Here are the key events on day 1,255 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is how things stand on Saturday, August 2:
Fighting
- Ukrainian rescuers recovered more than a dozen more bodies from the rubble of a collapsed apartment block in Kyiv overnight, bringing the death toll from Thursday’s attack by Russia to 31.
- A two-year-old was among five children found dead as a result of what is now Russia’s worst air strike of the year on Ukraine’s capital, which also injured 159 people, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said as he announced the end of a more than 24-hour-long rescue operation at the site.
- Russia launched more than 3,800 drones and nearly 260 missiles for its attacks on Ukraine throughout July, Zelenskyy said.
Military aid
- NATO countries, Ukraine and the United States are developing a new mechanism that will focus on getting US weapons to Ukraine from the Priority Ukraine Requirements List, known under the acronym PURL, the Reuters news agency reports, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
- As part of the PURL mechanism, Ukraine would prioritise the weapons it needs in tranches of roughly $500m, and NATO allies would then negotiate among themselves who would donate or pay for items on the list.
- Germany said it will deliver two Patriot missile defence systems to Ukraine after reaching an agreement with the US that Berlin will be first in line to receive the latest Patriot systems to replenish the weapons donated to Kyiv.
- A top adviser to President Zelenskyy said Russia is providing North Korea with technology for Shahed-type attack drones and assisting in their production.
Ceasefire
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Zelenskyy welcomed US President Donald Trump’s new deadline for Russia to make progress towards ending its more than three-year-long war on Ukraine. Zelenskyy said he had discussed with Starmer the potential formats for a summit of leaders to discuss peace in Ukraine.
- Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Moscow hoped for more peace talks with Ukraine but that the momentum of the war was in Moscow’s favour, signalling no shift in his stance despite a looming sanctions deadline issued by Trump. Putin also said that the first batch of mass-produced Oreshnik ballistic missile systems had been delivered to the Russian army.
- In a post on X responding to Putin’s remarks, Zelenskyy repeated his willingness to sit down with the Russian leader, saying Ukraine wants to “move beyond” statements and lower-level meetings on the matter.
- “If these are signals of a genuine willingness to end the war with dignity and establish a truly lasting peace … then Ukraine once again reaffirms its readiness to meet at the level of leaders at any time,” Zelenskyy said.
Regional developments
- President Trump said he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in “the appropriate regions” in response to remarks from the former Russian president and deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, about the risk of war between the two nuclear-armed countries.
- Europe must start seeing Ukraine as a European country, and the Ukrainian military as a European army, Ilya Yashin, a prominent Russian opposition activist, said in Belgrade.
- “The Ukrainian army is not only protecting Ukraine, it is protecting Europe from Russian aggression,” Yashin told hundreds of Russians who now live in Serbia.
