What was in the news around Ukraine on 3 August 2024?
A look back at the reports from the days before 3 August 2024, from a prisoner's death in captivity to an energy dispute with Slovakia.
What was Ukraine's government dealing with on 3 August 2024? The reports from the preceding days point to pressure on several fronts at once: the treatment of prisoners, a dispute over oil, and threats about missiles in Europe.
A prisoner's death
On 31 July 2024, Ukraine demanded that Russia explain the death of Oleksandr Ishchenko, a Ukrainian prisoner of war who died in Russian captivity. He was being tried alongside 21 other captured Ukrainian troops. Russian prosecutors allege that the Azov Brigade, to which they say the defendants belonged, is far-right affiliated. The case is tied to the siege of Mariupol, which began on 24 February 2022 and ended on 20 May 2022, when all Ukrainian troops remaining in the city surrendered at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works after being ordered to cease fighting.
A dispute over Lukoil oil
Also on 31 July 2024, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico threatened to suspend Slovakia's diesel exports to Ukraine. His condition was that the Ukrainian government continue to suspend pipeline transport of oil from the Russian company Lukoil. Slovakia claimed the suspension was causing a national energy crisis.
Missiles and a claim about Mali
On 28 July 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to position long-range missiles that could strike throughout Europe. He was responding to the United States' announcement of plans to set up long-range missiles in Germany beginning in 2026.
On 29 July 2024, Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence claimed that it had helped Tuareg rebels in their battle against Wagner Group mercenaries in Mali. That battle took place near Tinzaouaten, close to the Algeria–Mali border. It was fought between a rebel coalition, the Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad, and Malian forces backed by the Wagner Group, a Russian state-funded mercenary group.
The picture on 3 August 2024
Taken together, these reports show how far Ukraine's affairs reached beyond the front line. They covered legal proceedings against prisoners, energy relations with a neighbouring EU state, Russian threats directed at Europe, and a claimed intelligence role in West Africa.
