Lifestyle
25 Jul, 2025
Timothy Watson
Here are the key events on day 1,247 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Russian forces have taken control of the villages of Zvirove and Novoekonomichne in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the Russian Ministry of Defence said. The claim could not be independently verified.
Russian forces are making every effort to establishbuffer zones along the border with Ukraine, state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
Zelenskyy has submitted draft legislation to restore the independence of Ukraine’s anticorruption agency NABU and anticorruption prosecution unit SAPO, reversing course after an outburst of public criticism over his attempt to remove their status as independent organisations.
The Kremlin said it was hard to see how Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet Zelenskyy before the end of August, RIA reported. Earlier, a Ukrainian official suggested that Kyiv had proposeda Putin-Zelenskyy meetingin August, within the 50-day deadline set by the US for both sides to reach a ceasefire deal.
The European Union has expressed its expectations that China will respond to the EU’s concerns and use its influence to urge Russia towards accepting a ceasefire in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said following her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Russia Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of pursuing a path of “militarisation” and said this was a cause for concern. She said Berlin is pursuing an openly hostile policy, and that Merz was stepping up anti-Russian rhetoric “literally every day”.
Ukraine’s Central Bank Governor Andriy Pyshnyy said his government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – Kyiv’s key international lender – were working on a new lending programme. Ukraine currently has a $15.5bn four-year lending programme with the IMF that is set to expire in 2027. Kyiv has received about $10.6bn under the programme so far.