Wreckage of a hotel damaged by a Russian missile strike, killing a Reuters staff member, Kramatorsk, Ukraine, August 25, 2024

Sunday’s Coverage: Zelenskiy Hails New “Palianytsia” Long-Range Attack Drone

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1351 GMT:

The death toll from today’s Russian missile and drone strikes across Ukraine has risen to five.

A 69-year-old man in the Dnipropetrovsk region and a man in the Zaporizhzhia region are among the victims.

The others are in the regions of Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, and Volyn.

UPDATE 1213 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has commented on this morning’s Russian missile and drone strikes:

Putin can only act within the limits the world sets for him. Weakness and inadequate responses fuel terror. Every leader, every one of our partners, knows the decisive actions required to end this war justly. Ukraine cannot be constrained in its long-range capabilities when the terrorists face no such limitations.

UPDATE 0941 GMT:

Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, responding to this morning’s Russian missile and drone strikes, posts:

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.

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

UPDATE 0933 GMT:

One person has been killed and five injured in Russian shelling of Lutsk in northwest Ukraine.

In the Odesa region in southwest Ukraine, four people, including a 10-year-old boy, were injured by a Russian missile.

Three of the victims, including the child, were hospitalized in moderate condition.

Three civilians have been wounded in the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine by shelling.

UPDATE 0921 GMT:

Reviewing more than 130 photos and videos, the Washington Post assesses that Ukraine’s 20-day incursion into the Kursk region has captured at least 247 Russian soldiers.

The visual evidence includes mass detentions of young soldiers surrendering without resistance, across more than 14 miles of Russian territory.

In seven videos, some of the captured troops identify themselves as conscripts, indicating that the Kremlin has broken its pledge not to use them in battle.

The head of a prison in northeast Ukraine told a Post reporter that 320 Russians passed through his facility in the previous 10 days on their way to other prison camps. Around 80% of the Russian soldiers in the prison were conscripts.

On Saturday, Russia freed 115 Ukrainian POWs in return for the release of the same number of troops captured in Kursk.

UPDATE 0904 GMT:

Russian officials say the cities of Saratov and Engels were attacked by Ukrainian drones on Monday morning.

In Saratov, 450 miles southeast of Moscow, the 38-story Volga Sky — the tallest building in the Volga region at 128.6 meters (422 feet) — was hit. Four people were wounded, and Governor Roman Busargin said one was hospitalized in serious condition.

In Engels, a drone hit a multi-story building. There were no casualties, but nearby cars were damaged by drone debris and broken windows.

Four more houses were damaged in the village of Pribrezhny.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed 20 drones were intercepted over seven regions.

UPDATE 0849 GMT:

At least four civilians have been killed in this morning’s Russian missile and drone strikes.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said 15 of Ukraine’s 24 regions were attacked by Iran-made kamikaze drones, cruise missiles, and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.

There were power outages in “several districts” of Kyiv, and problems with the water supply on the right bank of the city. Ruslan Kravchenko, head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, said infrastructure facilities in the region had been hit.

Authorities set up “points of invincibility,” communal station points that provide phone charging facilities and internet access.

Energy Minister German Galushchenko said, “The enemy is again causing missile terror against the whole of Ukraine. The energy sector is under attack. The enemy does not give up on plans to leave Ukrainians without electricity.

Shmyhal posted:

To stop the barbaric shelling of Ukrainian cities, it is necessary to destroy the locations from where Russian missiles are launched. Ukraine needs long-range weapons and permission from our partners to use them against Russian targets.

UPDATE 0649 GMT:

“Informed sources” say Kremlin officials, employees of Russia’s Defense Ministry and other security agencies, and prominent businessmen have been instructed to delete official correspondence in the messaging app Telegram.

The instruction follows the arrest of Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov in France on Saturday. He is accused of being an accomplice to crimes, including distribution of illegal drugs, terrorism, and money laundering, because of lack of moderation and refusal to cooperate with law enforcement.

UPDATE 0638 GMT:

Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, says forces have advanced 1 to 3 km (0.6 to 1.8 miles) in their incursion in the Kursk region in western Russia.

Syrskyi told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that two more settlements had been captured, bringing the total to almost 100 in the 20-day incursion.

UPDATE 0628 GMT:

Ukraine has called on Belarus to pull back forces and equipment deployed at their border.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry warned Minsk against “tragic mistakes” while under pressure from Moscow. It said Belarus special forces and former Wagner Group mercenaries are among the deployed troops, with equipment including tanks, artillery, and air defense systems.

Ukraine “has never taken and is not going to take any unfriendly actions against the Belarusian people”, the Ministry said.

UPDATE 0616 GMT:

The British national, working for Reuters, slain in a Russian missile strike on Sunday has been identified.

Ryan Evans, a safety advisor, was killed when the Russians hit a hotel in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

Evans was part of a six-person Reuters team. The former British soldier, had worked with the agency since 2022, including in Ukraine, Israel, and the Paris Olympics.

Four journalists were injured, one seriously. They are Ukrainian, American, Latvian, and German nationals.

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

The body of Evans, 40, was pulled out of rubble at 6:35 p.m. on Sunday after a 19-hour search.

Ukraine President Voldoymyr Zelenskiy spoke about the attack in his nightly address to the nation: “This is the daily Russian terror that continues because Russia still has the means to continue.”

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia launched a large missile and drone attack across Ukraine on Monday morning.

Air raid sirens sounded just before 6 a.m. Explosions were then heard in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Kremenchuk, Dnipro, Khmelnytskyi, Kropyvnytskyi, and Kryvyi Rih around 8:30.

Ukraine’s Air Force reported activity by 11 Russian warplanes, including six long-range Tu-22M3 strategic bombers, and numerous Iran-type attack drones.

Earlier on Monday, Ukraine air defenses intercepted up to a dozen drones approaching Kyiv.

Serhiy Popko, head of the municipal military administration, posted, “Another enemy air attack on Kyiv! The aggressor used its traditional strike drones of the Shahed type.”