Here are the key events on day 1,243 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is how things stand on Monday, July 21:
Fighting
- The Ministry of Defence in Moscow said Russian forces seized the village of Bila Hora in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, according to the state RIA Novosti news agency.
- A Russian attack on the village of Sveska in Ukraine’s Sumy region killed a 78-year-old woman, according to Governor Oleh Hryhorov.
- Six more people were killed in Russian attacks on Synelnykove and Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as well as Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk and Raiske in the Donetsk region, according to local governors.
- Another Russian attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Vasylivka districts wounded three women, Governor Ivan Fedorov said, adding that Russia launched 457 attacks on 18 settlements in the region on Sunday.
- In total, Ukraine’s Air Force said it shot down 18 of 57 Russian drones overnight into Sunday.
- In Russia, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted eight separate updates over 24 hours on Telegram saying that several Ukrainian drones “flying towards Moscow” had been shot down. “Emergency services are working at the site of the debris fall,” he said in each case.
- In total, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that Russian forces shot down 216 Ukrainian drones in the 24 hours to 11:20pm Moscow time (20:20 GMT) on Sunday.
Politics and diplomacy
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to move towards a peace settlement for Ukraine, but that Moscow’s main objective was to achieve its goals. The comments came days after United States President Donald Trump gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.
- Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged an Italian concert venue to cancel a show with Russian conductor Valery Gergiev’s performance, saying it was part of Russian efforts to use “culture as a tool of propaganda”.
- Ukraine imposed sanctions on exiled Russian journalist Yulia Latynina, Ukrainian blogger Andrii Serebrianskyi and former Ukrainian lawmakers Natalia Korolevska and Hennadiy Balashov, among others, claiming they had helped spread Russian propaganda, the Kyiv Independent reported.
- Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil producer, slammed European Union sanctions on India’s Nayara Energy refinery as unjustified and illegal, saying the restrictions directly threatened India’s energy security.
