As the war enters its 914th day, here are some major developments:
The situation on Tuesday, August 27, 2024 is as follows:
Finding
- Russia has hit energy infrastructure across 15 regions of Ukraine with drone and missile attacks, causing severe damage and supply disruptions, killing at least seven people and wounding 47. Russia has acknowledged the attacks, saying they were targeting facilities that support the military-industrial complex.
- Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oreshchuk said his country's forces shot down 102 of 127 missiles and 99 of 109 drones fired by Russia. He called the attack the “largest” since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
- Poland said an object, possibly a drone, entered its airspace during the Russian bombardment and may have fallen on Polish territory.
- US President Joe Biden condemned what he called an “outrageous attack” and reiterated his country's “unwavering” support for Kiev.
- A Russian missile has hit a building in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, killing at least one person and wounding four, Kryvyi Rih's military governor, Oleksandr Birkul, said, adding that five more people are still believed to be trapped in the rubble.
- Reuters said its journalist Ivan Ljubisch-Kilday was in critical condition in hospital after a missile struck the hotel in Kramatorsk where he was staying with six other members of the Reuters team. Security adviser Ryan Evans was also killed in the attack, while another journalist, Daniel Pereschuk, was treated for injuries in hospital and released. The other three were uninjured.
- Russia said it had attacked Ukrainian forces in at least 12 locations in the country's Kursk region with air, artillery and infantry strikes, and that it had repelled attacks in seven locations in the region where Kiev launched a cross-border surprise attack on August 6. It added that it had also attacked Ukrainian forces in 16 locations in Ukraine's neighbouring Sumy region.
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said he would personally lead inspectors to Russia's Kursk nuclear power plant during a visit on Tuesday, describing the “grave situation.”
- Authorities in Russia's Saratov region said Ukrainian drone attacks wounded four people in the cities of Saratov and Engels, the latter of which is home to a military airfield that Ukraine has previously attacked.
Politics and diplomacy
- The White House said in a statement that President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the war in Ukraine. Modi visited Kiev last week, the first visit by an Indian leader to Ukraine since Ukraine's independence in 1991. “I reiterated India's full support for the early restoration of peace and stability,” Modi said in an online post.
- A Russian court has announced that the trial of Laurent Vinatier, a French national accused of illegally collecting intelligence on military matters, will begin on September 3. If convicted, Vinatier faces up to five years in prison. The researcher at the Geneva-based NGO Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue was arrested in June.
- Russia was the only UN Security Council member absent from the informal meeting in Switzerland, where 14 countries attended and reaffirmed their commitment to international humanitarian law. Russia's envoy in New York called the meeting a “waste of time.”
weapons
- Ukraine has announced that it has developed a new long-range weapon, called Paryanitsa, for strikes deep into Russia, which Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said would provide a “countermeasure” to Russian bombing raids.