Ukraine President at the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 12, 2023 (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Friday’s Coverage: US Approves F-16s to Kyiv From Denmark and Netherlands

Map: Institute for Study of War

UPDATE 1253 GMT:

Former Kremlin economic advisor Andrei Illarionov is among the latest additions to Russia’s registry of “foreign agents”.

Illarionov, who left the Kremlin in 2005 and moved to the US, is a critic of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He has called Russian policies “a catastrophe” in recent years.

Others listed include writers Linor Goralik and Tatyana Sotnikova; political scientist Andrey Piontkovsky; the deputy head of the Congress of the Oyrat-Kalmyk nation, Vladimir Dovdanov; the head of the social movement “Citizen. Army. Rights”, Sergey Krivenko; and the Free Yakutia Foundation’s Sarylgana Kondakova.

UPDATE 1217 GMT:

The office of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General says it has officially confirmed the killing of 502 children, with more than 1,100 injured, during the Russian invasion.

The office added its standard caveat that the actual toll is likely to be far higher, as it is not possible to verify casualties near frontlines and in Russian-occupied areas.

UPDATE 1201 GMT:

The toll from this morning’s Russian missile strike on the Drama Theater, a university, and the central square in Chernihiv in northern Ukraine has risen to seven killed, as a six-year-old girl died in hospital.

Her mother is in serious condition, among 25 people hospitalized after the attack. At least 117 were injured in total, including 12 children and 10 police officers.

Some of the victims were on their way to church to celebrate a religious holiday when the missile struck.

The roof of the Drama Theater collapsed after a fire was extinguished by emergency services.

Denise Brown, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, reacted:

It is heinous to attack the main square of a large city, in the morning, while people are out walking, some going to the church to celebrate a religious day for many Ukrainians.

I condemn this repeated pattern of Russian strikes on populated areas of Ukraine, causing deaths, massive destruction and soaring humanitarian needs.

Attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law. It must stop.

UPDATE 1040 GMT:

A Russian missile strike on Chernihiv has killed five civilians and wounded 37, including 11 children.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy commmented on Twitter:

UPDATE 1013 GMT:

A Moscow court has confirmed the liquidation of one of Russia’s last human rights organizations, the Sakharov Center.

After only five minutes, Judge Vyacheslav Polyga granted the Justice Ministry’s request on the pretext that the Center held event outside its region of registration. The organization was also accused of posting videos on its website and YouTube without indicating that it was a “foreign agent”.

The Sakharov Center was established in 1996 by the wife of the late Nobel Prize-winning physicist Andrei Sakharov, Elena Bonner, and his former colleagues and friends. Its mission is to preserve and develop Sakharov’s legacy by documenting both Soviet totalitarianism and the resistance of those who promote the values ​​of democracy and human rights.

In January, the Moscow City Government terminated the lease agreement for the premises of the Sakharov Center, which had been in force for more than 20 years. It claimed to be enforcing legislation on “foreign agents”, with the Sakharov Center included in the register since 2014.

Russian authorities have also banned human rights organizations such as Memorial and the Moscow Helsinki Group.

UPDATE 1002 GMT:

Having defeated Vladimir Putin’s “energy war”, the European Union has filled gas storage facilities to 90% capacity almost 2 1/2 months ahead of the November 1 target.

Russia carried out weeks of strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure last autumn, as it reduced oil and gas supplies to Europe.

At one point, about 1/2 of Ukraine’s grid was off-line. However, the country withstood the assault, and facilities and power supplies were repaired by the spring.

Meanwhile, European countries — notably Germany — sharply reduced their reliance on Russian imports.

The EU Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, said in a statement on Friday:

Today’s confirmation that we have met our gas storage requirements so far ahead of schedule underlines that the EU is well-prepared for winter and this will help to further stabilize markets in the coming months. The EU energy market is in a much more stable position than it was this time last year, in good part because of the measures we have taken at EU level.

Simson cautioned that “the gas market remains sensitive”, and said, “We can further strengthen our position through investments in renewables and energy efficiency.”

UPDATE 0951 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is in Sweden, meeting Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, the Royal Family, and other officials.

Our primary tasks are the strengthening of Ukrainian warriors on the ground and in the sky; the development of bilateral cooperation, in particular in the defence industry; Ukraine’s European integration; and common security in the Euro-Atlantic space.

UPDATE 0943 GMT:

Ukrainian officials have given details of the two Russian-launched, Iranian-made “kamikaze” drones that made it through air defenses overnight.

Two people were wounded and dozens of buildings damaged in the Khmelnytskyi region in western Ukraine.

Officials in the Zhytomyr region in central Ukraine are assessing the damage after Russia targeted an infrastructure facility. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

UPDATE 0724 GMT:

The Ukraine Air Force says it downed 15 of 17 Iranian-made “kamikaze” drones in Russia’s overnight attack.

It did not say if the other two UAVs, launched from the Kursk region in Russia, hit their targets.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has hailed “important diplomatic successes this week”, saying 63 countries have endorsed Kyiv’s “peace formula” to end the Russian invasion.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskiy said:

You will see the news for Ukraine. We prepare them with our neighbors in the EU [European Union]. And also in those regions of Europe where our cooperation with the states has not yet been sufficient. And, of course, with our European partners, with whom we have already proved more than once that European leadership in defending freedom is of global importance.

Zelenskiy noted, “It is crucial that the Peace Formula gradually unites the world majority based on our respect for international law and the UN Charter.”

Zelenskiy first tabled the Formula at the summit of G20 nations last November. The plan calls for:

  • Withdrawal of Russian troops and the cessation of hostilities with the restoration of Ukraine’s state borders with Russia;
  • Restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity, with Russia reaffirming it, in accordance the UN Charter;
  • Prevention of an escalation of conflict and building security architecture in the Euro-Atlantic space, including guarantees for Ukraine;
  • Radiation and nuclear safety, including the restoration of security around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest;
  • Food security, including protecting and ensuring Ukraine’s grain exports;
  • Energy security;
  • Release of all prisoners and deportees;
  • Justice, including the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes;
  • Prevention of ecocide, and the protection of the environment, with a focus on demining and restoring water treatment facilities.

Zelenskiy also said on Friday that 18 states have joined the declaration of G7 nations of security guarantees for Ukraine, made at last month’s NATO summit.

He referred to Ukraine’s path to EU membership, with recent steps fulfilling requirements over governance and the fight against corruption: “We are trying our best to make Ukraine ready for the opening of negotiations this year.”