Russian forces launched a series of drone and artillery attacks on Kherson on the morning of 31 August, causing significant damage to civilian and public infrastructure, local officials reported.
Civilians are frequently targeted in the city, with homes, public spaces, and energy facilities regularly hit, leaving residents at constant risk.
“A woman was fatally injured in the Dniprovskyi district after an explosive device was dropped from a drone,” said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of Kherson Regional Military Administration.
The National Police of Ukraine also reported that Russian forces shelled a park in the Central district, killing a 74-year-old man.
Other strikes damaged homes, garages, and vehicles, and left several residents and police officers injured across Kherson Oblast.
Kherson sits on the bank of the Dnipro River, directly opposite Russian-held territory, making it vulnerable to repeated short-range attacks.
Since its liberation in November 2022, residents have faced so-called “human safaris,” in which Russian forces hunt civilians in the streets using explosive drones.
A fire broke out at warehouse facilities in Balashikha, a Moscow suburb, with the blaze covering 4,000 square meters, according to Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The affected buildings belong to the Balashikha Experimental Chemical Plant and TDK company, which sells household chemicals, Baza reported.
Over 80 specialists and 30 units of equipment have been deployed to combat the fire, along with Mi-8 and Ka-32 helicopters.
Eyewitnesses report that flames have spread to neighboring buildings.
“Firefighters have not yet been able to extinguish the fire in the warehouse premises in Balashikha,” according to local observers.
No casualties have been reported, according to the Emergency Ministry. The warehouse facilities housed operations of both the Balashikha Experimental Chemical Plant and TDK, a company specializing in household chemical products sales.
The fire response involves aerial support, with helicopters assisting ground crews in the firefighting operation across the 4,000-square-meter area.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi reported to President Zelensky on 31 August that Russian forces have sustained over 290,000 killed and injured across the entire front line since the start of 2025.
The heaviest Russian casualties occurred in Donetsk Oblast, particularly on the Pokrovske direction where Moscow concentrated its main efforts but failed to achieve any strategic objectives, according to Syrskyi.
“Throughout the front, in just eight months of this year, the Russians lost over 290 thousand of their military personnel killed and seriously wounded,” Syrskyi said in his report. “They suffered the heaviest losses precisely in Donetsk region, without realizing any of their strategic tasks.”
Ukrainian units continue executing assigned missions in Donetsk Oblast and systematically destroying occupying forces. Stabilization measures are currently underway on certain sections of the front.
President Zelenskyy highlighted that Ukrainian units weekly replenish the “exchange fund” with Russian prisoners of war. The briefing also analyzed the situation on the Zaporizhzhia direction and in border areas of Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts, with Ukrainian forces prepared for new attacks.
“We analyzed in detail the situation on the Zaporizhzhia direction and the Russian intentions. Also the situation in the border areas of Sumy Oblast and in Kharkiv Oblast,” Zelenskyy said. “We will continue our active actions exactly as needed for Ukraine’s defense. Forces and means are prepared. We have also planned new diplomatic strikes.”
The report comes after Ukraine’s General Staff previously said that Russia’s seasonal offensive campaign ended with no results.
© Rodrigo Freitas / NTB
Ukrainian forces have liberated the village of Myrne near Kupiansk, removing a key Russian position used to control the approach road to the city, Suspilne and Deep State reported.
Suspilne reports that Viktor Trehubov, spokesperson for the “Dnipro” operational-strategic grouping of forces, confirmed on the evening of 30 August that Myrne had been freed from Russian control.
“As of now, Russians have been pushed out of Myrne. There’s no information on wounded or killed enemy troops. Our forces are advancing further,” he said.
Maps published by DeepState on 29 August had already shown that the Ukrainian Defense Forces had regained control over the village, located northwest of Kupiansk. The settlement had allowed Russian forces to observe and control the road leading directly into the city.
On 31 August, the General Staff of Ukraine reported nine Russian attacks over the previous day targeting positions near Petropavlivka and Kupiansk. Militarnyi notes that Russian troops are concentrating combat-ready units north of Kupiansk, continuing to exert pressure on Ukrainian defenses.
Despite this, Ukrainian forces are holding their lines. Units from Ukraine’s 10th Army Corps, together with attached elements, recently repelled the first Russian mechanized assault in this direction in a long time.
