Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 886

Here is the situation on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.

Fighting

• Ukraine’s military said fighting on the Pokrovsk front in Donetsk was the fiercest anywhere in the country’s east and that its soldiers had fought off 52 Russian assaults there in the previous 24 hours. The town, which had about 61,000 residents before the war, lies on a main road that serves as an important supply route to other Ukrainian-held towns, such as Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its soldiers had taken control of Vovche, east of Pokrovsk. About 100 people lived in the hamlet before the war but only seven people remained after Ukraine urged remaining residents to evacuate last month. Ukraine acknowledged the Russian advance. Oleh Chaus, the chief sergeant of Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade told Radio Svaboda: “They sent in a large number of troops, which had not previously been used.”
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the front in the northeastern Kharkiv region as “one of the most difficult” as he visited special forces near Vovchansk, which lies about 5km (3 miles) from the Russian border. The Ukrainian military said earlier it had repelled six Russian attacks on the Kharkiv front line over the previous day, including at Vovchansk.

• Russia said it brought down 39 Ukrainian drones targeting fuel depots, refineries and energy facilities in its border areas, mostly in the southern Kursk region. Kyiv said it was targeting substations there and that some power had been cut.
• Russia’s National Guard said 25 people had been arrested in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhia regions for allegedly supporting and “aiding” Kyiv.

Politics and diplomacy

• Chinese President Xi Jinping and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni discussed the war in Ukraine at a meeting in Beijing on Monday, with Meloni stressing the importance of China as a partner in dealing with growing global insecurity, her office said.
• Ukraine won its first medal of the Paris Olympics as fencer Olga Kharlan took the bronze in the women’s sabre competition. Kharlan said the medal was “really special” and dedicated it to her country.

Weapons

• The United States announced new military aid for Ukraine of $1.7bn. The package includes air defence munitions, artillery rounds, ammunition for HIMARS rocket launchers, and multiple kinds of antitank weapons, the Department of Defense said. Equipment worth $200m will be drawn from existing stocks held by the US military, ensuring it reaches the battlefield quickly.