Ukraine-Russia war live: Kyiv’s huge drone attack as Putin floods frontline with ‘poorly trained troops’

The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said Russian president Vladimir Putin is flooding the frontline with “poorly trained troops”, noting “the reluctance of some elements to fight” in the war.

In its daily intelligence briefing, the government highlighted that Russia is convicting nearly 100 soldiers a week for refusing to fight, adding there will be around 5,200 convictions this year.

“The high rate of convictions demonstrates the poor state of morale in the Russian Army and the reluctance of some elements to fight,” the MoD added.

“Although some soldiers have refused to fight and attrition rates remain high, Russia highly likely mitigates their loss by committing a mass of poorly trained soldiers to the frontline.”

Meanwhile, an accident involving two Ukrainian helicopters killed six servicemen aboard the aircraft, Ukrainian media reported on Wednesday.

The news site Ukrainska Pravda said the incident on Tuesday involved widely used Mi-8 military helicopters and occurred near the town of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, near the front line, but gave no indication of how it occurred.

Key Points

• Drone attack shuts Russian airport, damages four transport planes

• Two killed in Kyiv as Russia launches counter drone strikes

• Closed-door ‘farewell’ held for Yevgeny Prigozhin

• Pentagon vows to continue flying jets over Black Sea

• Poland threatens to close borders with Belarus over Wagner fighters

• Russia ‘convicting close to 100 soldiers a week’ for refusing to fight

Putin ‘pulling Russia deeper into abyss of chaos’, says Kyiv

04:50 , Arpan Rai

Officials in Ukraine have indirectly blamed Russian president Vladimir Putin for the growing attacks inside Moscow, stating that his regime will see “chaos”.

“So long as Putin remains president, the war will continue. Pulling Russia deeper and deeper into the abyss of chaos,” Mykhailo Poldolyak, a senior aide to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote on social media.

Attacks on Russia in recent weeks, including repeated drone strikes on central Moscow are being witnessed by many Russians for the first time, even as Ukrainians have spent the past year and a half in constant peril from air strikes.

Moscow has relentlessly pounded Ukrainian cities with long range missiles and drone strikes throughout the war claiming that it only targets military targets but has instead struck schools, hospitals and theatres. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed.

Ukrainian military says six servicemen killed in helicopter incident

04:20 , Arpan Rai

At least six Ukrainian servicemen were killed aboard two helicopters while they were “carrying out missions” in eastern Ukraine, the military said.

There was no indication what happened involving two widely-used Mi-8 helicopters on Tuesday.

A military statement on Telegram aid the men were “carrying out missions” in the sector of the Russian-held eastern city of Bakhmut when they died.

The news site Ukrainska Pravda said the incident occurred near Kramatorsk, a large town west of Bakhmut in Donetsk region, theatre of much of the fighting in Russia’s 18-month invasion of its neighbour.

The two helicopters were “completely destroyed” and the bodies were found at the site, it added.

An air force spokesperson identified as Yevhen Rakita told public broadcaster Suspilne that the men aboard were officers.

Ukraine launches ‘massive’ drone strikes on six regions of Russia – destroying war planes

04:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainian drones have hit at least six regions deep inside Russia in one of the largest such strikes since the start of Moscow’s invasion.

Russian officials confirmed attacks on targets in the Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions, with the assault on the military airfield in Pskov that damaged aircraft as the most significant. Situated more than 600km (400 miles) from Ukraine, it was where a number of elite paratroopers are stationed. The state-run Tass news agency reported at least four giant Il-76 transport planes were damaged, two of which had “burst into flames”.

Chris Stevenson reports:

White House says Putin and Kim Jong Un traded letters as Russia looks for munitions from North Korea

Putin informed after drone hit Russian planes

03:57 , Arpan Rai

The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was working out where the drones were launched from to prevent further strikes on Russian soil.

President Vladimir Putin had been informed immediately, as would be the case in any such “massive attacks”, Mr Peskov said.

A huge fire with sounds of sirens emerged from northern Russia yesterday as an explosion was seen at a military airfield in Pskov, more than 600km (400 miles) from Ukraine, where Moscow has gathered all its elite paratroopers. At least four Il-76 transport planes were damaged, two of which had “burst into flames”, local news agencies reported.

While Moscow said it had thwarted all the attacks, it has always typically described all Ukrainian drone strikes as unsuccessful, regardless of the damage on the ground.