A massive Russian drone attack left 29,000 people without power in Odesa Oblast on the morning of 31 August, regional officials said.
The coastal city of Chornomorsk, just south of Odesa, suffered the most damage, oblast governor Oleh Kiper reported on Telegram. Critical infrastructure in the area is currently running on generators.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, reported that four of its facilities in Odesa Oblast were hit during the overnight attack.
Private houses and administrative buildings were also damaged. One person was reported injured.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia attacked Ukraine with 142 drones, 126 of which were shot down.
The major coastal city of Odesa is a regular target for Russian aerial assaults, which have repeatedly damaged infrastructure and disrupted daily life. These attacks have caused power outages, property damage, injuries, and deaths, highlighting the ongoing risk faced by residents.
© PA Wire
A Russian Gerbera drone shot down over Ukraine was found to contain footage showing a camera test at a Chinese factory. Militarnyi reports that the footage was stored inside the onboard Viewpro A40 camera.
Ukrainian defense forces recovered a Gerbera drone equipped with an A40 camera from the Chinese company Viewpro. According to Militarnyi, the footage discovered inside the drone showed a test of this camera conducted at Viewpro’s production site in Shenzhen.
The “About Communications by Serhii Flash” Telegram channel published the footage and stated that it showed the camera being tested at the Chinese factory.
The Viewpro facility is located in the Aotexing Science Park in Shenzhen’s Nanshan District.
Cyber Boroshno geolocated the footage using coordinates 22.554448, 113.944050 and confirmed that it was filmed at that exact location. The community stated that although the address from the manufacturer’s website does not appear correctly on Google Maps, translating it into Chinese and checking it through Baidu confirmed the location with complete certainty.
Militarnyi notes that Russia continues to receive large volumes of components and finished products from China for use in military systems, including drones.
In March 2025, Militarnyi reported that a new 16-element CRPA antenna had been discovered inside a Shahed kamikaze drone. That antenna was designed to overcome Ukrainian electronic warfare systems.
Russia has also placed significant orders for drone battery systems and continues to cooperate with China in other areas related to unmanned weapons.
In July 2024, the New York Times reported that Russia was importing sanctioned equipment through Hong Kong for use in drone production and other weapons systems.
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EU foreign ministers are discussing a new package of sanctions against Russia in response to its ongoing war in Ukraine.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, made the announcement during a press briefing on 30 August following the ministers’ meeting in Copenhagen.
She stressed that “it’s clear that Russia is not preparing for peace. It is the opposite. They are preparing for more war.”
Kallas pointed to the 28 August strike on Kyiv, which killed 25 civilians – including four children – and damaged offices of several international organisations.
According to her, the aim of additional sanctions is “to further increase pressure on Russia to negotiate.”
Among the measures under consideration are secondary sanctions on states providing support to Moscow’s war effort.
Ministers also discussed broader import restrictions and tariffs on Russian goods.
“Efforts against shadow fleet ships must also be stepped up,” Kallas added.
The foreign ministers also discussed the use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction.
Militarnyi reports that a Ukrainian drone strike on 30 August 2025 destroyed two Russian helicopter gunships at the airfield in occupied Crimea’s capital, Simferopol. Satellite imagery published by the AviaVector X account confirmed the destruction of a Mi-8 and a Mi-24 helicopter at the site.
According to Militarnyi, the drone attack took place at approximately 06:30 on 30 August, when Russian monitoring channels began reporting the movement of drones toward Simferopol. Following the reports, a powerful explosion occurred at the airport, followed by thick black smoke.
AviaVector’s satellite imagery captured on the same day showed two attack helicopters destroyed as a result of the strike. An earlier image from 22 August showed a group of military aircraft stationed close together at the airfield. Specifically, the photo documented five Mi-8 helicopters, three Mi-24s, one An-26, and one Tu-134UBL. Militarnyi notes that all these aircraft were concentrated in a small area.
Initial claims after the explosion suggested that aviation fuel tanks had been hit, but this information was later proven false. The satellite images confirmed that the damage involved airframes, not fuel infrastructure.
