daft punk alive 2007 equipment

• facebook-rs

By Rob Sheffield

Rob Sheffield

A Daft Punk live album loses some of the essential experience: the robot costumes, the giant glowing pyramid, the sweaty bodies next to you. And the drugs, definitely the drugs. But the whoops of the human-after-all audience add plenty to the French filter-disco duo's surprisingly consistent career-spanning show. The set leans too heavy on their proggy recent work, but it's still basically a celestial rave tribute to Chic's Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, cut with classic Eurodisco and Roxy Music. "One More Time" still sounds unbearably pompous, proof that robots should never get sincere. But the knockout punch is the final medley of "Superheroes," "Human After All" and "Rock 'N' Roll," as Thomas Bangalter and Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo shoot a Barry Manilow sample over the crowd like they're sprinkling holy water. This is the first-rate live album that Electric Light Orchestra should have made but never did.

YouTube Launches Experimental AI Feature With Voice Clones of Major Artists

• By Ethan Millman

Lana Del Rey, John Legend, Post Malone to Honor Elvis on 'Christmas at Graceland'

• Elvis Tribute
• By Charisma Madarang

Zach Bryan to Play Super Bowl Weekend Show in Las Vegas

• 'full circle'
• By Daniel Kreps

Dua Lipa Says ‘Houdini’ Is One of 97 Songs She Wrote For Her New Album

• The Breakdown
• By Brittany Spanos

Metro Boomin and Future Join Rolling Loud Lineup, Announce Album

• An Evil World
• By Kory Grow

Most Popular

John amos and a family at war with itself, 2024 grammys nominations full list: sza leads with 9 noms, phoebe bridgers follows with 7, melania trump’s former aide claims she had an ‘ongoing pre-approved list’ of words to be described as, chad johnson and terrell owens reminisce on 12-hour, 17-woman orgy, you might also like, ‘concrete utopia’ dominates korea’s grand bell awards – global bulletin, burberry warns on fiscal 2024 profit, revenue targets due to luxury slowdown, the receipts: britton schey, the reluctant yogi, pedro pascal in talks to play reed richards in ‘fantastic four’ reboot, yankees sold $279 million in 2023 tickets despite playoff whiff.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2023 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

Daft Punk - Alive 2007

The french duo resuscitates the idea of electronic music as live entertainment..

In This Article

More Reviews by Todd Gilchrist

Ign recommends.

Find anything you save across the site in your account

Random Access Memories (Drumless Edition)

By Ben Cardew

November 16, 2023

What are we doing here? Honestly, what are we doing with this “drumless” edition of Daft Punk ’s Random Access Memories ? What possible lessons can we learn from 2023’s second re-edition of Daft Punk’s third-best album, in which every sonic detail is the same, other than the absence of drums? Why on earth did Daft Punk, one of the savviest musical duos in modern memory, choose to release a largely superfluous album, when they could have simply ridden the residual good vibes of RAM ’s 10th anniversary reissue from earlier this year? Why would anyone choose to listen to Daft Punk’s meticulously crafted fourth studio album with the work of two of the world’s best session drummers wiped from the surface?

In the absence of an official explanation, speculation has thrived. Some fans claim that RAM Drumless is intended for DJs and producers who want to create their own RAM mixes and bootlegs, a logical enough idea that doesn’t account for the pricey Drumless merch or the major-label system and its outright revulsion for copyright-busting fan-made remixes. The big news is that Random Access Memories (Drumless Edition) really is just that: Random Access Memories with the drums removed. There’s no slinky disco hi-hat on “Get Lucky,” no explosive snare fills on “Contact,” no gentle cymbal taps on “Within,” not even a click track on “Giorgio by Moroder.” If this were another group you’d suspect a radical art prank, a sardonic comment, maybe, on the importance of drums to the house and techno music with which Daft Punk made their name. But Daft Punk don’t seem the type.