In a rare confirmation, the Kyiv government said the Russian planes had been destroyed in Pskov, without commenting on the nature of their destruction.

It generally withholds comment on strikes on territory inside Russia though it says it has a right to hit military targets.

“Yes, four IL-76 transport planes were destroyed in Pskov at an airfield, they are beyond repair. Also, several other of those (aircraft) are damaged, but the information is being checked,” Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s GUR military agency said.

Ukraine’s Western allies have publicly forbidden it from using weapons they supply to attack Russia but say Ukraine has a right to carry out such strikes with its own weapons.

Recap: Ukraine launches ‘massive’ drone strikes in Russia, destroying war planes

03:43 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian drones struck at least six regions deep inside Russia on Tuesday night, in one of the largest such strikes since the start of Moscow’s invasion.

Russian officials reported attacks on targets in the Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions, with the assault on the military airfield in Pskov that damaged aircraft as the most significant.

Situated more than 600km (400 miles) from Ukraine, it was where a number of elite paratroopers are stationed. The state-run Tass news agency reported at least four giant Il-76 transport planes were damaged, two of which had “burst into flames”.

Russia has already been stuck by more than 70 drones this month in attacks it blames Ukraine for carrying out hostile attacks. While Kyiv has never taken any public responsibility for these attacks, it has never not denied striking targets inside Russia.

Ukraine launches ‘massive’ drone strikes on six regions of Russia

White House says Putin and Kim Jong Un traded letters as Russia looks for munitions from North Korea

03:00 , Eleanor Noyce

The White House on Wednesday said that it has new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for the Ukraine war.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the latest finding just weeks after the White House said that it had determined that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a recent visit to Pyongyang called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.

Kirby said that Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other basic materiel to shore up Russia’s defense industrial base.

Aamer Madhani has the full story:

White House says Putin and Kim Jong Un traded letters as Russia looks for munitions from North Korea

The key to Ukraine punching through Russia’s defences – and putting Putin’s forces on the back foot

02:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Long-range strikes by drone and missile and a raid on territory in occupied Crimea that took Russian forces by surprise – all part of Kyiv’s recent push towards the peninsula that is a symbol of Vladimir Putin‘s territorial ambitions.

Perhaps most significant of all is the capture of the key village of Robotyne, about three hours drive east of Crimea. Gaining that foothold will help Ukraine build a foundation to punch through to the coastline of the Sea of Azov.

Kyiv has been stepping up drone attacks on Crimea as it looks to break key supply lines from the Russian-occupied peninsula, writes Askold Krushelnycky in Ukraine:

The key to Ukraine punching through Russia’s defences | Askold Krushelnycky

Russia earns less from oil and spends more on war. So far, sanctions are working like a slow poison

01:00 , Eleanor Noyce

The Russian ruble’s wobble in value has exposed a crack in President Vladimir Putin‘s fortress economy, a vulnerability quickly plastered over by the Kremlin‘s economic team in a move that allowed the currency to regain its footing, at least for now.

Yet the patch — an emergency interest rate increase — cannot hide the dilemma at the heart of the Russian economy: how to fund the military while not undermining the national currency and overheating the economy with corrosive and politically embarrassing inflation.

Life in Moscow presents a facade of normality despite sweeping sanctions tied to the war in Ukraine and the departure of hundreds of name-brand Western companies.

David McHugh reports:

Russia earns less from oil and spends more on war. So far, sanctions are working like a slow poison

Putin jails Russian soldiers for refusing to return to Ukraine

Thursday 31 August 2023 00:01 , Eleanor Noyce

Two Russian soldiers have been jailed for refusing to return to the frontline in Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

In an intelligence update posted on Twitter, the ministry said two Russian soldiers were sentenced to serve at least two years in a penal colony by a military court for refusing to obey orders to return to the front in Ukraine.

It comes after Russian independent media outlet Mediazona reported that Russia was convicting close to 100 soldiers a week for refusing to fight.

Read more:

Putin jails Russian soldiers for refusing to return to Ukraine

Putin and Kim Jong-un are deepening their relationship, White House says

Wednesday 30 August 2023 23:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un have exchanged letters and are pledging to deepen the relationship between their two countries, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday said arms negotiations between Moscow and Pyongyang have been “actively advancing” as Russia has sought to evade the US and western sanctions that have made it harder to prosecute the country’s ongoing war against Ukraine.

