Russia-Ukraine War: List of main events, day 900 | Russia-Ukraine war news

As the war enters its 900th day, these are the key developments.

This is the situation on Tuesday, August 13, 2024.

Kursk raid

• Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskii said Kiev controls about 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russia’s Kursk region after launching a surprise cross-border incursion on Aug. 6.
• Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Ukrainian ground attacks on his region had resulted in the loss of 28 settlements and that the incursion was about 12 km deep and 40 km wide.
• Smirnov said 12 civilians were killed and 121 injured as a result of the fighting. About 121,000 residents were evacuated.
• Putin, who held a meeting with senior officials about the situation, said that Ukraine was trying to destabilize Russia and that there would be a “dignified response”. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
• Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which also borders Ukraine, said some residents were being evacuated amid increased Ukrainian military activity. Russian state news agency TASS later reported that 11,000 people had been evacuated from the Krasnaya Yaruga district.

Fighting in Ukraine

• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its experts were unable to determine what caused the fire in an inactive cooling tower at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine. Moscow and Kiev blamed each other for the fire.
• The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had taken control of the Lysychne settlement in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

Politics and diplomacy

• China has called for de-escalation amid the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk. “China will continue to maintain communication with the international community and play a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the crisis,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
• Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis signed a joint statement with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani, expressing “deep concern” about Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, but said Moscow should be present at the next peace summit. The first summit took place in June and Moscow was not invited.
• State prosecutors and anti-corruption police in Ukraine said they arrested one of the country’s four deputy energy ministers and three other suspects when they were caught “red-handed” receiving part of a $500,000 bribe.
• A Russian court sentenced Uzbek community leader Usman Baratov to four years in a penal colony for a social media post mocking troops fighting in Ukraine, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Weapons

• The United States has warned Iran against sending ballistic missiles to Russia, saying it would invoke a “harsh” US response and undermine Tehran’s efforts to improve relations. Reuters news agency, citing European officials, reported on Friday that Iran was planning to deliver hundreds of Fath-360 short-range ballistic missiles to Moscow.