Ukrainian firefighters battle a blaze started by a Russian strike, August 26, 2024

Monday’s Coverage: Russia Launches Large Missile and Drone Attack

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1828 GMT:

South Korean military intelligence says North Korea may have sent more than 6 million artillery shells to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The South Koreans have tracked shipments of more than 13,000 containers through the North Korean port of Najin since mid-2022.

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said in February that North Korea had shipped about 6,700 containers with 3 million 152mm artillery shells or 500,000 122mm rounds: since July 2023. He added in June that Pyongyang has also sent dozens of ballistic missiles.

UPDATE 1441 GMT:

International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi has toured Russia’s Kursk nuclear plant amid an incursion into the region by Ukraine’s forces.

Grossi said he was able to “look at the most important parts” of the plant, less than 30 miles from fighting:

A nuclear power plant of this type so close to a point of contact or military front is an extremely serious fact.

The fact we have military activity a few kilometers, a few miles away from here, make it an immediate point of attention.

At the end of the day, again, this may sound common-sense and simple: Don’t attack a nuclear power plant.

Grossi said the Kursk plant is “operating in very close to normal conditions” at the moment.

UPDATE 1431 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the military has deployed western-supplied F-16 fighter jets to down drones and missiles in Russia’s recent attacks.

Earlier this month, Ukraine received the first six F-16s from the Netherlands. It is expected to get up to 24 by the end of the year.

Zelenskiy told a press conference that Ukraine needs more of the jets. In May, he told AFP that Kyiv required at least 120 for “parity” with Russia.

Zelenskiy also Ukraine has tested its first domestically-produced ballistic missile.

The announcement comes three days after Kyiv’s unveiling of the Palianytsia long-range attack drone.

The President said Ukraine can produce 1.5 million to 2 million drones this year, but lacks the funding to do so.

UPDATE 1424 GMT:

The death toll has risen to five from Russia’s overnight missile and drone attacks.

An elderly woman has died of severe burns from a drone assault on Zaporizhzhia city in southern Ukraine.

UPDATE 1048 GMT:

Ukraine controls 1,294 square km (500 square miles) and 100 settlements in its three-week incursion in the Kursk region in western Russia, says military commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskiy.

Syrskiy says 594 Russian troops have been taken prisoner.

He claimed that Russia has redeployed 30,000 troops from other theaters to Kursk.

UPDATE 1030 GMT:

Blackouts and “strict” electricity restrictions may last 1 to 2 weeks following Russia’s missile and drone barrage, says Ivan Plachkov, President of the All-Ukrainian Energy Assembly.

Plachkov, a former Energy Minister, told the Kyiv24 TV channel that the strikes from Monday morning have been “one of the most massive attacks on energy infrastructure”, with the goal of causing “a total blackout in the energy system.”

He said Russia had failed in that objective, but the energy situation is very difficult with extensive repairs required.

Footage from the Russian attack on a hotel in Kryvyi Rih in south-central Ukraine, which killed two people and injured five.

UPDATE 1019 GMT:

Senior Ukrainian officials will present a list of long-range targets in Russia to top US national security officials, hoping the Biden Administration finally lifts its ban on the use of American-supplied weapons.

Kyiv’s delegation to Washington this week includes Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Presidential Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak.

US officials maintain that Russia has moved its most important targets, including warplanes, deeper inside the country and out of reach.

But the Ukrainians say they have identified several high-value targets which can be struck with the American ATACMS and its range of 300 km (186 miles).

UPDATE 1014 GMT:

The death toll has risen to 14 from Russia’s missile and drone barrage since Monday morning.

Three of five civilians injured in the Poltava region in central Ukraine have died in hospital.

The victims were wounded in an industrial facility targeted by the Russians.

UPDATE 1002 GMT:

The governor of the Belgorod region in western Russia, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has posted on Telegram, “Information has appeared that the enemy is trying to break through the border.”

Belgorod neighbors the Kursk region, which Ukraine’s forces entered three weeks ago, to the south.

