Firefighters battle a blaze at a warehouse following Russian airstrikes on Kyiv, Ukraine, August 21, 2026 (Reuters)

EA-Ukraine VideoCast: Could Kyiv Hit Russia With Ballistic Missiles By End of 2026?

Wednesday’s Coverage: Ex-Defense Minister Fedorov — Zelensky Should Hold Elections

UPDATE 2056 GMT:

The toll has risen to at least 15 civilians murdered and 130 injured, including 23 children, from Russia’s “double tap” drone strike on a shopping center in Kryvyi Rih in southeast Ukraine.

Four people were murdered, including three children aged 11 and 12, by a Russian drone attack on the Mykolaiv region on Friday evening.

An Iran-made Shahed drone hit a building housing a shop, post office, and pharmacy.

UPDATE 1711 GMT:

At least six civilians have been murdered and 103 injured, including 11 children, by a “double tap” Russian drone strike on a shopping center in Kryvyi Rih in southeast Ukraine.

The second attack came around half an hour after the first, as rescue services were responding at the scene around 4:30 p.m.

Of the injured, 27 are in serious condition, including one child.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky noted:

An absolutely cynical and vile strike was carried out by the Russians against an ordinary shopping center in Kryvyi Rih….

Attacks like these are nothing less than terrorist acts. And the world must respond to them accordingly – with real pressure on the aggressor. For peace to be possible, Russia must face real accountability.

UPDATE 1357 GMT:

Around 80 Ukrainian soldiers have deserted while undergoing military training in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt since 2022.

Cases across Germany are estimated to be in the hundreds, reports Die Zeit.

Most soldiers who deserted had been mobilized for military service rather than volunteered. Under Ukrainian law, leaving a military unit with the intention of avoiding service can be prosecuted as desertion with a prison sentence of up to 12 years.

More than 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers had undergone military training in Germany by early 2026.

UPDATE 1353 GMT:

Australian authorities have charged a dual Russian-Australian citizen after he allegedly joined Ukraine’s military to pass information to people linked to Russian intelligence.

Vladimir Teslov, 27, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of attempting to engage in intentional foreign interference.

Investigators allege that Teslov traveled to Russia in October 2024 and underwent military-style training. After returning to Australia, he remained in contact with people linked to Russian intelligence.

In May 2025, he traveled to Ukraine and joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces, where authorities say he gained access to information about military personnel, units, locations, and operations.

UPDATE 1348 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed an overnight drone strike on the Perm oil refinery, around 1,600 km (994 miles) from the border.

Residents reported a series of explosions at the refinery. Geolocated footage showed smoke rising near the Lukoil-Permnefteorgsintez complex.

Zelensky posted, “We continue to use our long-range sanctions to return the consequences of the war to where it came from.”

UPDATE 1324 GMT:

At least six civilians have been murdered and at least 77 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Air defenses downed 107 of 135 drones launched by Russia overnight, but 27 hit 16 locations.

In the Donetsk region in the east, two people were killed and 27 injured.

In the neighboring Kharkiv region, two people were slain and nine injured.

In the Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast, a 46-year-old woman was murdered and 10 people injured.

In the Kherson region in the south, one person was killed and 23 wounded.

In Sumy city in the northeast, a mass drone attack struck a two-story residential building overnight. Six residents were injured, including a 16-year-old girl. Two others were wounded across the region.

UPDATE 1308 GMT:

German security authorities handguns, discovered in ⁠a forest near Berlin last year, were ⁠to be used for assassinations on behalf of Russian intelligence.

Officials said one suspect had been ‌arrested in Romania and may have been responsible for the storage of the weapons.

The federal public prosecutor’s office is investigating the case on suspicion of plans for a ‌serious act of violence posing a threat to the state. Germany’s domestic intelligence service assesses that those setting up the cache were ​acting ​on orders from ​Russian services.

Potential targets included defense ​industry executives, exiled ‌opposition figures, ​and ​supporters of Ukraine.

UPDATE 0457 GMT:

Poland has arrested a Ukrainian man, suspected of an attempt to assassinate a representative of Ukraine’s arms industry on behalf of Russia’s intelligence services.

“Serhii P” allegedly planted an improvised explosive device under the target’s car in Kyiv. The remote-controlled bomb did not detonate because of a malfunction.

UPDATE, AUG 22:

The organizer of protests over last month’s dismissal of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has indicated that he might call them off.

Combat medic Dmytro Koziatynskyi issued the statement after Fedorov’s online video calling for elections during wartime. He said he “cannot imagine” how to hold polls with troops at the front, and he emphasized the demonstrations had been seeking dialogue.

I’m also deeply concerned about the societal divisions during the election process and how that could affect the course of the war. In any case, street protests are definitely not the place for electoral discourse.

Thousands of people had gathered in Kyiv and other cities after Fedorov’s removal on July 15. On Thursday, a few hundred rallied in the capital, according to an EA correspondent.

“When we came out to protest, we did not come with the idea that elections should be held,” said Iryna Vasyliaka, 22. “That is ⁠not what we were here for.”