Mr Kirby added that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu recently travelled to Pyongyang in an effort to convince North Korean officials to sell Russia domestically-manufactured artillery shells, since North Korea’s military equipment is largely Russian or Soviet-made.

Andrew Feinberg has more:

Putin and Kim Jong-un are deepening their relationship, White House says

ICYMI: Largest drone attack on Russian territory since invasion began as cargo planes destroyed

Wednesday 30 August 2023 22:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia says at least four of its military transport planes were damaged after Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack on Russian soil since the beginning of the invasion.

The Il-76 transport aircraft were damaged after drones hit an airport in the western Pskov region, located 660km north of the Ukrainian frontier and near the borders of Estonia and Latvia.

Two of the military aircraft “burst into flames” after the attack, Tass news agency reported, and images from the city showed fire rising high into the night sky.

Read more:

Ukraine: Largest drone attack on Russian territory since invasion began

Pskov Airfield: Sky glows orange during largest drone strike on Russian territory since Ukraine war began

Wednesday 30 August 2023 21:50 , Eleanor Noyce

This is the moment Ukraine drone strikes targeted a fleet of Russian warplanes after the country launched its biggest attack on Russian soil since the beginning of the invasion.

Thick plumes of smoke and fire rise into the air as at least four of Vladimir Putin’s aircraft were hit at Pskov Airfield, close to Russia’s NATO border with Estonia and Latvia.

This footage shows the moment the drones destroy two heavy military Il-76 transport planes, sparking a huge fireball.

Another two aircraft were damaged during the aerial assault at the airfield.

Pskov Airfield: Sky glows orange during largest drone strike on Russian territory

Head of Russia-annexed Crimea says cruise missile downed

Wednesday 30 August 2023 21:21 , Eleanor Noyce

The chief official in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, said anti-aircraft units had downed a cruise missile fired at the peninsula on Wednesday.

“Anti-aircraft forces in eastern Crimea have downed a cruise missile,” Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram, and asked residents to remain calm.

What is the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?

Wednesday 30 August 2023 21:07 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have been supported on the battlefield by tens of thousands of mercenaries from a shadowy group led by a businessman and longtime ally of president Vladimir Putin.

The Wagner Group is a private military company that was under the control of Yevgeny Prigozhin until his reported death in a plane crash on Wednesday 23 August.

The unit cut its teeth in deployments to Crimea – illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 – and eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region in the aftermath of that act and has since dispatched troops to several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, including the Syrian Civil War.

Read more:

What is the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?

Six Ukrainian servicemen killed in helicopter incident - Ukrainian media

Wednesday 30 August 2023 20:39 , Eleanor Noyce

An accident involving two Ukrainian helicopters has killed six servicemen aboard the aircraft, Ukrainian media reported on Wednesday.

The news site Ukrainska Pravda said the incident on Tuesday involved widely used Mi-8 military helicopters and occurred near the town of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, near the front line, but gave no indication of how it occurred.

An air force spokesperson identified as Yevhen Rakita confirmed the deaths to public broadcaster Suspilne, but gave no details on the circumstances.

Russia earns less from oil and spends more on war. So far, sanctions are working like a slow poison

Wednesday 30 August 2023 20:27 , Eleanor Noyce

The Russian ruble’s wobble in value has exposed a crack in President Vladimir Putin‘s fortress economy, a vulnerability quickly plastered over by the Kremlin‘s economic team in a move that allowed the currency to regain its footing, at least for now.

Yet the patch — an emergency interest rate increase — cannot hide the dilemma at the heart of the Russian economy: how to fund the military while not undermining the national currency and overheating the economy with corrosive and politically embarrassing inflation.

Life in Moscow presents a facade of normality despite sweeping sanctions tied to the war in Ukraine and the departure of hundreds of name-brand Western companies.

Read more:

Russia earns less from oil and spends more on war. So far, sanctions are working like a slow poison

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

Wednesday 30 August 2023 19:50 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.

Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russia’s neighbour needed to be “demilitarised and de-Nazified”, a baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putin’s warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.

Read more:

Here’s why Putin really invaded Ukraine

What next for the Wagner Group in Russia?

Wednesday 30 August 2023 19:30 , Eleanor Noyce

The Wagner founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is confirmed to have died in a plane crash – a turn of events that appears to leave his Wagner Group fighters rudderless and facing a highly uncertain future.