Gladkov maintained, “According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the situation at the border remains difficult, but controllable. Our military is carrying out planned work. Please remain calm and trust only official sources of information.”

Claims are circulating on Russian social media that there is fighting at two border points, Nekhoteyevka and Shebekino.

UPDATE 0747 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted about rescue efforts following Russia’s overnight strikes.

UPDATE 0713 GMT:

The Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh speaks with residents of Pokrovsk, with a Russian offensive about 7 miles from the city in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials have given civilians two weeks to evacuate.

Maryna, 33, and her three children are at the railway station, departing for Rivne in western Ukraine.

Our neighbors’ house was hit, and that’s when I realised how dangerous it is. We just had to move….I just feel pain….

Still a lot of people are staying, and they do not understand they could die. It is too dangerous, especially if you have children.

Despite the danger, some have decided to stay. Valentina, 71, says:

Whatever happens, happens. I’ve lived my life. My parents are buried, how can I leave their graves?….

I hope [the Russians] are not going to shoot me. If my fate is to die here now, I’ll die here now.

Serhii Dobryak, the head of Pokrovsk’s administration, says there is another week of packing. He estimates around 6,000 residents will risk Russia’s shelling and urban destruction: “The Russians don’t change. They’ve destroyed Bakhmut and Avdiivka, So what can happen to Pokrovsk?”

ORIGINAL ENTRY: At least 11 civilians have been killed in Ukraine by Russia’s largest missile and drone barrage of its 30-month invasion.

Seven people were slain when Russia fired 127 missiles and 109 drones on 15 regions on Monday morning.

Four more perished and 16 wounded overnight. Two were killed and five injured in a strike on a hotel in Kryvyi Rih in south-central Ukraine. Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhii Lisak said two civilians may be buried under rubble. Six shops, four high-rise buildings and eight cars were damaged.

Two people were slain and four wounded in Zaporizhzhia city, east of Kryvyi Rih.

The overnight alerts started about 11 p.m. in Kryvyi Rih, Kyiv, and central and eastern regions. Air defenses were deployed several times in the Kyiv region, with witnesses reporting at least three rounds of explosions.

Ukraine Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said Russian forces launched three Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, five Kh-101 cruise missiles from Tu-95MS bomber planes, one Iskander-M ballistic missile, and one Iskander-K cruise missile.

The Kh-101 cruise missiles and 60 of 81 Iran-type attack drones were intercepted.

Three more civilians were killed by Russian shelling, one each in Zaporizhzhia, in Dnipropetrovsk, and in the Kherson region in the south, where 10 people were injured.

Zelenskiy: “Critical Need For Long-Range Capabilities”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy emphasized in his nightly address to the nation:

Each of these strikes repeatedly reminds us of the critical need for long-range capabilities — to give our Defense Forces sufficient long-range weapons to destroy the terrorists precisely at the locations from which they launch their attacks. This is the optimal anti-terrorist tactic that every one of our partners, from whom we expect decisions regarding our long-range capabilities, would rightfully employ and certainly use to protect themselves.

The President said Ukraine’s 3-week incursion into the Kursk region in Russia and its strikes on Russian airbases, oil refineries, and other military positions — despite a US ban on the use of American-supplied missiles — were “ways to compensate for the lack of long-range capabilities”.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba echoed:

There are two specific decisions that our partners can make to help us put an end to Russian terror sooner. First, affirming Ukraine’s long-range strikes on all legitimate military targets on Russian territory. Second, agreeing to use partners’ air defense capabilities to shoot down missiles and drones close to their airspace.

Air Force Commander Oleshchuk said 102 missiles and 99 drones were downed on Monday.

However, those that evaded defenses caused widespread blackouts and water outages, including in Kyiv.

Russia’s Defense Ministry declared that the strikes were against energy facilities aiding Ukraine’s “military-production complex”. It made no reference to the civilian casualties.

Residents in Ukraine’s capital, sheltering in the subway sing, “How not to love you, my Kyiv!”