Russia-Ukraine War: List of main events, day 852 | Russia-Ukraine war news

As the war enters its 852nd day, these are the key developments.

This is the situation on Wednesday, June 26, 2024.

Fighting

• A woman was killed, four people were injured and dozens of buildings were damaged in several Ukrainian drone strikes in the Belgorod region of southern Russia, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the area bordering Ukraine.
• Vadym Filashkin, governor of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, ordered the evacuation of children and their parents or guardians from several frontline towns and villages due to advancing Russian forces. Filashkin has been urging civilians to leave in recent weeks amid a rise in deadly Russian bombings.
• The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, said Russian forces were trying to “make tactically and operationally significant gains” before long-awaited supplies of Western weaponry reached the front lines.
• Russia dropped 42 glide bombs on the northeast region of Kharkiv over a 24-hour period, according to local authorities. No injuries were reported.
• Ukraine said it struck an ammunition depot in the Olkhovatsky district of Russia’s Voronezh region, about 50 km from the border with Ukraine. Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev reported a fire there, but there were no casualties.

Politics and diplomacy

• The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and army chief General Valery Gerasimov for attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
• The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found Russia guilty of systematic human rights violations on the Crimean Peninsula, which it invaded and captured in 2014.
• Russia and Ukraine each returned 90 prisoners of war, with the UAE acting as intermediary in the exchange.
• The defense chiefs of the United States and Russia spoke by phone for the first time in more than a year. The Pentagon said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov discussed the importance of open lines of communication. The Russian Defense Ministry said Belousov warned Austin about the dangers of the US continuing to supply weapons to Ukraine.
• Russia said it was banning access within Russia to 81 different European Union media outlets, including news agency AFP, digital outlet Politico and Ireland’s RTE, in retaliation for the EU’s ban on several Russian media outlets. Moscow accused the organizations of “systematically distributing inaccurate information” about the war in Ukraine.
• The EU has started accession negotiations with Ukraine. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, addressing the meeting in Luxembourg via video conference, said the start of negotiations was a historic moment. “For our nation, the European Union means much more than a physical space,” he said. “It represents values ​​and home.”
• Two key advisers to presumptive US Republican nominee Donald Trump have presented him with a plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine – if he wins the November 5 presidential election – that involves telling Ukraine it will only get more weapons of the US if it enters into peace talks. Washington would at the same time warn Moscow that any refusal to negotiate would result in greater US support for Ukraine, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, one of Trump’s national security advisers, told Reuters news agency in an interview.

Weapons

• The commander of Ukraine’s Air Force said Kiev shot down 1,953 Shahed drones out of 2,277 launched by Russia this year.

• Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the first shipment of ammunition under a Prague-led initiative to buy ammunition with funding from NATO allies arrived in Ukraine “some time ago”. The Czechs said in May that the first 50,000 to 100,000 artillery shells would arrive in June.