On Saturday, August 2, 2018, this is how things are going.
Fighting
- More than a dozen more bodies were recovered overnight by Ukrainian rescuers from a collapsed apartment block in Kyiv, bringing the total number of fatalities from Thursday’s Russian attack to 31.
- As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the conclusion of a more than 24 hour-long rescue operation at the site, a two-year-old was one of five children among the five children who were found dead in the wake of what is now Russia’s worst airstrike of the year on the Ukrainian capital. 159 people were also hurt by the more severe airstrike, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
- For its attacks on Ukraine throughout July, Russia launched more than 3,800 drones and nearly 260 missiles, Zelenskyy claimed.
military assistance
- According to three Reuters news agencies with access to the matter, the NATO member states, Ukraine, and the United States are developing a new mechanism that will concentrate on obtaining US weapons from the Priority Ukraine Requirements List, which is also known as PURL, according to three sources with knowledge of the situation.
- NATO allies would then bargain among themselves for those who would donate or pay for items on the list as part of the PURL mechanism, where Ukraine would prioritize the weapons it needed in roughly $500 million tranches.
- After reaching a deal with the US that will place Berlin first in line to receive the most recent Patriot systems in order to replenish the weapons donated to Kyiv, Germany announced it will send two Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine.
- According to a senior Zelenskyy adviser, Russia is assisting in the production of Shahed-style attack drones and providing them with technology for North Korea.
Ceasefire
- President Zelenskyy and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed US President Donald Trump’s new deadline for Russia to move closer to ending its more than three-year-old conflict with Ukraine. According to Zelenskyy, he and Starmer have discussed potential scenarios for a summit of leaders to discuss peace in Ukraine.
- Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, stated that despite Trump’s looming sanctions deadline, Moscow still hoped for more peace talks with Ukraine. However, Putin’s statement indicated that the momentum of the conflict was in Moscow’s favor. Additionally, Putin mentioned that the Russian army received the first of a number of mass-produced Oreshnik ballistic missile systems.
- In a response to Putin’s remarks, Zelenskyy reiterated his desire to meet with the Russian leader, stating that Ukraine wants to “move beyond” statements and lower-level discussions on the subject.
- If these are indications that Ukraine is willing to end the war with dignity and forge a truly lasting peace, Zelenskyy said.
regional changes
- In response to remarks made by former Russian president and deputy chairman of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, about the potential for a nuclear war between the two nuclear-armed nations, President Trump claimed he had given the order to place two nuclear submarines in “the appropriate regions.”
- Ilya Yashin, a prominent Russian opposition activist, stated in Belgrade that Europe must begin to recognize the Ukrainian military as a European force.
- Yashin told hundreds of Russians who now reside in Serbia, “The Ukrainian army is not only protecting Ukraine, it is also protecting Europe from Russian aggression.”
Source: Aljazeera
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