The war has entered its 716th day and the main developments are as follows:
This is the situation as of Friday, February 9, 2024.
finding
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appointed Oleksandr Shirskiy, who has commanded Ukraine's ground forces since 2019, to a new Ukrainian position after dismissing General Valery Zarzhiny in the biggest military overhaul since Russia's full-scale invasion began. Appointed to the top of the army. Zarzini acknowledged that military strategy “needs to change.”
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Mayor Vitaly Barabash told state media that a large number of Russian troops had “stormed” Avdiivka, which is located about 20 kilometers east of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk and has been under continuous Russian attack since mid-October. He said he is doing so. Ukrainian military spokesman Dmytro Likhovy told state television that Russian and Ukrainian forces were fighting “inside the town.”
- According to both countries, Russia and Ukraine each exchanged 100 prisoners, with the United Arab Emirates acting as an intermediary. President Zelenskiy said most of the soldiers brought back were captured during the three-month defense of Mariupol, which fell in May 2022.
- Human Rights Watch is one of the only independent assessments of the death toll from Mariupol's brutal battle, which left at least 8,000 people dead from fighting or war-related causes, including 10 people killed by Russia's Vladimir He said the names of President Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu were there. A potential war crimes investigation would focus on “command responsibility,” he said.
- The Ukrainian Air Force announced that 11 of the 17 drones launched by Russia targeting four regions of the country were shot down. No casualties were reported.
- Russia's Ministry of Defense announced that it had destroyed 12 Ukrainian missiles fired at the border city of Belgorod.
politics and diplomacy
- The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child called on Russia to “cease the forcible removal and deportation of children from occupied Ukrainian territory” and return abducted children to their families. Kiev claims around 20,000 children were taken from Ukraine to Russia without the consent of their families or guardians. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Children's Commissioner over deportation.
- The Kremlin said Putin had an hour-long telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which the two leaders announced that they rejected “the policy of the United States to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.” Putin and Xi also agreed on the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin added, without elaborating. Beijing has not condemned Russia's full-scale aggression and maintains neutrality in the conflict.
- Boris Nadezhdin, a presidential candidate and prominent Ukrainian war commentator, has announced that he will appeal the decision in the country's Supreme Court after the election commission blocked his move to challenge President Putin in the March election. Stated.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin told right-wing American journalist Tucker Carlson that the West needs to understand that it is “impossible” to defeat Russia in Ukraine. He also said Russia would fight for its own interests, but had no interest in extending the war to other countries such as Poland or Latvia. Putin and Karlsson spoke for more than two hours in an interview that was dubbed into English and uploaded to Karlsson's website.
- President Putin also told Carlson, who did not ask many tough questions and only listened, that he had “agreed” regarding the case of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained since March last year on suspicion of espionage. “There is a possibility that we can reach this,” he said. Mr. Gershkovic and the Journal declined to press charges.
- A court in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don has sentenced a Ukrainian woman accused of providing information about Russian air defense and military equipment to the Ukrainian military to 10 years in prison for espionage.
weapons
- A bill including $61 billion in aid to Ukraine advanced in the U.S. Senate after a broader bill including border control measures called for by right-wing Republicans failed. It's unclear when the Senate will consider final passage, and the bill is likely to face pushback in the Republican-led House.