Russia-Ukraine War: List of main events, day 804 | Russia-Ukraine war news

As the war enters its 804th day, these are the key developments.

This is the situation on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.

Fighting

• One person was killed and four injured by Russian artillery fire in the eastern border region of Sumy, which has been the target of increasing aerial bombardment in recent weeks. Ukrainian police said Moscow forces had fired into the territory 224 times in the past 24 hours.
• Five people were injured after Ukraine struck an oil depot in the Russian-occupied city of Luhansk, sparking a massive fire.

Politics and diplomacy

• The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it had uncovered a Russian plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior officials. The SBU said Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) created a network of agents to carry out the plan and two colonels from Ukraine’s State Guard, which provides protection to senior officials, were arrested on suspicion of treason.
• Vladimir Putin was sworn in for a fifth term as Russian president in a Kremlin ceremony boycotted by the United States, the United Kingdom and several European Union countries. In a speech to mark the occasion, Putin said the country would emerge victorious and stronger from a “difficult” period.
• Several dozen demonstrators gathered in front of the Peace Palace in The Hague to protest Putin’s inauguration, calling for him to stand trial. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on war crimes charges related to the abduction of Ukrainian children in March 2023.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping left France after a two-day trip during which he made no major concessions on foreign policyeven as President Emmanuel Macron urged him to use his influence over Russia to help end the war in Ukraine.
• Zelenskyy said the island state of Cape Verde has become the first African country to agree to participate in next month’s “peace summit” in Switzerland. Bern invited 160 delegations to the event which is scheduled for June 15th to 16th.
• Russia has banned US-based non-profit organization Freedom House, labeling it an “undesirable” organization in Russia. In its Freedom in the World 2024 report, Freedom House assessed Russia as “not free,” noting that restrictions on political rights and civil liberties had increased since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Weapons

• Ukrainian state prosecutors told the Reuters news agency they have examined debris from 21 of about 50 North Korean ballistic missiles launched by Russia between late December and late February as they work to assess the threat of Moscow’s cooperation with Pyongyang. The prosecution said the evidence so far suggested a high failure rate.

• Speaking during a visit to the US, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said he was open to discussions about sending a Patriot missile system to Ukraine. Romania signed a $4 billion deal to acquire Patriots in 2017, with the first shipment delivered in 2020.
• The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Russia and Ukraine accused each other of using banned battlefield toxins at meetings in The Hague. The OPCW said the accusations were “insufficiently substantiated” but the situation remained “volatile and extremely worrying with regard to the possible resurgence of the use of toxic chemicals as weapons”.