Russian losses reached one of the highest of the entire full-scale war in August, Ukraine's Defense Ministry says, citing General Staff data. Last month, Ukraine killed or wounded 42,020 invaders.

As its frontline losses climb, Russia is escalating its terror against Ukraine's civilians. Moscow uses large numbers of ballistic missiles and new jet-powered drones to do it. Russia opened its latest drone assault on 27 August, two days after CIA director John Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow, and has kept it up since.

For comparison, Russia lost 42,860 soldiers in July, 33,760 in May, and 39,290 in June, the ministry says.

Ukraine takes another step toward its goal

Ukraine's Defense Ministry states that effectively destroying Russian manpower and logistics is among its priorities, so that Russia's losses reach a level that forces it to abandon its plans of conquest.

"August's losses for the Russian army were another step toward reaching that goal," the Defense Ministry says.

Ukraine began its logistics lockdown late this May. It is a coordinated campaign to scale up medium-range drone strikes against Russian supply convoys, depots, command nodes, and air-defense systems 20 to 200 kilometers behind the front.

Russia loses more than men

Ukraine's Defense Forces also struck 13,835 vehicles and fuel tankers in August.

Over the month they hit an estimated:

• 89 tanks;
• 197 armored combat vehicles.
• On top of that, 1,827 Russian artillery systems were destroyed or disabled.

"Inflicting such losses systematically raises the cost of continuing the war for Russia and forces it to spend ever more resources replacing manpower, equipment, and weapons," the ministry says.

How does Russia answer the losses?

Ukraine's Office of the President has said Russia is preparing an additional mobilization wave in 2026–2027, aiming to draft 300,000 people this year and 300,000 next. Those figures are a response to the steady rise in frontline losses, the office adds.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin called that information "nonsense" after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek.

At the same time, legal-aid organizations report a covert mobilization across Russia's regions and occupied territories. Over the past month and a half, residents of at least 17 Russian regions have complained of forcible detention, beatings, and coercion into signing contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry.

Ukraine saved more than $45 million on a single army purchase by opening it to competing bidders. The purchase was 5,000 pickup trucks, carried out through the open Prozorro tender system, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on 2 September.

Competitive tenders of this kind saved its procurement agency nearly $362 million on non-lethal supplies in 2025, about 15 percent below expected cost, the ministry reported. The trucks are one more category moved from closed contracts to open bidding.

Volunteers used to carry this

Pickups are among the most-wanted vehicles at the front and among the longest neglected by the state, the Defense Ministry noted when it launched the tender. Until now, the need fell to volunteer drives and troops' own money.

"These are brand-new vehicles with a manufacturer's warranty, all-wheel drive, with powerful diesel engines," Mstyslav Banik, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, said.

The trucks do everything up close

The pickups are essential for logistics, evacuation, unit mobility, and drone-crew work, former DOT director Arsen Zhumadilov said when the tender opened. That range of use is why they rank among the most-requested vehicles on the front.

The agency ran the market consultations, set the technical requirements, and vetted the suppliers for the order.

Six suppliers, not one

The order was split into lots, so six different companies will deliver the trucks rather than a single contractor. The ministry frames that as insurance: if one supplier fails, the rest still deliver. This is the largest batch of pickup trucks from the state.

The purchase began in May, so the first trucks would arrive before the cold. The full batch is due by the end of 2026.

Drones are meant to be next

Then-defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in May that an earlier competitive tender for 155mm shells had cut costs by more than 16 percent. The next category to move to open bidding, he said, would be FPV, mid-strike, and deep-strike drones.

Ukraine's new defense minister wears his war on his wrist. Yevhenii Khmara's bracelet carries, on each of its chains, the engraved name of a comrade who did not come back from the war, The National Interest reported.

Khmara took over the Defense Ministry on 19 August, replacing Mykhailo Fedorov, whose July dismissal set off nationwide protests. He came to the job from the SBU, Ukraine's Security Service, which he had led for seven months when Ukraine's campaign against Russian oil refining reached its widest scale.

He did not volunteer the story

Khmara did not explain the bracelet until a reporter asked him about it over dinner in Kyiv this month. The names now travel with him into the meetings where decisions about Ukraine's defense are made.

He ran the SBU during the oil campaign

Alpha, the SBU's special operations unit, is a tiny share of Ukraine's armed forces, yet the service's own accounting credits it with an outsized share of the damage inflicted on Russia, up to 20 percent of all enemy infantry losses.

More telling is what happened to Russian oil during his seven months in charge of the service. Ukraine's General Staff now estimates that nearly 43 percent of Russia's refining capacity has been knocked out. To a large extent, this is the result of the campaign Khmara helped oversee.

Khmara also developed a doctrine of ruthless cost asymmetry: strike operations designed to cost roughly 2 percent of the economic damage they inflict, targeting not individual facilities but critical nodes within the system.

Khmara insisted that part of the staff of the previous minister stayed

Earlier, Khmara has proposed that the core of the former Defense Ministry team remain in their positions. In particular, this concerns specialists responsible for procurement reform.

