As we enter the 709th day of the war, these are the most important developments.

Here is the situation as of Friday, February 2, 2024.

Battle

• Oleksandr Prokudin, the governor of the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, said two French volunteers were killed in a Russian drone strike on the city of Beryslav. Four people were injured, three of them foreigners.
• One person was killed and two injured in Russian grenade and rocket attacks on villages in the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian presidential office said.
• Ukraine said four people were injured in a Russian missile attack on a medical facility in the eastern Kharkiv region, near the frontline town of Kupiansk.
• Ukrainian military intelligence GUR said it attacked and sank the Russian corvette Ivanovets in the Black Sea with underwater drones. Private security firm Ambrey said Ukraine used up to six maritime drones in the attack. There was no official statement from Russia about the alleged sinking.
• In an opinion piece published by CNN, Ukrainian army chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi called the development of unmanned weapons systems “a central driver” of the war. Zaluzhnyi also outlined key issues for Ukraine, including mobilization and weapons production.
• Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s main state criminal investigation agency, said evidence from missile fragments suggested that two Patriot missiles shot down the Russian Il-76 military transport plane crashed last month near the border with Ukraine. Kiev has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the crash.
• The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 11 Ukrainian drones over the Russian regions of Belgorod, Kursk and Voronezh.

Politics and diplomacy

• European Union leaders overcame Hungary’s objections to permit an aid package worth 50 billion euros ($54 billion) to support Ukraine over the next four years.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the approval, saying it was “critically important” for Ukraine’s stability and a “clear signal” to both Russia and the United States, where a major aid package remains held up in Congress.
• As Reuters reported, China demanded that Ukraine immediately remove about 14 Chinese companies from Kiev’s list of companies considered “international war sponsors.”
• A Russian dish expanded the pre-trial detention of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva. The American-Russian dual citizen, who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was jailed in October and accused of failing to register as a “foreign agent” and providing “false information” about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to have spread.
• Thailand deported Members of Bi-2, a dissident Russian-Belarusian rock band critical of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, to Israel after being arrested for performing without permission. Human rights groups warned that if the group were sent to Russia they would be persecuted for their criticism of the war.
• The Latvian parliament has voted to ban its national teams from competing against the national teams of Russia and Belarus, regardless of which flag they compete under, as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine.

weapons

• Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, called on the US to supply A-10 fighter jets to Ukraine, saying they would significantly strengthen Ukraine’s frontline capabilities.