As the war enters its 919th day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Sunday, September 1, 2024.
Fighting
A Russian guided bomb attack killed two people and injured 10 more including children in a village in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. He added that two women were confirmed killed, including one who was pulled out from the rubble. Kharkiv has been facing multiple strikes since the Russian invasion began in February 2022.
- Russia’s state news agency TASS reports that a fire at Moscow’s oil refinery has been assigned the highest level of complexity. The warning came as Russia reported that it repelled drone attacks in several parts of the country.
- Moscow has reported that it thwarted a “massive” drone attack on western Russia and another targeting the capital. Bryansk regional governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said at least 26 drones were “identified and destroyed” by the Russian military, without causing any casualties or damage.
- The Baza Telegram news channel, which is close to Russia’s security services, reported loud blasts were heard near the Konakovo Power Station in the Tver region, one of the largest energy producers in central Russia. Tver Governor Igor Rudenya said five drones were destroyed over his region northwest of the capital.
- Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said a Ukraine-launched drone was destroyed near the Moscow Oil Refinery, which is owned by Gazprom. There was no damage or threat to the refinery’s production process, he said.
- Mikhail Shuvalov, head of the Kashira city district, said on Telegram that Ukraine also attempted to strike the Kashira Power Plant in the Moscow region with three drones.
- Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona reported an estimated that more than 66,000 Russian military personnel have died during the war in Ukraine as of August 30. Mediazona said the list has gone up by more than 4,600 in the last four weeks, adding this was not a definitive figure since many soldiers’ deaths are not made public.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukraine was fully within its rights to launch its surprise offensive into Russia’s Kursk border region as an act of self-defence, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told German newspaper Die Welt. He stressed that Ukraine “has a right to defend itself” and that Russian soldiers, tanks and bases in Kursk “are legitimate targets under international law”.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has increased pressure on the United States to let Kyiv strike military targets deep inside Russian territory after his representatives met senior US officials in Washington. In his nightly video address, he said that deadly strikes like the one in Kharkiv that killed six people could be averted only “by striking Russian military airfields, their bases, and the logistics of Russian terror.”
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