Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,248

On Saturday, July 26, 2018, this is how things are going.

Fighting

Pokrovsk and five other sectors, according to Ukraine’s top commander Oleksandr Syrskii, are among the most challenging battlegrounds along the 1, 000-kilometer (620-mile) front with Russia.
The Ministry of Defense of Russia announced earlier on Friday that two villages on either side of Pokrovsk, Zvirove in the west and Novoekonomichne in the east, had been taken. Novotoretske, a third village close to Pokrovsk, was earlier this week declared “liberated” by Moscow.
In northern Sumy, where Russian troops have seized control in recent weeks, President Zelenskyy stated that Ukrainian forces were “continuing to act” in border areas.
The previously abandoned village of Kindrativka in Sumy has been recaptured, according to the well-known Ukrainian military blog DeepState.
Moscow is attempting to create a “buffer zone” between Russia and Ukraine in Sumy, according to Vladimir Putin’s presidency.

Zelenskyy visited a local factory that produces interceptor drones, which are increasingly being used to shield Ukrainian cities from Russian airstrikes, and stated that a daily goal would be to produce up to 1, 000 of the weapons. He claimed interceptor drones had succeeded in reducing Russian attack drone waves.
In response to a deal that allows European nations to purchase American weapons and donate it to Kyiv, Zelenskyy added that his country was working to secure international funding for ten Patriot air defense systems.
Poland, which borders both Russia and Ukraine, has announced that it will offer a $4 billion loan guarantee for the purchase of American military equipment.

12 Ukrainian soldiers who died in Russian captivity are remembered at a farewell ceremony in Lviv, Ukraine [Mykola Tys/EPA]

In light of the conflict in Ukraine, US President Donald Trump stated that he was considering imposing secondary sanctions on Russia.
Dorothy Shea, the acting US ambassador to the UN, urged all nations, including China, to stop exporting dual-use goods to Russia, which Washington claimed would support Russia’s industrial base and allow its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine.
Geng Shuang, China’s deputy UN ambassador, responded by saying that the country had never started the conflict in Ukraine, that it had never provided lethal weapons, and that it had always “strictly controlled dual-use materials, including the export of drones.” Geng also urged the US to “stop shifting blame” in the conflict.

As Brussels’s officials prepare to negotiate a legally binding ban, the European Parliament is considering proposals to accelerate the European Union’s transition from Russian gas by a year, to January 2027, according to Reuters news agency.
Alessandro des Dorides, the company’s former CEO, resigned in response to European Union sanctions that targeted the business, according to Reuters reports.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, said he might contact Trump and Vladimir Putin to discuss a ceasefire with them in Istanbul this week.
A summit between Putin and Zelenskyy could only be held as a last ditch effort to reach a peace agreement, according to Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin.

Trump vowed to carry out the restrictions set by the 2010 New START agreement, which expires in February, regarding US and Russian strategic nuclear weapons deployments. Trump made the remarks as he left the White House for Scotland.

Georgia hosted significant multinational military exercises with NATO forces despite growing accusations that the country is moving closer to Russia’s orbit and is moving away from a pro-Western policy.

Source: Aljazeera