Stripping the glossy RAM productions of their percussion does give other musical elements room to breathe—the bass, for example, feels a lot more prominent on “Giorgio by Moroder,” and you can really pick out how Todd Edwards’ brilliant microsample patchwork on “Fragments of Time” relates to the song’s bass and guitar lines. My own theory around Random Access Memories is that Daft Punk’s fourth album is, in effect, two records: a disco/soft rock/house album that houses the radio hits and a much more interesting, proggy, swirly record that lies alongside. By and large, the disco tunes—“Get Lucky,” “Lose Yourself to Dance,” “Instant Crush”—sound bereft of life in their Drumless versions, a low-carb diet beer watered down within an inch of its life. But the prog-leaning songs—“Within,” “Beyond,” “Motherboard,” etc.—fare a lot better.

At times the transformation is revelatory. “Beyond” and “Motherboard,” in particular, feel the breath of new light on RAM Drumless. Shorn of their percussive shuffle, the two songs’ Drumless versions allow the astral swoon of Greg Leisz’s pedal steel guitar to drift to the surface, creating a blissed-out ambient country music to rival The KLF ’s classic Chill Out (or, indeed, RAM ’s Japanese bonus track “ Horizon ”) , while the subtle orchestral touches in both songs feel flush with vivid color. The cat’s cradle cobweb of acoustic guitar and increasingly elastic one-note bassline that briefly surface in “Motherboard (Drumless Version)” are enough to make this the definitive version of the song, even if it took a decade to get there.

There are exceptions to the disco/prog rule of thumb. The sprawling “Touch” should thrive when detached from percussion and allowed to dissipate. But removing the drums from the song’s upbeat middle section robs “Touch” of its shape-shifting, sun-blessed heterogeneity, making it a one-paced beast. On the other hand, Panda Bear collaboration “Doin’ It Right,” an electro-pop number that fit awkwardly on the original Random Access Memories, finds its home as a minimal, hypnotic pop duet on RAM Drumless , driven by the textual interplay between Daft Punk’s robotic backing vocal and Noah Lennox’s childlike (and largely effect-free) voice.

A drum-free album is really pushing the limits in a music business that has never been shy about overselling fans on albums they already own. At its worst, Random Access Memories (Drumless Edition) feels like a concept album so theoretically pure that it didn’t need to exist, a joke without a punchline. But brief moments of drumless enlightenment and acoustic revelation are just about enough to rescue it from the vast cosmic bin of pointlessness. Neither victory lap nor walk of shame, RAM Drumless is a curious, unfulfilling end to the RAM saga. And while a Drumless Version of RAM 10th-anniversary bonus track “ Infinity Repeating ” would be an intriguing prospect, now, surely, is the time to let Daft Punk’s fourth studio album take a well-earned rest.

All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

STREAM OR BUY:

Release Date

Recording date, recording location, discography timeline, allmusic review, user reviews, track listing, similar albums, moods and themes.

• Live albums

Alive 2007 (album)

• View history

Alive 2007 is a live album released by Daft Punk in 2007. It features live songs from their performance at Bercy in Paris , France, on their Alive 2007 tour.

The album won the Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album in 2009. A live version of " Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger ", containing elements of "Television Rules the Nation / Crescendolls" and "Around the World / Harder Better Faster Stronger", also won a Grammy that year for Best Electronic/Dance Recording.

The physical release in North America was delayed to December 4 due to production issues, but the album became available as a digital download on November 20, 2007. A special edition of the album was released that includes the encore from the Alive 2007 tour on a second disc, which is included on the digital copy as well. It also includes a 50-page book containing photographs from the tour taken by DJ Falcon.

• 1 Structure
• 2 Reception
• 3 Track listing
• 4 References

Structure [ ]

The Alive 2007 set used Ableton Live software on "custom made super-computers" for the show. Daft Punk accessed the hardware remotely with Behringer BCR2000 MIDI controllers and JazzMutant Lemur touchscreen pads within the central pyramid. Minimoog Voyager RME units were also implemented for the live performances. The four Voyager units and two Behringer mixers allowed Daft Punk to "mix, shuffle, trigger loops, filter, distort samples, EQ in and out, transpose or destroy and deconstruct synth lines". The majority of the equipment was stored away during the live sets within offstage towers.