Prigozhin, a convict, turned gourmet restaurateur, turned warlord, was onboard an Embraer private jet flying from Moscow to St Petersburg when it came down over the Tver region, killing everyone on board. Two other senior commanders, Dmitry Utkin and Valery Chekalov, were also on the passenger list.

The crash came exactly two months after Prigozhin led his men in a mutiny that gravely embarrassed Russian president Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, his fighters leaving their posts in southern Ukraine to occupy the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don before marching on Moscow along the M4 highway.

Joe Sommerlad reports:

What next for the Wagner Group in Russia?

IYCMI: How ‘industrial-scale’ Russian minefields are hampering Ukraine’s counteroffensive

Wednesday 30 August 2023 19:10 , Eleanor Noyce

Western hopes for Ukraine’s counteroffensive to achieve a dramatic breakthrough have been significantly pared back, with US officials now reportedly forecasting that Kyiv will fall short of its key aim of severing Russia’s land bridge with occupied Crimea.

One of the significant challenges confounding Kyiv’s efforts to redraw the front line is the millions of mines Russia has laid in their path, to the extent that Ukraine is now being described as the most heavily mined country in the world.

“What we are seeing is an industrial level of mine-laying, particularly anti-tank mines,” said Paul McCann, of the Halo Trust, the world’s largest humanitarian landmine clearance organisation. “Nothing like it [has been] seen in Europe since the Second World War.”

Russia’s easily replenished ‘concrete wall’ has forced Kyiv to rethink its tactics – but hopes for a ‘hell for leather’ breakthrough remain, reports Andy Gregory:

How ‘industrial-scale’ Russian minefields are hampering Ukraine’s counteroffensive

Former official under Belarus President Lukashenko to face Swiss trial over enforced disappearances

Wednesday 30 August 2023 18:50 , Eleanor Noyce

A former member of Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko’s special security forces is to face trial in Switzerland next month for the forced disappearances of political opponents in the late 1990s, rights groups said Wednesday.

Activists called it a “watershed moment” in international justice that could trigger prosecutions abroad of other Belarus officials — including Lukashenko, whose regime has come under renewed criticism over a crackdown against opposition leaders that began in August 2020 and support for Russia‘s military invasion of Ukraine last year, among other things.

The case against Yuri Harauski, a former member of a military unit known as SOBR, is due on Sept. 19-20 in the northern Swiss regional court of St. Gallen and focuses on the enforced disappearances of three people in 1999.

Read more:

Former official under Belarus President Lukashenko to face Swiss trial over enforced disappearances

EU's Borrell urges countries to order more ammunition for Ukraine

Wednesday 30 August 2023 18:30 , Eleanor Noyce

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged member countries on Wednesday to order more ammunition for Ukraine, as figures showed the bloc is a long way from a March target of giving Kyiv a million artillery shells within 12 months.

Borrell said over-arching agreements, known as framework contracts, had been signed with arms firms to allow EU member countries to place joint orders for 155 millimetre rounds, urgently needed by Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion.

“Now it’s (up) to the member states to pass concrete orders inside these framework agreements with the industry,” Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU defence ministers in the Spanish city of Toledo.

In a landmark step, EU countries agreed in March on a plan worth some 2 billion euros ($2.18 billion) to provide 1 million artillery shells or missiles to Ukraine within 12 months.

The first element involved countries digging into their reserves or buying stock from elsewhere. Borrell said that element had yielded about 224,000 ammunition rounds and 2,300 missiles, worth a total of some 1.1 billion euros.

That means the EU has not even reached a quarter of its target, more than five months after the initiative was launched.

The rest of the shells are meant to come from the second element of the plan - a joint procurement scheme that encourages EU member countries to place orders for Ukraine and to replenish their own stocks, badly depleted by donating to Kyiv.

But with no orders announced so far under the scheme, some EU members are urging the bloc to look at other options.

“We have to ask ourselves... can we do more? And my answer here is clearly that yes, we can,” Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur told reporters at the Toledo meeting, held at a former arms factory that is now a university building.

Pevkur said the EU needed to look again at digging into members’ stockpiles, buying from countries outside the EU and embracing a proposal from Slovakia to refurbish old rounds.

Ukraine launches ‘massive’ drone strikes on six regions of Russia – destroying war planes

Wednesday 30 August 2023 18:11 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainian drones have hit at least six regions deep inside Russia – including destroying war planes at an airfield – in one of the largest such strikes since the start of Moscow‘s invasion.