Mstyslav Banik, who served as a deputy to Fedorov, confirmed that he was staying on under the newly appointed defense minister. He led a central part of the ministry's modernization and is responsible for implementing the defense procurement reform.

Ukraine's new defense minister went to Kherson Oblast days after Russia destroyed the heat of its main city. Yevhenii Khmara visited the region and met the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, to discuss the region's most urgent needs, the Defense Ministry reported.

Russia hit the Kherson combined heat and power plant with a glide bomb on 26 August, then struck it again overnight with four more, destroying all the heat- and power-generating equipment that remained, Naftogaz said.

Prokudin has urged residents to leave, warning the city may go without heat and power through the winter. He said that Russia has dropped 170 glide bombs on the oblast since 1 July, more than in the entire first half of 2026.

Air defense topped the agenda

Khmara and Prokudin discussed strengthening defenses against various types of drones and protection against aerial bombs, as well as the safety of roads and critical infrastructure, which are being attacked by Russians day and night. They also addressed giving troops in this direction more capacity to strike the Russian targets that threaten civilians and soldiers.

The needs match the threat Prokudin has described. No region of Ukraine currently has the means to shoot down jet-powered Shaheds or glide bombs, he said, and Russia has begun using both more heavily against Kherson's infrastructure.

The minister met marines and the wounded

Khmara spoke with commanders and troops of the 30th Marine Corps operating on the Prydniprovskyi direction, the ministry said. The talks covered financial support for combat units and larger purchases of strike systems.

"We have taken up the soldiers' requests that need Defense Ministry decisions," the ministry said.

Khmara also visited a medical facility treating wounded troops and presented state awards.

The ministry frames it as direct contact

The Defense Ministry said it plans to keep working directly with troops and the leadership of front-line regions to strengthen the Defense Forces and protect Ukrainian lives.

Sweden will transfer 10 coast guard boats to Ukraine, the Swedish government announced on 27 August 2026. Stockholm will also direct additional funds to multilateral defense programs for Kyiv.

Russia's full-scale invasion added to some 13,500 km² of Ukraine's rivers, lakes, and Black Sea coastline now potentially contaminated with explosive remnants of war, in the world's most mined country, and emergency service divers had cleared 190 km² of it by November 2025. Allied nations have committed billions in military support to Kyiv since 2022, from fighter jets to anti-drone systems.

Rescue boats for Ukraine's mined waterways

Ukraine's State Emergency Service will receive the work and high-speed vessels in their current condition, after the coast guard removes their markings and equipment. The agency will use them for waterborne rescue operations, including clearing mines from river channels.

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Sweden's Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said Sweden is further strengthening Ukraine's maritime capabilities. He described towage, mine clearance, and transport as important capabilities that can now increase further. Sweden's Civil Defense Agency will handle transporting the boats to Ukraine.

The donation follows Sweden's broader naval support for Kyiv. In January 2025, Stockholm doubled its pledge of CB90 assault boats for Ukraine's navy to 32 and added 23 naval combat modules to arm them. The coast guard vessels serve a different purpose—rescue and utility work for a civilian agency, not combat operations.

Another $28 million for defense funds

Sweden will also channel 270 million Swedish kronor (about $28 million) to multilateral defense funds supporting Ukraine, mainly for air defense. Of that sum, $14 million goes to the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), to which Sweden contributed $108 million in June. Allies and partners fund high-priority American materiel through the US-led, NATO-administered program, and this package covers advanced air defense systems and ammunition for Kyiv.

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The government said this marks Sweden's fifth PURL contribution. With the new payment, Stockholm's total PURL funding reaches $552 million.

In July, Sweden's defense minister confirmed Ukraine may use the Meteor missiles promised with its Gripen fighters against Russian aircraft over Russian territory.

Finland is investigating a suspected violation of its airspace by a Russian aircraft over the Gulf of Finland, its Defense Ministry said. Authorities have not identified the aircraft or said whether the crossing was deliberate, and the country's border guard has opened an inquiry. The case adds Finland to a growing list of NATO states reporting Russian intrusions along the alliance's frontiers.

What Finland reported

A Russian aircraft is suspected of violating Finnish airspace in the western Gulf of Finland on the afternoon of 20 August, Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said. He said the country treats every such case seriously and that an inquiry is running.

"Every suspected territorial violation is taken seriously. An investigation is underway," Häkkänen said.

The ministry statement did not name the aircraft. The Border Guard later identified it as a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane, Finnish broadcaster Yle reported, saying the suspected crossing lasted about three minutes and reached some 4.7 nautical miles into Finnish airspace at its deepest. It said it would release more as the inquiry advances.

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A pattern along NATO's frontiers

The suspected crossing follows two earlier Finnish cases this year. Finland suspected Russian military aircraft of entering its airspace in May, off Porkkala while one avoided a thunderstorm, and again in June, summoning Russia's chargé d'affaires over the two incidents.

