For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.
The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:
10:16 p.m.: Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov offers three scenarios for how the war with Russia ends.
8:15 p.m.: Pro-Russian officials in the Kherson region say that Ukrainian missiles hit a hydroelectric power station in the town of Nova Kakhovka early Friday, but failed to destroy it, CNN reported.
Ukrainians "attempted to shell the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. The consequences of the destruction of such a production facility could be catastrophic for the residents of the Kherson region," the Kherson region military-civil administration said.
Russian air defenses "successfully repelled a missile attack from Ukraine," the administration added.
“The terrorists of the Kyiv regime will not be able to intimidate the inhabitants of the Kherson region, who are building a peaceful life together with Russia. The hydroelectric power station continues to provide energy," said Vladimir Saldo, head of the administration and a former Ukrainian official.
The hydroelectric power station is in the town of Nova Kakhovka on River Dnieper. It was taken by Russian forces early in the invasion but over the last month has become a target for Ukrainian missiles and long-range rockets as the Ukrainians try to disrupt Russian supply lines.
7:25 p.m.: The United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office issues a report on the thefts of Ukrainian grain.
6:55 p.m.: Russian forces used more air strikes to push ahead with their effort to take control of the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.
Three people were killed and five wounded in the Kharkiv region in one of the air strikes, authorities in the region said on July 7, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
6 p.m.: A stop Ukrainian security officials says the Western supply of high-precision weapons is helping Ukraine slow Russia's invasion, but the number of weapons is not enough and soldiers need time to learn how to use them, Reuters reported.
Kyiv said late last month it had received U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and has since praised them for battlefield successes such as destroying Russian warehouses and command posts as well forcing Russian troops from the strategic Snake Island in the Black Sea.
"When they came in, the Russian war machine could instantly feel its effect," Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv. "What they (the Russians) wanted to do in three days, they now do in two or one and a half weeks."
But receiving more Western military aid is vital for Ukraine as it braces for a Russian assault on the eastern region of Donetsk.
5:11 p.m.: President Joe Biden traveled to CIA headquarters on Friday to mark its 75th anniversary and praise its work, especially in the Ukraine war.
4:12 p.m.: British Defense Ministry releases its daily map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
3:20 p.m.: Kyiv Independent reports that Ukrainian forces destroyed two Russian command posts near Kherson, a major economic center in the south of Ukraine.
Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for the joint southern command of Ukraine's Armed Forces, said Ukraine's military hit the command posts with rocket artilleries.
2:50 p.m.: Moscow is trolling both the U.S. and the U.K. by officially renaming the streets in front of their embassies for the two separatist regions of eastern Ukraine where fighting is now the fiercest.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the regions' independence in February just before sending in troops to “liberate” them from Ukraine.
The U.S. and Britain have not recognized the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics,” but Moscow officials said they will at least have to recognize the new addresses if they want to receive their mail.
A sign went up Friday renaming the street in front of the British Embassy the Luhansk People’s Republic Square. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow since last month has been located on Donetsk People’s Republic Square.
2:45 p.m.: Russia today warned Lithuania and the European Union that it could adopt "harsh measures" against them if the transit of some goods to and from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad does not resume.
"If the situation does not stabilize in the coming days, then Russia will take harsh measures against Lithuania and the European Union," Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of the Russian foreign ministry, said in a statement. "The issue has taken too long to resolve."
Lithuania has banned the transit of goods subject to European Union sanctions across its territory to and from the Baltic exclave. Russia has pledged to retaliate.
2:30 p.m.: Ukraine has not used advanced U.S.-made high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) to strike Russian targets outside of Ukraine territory, a senior U.S. defense official said on Friday, disputing Russian accusations.
"The Russian claims about using HIMARS to strike outside of Ukrainian territory - those claims are false," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Ukraine is using those capabilities to fight the battle that its forces are facing, and they are using them effectively in that battle."
2:00 p.m.: Germany on Friday confirmed that the government had received a positive signal from Canada regarding the delivery of a turbine needed for the maintenance of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline but could not say that the turbine had been delivered.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said Friday it would increase gas supplies to Europe if if the turbine is returned.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Ukraine was opposed to Canada returning the turbine to Russia's Gazprom, arguing that it would violate sanctions imposed after Russia's deployment of its armed forces to Ukraine.
