Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 154

Here are the key events so far on Wednesday, July 27.

Get the latest updates here.

Fighting

• Nearly 40,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and tens of thousands more “wounded and maimed” since the start of Russia’s invasion on February 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
• A Moscow-backed official in the Russian-occupied Kherson region said the southern cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv will soon be “liberated” from Ukraine as Russia ups its attacks on the two Black Sea regions.
• Six people were wounded after a missile strike on the city of Kharkiv on Wednesday morning, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
• Russian private military company Wagner has likely made tactical advances close to the Vuhlehirska power plant and the nearby village of Novoluhanske in the Donetsk region, the United Kingdom’s defence ministry said.

Diplomacy

• US basketball star Brittney Griner is expected to testify in a Russian courtroom on Wednesday as her lawyers lay out their case for leniency after she admitted to bringing cannabis oil into the country.
• French President Emmanuel Macron, during an official visit to Cameroon, criticised Russia’s influence in Africa, deeming it a “preoccupation” for the continent’s people.
• Russia’s new space chief signalled his country’s intent to withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) programme after 2024; the US State Department said it was taken by surprise by the announcement.
• A tongue-in-cheek petition to give the United Kingdom’s outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson Ukrainian citizenship and make him the country’s prime minister garnered more than 2,500 signatures, hours after being put up on Ukraine’s official petitions site on Tuesday.

Economy

• Gazprom’s move to cut flows to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 20 percent from Wednesday is a form of “price terror” after gas prices surged, Zelenskyy said.
• Ukraine aims to strike a deal for a $15-20bn programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before year-end to help shore up its war-torn economy, the country’s central bank governor, Kyrylo Shevchenko, has said.
• The International Monetary Fund warned that downside risks from high inflation and the Ukraine war are materialising and could push the world economy to the brink of recession if left unchecked.
• Ukraine’s Naftogaz has become the first Ukrainian government entity to default since the start of the Russian invasion, after the state energy firm said it would not make payments on international bonds before the Tuesday expiry of a grace period.