list of key events, day 803

Here is the situation on Tuesday 7 May 2024.

Battler

• Russia said it had taken control of two other Ukrainian settlements: Soloviove in the eastern Donetsk region and Kotliarivka further north in the Kharkiv region. The Ukrainian military did not mention either area in its evening report.
• Around 400,000 families in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region were left without electricity after Russian drones hit high-voltage distribution lines. Officials said electricity was later restored to most homes, but warned of “urgent challenges” in maintaining the network.
• Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, said six people were killed and 35 injured after Ukrainian drones hit two buses carrying people to work at a meat factory.
• The Ukrainian Weightlifting Federation (UWF) announced that Olympian and two-time European champion Oleksandr Pielieshenko was killed on the front lines of the war in Ukraine at the age of 30. The Ukrainian Olympic Committee said Pielieshenko had signed up in the early days of the war.

Politics and diplomacy

• Russia said it will hold tactical nuclear weapons drills after some Western European countries expressed increased military support for Ukraine. Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.
• Russia warned the UK that if British weapons were used by Ukraine to attack Russian territory, then Moscow could respond to British military installations and equipment in Ukraine and elsewhere. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said last week that Ukraine has the right to strike Russia with British weapons.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping began his tour of Europe by meeting French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris. Von der Leyen said the EU hopes Xi will help persuade Russia to end its “war of aggression against Ukraine.”
• After the talks, Xi said he supported Macron’s proposal for a truce during the Olympics, which are due to start in Paris on July 26. He said China had worked “vigorously” to facilitate peace talks for Ukraine.
• Germany has recalled its ambassador to Russia over alleged cyberattacks linked to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency against its defense and aerospace companies. Ambassador (Otto) Graf Lambsdorff will remain in Berlin for a week before returning to Moscow.
• Russia’s FSB security service said it had charged a Russian man in his 40s with terrorism. The man was arrested near the train station in the central city of Tambov and accused of trying to blow up two court buildings on behalf of Ukraine.
• Poland said it is funding the operation of 20,000 Starlink internet devices in Ukraine, a network essential to the country’s military communications.

Weapons

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has supported the proposal to channel around 90% of the revenues generated by frozen Russian assets into the purchase of weapons for Ukraine.