Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,254
Fighting
Russia launched waves of missiles and drones at Kyiv before dawn on Thursday, killing 16 people, including two children, and wounding more than 100 others, officials in the Ukrainian capital said. Russia's Ministry of Defence claimed it targeted and hit Ukrainian military airfields and ammunition depots as well as businesses linked to what it called Kyiv's military-industrial complex.
Russia claimed to have taken full control of the shattered town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine after nearly 16 months of fighting, an assertion which Kyiv dismissed as 'propaganda'.
Ukrainian drones, operated by the state security agency SBU, struck an electronics plant which produces combat control systems for the Russian military in the western Russian city of Penza.
Military aid
A powerful United States Senate committee has approved a military spending bill that includes about $1bn to support Ukraine, despite US President Donald Trump's administration having asked Congress to eliminate such funding in its budget request.
Ceasefire
US special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Russia after his current trip to Israel, President Trump said. Trump did not provide an itinerary for Witkoff, who has held extensive ceasefire talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past.
Trump has sharply criticised Russia's 'disgusting' behaviour against Ukraine and said he plans to impose sanctions on Moscow if no agreement can be reached on a ceasefire. The US president has given Putin until August 8 to reach a deal to halt the fighting.
The US reiterated its Ukraine war ceasefire deadline to the United Nations Security Council, with senior US diplomat John Kelley telling the 15-member council that 'both Russia and Ukraine must negotiate a ceasefire and durable peace'. Kelley said: 'It is time to make a deal. President Trump has made clear this must be done by August 8. The United States is prepared to implement additional measures to secure peace'.
Trump also told Dmitry Medvedev to 'watch his words' after the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council said Washington's threats of hitting Moscow and buyers of its oil with punitive tariffs were 'a game of ultimatums' and a step closer towards a war between Russia and the US.
In response, the former Russian president said Trump should remember that Moscow possessed Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort.
Ukrainian affairs
Ukraine's parliament voted to restore the independence of two key anticorruption agencies, moving to defuse the country's biggest political crisis since Russia's invasion.
Lawmakers voted 331 to 0 in favour of the bill, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted last week following pressure from thousands of protesters and top European officials to reverse course on the issue.
Regional developments
Chinese naval vessels have steamed into Russia's far eastern port of Vladivostok in advance of joint drills scheduled from August 1-5.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
3 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
White House says Trump is ‘open' to talks with Putin and Zelenskyy
The White House has said that United States President Donald Trump is 'open' to the idea of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In remarks on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Russian officials had expressed interest in meeting with Trump. Leavitt did not say when or where such a meeting could take place, but AP quoted an anonymous White House official saying the meeting could happen within a week. 'The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskyy,' Leavitt told members of the press following reports in the New York Times that Trump could meet with Putin in Russia as soon as next week. The US president has said that he is committed to helping bring the war in Ukraine to an end. He initially promised to stop the conflict on 'day one' of his presidency, but has struggled to make progress. The statement comes after US envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow to speak with Russian officials earlier today. In a social media post, Trump said Witkoff held a 'highly productive' meeting with Putin and that 'great progress was made!' 'Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come,' he added. The New York Times reported that Trump intends to meet first with Putin before later setting up a meeting that would also include Zelenskyy. The news agency AFP reported that Trump also discussed the possibility of such a meeting during a phone call with Zelenskyy, citing an anonymous Ukrainian source. That call is also said to have included NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the leaders of Britain, Germany and Finland. Trump has recently mulled steps to further increase pressure on Russia, which he has accused of not being sincerely interested in ending the war. Such steps could include heightened US sanctions.
Al Jazeera
33 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
Could Trump's trade strategy forge new alliances against him?
