As the war enters its 916th day, here are some major developments:
The situation on Thursday, August 29, 2024 is as follows:
Finding
- A Russian-directed bomb attack on the eastern town of Kupyansk injured at least 14 people and killed several others. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an evening speech that there were deaths but did not give a specific number. The attack also damaged the city hall.
- A Russian missile struck the city of Krivoy Rog, President Zelenskiy's hometown, wounding at least eight people, as residents marked a day of official mourning after a Russian strike the previous day at a hotel in the city killed four people.
- Ukrainian prosecutors' office said a Russian guided bomb hit a house in the village of Izmailivka, which had a pre-war population of about 200 people, near the eastern frontline where Russia is trying to seize the strategic stronghold of Pokrovsk.
- Donetsk region governor Vadim Filashkin said separate attacks near Chasiv Yar damaged more than 10 homes and killed two people.
- Russian forces have taken control of the Komysivka settlement in Ukraine's Donetsk region, state news agency TASS reported, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.
- In an update on Wednesday, the Ukrainian General Staff said there had been “intense fighting” in villages near Pokrovsk. “So far the enemy has made 38 attempts to storm Ukrainian army positions. Fighting is still ongoing in 14 places,” it said.
- Deputy CIA Director David Cohen said Russian President Vladimir Putin will launch a counteroffensive to try to retake territory in the Kursk region seized by Ukrainian forces but will face an “uphill battle.” Ukraine launched a surprise attack on the Russian region on August 6, claiming to have seized about 100 settlements.
- Russia's National Guard (Rosgvardiya) said in a statement that its engineers found shells from a HIMARS multiple rocket launcher system reportedly supplied by the U.S., and rocket fragments packed with 180 unexploded ordnance, five kilometers (three miles) from the Kursk nuclear power plant. Moscow has accused Ukrainian forces of trying to attack the plant. Ukraine did not immediately comment on the allegations.
- Vasily Golubev, governor of Russia's southern Rostov region, said a Ukrainian drone attack had caused a fire at an oil depot in the Kamensky district. There were no reports of casualties.
- Ukrainian drone attacks also sparked a fire at an oil depot in the city of Kotelnichy in Kirov Oblast in northern Russia, about 1,100 km from the Ukrainian border.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the biggest problem facing Kiev is that allies are hesitant to approve any new policy to support Ukraine for fear of escalation. Kuleba's comments came a day after Russia's foreign minister said Western countries were “playing with fire” by considering allowing Kiev to attack deep into Russia and warned of the risk of World War III.
- NATO allies reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening Ukraine's defense during a meeting of the NATO Ukraine Council. “We must continue to provide Ukraine with the equipment and ammunition it needs to defend itself against Russian aggression. This is crucial to Ukraine's ability to keep fighting,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
- The Russian Foreign Ministry has banned 92 Americans from entering the country, including journalists, lawyers and the heads of what it describes as major defense contractors. The list published on Telegram also includes 14 employees of The Wall Street Journal, five senior reporters from The New York Times and four reporters from The Washington Post.
- A Russian military court has sentenced 39-year-old engineer Artyom Lozovoy to 18 years in prison for his role in an attempted bombing of a military recruitment office, state news agency TASS reported. Lozovoy was convicted of multiple charges, including treason.
- Anastasia Zhiburova, a dog trainer from the Moscow Region, was sentenced to five years in prison for criticizing the Russian attack on Kramatorsk railway station in April 2022, which killed 61 people, according to Russian legal aid and monitoring group OVD-Info.
- In the third case, a Russian military court sentenced Ukrainian national Andriy Martsenyuk to four years and six months in prison for trying to set fire to a local gendarmerie station, Interfax reported, citing the local branch of the FSB security service.