Russian officials described attacks on targets in the Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions, with the assault on the military airfield in Pskov the most significant. Situated more than 400 miles (600 kilometres) from Ukraine, it was where a number of elite paratroopers are stationed. The state-run Tass news agency reported at least four giant Il-76 transport planes were damaged, two of which had “burst into flames”.

Chris Stevenson has the full story:

Ukraine launches ‘massive’ drone strikes on six regions of Russia

The key to Ukraine punching through Russia’s defences – and putting Putin’s forces on the back foot

Wednesday 30 August 2023 17:49 , Eleanor Noyce

Long-range strikes by drone and missile and a raid on territory in occupied Crimea that took Russian forces by surprise – all part of Kyiv’s recent push towards the peninsula that is a symbol of Vladimir Putin‘s territorial ambitions.

Perhaps most significant of all is the capture of the key village of Robotyne, about three hours drive east of Crimea. Gaining that foothold will help Ukraine build a foundation to punch through to the coastline of the Sea of Azov.

Kyiv has been stepping up drone attacks on Crimea as it looks to break key supply lines from the Russian-occupied peninsula, writes Askold Krushelnycky in Ukraine:

The key to Ukraine punching through Russia’s defences | Askold Krushelnycky

ICYMI: Ukraine: Largest drone attack on Russian territory since invasion began as cargo planes destroyed

Wednesday 30 August 2023 17:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia says at least four of its military transport planes were damaged after Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack on Russian soil since the beginning of the invasion.

The Il-76 transport aircraft were damaged after drones hit an airport in the western Pskov region, located 660km north of the Ukrainian frontier and near the borders of Estonia and Latvia.

Two of the military aircraft “burst into flames” after the attack, Tass news agency reported, and images from the city showed fire rising high into the night sky.

All civilian flights to and from the airport were cancelled on Wednesday so that the damage could be assessed during daylight, Pskov regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov said.

Read more:

Ukraine: Largest drone attack on Russian territory since invasion began

White House says Putin and Kim Jong-Un looking to increase cooperation

Wednesday 30 August 2023 17:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un have exchanged letters and are pledging to deepen the relationship between their two countries, the White House has said.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday said arms negotiations between Moscow and Pyongyang have been “actively advancing” as Russia has sought to evade the US and western sanctions that have made it harder to prosecute the country’s ongoing war against Ukraine.

Mr Kirby added that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu recently travelled to Pyongyang in an effort to convince North Korean officials to sell Russia domestically-manufactured artillery shells, since North Korea’s military equipment is largely Russian or Soviet-made.

Andrew Feinberg has more:

Putin and Kim Jong-Un are deepening their relationship, White House says

Death toll from Legionnaires' disease rises to 16 in southeast Poland close to Ukraine border

Wednesday 30 August 2023 17:00 , Eleanor Noyce

The death toll from Legionnaires’ disease in Poland has risen to 16 with another 140 people infected in the southeastern region close to the border with Ukraine, health authorities said Wednesday.

The region of Rzeszow, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the border, is a key transit hub for international military support for Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion last year. Some 10,000 U.S. troops are stationed in the area.

Fatalities from the disease were among elderly people who also suffered from other health issues like cancer, authorities said.

Read more:

Death toll from Legionnaires' disease rises to 16 in southeast Poland close to Ukraine border

White House says Putin and Kim Jong Un traded letters as Russia looks for munitions from North Korea

Wednesday 30 August 2023 16:45 , Eleanor Noyce

The White House on Wednesday said that it has new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for the Ukraine war.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the latest finding just weeks after the White House said that it had determined that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a recent visit to Pyongyang called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.

Kirby said that Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other basic materials to shore up Russia’s defense industrial base.

Read more here:

White House says Putin and Kim Jong Un traded letters as Russia looks for munitions from North Korea

Russians are convinced Wagner warlord Prigozhin is still alive as conspiracy spreads that Putin killed body double

Wednesday 30 August 2023 16:30 , Eleanor Noyce

A Russian political analyst has claimed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is still alive and alleged his body double was killed in last week’s plane crash - not the warlord himself.

Dr Valery Solovey, a former professor at Moscow’s Institute of International Relations, claimed that Prigozhin cheated an assassination bid sanctioned by president Putin and is now plotting his revenge.

“First, the plane in which Yevgeny Prigozhin was supposed to fly was downed by a Russian air defence system,” Dr Solovey said.

