War in Ukraine: Recent Developments

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

Rocket attacks killed 21 people and injured dozens in the Ukrainian crisis region Odessa on the Black Sea, said Sergiy Bratchuk, deputy district manager of Odessa.

The attacks take place one day after Russian troops had given up their positions on the strategic snake island off the Odessa coast.

Early Friday, the rockets hit a nine-story apartment building and recreation center in Serhiivka, about 80 kilometers south of Odessa.

Two children were among the dead and six others were injured, officials said.

Germany condemned the attack as “inhuman and cynical”.

Russia’s decision to give up Snake Island “changes the situation in the Black Sea considerably,” says Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj.

“It still doesn’t guarantee security. It still doesn’t guarantee that the enemy won’t return. But it already limits the actions of the occupiers considerably,” he said in his speech on Thursday.

Snake Island is a strategic destination located away from shipping lanes near the port of Odessa. Russia had attempted to install missile and air defense batteries while coming under drone fire.

The UK MoD says in an intelligence update Russia most likely pulled out “due to the garrison’s isolation and its increasing vulnerability to Ukrainian strikes, rather than as a ‘goodwill gesture’ as it has claimed”.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Thursday called the withdrawal a “goodwill gesture” to demonstrate that Moscow will not interfere in UN efforts to organize protected grain exports from Ukraine.

The city of Lysyhansk in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region continues to be bombed non-stop, according to Ukrainian officials.

The capture of the city would allow the Russians to advance deeper into the industrial Donbas, which has become the focus of their offensive since they failed to capture Kyiv after their February 24 invasion.

Four people died and three were injured in shelling in the past 24 hours in Izium and Chuguiv, two districts of northeastern Kharkiv region, Kharkiv district chief Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram.

Selenskyj welcomes a “new” chapter of “History” with the European Union after the Block of Ukraine recently granted the “candidate status”.

“We’re not close. Now we are together,” he tells the Ukrainian parliament.

He spoke after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told lawmakers in a video address that EU membership was “within reach” but urged them to press ahead with anti-corruption reforms.

Ukraine applied for EU membership just five days after Russia’s invasion on February 24, and the bloc accepted its candidacy on June 23 in a strong show of support. But membership is expected to last for years.

“We have completed a journey of 115 days to candidate status and our journey to membership should not take decades. We should cover this path quickly, ”says Zelenskyj.

The United Nations Cultural Agency has placed the culture of borscht soup cooking in Ukraine on its list of cultural heritage in danger.

UNESCO says Russia’s war against Ukraine has had a “negative impact on this tradition” of Ukrainian borscht cuisine. Ukraine considers it a national dish, although it is also widely eaten in Russia and elsewhere.

“Victory in the borscht war is ours,” Ukraine’s Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko says on Telegram, adding that Ukraine “will win both the borscht war and this war,” referring to the Russian invasion.

Russia condemns the UNESCO decision as an example of “modern Kiev nationalism” and says everything is “subject to Ukrainization”.