Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 148 | Russia-Ukraine war News

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 148th day, we take a look at the main developments.

Here are the key events so far on Thursday, July 21.

Get the latest updates here.

Fighting

• CIA chief Bill Burns said the United States estimates Russian casualties in Ukraine so far have reached about 15,000 killed and perhaps 45,000 wounded.
• Russian forces are likely closing in on Ukraine’s second biggest power plant at Vuhlehirska, 50km (31 miles) northeast of Donetsk, the United Kingdom’s defence ministry said.
• Several cities in the Donetsk region were shelled and two schools were destroyed on Wednesday, regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
• The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has documented serious violations of international humanitarian and rights law on a massive scale by Russian troops since the invasion of Ukraine.

Diplomacy

• Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska asked for more US air defence systems to block Russian missiles during a visit to the US Capitol.
• The United Nations warned that funding to meet key development goals like ending extreme poverty and hunger by 2030 might be neglected by Western donor nations supporting Ukraine militarily and financially.
• The head of the UN’s body promoting development, Collen Kelapile, warned that the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine have led to “an unprecedented reversal” of decades of progress in combating global poverty and hunger, and ensuring quality education for children everywhere.
• Moscow-installed officials in Ukraine’s occupied southeastern city of Enerhodar started handing out Russian passports to residents, Russia’s state news agency RIA reported.

Economy

• Natural gas started flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany after a 10-day shutdown for maintenance, the operator said, but the gas flow is expected to fall well short of full capacity.
• The US hopes to see a global price cap on Russian oil introduced by December, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.
• Russia’s central bank will allow banks from designated “unfriendly countries” – a list that includes the entire European Union, US, UK, Japan, Australia and others – to trade between foreign currencies on the Russian forex markets, the regulator said.
• Ukraine’s Western creditor governments urged bondholders to accept Kyiv’s request for a two-year delay on its debt payments and said they would suspend payments owed to them.