseas coverage chief Josep Borrell admitted that the EU’s promise to provide Ukraine with a million artillery shells by March would fall brief, with simply over half that quantity anticipated to be delivered by that deadline. The remaining 155-mm artillery shells are more likely to be delivered by the top of the 12 months, Borrell stated.