“There was no explosion on board. It was downed from the outside.”

Martha McHardy has the full story:

Russians convinced Prigozhin still alive as conspiracy theories spread

White House: US concerned that N. Korea, Russia arms talks are advancing

Wednesday 30 August 2023 16:23 , Eleanor Noyce

The United States is concerned that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea are actively advancing, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told a briefing on Wednesday.

Kirby said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had recently travelled to North Korea to try to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia.

Kirby said Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had exchanged letters pledging to increase their bilateral cooperation and said the United States had intelligence that indicated another group of Russian officials had travelled to Pyongyang after the defense minister’s visit.

Under the deals, Russia would receive arms that the military plans to use in the war with Ukraine, Kirby said. The deals could also include raw materials that would help Russia’s defense industrial base.

Kirby said any arms deals between Russia and North Korea would violate United Nations Security Council resolutions.

“We urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia,” Kirby told reporters, referring to North Korea.

US, Romania working to increase grain export via Danube - US official

Wednesday 30 August 2023 16:10 , Eleanor Noyce

The United States and Romania are working to increase Ukraine‘s grain exports via the Danube river as it explores alternative routes the exports after Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Wednesday.

The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said U.S. and Romanian officials had been working to “potentially trying to double” the exports that go via the Danube route.

‘More than 190 suspected drone attacks’ in Russia this year, BBC reports

Wednesday 30 August 2023 16:01 , Eleanor Noyce

There have been more than 190 suspected drone attacks this year in Russia, according to new analysis from BBC Verify.

The attacks have been spread across approximately six regions in Russia, with the majority concentrated around the Bryansk, Belgorod and Kursk regions, all located near the western border with Ukraine.

Russia says talks with Turkey to discuss alternative to Black Sea deal

Wednesday 30 August 2023 15:55 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart will discuss a proposal by Moscow for an alternative to the Black Sea grain deal when they meet this week, Lavrov’s ministry said on Wednesday.

Under the plan, Russia would send a million tons of grain to Turkey at a discounted price, with financial support from Qatar, to be processed in Turkey and sent to countries most in need, the Foreign Ministry said.

“We consider this project as the optimal working alternative to the Black Sea deal,” it said, referring to the arrangement that Russia quit in July.

Putin jails Russian soldiers for refusing to return to Ukraine

Wednesday 30 August 2023 15:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Two Russian soldiers have been jailed for refusing to return to the frontline in Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

In an intelligence update posted on Twitter, the ministry said two Russian soldiers were sentenced to serve at least two years in a penal colony by a military court for refusing to obey orders to return to the front in Ukraine.

It comes after Russian independent media outlet Mediazona reported that Russia was convicting close to 100 soldiers a week for refusing to fight.

Martha McHardy reports:

Putin jails Russian soldiers for refusing to return to Ukraine

EU top diplomat sees Russia's Wagner Group staying operational in Africa

Wednesday 30 August 2023 15:35 , Eleanor Noyce

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday he expected Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group to remain operational in Africa despite its leader’s death in a plane crash.

“I’m sure they’ll quickly find a replacement for the late Wagner leader. They will remain operational in Africa because it is the armed wing of Russia,” Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU defence ministers in Toledo, Spain.

He added Moscow could not send regular troops to the region as that would be too egregious.

“They (Wagner) will continue to serve Putin and do what they do, which is certainly not contributing to peace in the Sahel or defending rights and freedoms in the Sahel.”

Russian aircraft accident investigators not involved in Prigozhin jet crash probe

Wednesday 30 August 2023 15:26 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian aircraft accident investigators, the Interstate Aviation Committee, said on Wednesday it was not investigating last week’s plane crash that killed Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Hungary's Orbán urges US to 'call back Trump' to end Ukraine war in Tucker Carlson interview

Wednesday 30 August 2023 15:10 , Eleanor Noyce

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, said in a sprawling interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the only path to ending the war in Ukraine would be the reelection of Donald Trump to the presidency.

In the interview, posted Wednesday on Carlson’s page on X, formerly known as Twitter, Orbán praised Trump’s foreign policy while blasting the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden and its approach to the war.

He said that Trump’s return to office would be “the only way out” of the conflict, and that any suggestion that Kyiv could win the war against Russia was “a lie.”

“The Russians are far stronger, far more numerous than the Ukrainians,” Orbán said. “Call back Trump. … Trump is the man who can save the Western world.”