UPDATE 2057 GMT:

Two more civilians have been murdered and three injured in Kyiv by a Russian daytime strike.

Russian forces continued attacks with jet-powered drones toward Ukraine, primarily targeting Kyiv and the Kyiv region.

A fire was set at a business center in the Holosiivskyi district of the capital when debris from a Russian drone fell on the site. One person was killed and two injured.

The other fatality was also in the district.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a critical infrastructure facility was “deliberately targeted” for the first time in several months.

UPDATE 2049 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken of the need for anti-ballistic missile defenses after this morning’s mass killing in Kyiv by Russian attacks.

UPDATE 2045 GMT:

The toll from Russia’s overnight strikes on Kyiv has risen to 15 murdered.

More than 38,000 people, including more than 2,000 children, sheltered in Kyiv’s subway stations.

UPDATE 2013 GMT:

Romania has destroyed a naval drone near its Neptun Deep platform in the Black Sea.

Defence Minister Radu Miruță said an F-16 fighter jet eliminated the drone “to protect the lives of the several hundred people working on the platform and to secure the critical infrastructure”.

Miruță explained that Romanian officials confirmed with Kyiv that the vessel was “not of Ukrainian origin”, pointing to Russian involvement.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned, “An escalating campaign of threats is underway, unsettling our citizens and seeking to divide our Union. This is hybrid warfare.”

UPDATE 0923 GMT:

Ukraine’s strike on Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk on August 12 seriously damaged the frigate Admiral Makarov, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Satellite imagery shows a hole in the bow of the upper deck. The satellite communications station and the Pozitiv-M1.2 detection radar on the superstructure near the stern were damaged.

The Admiral Makarov became the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet after Ukraine’s missile strike sank the cruiser Moskva on April 14, 2022.

Ukraine also struck the frigate Admiral Essen in Novorossiysk. The most serious damage was to the bow, including the deck and the eight-cell module of the Kalibr missile launcher.

UPDATE 0909 GMT:

Facing a second wave of fuel rationing amid Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries, Russia is increasing its imports of petroleum products from Asian countries.

Purchases of gasoline and jet fuel from abroad will increase by 270,000 tons, according to industry sources and maritime shipping statistics.

About 90,000 tons will come from India. The remainder will be petroleum products transferred from tanker to tanker off the coasts of South Korea and Malaysia.

Two tankers are scheduled to arrive at Russian ports in the Far East this week. One of them is carrying at least 40,000 tonnes of jet fuel, loaded ship-to-ship in the Strait of Johor near Malaysia, sources. The cargo originated in India. The second tanker loaded ship-to-ship almost 30,000 tonnes of gasoline off the coast of Yeosu, South Korea in early August.

The first tanker carrying Indian gasoline unloaded in the Russian Arctic port of Vitino in early August. At least two more ships carrying motor fuel are expected to unload.

UPDATE 0854 GMT:

Ukraine’s air defenses downed 145 of 168 drones and some of the 46 non-ballistic missiles that were launched by Russia overnight. However, no ballistic missiles were intercepted.

Oh God.

A Grandma in Kyiv waited for rescuers to find her grandson in the rubble after the Russian strike.

They found his body…

Journalist and eyewitness Maryan Kushnir wrote: "Cries of grief were heard across all of Solomianka. This woman's cry tore everything from the inside…"

: Channel 5

[image or embed]

— Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) August 20, 2026 at 10:28 AM

UPDATE 0848 GMT:

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia ⁠Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest with six dormant reactors, has lost ​its only remaining external power line.

The outage ⁠forced emergency diesel generators to supply vital safety ⁠systems.

The International Atomic Energy ​Agency said an initial ‌assessment indicated the damage was located on the northern bank of the Dnipro River. Technicians were ‌unable to determine the outage’s cause due to ​military activity.

UPDATE 0714 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has commented on Russia’s overnight assault on and near Kyiv:

Unfortunately, while Moscow is investing in ballistic missiles and escalation, such strikes do not always receive the response they should from the world. And as long as Ukraine does not have enough anti-ballistic defense, Russia will not consider peace seriously.

UPDATE 0709 GMT:

Ukraine struck an oil refinery in the Tatarstan Republic and an oil terminal in Krasnodar Krai in overnight drone attacks inside Russia.

Photos and videos showed the strikes on the TANECO oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan. NASA’s FIRMS satellite monitoring system detected a fire at the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal in Krasnodar.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: At least 13 civilians have been murdered and at least 32 injured by Russian ballistic missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv overnight.

Explosions began in several parts of the city just after midnight. A second set of attacks was carried out at 6:17 a.m. The all-clear only sounded at 8:36 a.m.

Emergency services are still working at the scene. Mayor Vitali Klitschko declared Friday as a day of mourning.

At least 12 sites were struck. A children’s hospital, an educational institution, high-rise residential buildings, and several warehouses were damaged.

In the suburb of Brovary, one man was killed and another man injured. An industrial facility was damaged.