Russia, India, China and Brazil refuse to bend to US tariffs. Brazil, India, China and Russia remain firmly in Donald Trump's sights as targets for his tariffs. Others, like the European Union, have caved and negotiated deals. But could the United States president's confrontational stance forge new alliances, among those who have not, against Trump? Presenter: Adrian Finighan Guests: Einar Tangen – China specialist and senior fellow at the Taihe Institute Gustavo de Carvalho – Senior researcher in the geopolitics of the Global South at the South African Institute of International Affairs David McWilliams – Economist, author and podcast host
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Brazil requests World Trade Organization consultation over Trump tariffs
The government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has petitioned the World Trade Organization for consultations to help alleviate the steep tariffs imposed on Brazil by the United States. Sources within the Brazilian government confirmed the petition on Wednesday to news outlets like AFP and The Associated Press, on condition of anonymity. The aim is to seek relief from the 50 percent tariff that US President Donald Trump slapped on Brazilian exports in response to the country's prosecution of a former far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. That tariff — the highest Trump has imposed on any country in August — took effect on Wednesday. India, meanwhile, is expected to face 50 percent tariffs later this month, unless a deal is struck beforehand. A request for consultations is usually the first step in the World Trade Organization's trade dispute process. The organisation functions as an international arbiter in economic disputes, though its procedures for negotiating settlements can be lengthy and inconclusive. Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin has estimated that 35.9 percent of the country's exports to the US will be subject to the stiff taxes. That equals about 4 percent of Brazil's total exports worldwide. Retaliation over Bolsonaro prosecution Trump unveiled the current tariff rate on July 9, in a letter addressed to Lula and published online. Unlike other tariff-related letters at the time, Trump used the correspondence to launch into a barbed attack on the Brazilian government for its decision to prosecute Bolsonaro, an ally, over an alleged coup attempt. 'The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,' Trump wrote. Just as Trump did after his 2020 electoral defeat, Bolsonaro had publicly cast doubt on the results of a 2022 presidential race that saw him lose to Lula. But behind the scenes, police and prosecutors allege that Bolsonaro conspired with his associates to overturn the results of the election. One possible scenario was to declare a 'state of siege' during Bolsonaro's final days as president, as a means of calling up the military and suspending civil rights. Then, a new election would have been called, according to prosecutors. Another idea allegedly floated among Bolsonaro's allies was to poison Lula. But Trump, who likewise faced criminal charges in the past for allegedly attempting to subvert the outcome of a vote, has defended Bolsonaro, calling the prosecution politically biased. 'This trial should not be taking place,' he wrote in the July 9 letter. 'It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!' Several weeks later, on July 30, Trump followed up his tariff threat with an executive order that doubled down on his accusations. Not only did Trump accuse Brazil of 'politically persecuting' Bolsonaro, but he added that Brazil was guilty of 'human rights abuses', including the suppression of free speech, through its efforts to stem disinformation on social media. 'Recent policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Brazil threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,' Trump wrote. 'Members of the Government of Brazil have taken actions that interfere with the economy of the United States, infringe the free expression rights of United States persons, violate human rights, and undermine the interest the United States has in protecting its citizens and companies.' Lula speaks out The executive order, however, included an annex that indicated certain products would not be subject to the new US tariffs. They included nuts, orange juice, coal, iron, tin and petroleum products. Lula has claimed that Trump is impeding attempts to negotiate a trade deal between their two countries, a sentiment he repeated in an interview on Wednesday with the news agency Reuters. 'The day my intuition says Trump is ready to talk, I won't hesitate to call him,' Lula told Reuters. 'But today my intuition says he doesn't want to talk. And I'm not going to humiliate myself.' The three-term, left-wing president explained that he saw Trump's tariff threats as part of a long history of US intervention in Brazil and Latin America more broadly. 'We had already pardoned the US intervention in the 1964 coup,' Lula said, referencing the overthrow of a Brazilian president that sparked a two-decade-long military dictatorship 'But this now is not a small intervention. It's the president of the United States thinking he can dictate rules for a sovereign country like Brazil. It's unacceptable.' Lula added that he plans to bolster Brazil's 'national sovereignty' by reforming its mineral extraction policy to boost the local economy. With the US tariffs in play, Lula also explained that he would reach out to members of the BRICS economic trading bloc, named for its founding members: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Trump, however, has threatened any BRICS-affiliated country with an additional 10-percent tariff. Lula has been on an English-language media blitz since Trump announced the latest his latest slate of tariffs in July, warning that consumers across the world will be penalised. Late last month, for instance, Lula gave his first interview to The New York Times newspaper in nearly 13 years. When the Times asked what his reaction would be to the tariffs taking effect, Lula expressed ambivalence. 'I'm not going to cry over spilled milk,' he said. 'If the United States doesn't want to buy something of ours, we are going to look for someone who will.'