Bela Szandelszky has more:

Hungary's Orbán urges US to 'call back Trump' to end Ukraine war in Tucker Carlson interview

Germany will classify Georgia, Moldova as 'safe countries,' making rejecting asylum-seekers easier

Wednesday 30 August 2023 14:50 , Eleanor Noyce

Chancellor Olaf Scholz‘s cabinet on Wednesday classified Moldova and Georgia as so-called “safe countries of origin” meaning asylum seekers from there can be rejected and deported faster than in the past.

The move, once parliament has approved the new regulation, is a further step in efforts to curb migration to Germany as the country struggles to house and integrate more than 1 million refugees who fled the war from Ukraine last year. Different from others fleeing to Germany, Ukrainians do not need to apply for asylum but get a right of residency immediately.

In addition to Ukrainian war refugees, more than 188,000 people applied for asylum in Germany this year. Among those, 6,612 applications came from Georgians and 1,910 came from Moldovans during the period from January to July. However, the approval rate for asylum pleas from Georgians and Moldovans stands currently only 0.15%, the German interior ministry said.

Read more:

Germany will classify Georgia, Moldova as 'safe countries,' making rejecting asylum-seekers easier

Plane carrying Wagner boss may have been downed on purpose

Wednesday 30 August 2023 14:30 , Eleanor Noyce

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that investigators were considering the possibility that the plane carrying mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was downed on purpose, the first explicit acknowledgement that he may have been assassinated.

“It is obvious that different versions are being considered, including the version - you know what we are talking about let’s say, a deliberate atrocity,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the investigation.

Asked if the International Civil Aviation Organization would investigate the crash, Peskov said that the circumstances made it different, though he cautioned that investigators had made no formal conclusions yet about what exactly took place.

“Let’s wait for the results of our Russian investigation,” Peskov said.

Russian defence ministry says it struck Ukrainian command, intelligence targets - RIA

Wednesday 30 August 2023 14:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that its forces had successfully struck a number of Ukrainian command and intelligence targets, state news agency RIA reported.

The statement came after the Ukrainian capital Kyiv was hit overnight in the largest strikes since spring, killing two people.

Lithuania summons Pope's diplomat over remarks on Russian empire heritage

Wednesday 30 August 2023 14:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Majority-Catholic EU member Lithuania has summoned the Vatican’s top diplomat in the country after Pope Francis told Russian youths to remember they are the heirs of “the great Russian empire”.

In response to the impromptu remarks Francis made on Friday in a live video address to Catholic youths gathered in St. Petersburg, the Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Ministry invited the Apostolic Nuncio for “a talk” after the archbishop returns from holidays, a ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The Vatican said on Tuesday Pope Francis did not intend to glorify Russian imperialism in the speech, in which he also extolled Russian emperors Peter the Great and Catherine II who expanded the Russian empire.

The territories of Lithuania and Poland were annexed into the Russian empire in the 18th century by Catherine II. The countries broke away after World War I, after two 19th century revolts against the empire were brutally suppressed.

Francis’ intent was “to preserve and promote all that is positive in the great Russian cultural and spiritual heritage”, said Vatican.

Ukraine, once part of the same empire, said the comments were “deeply regrettable”. The Kremlin described them as “very gratifying”.

Lithuania, a nation of 2.8 million where three quarters identify as Roman Catholics, has been a staunch critic of Russia and supporter of Ukraine in both the European Union and NATO.

The Catholic Church is still revered in the country for its anti-Communist, pro-independence stance while it was under Soviet Union annexation. During the period, the Vatican kept Lithuanian diplomatic representation to the Holy See as it did not recognize the annexation.

Francis celebrated a mass to a crowd of an estimated 100 thousand in Lithuania when he visited in 2018.

Russia says it destroyed two Ukrainian speedboats east of Snake Island

Wednesday 30 August 2023 13:43 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia’s defence ministry said in two separate statements on Wednesday that its aircraft had destroyed two Ukrainian speedboats east of Snake Island, in the Black Sea.

Reuters was unable to verify the reports, which followed a similar incident on 22 August when Russia said it had destroyed a U.S.-made military speedboat carrying Ukrainian military personnel in the same area.

Snake Island is a small Ukrainian outpost in the northwest part of the Black Sea, where tensions have escalated since Russia last month pulled out of a deal that had enabled Ukraine to ship grain from its southern ports despite the war.