Support our media in wartime your help fuels every storyMi-8 helicopters are currently in wide use by the Russian Armed Forces and are the main transport helicopter in Russian military service. The exact model of the Mi-8 destroyed in Simferopol is unknown. However, Mi-8 helicopters are used by Russian forces for troop transport, strike missions, air defense tasks, and operations against Ukrainian naval drones.
On 31 December 2024, Ukrainian forces destroyed two Mi-8 helicopters using R-73 air-to-air missiles launched from a sea-based drone. This was the first confirmed use of this method to eliminate an airborne target.
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© ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Read our earlier daily review here.
Lithuanian military forces have positioned concrete anti-tank obstacles known as “dragon’s teeth” at several border control points with Russia and Belarus as part of planned defensive measures.
The barriers were installed on roads at unused border crossing points, while at operational checkpoints the obstacles were placed in accessible locations nearby for rapid deployment when needed, according to Lithuanian news agency LRT, citing an announcement from the Lithuanian army.
The military stated that no modifications were made to existing road infrastructure, ensuring that current traffic conditions remain unaffected for residents.
“The installed barriers are only part of a large integrated picture,” said Lithuanian Armed Forces Commander General Raimundas Vaikšnoras. “We start from the tactical level — specific obstacles at the border — and then we will combine the entire engineering scenario into one conceptual system.”
Lithuanian military officials characterized the work as part of a scheduled implementation of counter-mobility measures designed for the planned Baltic Defense Line. This initiative represents a coordinated long-term strategy involving all Baltic states [Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia] and Poland aimed at reducing land invasion threats and limiting potential hostile actions on territory.
Lithuania’s relations with Russia deteriorated sharply following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The country condemned the invasion, expelled Russian diplomats, closed the Russian consulate in Klaipėda, and imposed sanctions on Russia. Lithuania also temporarily blocked Russian cargo transit to an exclave of Kaliningrad and ceased purchasing Russian gas entirely.
Recently, Lithuania has also withdrawn from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines and plans to begin domestic production next year. Deputy Defense Minister Karolis Aleksa indicated the country will spend hundreds of millions of euros to produce tens of thousands of mines for defensive purposes, with plans to supply both Lithuania and Ukraine.
The country joins Finland and other Eastern European NATO members in exiting the treaty due to security concerns about Russia, which never signed the agreement. Officials stated the mines will be stored for rapid deployment if threatened rather than creating peacetime minefields.
President Trump doesn’t think Putin and Zelenskyy will sit down together anytime soon. The two leaders aren’t ready, he told the Daily Caller in a 29 August interview.
When asked whether trilateral negotiations involving himself, Zelensky, and Putin would proceed, Trump indicated that timing remains uncertain.
“Sometimes people are not ready for this,” the president stated, according to the Daily Caller report.
Trump employed his previous analogy comparing the two leaders to children in conflict, describing them as figures who “hate each other” on a playground, swinging and fighting until exhaustion forces them to stop.
“Sometimes they have to fight a little before you can make them stop. But this has been going on for a long time. A lot of people are dead,” Trump said.
This marks a shift from Trump’s earlier confidence. After meeting Putin in Alaska on 15 August, he “really thought” the war could end quickly. Not anymore. Ukraine and Russia may need to “fight a little more” first.
Earlier, Trump rated his three-hour meeting with Putin in Alaska a perfect 10 out of 10, despite no deal being reached to end the Russo-Ukrainian war. He emphasized that the meeting went well personally, saying, “We got along great,” but acknowledged that not all issues were settled and there was no agreement on reaching peace anytime soon.
The president also ruled out American boots on Ukrainian soil as part of any peace deal. But he outlined a different kind of commitment—possible air support to help end the fighting.
He noted that European forces would handle most operations, with American assistance.
European officials are actively working on plans to deploy British and French troops to Ukraine as part of security guarantees following any ceasefire, known as the “Coalition of the willing,” with about ten countries ready to participate.
The European plan involves two stages: initially, European troops would be stationed away from frontlines to train Ukrainian forces and provide reinforcements, acting as military advisors rather than a symbolic presence.
Next, the US would contribute intelligence sharing, border monitoring, additional weapons, and possibly air defense systems, continuing to supply military aid through European partners even without direct American troop deployment.
Zelenskyy previously rejected Trump’s playground metaphor with sharp words:
Putin is “a killer who came to this park to kill children.”
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