1:40 p.m.: A senior defense official says the U.S. will send another $400 million in military equipment to Ukraine, including four more advanced rocket systems. It's an effort to bolster Ukrainian efforts to strike deeper behind Russian frontlines in the eastern Donbas region. The aid comes as Moscow this week claimed full control of Ukraine’s Luhansk province in the Donbas, but Ukrainian officials say their troops still control a small part of the province and fierce fighting continues in several villages.
The defense official said that the eight High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, that were previously sent are still being used by Ukraine forces in the fight. And this will give them four more to help hit Russian command and control nodes, logistics capabilities and other systems that are further back behind the battlefront. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.
1:25 p.m.: Russia's ambassador to Britain said he was surprised London has not made more of an effort to secure the release of two British citizens sentenced to death for fighting in eastern Ukraine.
While fighting with the Ukrainian army, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were captured by Russian-backed forces in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a territory recognized only by Russia and Syria.
After a hasty court hearing - decried as a Stalin-era show trial in a pop-up courtroom - a separatist court sentenced the pair to death, saying they were mercenaries and were trying to violently seize power.
"We had a formal request here in London and in Moscow about these two guys - that they exist - and a phrase like 'we put all responsibility on Russia for them,'" Russian Ambassador Andrei Kelin said in an interview with Reuters.
1:15 p.m.: Russia warned Lithuania and the European Union on Friday that it could adopt "harsh measures" against them if the transit of some goods to and from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad did not resume.
"If the situation does not stabilize in the coming days, then Russia will take harsh measures against Lithuania and the European Union," Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of the Russian foreign ministry, said in a statement. "The issue has taken too long to resolve."
Lithuania has banned the transit of goods subject to European Union sanctions across its territory to and from the Baltic exclave. Russia has pledged to retaliate.
12:30 p.m.: The Western supply of high-precision weapons is helping Ukraine slow down Russia's invasion, but the volumes of weapons are not enough, and soldiers need time to adapt to using them, a top Ukrainian security official said Friday.
Kyiv said late last month it had received U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and has since praised them for battlefield successes such as destroying Russian warehouses and command posts and forcing Russian troops from the strategic Snake Island in the Black Sea.
"When they came in, the Russian war machine could instantly feel its effect," Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv. "What they (the Russians) wanted to do in three days, they now do in two or one and a half weeks."
But he said receiving more Western military aid is vital for Ukraine as it braces for a Russian assault on the eastern region of Donetsk.
12:15 p.m.: Canada has imposed additional sanctions related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Friday, adding 29 state-sponsored disinformation and propaganda agents and 15 entities controlled or owned by the Russian government, the foreign ministry said.
Kyiv Independent reports that the updated sanctions list includes Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, propagandist Olga Skabeeval, as well as several Russian state media outlets.
11:45 a.m.: A Ukrainian regional official warned Friday of deteriorating living conditions in a city captured by Russian forces two weeks ago, saying Sievierodonetsk is without water, power or a working sewage system while the bodies of the dead decompose in hot apartment buildings.
Gov. Serhiy Haidai said the Russians were unleashing indiscriminate artillery barrages as they try to secure their gains in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk province. Moscow this week claimed full control of Luhansk, but the governor and other Ukrainian officials said their troops retained a small part of the province.
“Luhansk hasn’t been fully captured even though the Russians have engaged all their arsenal to achieve that goal,” Haidai told The Associated Press. “Fierce battles are going on in several villages on the region’s border. The Russians are relying on tanks and artillery to advance, leaving scorched earth.”
11:15 a.m.: German energy supply giant Uniper said Friday it is asking the government for a bailout amid a growing natural gas crunch due to the war in Ukraine.
Uniper is Germany’s biggest importer of Russian gas that it sells on to local utility companies.
In a statement, Uniper said the “stabilization measures” it is seeking are “aimed at ceasing the current accumulation of substantial losses, covering Uniper’s liquidity needs and protecting Uniper’s investment-grade credit rating.”
The company said its major shareholder, Finland-based Fortum, is also in talks with the German government to “address the negative impact of the current gas supply restrictions on Uniper.”
While the government could take a big stake in Uniper to keep the company afloat or let it pass on higher purchasing costs to consumers, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said Friday that the next steps are still being discussed.
