As the war enters its 856th day, these are the main developments.

Here is the situation on Sunday, June 30, 2024.

Fighting

• Four employees of Russia’s Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief have been injured in Ukrainian shelling of the Donetsk region, the ministry said.
• Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 36 drones launched by Ukraine overnight targeting several regions in the southwest, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence.
• Fifteen drones were destroyed over the Kursk region, nine over the Lipetsk region, four each over the Voronezh and Bryansk regions and two each over the Oryol and Belgorod regions, the ministry said.
• Separately, the Kursk governor said the Ukrainian forces shelled parts of the region through Saturday.
• The Russian Defence Ministry also said its forces had taken control of the settlement of Shumy in eastern Ukraine, according to state media.
• Moscow’s forces fired missiles at the town of Vilniansk, outside the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing seven people, including two children, and injuring 31 others, Ukrainian officials say.

Diplomacy and politics

• A speech by Nigel Farage, the British right-wing leader, was interrupted when a banner of Russian President Vladimir Putin descended from the ceiling at an election rally.
• Ukraine and Russia say priests were among the dozens of captured soldiers and civilians they had exchanged earlier this week.

Weapons

• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for “accelerated” Western arms deliveries after deadly Russian strikes, saying, “any delay in decisions in this war means the loss of human lives”.
• Belarus says it has deployed additional air defence forces to its border with Ukraine to protect “critical infrastructure facilities” due to increased Ukrainian drone activity in the area.