The recording of Alive 2007 was derived from Daft Punk's live performance at their Bercy show on June 14, 2007. Reviews of the set noted how Daft Punk manipulated and reworked their established material. One report spotted vocal elements from the song " Too Long " mixed with newly-generated accompaniment. The overlapped mixtures of " Television Rules the Nation " with " Crescendolls ", " Around the World " with " Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger " and " Superheroes " with " Human After All " were reported to be well received by the audience. The set itself was considered a collection of Daft Punk's most popular recordings. The performances heavily featured tracks from Daft Punk's album Human After All , prompting critics to reconsider what they felt about the album.

The visuals of the 2006 and Alive 2007 tour were set up by XL Video. The company provided eight-core Mac Pro units running Catalyst v4 and Final Cut Pro. Daft Punk approached the company with their visual concept for the shows. "They came to us with a pretty fixed idea of what they wanted", said the head of XL Video, Richard Burford. "They wanted to mix live video with effects. Using the eight-core Mac Pros, we were able to take in eight digital sources and treat them as video streams. Then they could use Catalyst to coordinate the video with lighting effects and add their own effects in on the fly. The final digital video streams ran to LED screens."

The performances for the Alive 2007 tour were an expansion of Daft Punk's 2006 live sets. Noted additions include elements of the tracks " Burnin' " and " Phoenix " as well as an encore. Bangalter explained that the 2006 sets were initially designed for performances within larger festivals, but later refined to accommodate Daft Punk-specific shows. "The goal was to try and bring a complete global experience to the audience". The introduction for the live show featured the five-note sequence used in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

The album includes elements of the Busta Rhymes song " Touch It ", the original version of which was produced by Swizz Beatz featuring a sample of " Technologic ". Also featured are elements of Gabrielle's " Forget About the World ", the original version of which was remixed by Daft Punk for her single. The encore of the Alive 2007 set features Bangalter's side projects: Stardust 's " Music Sounds Better with You " and Together 's self-titled track " Together ". Many songs from Human After All: Remixes are utilized, like Robot Rock (Maximum Overdrive Mix) and The Prime Time of Your Life (Para One Remix) .

Reception [ ]

Alive 2007 was generally met with praise upon release. Pitchfork Media regarded the recording as "the Ultimate Daft Punk Mixtape", specifically noting how songs from the album Human After All had been "constantly improved and born anew" for the live set. The sentiment was also shared by Allmusic, stating that "It has the feel of a greatest-hits-live concert, but energized by Daft Punk's talents at weaving songs in and out of each other". The publication ultimately considered Alive 1997 the stronger of their two live albums, however. A review by The Star noted that the release and Daft Punk's concurrent tours cumulatively restored the duo's reputation following the mixed reception of their two earlier studio albums.

Sputnikmusic stated that the Alive 2007 performance was closer to a theatrical production than a traditional concert, and that the album "could just as easily be a studio concoction". Entertainment Weekly, however, felt that the live crowd enhanced the positive mood of the performance. Rolling Stone stated that Alive 2007 "loses some of the essential experience" of attending the live Daft Punk events. The Phoenix also felt that the album package would have benefited from more video content, expressing that a key factor of the live show was its implementation of visual elements. In his first positive review for a Daft Punk album, Robert Christgau believed that a full video representation was avoided because "too much scale, flesh and bodily effluvia would be lost". Thomas Bangalter expressed his reasons for not releasing a DVD by stating "the thousands of clips on the internet are better to us than any DVD that could have been released".

On December 3, 2008, Alive 2007 and its single "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" received Grammy Award nominations for Best Electronic/Dance Album and Best Dance Recording, respectively. Both the album and the single were announced as winners during the 51st Grammy Awards pre-telecast ceremony.

Track listing

References [ ].

• ↑ Daft Punk YouTube Channel . YouTube.com. Retrieved 6 September 2007 .
• 1 Veridis Quo
• 2 Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
• 3 Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo

Album Tracks

Similar artists.