10:40 a.m.: The United States has identified at least 18 ‘filtration camps’ set up by Russia to deport Ukrainian civilians to Russia, the New York Times reported Friday, citing Courtney Austrian, the deputy head of the U.S. mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
U.S. assessments indicate that Russian officials were preparing for filtration procedures even before the launch of the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
“Russian officials likely created lists of Ukrainian civilians deemed threatening to Russia’s control of Ukraine, including anyone with pro-Ukraine views, such as political figures and activists, as well as security personnel, for detention and filtration,” the Times quotes Austrian as saying.
10:25 a.m.: A court in Moscow today sentenced a municipal council member to seven years in prison for his remarks opposing the war in Ukraine.
Alexei Gorinov was found guilty of spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian military, an offense that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison under a law the Russian parliament rubber-stamped a week after the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine.
The 60-year-old member of Moscow’s Krasnoselsky municipal council is the first person sentenced to serve time behind bars for a conviction on that charge, according to Net Freedoms, a legal aid group focused on free speech cases.
10:00 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that continued use of sanctions against Russia could lead to catastrophic price rises on energy markets, hurting households across Europe.
He said moves to cut Europe's reliance on Russian energy are resulting in gas price rises for European countries.
7:45 a.m.: Western officials meeting in Indonesia today tried to coax Russia into allowing Ukraine to ship its grain out to the world as the four-month-old war threatens to bring hunger to countries far away from the battlefields.
Moscow for its part accused the West of waging economic warfare on Russia by attempting to isolate it with sanctions imposed over the Feb. 24 invasion.
President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia's military operations in Ukraine have barely got started and the prospects for negotiation will grow dimmer the longer the conflict drags on.
5:53 a.m.: VOA's Nike Ching reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov walked out the G-20 ministers’ meetings twice Friday – the first time when German Foreign Minister Annalena Baercock was speaking during the session on strengthening multilateralism, and the second just before Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, addressed the session on food and energy security by video link. Lavrov was not in the room when U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke.
5:04 a.m.: VOA's Nike Ching reports that a Western official said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken just completed his intervention in the second plenary (G-20 Foreign Ministers') session, which was focused on food and energy insecurity. Blinken addressed Russia directly, saying: “To our Russian colleagues: Ukraine is not your country. Its grain is not your grain. Why are you blocking the ports? You should let the grain out.” He later went on to note that, while Russia is the source of the problem, the United States is focused on solutions. He detailed the financial commitments the United States has made, totaling well over $5 billion. Meanwhile, he noted that not only is Russia the source of the problem, Moscow has provided less than one-fifth of one percent of donations to the WFP.
4:44 a.m.: The latest intelligence update from the U.K. defense ministry said there's a "realistic possibility" that Russia's current target is Siversk as it moves toward the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk urban area.
Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, continue to advance in the Kherson sector, the update said.
3:30 a.m.: The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said in its latest assessment of the Ukraine conflict that Russia made marginal gains to the southeast of Siversk.
Russia also conducted a limited and unsuccessful attack north of Kharkiv City and continued offensive operations to the south and east of Bakhmut, the assessment said.
Ukrainian partisans, the assessment said, are likely to continue targeting Russian-controlled railways around Melitopol.
2:18 a.m.: Foreign analysts say Russia may be temporarily easing its offensive in eastern Ukraine as the Russian military attempts to reassemble its forces for a significant — and what it hopes could prove decisive — new assault on its neighbor, The Associated Press reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned menacingly on Thursday that his forces “haven't even started” to fight, the AP reported.
Russian forces made no claimed or assessed territorial gains in Ukraine on Wednesday “for the first time in 133 days of war,” according to the Institute for the Study of War. The Washington-based think tank suggested Moscow may be taking an “operational pause,” but said that does not entail "the complete cessation of active hostilities."
“Russian forces will likely confine themselves to relatively small-scale offensive actions as they attempt to set conditions for more significant offensive operations" and rebuild the necessary combat power, the institute said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry seemed to confirm that assessment, saying in a statement Thursday that Russian soldiers had been given time to rest.
1:03 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN on Thursday that Ukraine refuses to cede any of its territory to Russia, saying, "Ukrainians are not ready to give away their land, to accept that these territories belong to Russia. This is our land."
12:02 a.m.: Canada said it would send 39 General Dynamics-made armored vehicles to Ukraine later this summer to help Kyiv in its defense against the Russian invasion, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said, according to Reuters.
The so-called armored combat support vehicle, made at a General Dynamics plant based in London, Ontario, can be used as ambulances, maintenance and recovery vehicles, or to carry troops.
Some information in this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
