Ukraine war day 975: These are the key developments as the war enters its 975th day.
Fighting
- Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, announced that Ukraine’s air defense troops had been sent in early on Sunday to fend off a swarm of Russian drones that were approaching Kyiv and advised citizens to remain indoors.
- At least 30 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over the southern districts of Voronezh, Bryansk, Oryol, Lipetsk, and Belgorod, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
- Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod area, said on the Telegram messaging app that one woman had been hurt in the drone attack on the border region. A few automobiles were also damaged, he added.
- A Ukrainian drone landed in the Michurinsky area of the Tambov region, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) southeast of Moscow, according to Maxim Yegorov, the territory’s governor. The incident caused a brief fire but no injuries or material damage.
- According to Russian and Ukrainian bloggers, Russian forces are moving closer to seizing the strategically important city of Pokrovsk as they continue to march into a number of eastern Ukrainian cities, including Selydove. Eighty percent of Selydove is under Russian military control, according to a Telegram message from the Russian news agency SHOT.
- Ukraine war day 975: The town of Kurakhove, southwest of Hirnyk, was also on the verge of being overrun by Russian forces, according to Russian military bloggers.
- Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had taken control of the Oleksandropil settlement in eastern Ukraine, according to the state-run news agency RIA Novosti.
- While many fights were still going on, Ukraine reported Saturday night that its forces had repulsed 36 Russian strikes along the Pokrovsk front line the day before, including in the Selydove region.
- In Kostiantynivka, close to the front line in the Donetsk area, a Russian glide bomb killed one person and wounded three others, according to the regional governor.
- Two individuals were killed by Russian shelling in a tiny village west of Kherson, a city in the south that is controlled by Ukraine.
Politics and diplomacy
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Kyiv’s allies to increase political pressure on Moscow in response to a series of Russian attacks that have killed and injured civilians in Ukraine in recent days.
- Ukraine war day 975: Amid reports that Russian financial institutions have established a network of foreign subsidiaries to facilitate the trade of sanctioned goods, the Group of Seven countries’ finance ministers have agreed to intensify efforts to stop Russia from evading sanctions imposed following its invasion of Ukraine.
- Although it is unlikely to have a major impact on the combat on the ground, the use of North Korean forces to support Russia in its war against Ukraine could have an impact on security interests in Asia, Europe, and other regions, according to North Korea expert Pascal Dayez-Burgeon. once served as a French diplomat in Seoul.
