As the war enters its 915th day, here are the top developments.
Here is the situation on Wednesday, August 28, 2024.
Struggle
- At least six people have been killed in Ukraine, including in the central city of Kryvyi Rih and the southern city of Zaporizhia, on the second day of Russian missile and drone strikes. At least nine people were injured. On Monday, Russia launched its largest airstrike since the start of its invasion in 2022.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would retaliate against Russia for its attacks. The air force said Ukraine shot down five of 10 missiles and 60 of 81 drones Russia fired on Tuesday, some of them destroyed by Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets. It said it lost track of another 10 drones and they likely fell somewhere on Ukrainian territory. One more crossed into neighboring Belarus.
- Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskii said Ukraine had captured 594 Russian soldiers and taken control of 1,294 square kilometers (nearly 500 square miles) and 100 settlements since launching its incursion into Russia's western Kursk region on Aug. 6.
- Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), visited the Kursk nuclear power plant and said it was vulnerable to a serious accident because it lacked a protective dome that could shield it from missiles, drones and artillery amid fighting in the region.
- Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia's western Belgorod region, said the situation on the border with Ukraine was “difficult but under control” after reports on Russian Telegram channels that Ukraine attacked a border checkpoint at Nekhoteyevka before being pushed back.
- Speaking on television, Ukrainian spokesman Syrskii said the situation around Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine was “quite difficult” and that Russia was trying to disrupt Ukraine’s supply lines to the front. “The enemy is taking advantage of its advantage in manpower, weapons and military equipment, it is actively using artillery and aviation,” he said. Earlier, Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had captured the village of Orlivka, which is near Pokrovsk.
Politics and diplomacy
- Zelenskyy said he would present a “victory plan” to US President Joe Biden and his two potential successors, likely while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly next month. The plan was designed to ensure Ukraine was in a strong position ahead of any talks to end the war. “The main goal of this plan is to force Russia to end the war. And that is what I very much want.” [that it would be] “This is fair for Ukraine,” he told reporters in kyiv.
- China’s special envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui called on more countries to support its peace plan for Ukraine, after a round of diplomacy with Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa. “They have maintained communication with both Russia and Ukraine and remain committed to a political solution to the crisis through dialogue and negotiation,” Li said. China did not attend the peace summit hosted by Switzerland in June. It issued a joint peace plan with Brazil earlier this year.
- Moscow said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin had “exchanged views” on the war in Ukraine. Modi was in kyiv last week.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has condemned Ukraine's decision to ban a branch of the Orthodox Church linked to Russia, calling it an attack on Christianity and a blow to religious freedom. kyiv has accused the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of being complicit in Moscow's 30-month-long war by spreading pro-Russian propaganda and harbouring spies.
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Russia's FSB security service said it had opened criminal cases against two more foreign journalists who crossed the Russian border to report from the Kursk region after the Ukrainian incursion. The Interfax news agency said the journalists included a reporter for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and a correspondent for Ukrainian TV channel 1+1. The FSB has now filed criminal cases against at least seven foreign journalists who reported from Kursk.
Arms
- Zelenskyy said the military had recently successfully conducted the first test of a domestically-made ballistic missile. He added that he could not share further details.