Pharrell Williams

3 047 807 fans

Julian Casablancas

173 807 fans

677 141 fans

Nile Rodgers

161 910 fans

413 549 fans

2 459 751 fans

83 660 fans

964 453 fans

The Strokes

1 447 591 fans

913 224 fans

932 133 fans

Bob Sinclar

1 840 771 fans

Tame Impala

775 112 fans

Benjamin Diamond

Discography

Random Access Memories (Drumless Edition)

by Daft Punk

Homework (25th Anniversary Edition)

Random Access Memories

Random Access Memories (10th Anniversary Edition)

TRON: Legacy Reconfigured

TRON: Legacy - The Complete Edition (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

TRON: Legacy

Human After All (Remixes)

Musique, Vol. 1

Human After All

Sign up to listen to the full track

No payment required

Alive 2007 (Live) [Deluxe Edition]

When Daft Punk were invited to play the Coachella festival in 2006, they hadn’t toured in nearly 10 years. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to, but that, in Thomas Bangalter’s words, their ideas were crazy, and crazy is expensive. In the intervening decade, not only had their 2001 album, Discovery, been absorbed into the global mainstream, but newer artists like David Guetta, Calvin Harris and Kaskade were starting to repackage house music for the kind of big-tent audiences that might also go see U2 or Red Hot Chili Peppers. Daft Punk’s Coachella set—the giant pyramid, the laser lights—wasn’t just considered one of the most memorable in the festival’s history, it helped mark a shift in dance music’s evolution from subculture to centre stage. The expected audience for their Coachella set was around 10,000—approximately 40,000 showed up. Alive 2007—which captured the same set the next summer in Paris—served as both a de facto greatest-hits album and a referendum on the group’s commercial success. But it also proved their ability to transfer the grandeur and narrative ambition of ’70s arena rock to the digital era. They were Star Wars fans, and it showed—not just in the music’s scale, but in its range, from the imperious and militaristic (“Robot Rock”, “Technologic”) to the goofy, playful and weird (“Crescendolls”, “Burnin’”). And for as inelastic as their funk was in both spirit and practice, the sequencing and recontextualisation of their various musical ideas—bits of “Around the World” quoted in “Television Rules the Nation”, or the melody of “Harder Better Faster Stronger” laid over a new harmonic pattern—used the cut-and-paste process of techno to make something with the playful, referential quality of jazz. They famously didn’t make a DVD to accompany the set, on the presumption that the spectacle couldn’t possibly be captured on film. But close your eyes and listen, and the images will come.

14 November 2007 13 Songs, 1 hour, 24 minutes Distributed exclusively by Warner Music France / ADA France, ℗ 2007 Daft Life Ltd.

Other Versions

More by daft punk, featured on.

Apple Music Fitness

Apple Music Electronic

ED WRECK RADIO With Pedro Winter

You Might Also Like

Benny Benassi

Various Artists

Select a country or region

Africa, middle east, and india.

• Côte d’Ivoire
• Congo, The Democratic Republic Of The
• Guinea-Bissau
• Niger (English)
• Congo, Republic of
• Saudi Arabia
• Sierra Leone
• South Africa
• Tanzania, United Republic Of
• Turkmenistan
• United Arab Emirates

Asia Pacific

• Indonesia (English)
• Lao People's Democratic Republic
• Malaysia (English)
• Micronesia, Federated States of
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea
• Philippines
• Solomon Islands
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• France (Français)
• Deutschland
• Luxembourg (English)
• Moldova, Republic Of
• North Macedonia
• Portugal (Português)
• United Kingdom

Latin America and the Caribbean

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Argentina (Español)
• Bolivia (Español)
• Virgin Islands, British
• Cayman Islands
• Chile (Español)
• Colombia (Español)
• Costa Rica (Español)
• República Dominicana
• Ecuador (Español)
• El Salvador (Español)
• Guatemala (Español)
• Honduras (Español)
• Nicaragua (Español)
• Paraguay (Español)
• St. Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• St. Vincent and The Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Turks and Caicos
• Uruguay (English)
• Venezuela (Español)

The United States and Canada

• Canada (English)
• Canada (Français)
• United States
• Estados Unidos (Español México)
• الولايات المتحدة
• États-Unis (Français France)
• Estados Unidos (Português Brasil)
• 美國 (繁體中文台灣)

• Bahasa Indonesia
• Slovenščina
• Science & Tech
• Russian Kitchen

10 famous foreign songs about Moscow

No matter where you come from, you have a great chance to be fascinated by Moscow - and sing about it!

