A blueprint for Ukraine’s long-range Palianytsia attack drone

Saturday’s Coverage: Independence Day Marked With US Aid and Advance Into Russia

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1905 GMT:

A British safety advisor, working for Reuters, has been killed and another six people injured in a Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region on Saturday night.

Four of the injured are from the six-member Reuters team. They are Ukrainian, American, Latvian, and German nationals. Two were hospitalized.

The other two wounded were female residents, hit by shells.

The body of the 40-year-old British journalist was pulled out of rubble at 6:35 p.m. on Sunday after a 19-hour search.

UPDATE 1503 GMT:

Four civilians have been killed and 13 injured by Russian attacks on 50 sites in the Sumy region in northern Ukraine.

UPDATE 0930 GMT:

Two members of a Reuters team are among the injured and another is missing after a Russian missile strike on a hotel in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.

The six-person team was staying at the Hotel Sapphire when it was stricl around 10:35 p.m. on Saturday.

The two wounded were taken to hospital for treatment.

UPDATE 0702 GMT:

The Russian-born founder of the Telegram messaging app, Pavel Durov, was detained at Le Bourget airport in Paris on Saturday night.

French air transport officers detained Durov as soon as he stepped off a private jet that arrived from Azerbaijan. He is being investigated as an accomplice to serious crimes, include drug trafficking, distribution of child pornography, and fraud, because of Telegram’s alleged lack of moderation and failure to cooperate with law enforcement agencies.

Telegram is used by 900 million worldwide. Durov, whose net worth is estimated at $15 billion, was arrested as a French citizen because of a passport he obtained in 2021.

A French official said law enforcement wants access to encrypted correspondence on the messaging app: “Telegram is a hive of criminal content. In addition to terrorism, the most dangerous criminals use Telegram to exchange child pornography content.”

Durov, created the Russian social network VKontakte. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to share user data with the country’s intelligence agencies.

UPDATE 0657 GMT:

Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 8 of 9 Iran-type attack drones launched by Russia overnight.

The Russians also launched one ballistic missile and seven cruise missiles.

Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said “most of the missiles did not reach their targets”. However, three journalists — nationals of Ukraine, the US, and the UK — were injured when a missile hit a hotel in Kramatorsk, close to the frontline in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said seven people were injured in the region in northeast Ukraine, three in Kharkiv city and four in Chuhuiv, but none were seriously wounded.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has hailed the deployment of a new, domestically-produced long-range “Palianytsia” attack drone to check Russia’s aerial assaults.

Zelenskiy posted on Sunday about the UAV:

Ukraine has stepped up its strikes on Russian airbases, including some deep inside the country. On August 14, four bases were struck in three regions, including the Kursk region where Ukrainian forces are capturing territory. On Thursday, Ukraine hit the Marinivka base in the Volgograd region, where around Su-34 and Su-35 fighter jets are hosted.

Zelenskiy emphasized that Ukraine’s advances in military production such as the Palianytsia missile are essential amid delays in decision-making by some of its international partners.

The US continues to oppose any use of American-made long-range missiles inside Russia. The UK has said that deployment of Storm Shadow missiles is dependent on American consent, and France has also not approved any use of its SCALPs.

“Palyanytsia” is a rustic, round Ukrainian bread. The name for the new missile has a cultural significance amid Russia’s 30-month invasion: since the assault started, it has been used as a shibboleth to distinguish Ukrainians from Russians, since the latter often struggle to pronounce the word.