After a visit to Snake Island on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prayed alongside the Patriarch of Constantinople for the 500th day of the Russian invasion. The UN, for its part, denounced the civilian losses, while the United States announced that it was supplying Kiev with cluster munitions… Le Figaro takes stock of the conflict in Ukraine this Saturday, July 8.
At least eight people were killed and 13 injured on Saturday in a Russian bombardment of the town of Lyman. “To date, we are aware of dead people (…) following the enemy’s bombardments this morning,” the ministry said on Telegram, adding that 13 people were injured.
According to him, fires broke out after these strikes in a residential building and the annex of a printing press but could be extinguished. The city of Lyman, an important railway hub in eastern Ukraine, was retaken in October by the Ukrainian army, which this week reported Russian offensives in this sector.
The Ukrainian president visiting Istanbul prayed Saturday morning alongside Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew for the victims of the war with Russia, which has entered its 500th day. Volodymyr Zelensky, who met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday evening, went to the headquarters of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on the Golden Horn in Istanbul on Saturday morning, AFP journalists noted. After a short prayer for the victims of the conflict that has plagued Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, the two men spoke away from the cameras.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Serpents’ Island in the Black Sea, where kyiv secured a high-profile victory at the start of the war with Russia, which entered its 500th day on Saturday. “Today we are on the Serpents’ Islands, which will never be conquered by the occupier, just like the rest of Ukraine, because we are the country of courage,” said the head of state. in an undated video posted to social media. “I want to thank here, from this place of victory, each of our soldiers for these 500 days,” Zelensky said in this video where he is seen arriving by boat on the island and laying flowers in front of a memorial.
The UN has denounced the loss of civilian life caused by the Russian offensive in Ukraine, as the fighting crosses the 500-day mark. More than 9,000 civilians, including 500 children, have been killed since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said in a statement on Friday, although UN officials have previously stated that the true number was likely much higher.
“Today we mark another grim milestone in the war that continues to exact a horrific toll on Ukrainian civilians,” Noel Calhoun, deputy head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said in a statement. release on Friday, the 500th day since Feb. 24, 2022. While this year the death toll averaged lower than in 2022, it rose again in May and June, observers noted.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Friday in Istanbul unequivocal support for his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. The Turkish head of state, who received Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time in Turkey since the start of the war in February 2022, estimated a few days before the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11 and 12 that Ukraine “deserves” to return to the Atlantic Alliance and called on the two countries, Russia and Ukraine, to “return to peace talks”. He also announced, during a joint press conference with Volodymyr Zelensky, the visit “next month” to Turkey by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The United States promised Ukraine the delivery of cluster munitions on Friday, marking an important step and hailed as such by Volodymyr Zelensky. “A vast and much needed defense assistance program from the United States,” Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted, expressing his “appreciation to the American people and to President Joseph Biden.”
“It was a tough decision,” said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, arguing, however, that it was “the right thing to do” and that the Ukrainians had guaranteed “in writing” that they would minimize “the risks posed to civilians”. On the other hand, Washington dashed the hopes of Volodymyr Zelensky who was hoping for Western support for his country’s entry into NATO at the Vilnius summit. kyiv “still has many steps to take before it can become a member,” warned Jake Sullivan.