1. Rammstein – Moskau

“This city is a prostitute with red spots on the forehead,” that’s a very Rammstein way to open the 2004 song about their love for Moscow. They surely mock the lavishness of the city, but still express love: with backup vocals sung in Russian about the Pioneers saluting Lenin, an accordion playing and a refrain that states: “still, she’s the most beautiful city in the world”!

2. Michael Jackson – Stranger in Moscow

Michael Jackson wrote this song in 1993, in the Hotel Metropol in Moscow, allegedly feeling very depressed. ‘Stranger in Moscow’ reflects it well: it’s a sad ballad about a foreigner rambling through the streets of a city he doesn’t know, out in the rain and all alone. Nevertheless, as he sings, “Happy days will drown the pain.”

3. Scorpions – Wind of Change

Soon after the band from West Germany performed in Moscow in 1989, they recorded that power ballad inspired by perestroika (the liberal reforms in the USSR). In fact, in 1991, they even gave Mikhail Gorbachev $70,000 in royalties for ‘Wind of Change’ - as it was his politics that impacted Scorpions (reports say, Gorbachev donated it to charity). And though the song doesn’t mention Moscow directly, its very first lines “I follow the Moskva [River] down to Gorky Park,...” leave no doubt about what city Klaus Meine is singing.

4. Brazzaville – Night Train to Moscow

A romantic song from 2004 by an American indie pop band, ‘Night Train to Moscow’ is more about the journey to Russia’s capital than Moscow itself, but it surely sounds very endearing. And, if that’s not enough, of course, there’s an accordion in it!

5. The Vibrators – Disco in Moscow

British punk, rough and simple, full stop. Everyone was dancing disco in the 1970s, so singer Ian Carnochan asked himself: “I wonder if they’re dancing disco in Moscow.” Well, Ian, it depended – Leonid Brezhnev certainly didn’t, but some rebellious youngsters could.

6. Al Stewart – Roads to Moscow

Quite a rare example of a Western singer carefully reconstructing the Eastern Front of WWII in his lyrics – even though Scottish folk-rock musician Al Stewart recorded it in 1973, while the Cold War was still on. Moscow is more of a symbol in this long ballad – the sacred capital of Russia, which the song’s protagonist, a soldier, is protecting from the invaders.

7. Jethro Tull – She Said She Was a Dancer

“Hey Miss Moscow, what's your story?” asks the lyrical hero of the British classic rock song (recorded in 1987) talking to a Russian girl who says she is a dancer – but he doesn’t quite believe her, supposing “Maybe a student of the agricultural plan.” Once again, a foreigner describing an encounter with a beautiful Russian woman, mysterious and hard to understand, but so charming. And yes, he drinks vodka, while they’re talking!

8. Dschinghis Khan – Moskau

Not the most intellectual song by German pop band Dschinghis Khan, but very funny and full of laughter, “a-ha-ha-ha-ha!” As it was recorded in 1979, just before the Olympics in Moscow, there was a theory (amongst non-German-speaking Soviet people) that the Germans were singing something very bad about Russia – but, of course, it’s nothing but a joyful drinking song, full of lovely stereotypes about Russia: Cossacks, vodka and, of course, beautiful Natasha! A guaranteed retro hit in Russia now!

9. Gilbert Bécaud – Natalie

A romantic French pop song from 1964, where the lyrical hero meets a beautiful Russian guide named Natalie, who shows him around and fascinates, as they drink hot chocolate in the Pushkin café. Fun fact – there was no café Pushkin in Moscow in the 1960s, the author made it up. But now it does exist – that’s how culture impacts life.

10. Bajaga i Instruktori – Tamara

A Serbian song from 1984 which sounds very similar to the above song ‘Natalie’, lyrics-wise: the lyrical hero meets a very beautiful young woman, named Tamara, in the streets of Moscow and falls in love with her but it’s so cold outside and he isn’t sure about her feelings. Perhaps those are two main problems foreign musicians face in Russia’s capital! Broken hearts and frozen hands!