Russia’s Putin, Turkey’s Erdogan will soon meet in Russia, Kremlin says

Wednesday 30 August 2023 13:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

Russian President Vladimir Putin will “soon” meet Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan in Russia, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

The two countries have been preparing a meeting at which they are expected to discuss the collapsed deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations that had allowed Black Sea exports of Ukrainian grain.

Russia pulled out of the deal last month.

Russian foreign ministry says grain deal on agenda for Lavrov's talks with Turkish counterpart

Wednesday 30 August 2023 13:16 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that the Black Sea grain deal would be one of the items on the agenda of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s talks on Thursday and Friday with his Turkish counterpart.

Russia pulled out of the Turkish-brokered deal, which had enabled Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports, in July.

Sky glows orange during largest drone strike on Russian territory since Ukraine war began

Wednesday 30 August 2023 12:33 , Maanya Sachdeva

This is the moment Ukraine drone strikes targeted a fleet of Russian warplanes after the country launched its biggest attack on Russian soil since the beginning of the invasion.

Thick plumes of smoke and fire rise into the air as at least four of Vladimir Putin’s aircraft were hit at Pskov Airfield, close to Russia’s NATO border with Estonia and Latvia.

This footage shows the moment the drones destroy two heavy military Il-76 transport planes, sparking a huge fireball.

Another two planes were damaged during the aerial assault at the airfield.

Watch the video here:

Pskov Airfield: Sky glows orange during largest drone strike on Russian territory

Ukraine's Kharkiv builds classrooms underground to protect students from missiles

Wednesday 30 August 2023 12:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

Forced to shield its school-children from the threat of supersonic Russian missiles fired at short range, Ukraine‘s eastern metropolis of Kharkiv has built dozens of classrooms in metro stations to allow some pupils to return to in-person teaching.

Kharkiv, Ukraine‘s second largest city, had a population of more than 1.4 million before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Parts of the city lie less than 20 miles from the Russian border. Its northern suburbs were scarred by fighting.

Kharkiv’s schools have been forced to teach online throughout the war as some Russian missiles can reach the city in under a minute - not enough time to get from many classrooms to a shelter.

Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Tuesday that 60 school rooms been created in Kharkiv’s metro stations ahead of the new school year in September, creating space for more than 1,000 children to study in-person.

“The children will be able to socialise with each other, find a common language, communicate. I absolutely support this,” said Iryna Loboda, the mother of a schoolboy outside a metro station in the city centre where classrooms have been built.

Kremlin says no chance of international investigation into Prigozhin plane crash

Wednesday 30 August 2023 11:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

The Kremlin on Wednesday said that the probe into the plane crash which killed Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin last week was a Russian investigation, and that there could be no question of an international investigation.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia‘s investigation took into account the possibility that the crash had been caused deliberately.

In an earlier statement, the Kremlin rejected the suggestion that Prigozhin had been killed on its orders as an “absolute lie”.

Since the crash last week, there has been intense speculation Russian president Vladimir Putin had ordered Prigozhin’s death as revenge for the June mutiny.

Zelensky posts message of hope on 553rd day since war began

Wednesday 30 August 2023 10:47 , Maanya Sachdeva

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has shared a message of hope, praising the “bravery and determination of our warriors”, on the 553rd day since Russia invaded the country.

Writing on X/Twitter, Mr Zelensky said: “Now, as every day of these 553 days, the resilience of our warriors makes all the difference.

“Our resilience. Not some attempts and plans of Russia. But the bravery and determination of our warriors.

The strength and unity of our people – all those who work for our victory and all those who support our heroes and the Ukrainian state. To preserve all elements of our resilience is to guarantee victory.”

Russia ‘convicting close to 100 soldiers a week’ for refusing to fight

Wednesday 30 August 2023 10:04 , Maanya Sachdeva

The Ministry of Defence has said Russia is convicting close to 100 soldiers every week for refusing to fight in Ukraine, in its latest security briefing.

At this rate, there will be at least 5,200 convictions this year, the MoD added.

“The high rate of convictions demonstrates the poor state of morale in the Russian Army and the reluctance of some elements to fight,” the government said, noting the refusal to fight “reflects the lack of training, motivation and high stress situations Russian forces face along the entire Ukrainian frontline”.

“Although some soldiers have refused to fight and attrition rates remain high, Russia highly likely mitigates their loss by committing a mass of poorly trained soldiers to the frontline.”