Russia dropped glide bombs on Kharkiv and Kherson, launched drone attacks on Odesa and Cherkasy. Ukraine and Russia meet in Istanbul for a third round of talks. MPs submit a bill to keep Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies independent.
Russia drops glide bombs on Kharkiv, Kherson, launches drone attacks on Odesa, Cherkasy
At least 42 people were wounded when two Russian glide bombs struck a residential neighborhood in the city of Kharkiv on Thursday. Two newborns, a 1.5-year-old girl, a 10-year-old girl and two 17-year-olds were among the injured, the city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov said. Apartment buildings, cars, a textile factory and an electricity substation were damaged.
“Russia dropped two aerial bombs right on the city, on people. One hit near a residential building, the other struck a civilian enterprise. Emergency services are now working to extinguish the fire there. These are utterly senseless strikes with no military purpose whatsoever. And we see that this is Russia’s only intention – to continue aggression and killings,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said of the attack in a post to X.
Russia dropped four glide bombs on central Kherson on Thursday, damaging an educational and two medical facilities. One person was injured, the city’s military administration said.
A Russian drone attack on Odesa on Thursday killed one person and injured at least four others. The strike destroyed several floors in an apartment building and caused damage to the city’s historic center, a UNESCO world heritage site. Prymorsky Boulevard and the Pryvoz market are among the sites ravaged in the attack.
Twelve people, including a nine-year-old child, were injured as Russia launched drones and missiles on the city of Cherkasy overnight on Thursday. A dozen apartment buildings as well as educational and medical facilities were damaged.
The Ukrainian Air Force said on Thursday that it shot down or otherwise neutralized 90 out of 103 drones and one of four Iskander-K cruise missiles launched by Russia overnight.
Ukraine, Russia meet in Istanbul for third round of talks
Russian and Ukrainian officials convened in Istanbul on Wednesday for their third round of peace talks.
The meeting was closed for the media and lasted under an hour.
Opening the talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the ultimate goal of the Russia-Ukraine negotiations is a ceasefire that will pave the way for peace.
“We should end this bloody war as soon as possible,” Fidan said as cited by Turkish media.
The Ukrainian delegation was chaired by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov.
Umerov said he proposed a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take place by the end of August.
He added: “By agreeing to this proposal, Russia can clearly demonstrate its constructive approach to everyone around the world, including our partners. Ukraine keeps insisting on a full and unconditional ceasefire as a necessary basis for effective diplomacy.”
Umerov also said that Ukraine insists on “a full and unconditional ceasefire — including the complete halt of all strikes on civilian and critical infrastructure.” “This is a necessary step to launch meaningful diplomacy,” he added.
Humanitarian issues were a priority at the talks, Umerov said, adding that Ukraine expects progress on prisoner swaps. It will also continue to demand the release of civilians, including children, he said.
Russian delegation head and Putin’s aide, Vladimir Medinsky said after the talks that the countries were swapping 250 war prisoners each “right now.”
He said Russia had returned to Ukraine 7,000 bodies of its service members and had received a small number of its soldiers back.
Medinsky said the two sides have agreed to exchange another 1,200 prisoners of war each.
Russian media said Russia and Ukraine will also swap civilians.
Medinsky added that Russia has agreed to hand over another 3,000 bodies of killed Ukrainian soldiers.
He said Ukraine continues to hold captive 30 residents of the Kursk region, while Russia is ready to exchange them for Ukrainian troops and “other categories” of people.
Russia suggested to set three online working groups to address political, military and humanitarian topics. Medinsky said Ukraine took time to think the proposal over.
Discussions on the final agreement and thorough preparations will need to precede a Zelenskyi-Putin meeting, he said.
He renewed Russia’s call for a series of short ceasefires of 24-48 hours to enable the retrieval of bodies.
Medinsky claims many listed Ukrainian children were never in Russia.
Ukraine and Russia will discuss the memorandums they had earlier exchanged. “The positions are quite apart from each other,” he said.
Russia hopes for a fourth round of talks, he added.
MPs submit a bill to keep Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies independent
A group of MPs on Thursday lodged a bill for registration in parliament to repeal the norms of the law no.12414 that remove the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).
MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak of the Holos (Voice) party told Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda: “We have lodged a bill for registration to revoke all norms that dismantle NABU and SAPO. It will be on Rada’s [the parliament’s] web site soon. Forty-eight MPs of the Holos, Servant of the People (Sluha Narodu), European Solidarity and even Fatherland (Batkivshchyna) parties signed it. What’s in it? A complete repeal of all norms in the illegal law no.12414 that concerned NABU and SAPO.”
Zheleznyak added that the bill was drafted by a group of MPs. He said the registration takes several hours and the bill will be posted to the parliament’s site by the end of the day.
Under the regular procedure, the parliament would consider the bill not earlier than in seven days. It can happen earlier under the ad-hoc procedure, Zheleznyak said.
He could not say when the parliament will convene. After a vote on Tuesday, MPs “were sent on business trips,” he said.
“Neither me, nor anyone else can now give you the dates. We will gather quickly, but it’s hard to predict how quick [the MPs from the Servant of the People party] will be,” Zheleznyak explained.
He added that MPs are also waiting for a bill the president promised to lodge.
“We are also waiting to see the president’s bill to check whose text is the best. Maybe it will also offer reforms. But if the government wants to correct the mistake, here’s the bill, it’s your turn now,” Zheleznyak said.
Later on Thursday, President Zelenskyi submitted a draft law to reinstate the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies.