If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.

to our newsletter!

Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox

• The 20 best Russian songs of 2018
• Where is the birthplace of Russian rock'n'roll?
• 7 amazing modern opera singers from Russia

This website uses cookies. Click here to find out more.

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Russia-Ukraine war live: civilian deaths reported after strikes in Kryvyi Rih, Kherson and Donetsk

Ukraine defence minister says Moscow has intensified strikes on military infrastructure; Kremlin says Ukraine counteroffensive ‘not working out as planned’

• What we know on day 523 of the invasion
• 31 Jul 2023 Summary
• 31 Jul 2023 Zelenskiy: five dead in Kryvyi Rih and 350 people involved in rescue operation
• 31 Jul 2023 20 people in hospital and over 60 injured after Russian strike on Kryvyi Rih apartment block
• 31 Jul 2023 Summary of the day so far …
• 31 Jul 2023 Death toll at Kryvih Rih now four, including one child – governor
• 31 Jul 2023 Two killed in occupied Donetsk after strike hits bus – Russian-imposed governor
• 31 Jul 2023 Kryvyi Rih death toll rises to two – people confirmed trapped under rubble
• 31 Jul 2023 One killed, 10 injured in Russian strike on Kryvyi Rih
• 31 Jul 2023 Prigozhin says Wagner not recruiting now but may do so again – reports
• 31 Jul 2023 Saudis to host Ukraine peace summit – officials
• 31 Jul 2023 'Powerful day' for Ukraine on frontline, says Zelenskiy
• 31 Jul 2023 Opening summary

20 people in hospital and over 60 injured after Russian strike on Kryvyi Rih apartment block

The reported number of people injured in the strike on an apartment block in Kryvyi Rih keeps rising. The latest figure reported in Ukraine by Suspilne is 64 injured.

The regional governor, Serhiy Lysak , has stated that the injured include “two boys and three girls, aged from four to 17 years old”.

Suspilne adds in its report: “Most of the wounded will be treated at home. More than 20 remain in hospitals.”

Four people have been reported dead in the attack.

It is now approaching 9pm in Kyiv. Here is a summary of the day’s events so far:

At least six people, including a 10-year-old child, have been killed and more than 50 people injured when Russia struck a high-rise apartment in Kryvyi Rih. Authorities said people were trapped under rubble. Oleksiy Kuleba , the deputy head of Volodymyr Zelenskiy ’s office, called for revenge, saying: “Every day, Ukrainian cities are under fire from Russian terrorists. Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv . This is only for the last few days.” He said targeting civilians was a sign of “the despair and defeat of the Russian Federation at the front”.

Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska , said “This is how the week begins in a Ukrainian city that just wants a quiet, normal life. Russia wants to take peace and life away”, and offered condolences to the victims and their families. The city is the home town of both Zelenska and her husband.

On Telegram, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy , said more than 350 people are working on the rescue mission in Kryvyi Rih after what he said were two Russian ballistic missiles hit the city.

Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza on Monday lost an appeal against his 25-year jail sentence, the RIA state news agency reported. Kara-Murza, who holds Russian and British citizenship, was jailed for 25 years in April for treason and spreading “false information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Reuters reports. Britain added six new designations to its Russia sanctions list, an update to the government website showed on Monday, targeting judges and officials involved in the trial of Kara-Murza.

According to Reuters, Ukraine and Croatia have agreed on the possibility of using Croatian ports on the Danube and the Adriatic Sea for the export of Ukrainian grain, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said after talks with his Croatian counterpart on Monday.

Russian airstrikes destroyed an estimated 180,000 metric tonnes of grain crops in the space of nine days this month, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said on Monday, Reuters reports.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, said Russia lost 87 units of equipment last week, including 33 strongholds, 26 armored combat vehicles and 15 tanks. These claims have not been independently verified.

The Kremlin on Monday described a recent drone attack on Moscow as an “act of desperation” by Ukraine after setbacks on the battlefield. AFP reports that Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov , said it has been “very difficult” for Ukrainian forces on the frontline since it launched its counteroffensive in June. He added: “It is obvious that the counteroffensive is not a success. In an act of desperation, the regime in Kyiv is turning to such terrorist attacks. All possible measures have been taken to defend civil infrastructure [against Ukrainian strikes].”

Ukrainian forces have recaptured nearly 15 sq km (5.8 sq miles) of land from Russian troops in the east and south over the past week during their counteroffensive, a senior defence official said on Monday. Kyiv’s forces have now retaken 204.7 sq km in the south since they launched a major push back against Russian forces early last month, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is “not working out as planned” and that Nato resources supplied to Kyiv had been “wasted”, during the course of a two month-long operation that has seen limited gains for Ukraine.

Denis Pushilin , the Russian-imposed acting governor of occupied Donetsk , has claimed that at least two people have been killed and at least six injured after a Ukrainian strike hit a bus in the city which had been capital of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic since 2014, and which Russia claimed to have annexed last year.

Three Ukrainian drones that were shot down over Moscow damaged a high-rise building containing government offices and briefly shut an international airport, according to reports. Moscow mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said nobody was hurt and there was only minor damage to the facade of two office buildings in the Moscow City business district early on Sunday. Russia’s state news agency Tass reported a security guard had been injured. One of the damaged buildings – several kilometres from the Kremlin – was home to three Russian government ministries as well as residential apartments, according to Russian media, in the third such attack on the capital region in a week.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine’s counteroffensive was “not working out as planned” and that Nato resources supplied to Kyiv had been “wasted”. On a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said separately that Russia would take additional measures to defend against Ukrainian drone strikes.

“War is returning to the territory of Russia,” Zelenskiy warned after the drones were downed over Moscow. The Ukrainian president said that was “an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process” and that Russia’s symbolic centres and military bases would be targeted.

Suspilne reports that as a result of morning shelling in Kherson , a 60-year-old employee of a utility company was killed, and four more people were injured. The Russian army also shelled Kramatorsk with rockets at night, and an industrial zone was hit. There were no casualties or injuries reorted.

Alexey Kulemzin , the Russian-imposed mayor of the occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine , has reported that “facades, balconies, roofing and glazing” have been damaged in Kuibyshevskyi district in the city by overnight shelling.

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin appears to have said in a voice message published on Monday that his Wagner group was not currently recruiting fighters but was likely to do so in future. Prigozhin said in the voice message that “unfortunately” some of his fighters had moved to other “power structures”, but he said they were looking to return. “As long as we don’t experience a shortage in personnel, we don’t plan to carry out a new recruitment,” Prigozhin said. “However, we will be extremely grateful to you if you keep in touch with us, and as soon as the Motherland needs to create a new group that will be able to protect the interests of our country, we will certainly start recruiting.”

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow would be “forced” to use a nuclear weapon if Kyiv’s counteroffensive was a success and its forces “tore off a part of our land” . Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, said that in that situation “there would simply be no other option”.

Saudi Arabia will host a Ukrainian-organised peace summit in early August seeking a way to start negotiations over the war, the Associated Press has reported, citing Saudi officials. One, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia was not invited to the talks in Jeddah. The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, later confirmed the talks would be held in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has not acknowledged the summit nor responded to a request for comment. The Kremlin said on Monday it needed to find out the purpose of upcoming talks.

Thank you for following along. Come back tomorrow for more live coverage and in the meantime you read our reporting on the war here .

Ukraine ’s defence ministry signed an agreement with Turkish company Baykar Makina to build a service centre for the repair and maintenance of drones in Ukraine , a ministry official said on Monday.

The ministry’s state secretary, Kostiantyn Vashchenko , said in a statement:

The creation of a service centre will be a significant contribution to strengthening Ukraine’s defence capabilities and will help bring our victory closer.

According to Reuters, more than 10,000 drone operators have been trained with 10,000 more in training, Mykhailo Fedorov , a deputy prime minister in charge of the “Army of Drones” said last week.

Anton Gerashchenko , Ukraine’s internal affairs ministerial adviser, shared a photo of the mother and daughter who reportedly died in the missile attach in Kryvyi Rih.

Mom and daughter killed by a Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih today. RIP. Search and rescue operation in Kryvyi Rih is finished - head of National Police. 6 people died and 75 wounded by the missile strike. #RussiaIsATerroristState pic.twitter.com/vHFCxvVbgY — Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) July 31, 2023

Britain has added six new designations to its Russia sanctions list, an update to the government website showed on Monday, targeting judges and officials involved in the trial of Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza , Reuters reports.

Here are some more images of from the news wires of the aftermath of the missile attack in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine .

Ukraine posted a current account deficit of $1.28bn (£1bn) in the first six months of the year, central bank data showed on Monday.

The country had posted a current account surplus of $2.9bn (£2.2bn) in the same period a year earlier, Reuters reports.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s former press secretary, Iuliia Mendel , said there has been a lot of shelling in Kherson today.

In a tweet, she said":

The regional authorities explain the intensity of the shelling by the rotation of Russian troops on the left bank. ‘Russia has replenished its forces that had previously defeated our Armed Forces. They will destroy these too, but we have to wait a bit!’ the statement reads.

A lot of shelling of Kherson today. The regional authorities explain the intensity of the shelling by the rotation of Russian troops on the left bank. "Russia has replenished its forces that had previously defeated our Armed Forces. They will destroy these too, but we have to… — Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) July 31, 2023

The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador , on Monday called for an end to the “irrational” war in Ukraine , urging upcoming peace talks in the Middle East to include representation from both Ukraine and Russia .

López Obrador said Mexico would only take part in the talks scheduled to be held over the coming weekend in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia if both sides were present, Reuters reports.

At a press conference, the president said:

If there’s acceptance from both Ukraine and Russia to look for solutions to achieve peace, we’ll participate. We don’t want the Russia-Ukraine war to continue, it’s very irrational. The only thing that benefits from it is the war industry.

Regional governor Serhiy Lysak said the death toll has risen to six and at least 75 people have been wounded after a missile attack in Kryvyi Rih by Russian forces.

On Telegram, Lysak said:

It’s already six dead in Kryvyi Rih.

Nearly 150 of the building’s residents managed to get out by themselves and 30 were helped out by rescuers, he added.

Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza on Monday lost an appeal against his 25-year jail sentence, the RIA state news agency reported.

Kara-Murza , who holds Russian and British citizenship, was jailed for 25 years in April for treason and spreading “false information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine , Reuters reports.

At least five people, including a 10-year-old child, have been killed and more than 50 people injured after the missile attack in Kryvyi Rih by Russian forces. A video posted by Ukraine ’s state emergency service showed smoke billowing from a gaping hole smashed in the side of a nine-story residential building. Authorities said people were still trapped under rubble.

Ukraine ’s foreign minister says it has agreed with Croatia on the possibility of using Croatian ports to export Ukrainian grain, according to Reuters.

More information to come …

Zelenskiy: five dead in Kryvyi Rih and 350 people involved in rescue operation

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to Telegram to state that more than 350 people are working on the rescue mission in Kryvyi Rih after what he said were two Russian ballistic missiles hit the city. He said that the death toll was now at five.

On Telegram, Ukraine’s president posted:

Rescue operation continues in Kryvyi Rih on the site of Russian missiles’ hits. Preliminary, two ballistic missiles. Floors four through nine of the residential building have been completely destroyed. The work is difficult – parts of the building’s structure were falling down. The terrorists also targeted the university building and the administrative building. As of now, five people are reported dead, including a child and her mother. My condolences. Dozens of people are injured and traumatised, all of them are being provided with the necessary assistance. More than 350 people are involved in the rescue operation – I thank everyone who is saving lives and helping people.

Interfax in Russia reports that parliament in Moldova has extended the national state of emergency for a further 60 days.

Moldova, which borders Ukraine , first declared the state of emergency on 24 February 2022 in response to the full-scale Russian invasion of its neighbour. It has expressed concerns about the possibility of a nuclear accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and the impact on gas supplies which might affect the country.

The breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria, in which Russian troops are stationed, is sandwiched between Ukraine and Moldovan-controlled territory. Early in the war a string of explosions hit government buildings in Transistria, prompting fears Moldova could be dragged into the conflict.

• Ukraine war live

Most viewed