Other members of the alliance keep logging similar incidents. Romania has destroyed a sea drone and recovered aerial-drone debris on its soil, and Russian drones have struck near Moldova's border with Ukraine. Kyiv has also accused Russia of steering Ukrainian drones toward Finland and the Baltic States through electronic warfare.

Finland joined NATO in 2023 and has since rearmed sharply, ending a domestic ban on nuclear weapons as part of a wider defense shift. It has stepped up support for Ukraine, most recently backing a power-plant project before Russia's winter energy campaign. Helsinki has also argued it is too early to negotiate with Moscow while the war continues.

A member of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov's team is moving over to the new minister. Mstyslav Banik, who served as a deputy to Fedorov, says he is staying on under the newly appointed Defense Minister, Yevhenii Khmara, Suspilne reports.

Khmara will propose that the core of the current Defense Ministry team stay in their positions. In particular, this concerns specialists responsible for procurement reform, according to sources from the ruling Servant of the People, per RBC-Ukraine.

Banik stays to continue the reform

Banik has run a central piece of the ministry's modernization. He is responsible for carrying out the defense-procurement reform and became a deputy defense minister under Fedorov on 25 March 2026, having previously led the ministry's digital products.

In 2025, he moved to the role of head of digital products at the Defense Ministry, where he led the development of "Army+" and "Reserve+", the apps that digitized military service and mobilization, before taking on procurement reform.

Khmara wants to keep the team

Banik is not the only figure Khmara wants to retain. According to reports, Khmara wants First Deputy Defense Minister Oleksii Vyskub to stay in his post as well, MPs said.

The priority behind the retentions is the reform's momentum. Khmara considers it important to continue the procurement reform, particularly the part connected to international support for Ukraine, MPs said, so keeping the specialists who built it preserves the expertise and the relationships with partners that the overhaul depends on.

Continuity amid a contested change

The retentions may temper a leadership change that drew protests. Khmara's appointment followed the removal of Fedorov, which prompted a month of rallies demanding Fedorov's return.

That the reformers are staying suggests that the change of minister need not mean a change in how Ukraine equips its forces.

Earlier, Fedorov addressed Ukrainians, saying the country cannot remain without a fully appointed defense minister, but at the same time called for mechanisms that would allow elections during the war.

Ukraine has approved a drone built to reach the deepest parts of Russia. Ukraine's Defense Ministry has codified the domestic Dovbush T40 uncrewed aviation complex, a strategic-level drone for deep reconnaissance and precision strikes on distant Russian targets, the ministry announced.

The drone extends the reach of Ukraine's homegrown deep-strike arsenal to Siberia. With a wingspan of nearly 5 meters, the Dovbush T40 has enough range to hit targets beyond the Urals and in Russian Siberia.

What the drone does

The Dovbush T40 is a multi-role strategic aircraft. It is designed for deep reconnaissance, fire correction, and precision strikes on structures, equipment, and enemy personnel far from the line of contact.

Its endurance is the enabler. More than a day aloft gives it the range to reach targets, letting Ukraine threaten the deep-rear sites, from factories to airfields, that Russia has kept far from the front for safety.

Its advantages over similar drones

The drone offers several edges, the ministry said. It has ultra-low radar visibility, a high-performance engine with electronic fuel injection, and a choice of strike methods, either as a kamikaze drone or by dropping a munition.

It is built to work under jamming. The Dovbush T40 stands out for high resistance to electronic warfare, according to the Defense Ministry, the recurring requirement for any Ukrainian drone meant to fly deep into a contested electromagnetic environment.

It builds on combat-proven predecessors

The drone comes from a maker with a track record. It was built by a Ukrainian enterprise whose Dovbush T20 and Kotyhoroshko drones have operated on the battlefield since 2022 with some of the highest effectiveness ratings.

The T40 is an evolution of a proven system. The medium-range Dovbush T20, used for reconnaissance, real-time artillery correction, and pinpoint strikes, evolved through battlefield feedback into the longer-range, more powerful T40. It joins a fast-growing domestic fleet: since the start of 2026, Ukraine's Defense Ministry has codified 413 uncrewed systems, almost all of which are Ukrainian-made.

Ukraine wrecked more Russian vehicles in July than in any month of the war. Ukraine's Defense Forces destroyed and disabled 13,998 units of automotive equipment, the most for the entire war, Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported on 12 August.

The record fits a month of intensifying attrition against Russian logistics and air defense. In July, the Defense Forces continued methodical work to weaken Russia's air-defense capabilities and logistics, and the vehicle figure, the war's highest, reflects a campaign hitting the trucks that move Russian ammunition, fuel, and troops to the front.

The vehicle losses target Russian logistics

The record vehicle toll strikes at how Russia sustains its offensive. Trucks and transport vehicles are the arteries that carry ammunition, fuel, and supplies to Russian forces, and destroying nearly 14,000 in a month, largely with drones, degrades the logistics that keep the assaults moving.

The figure marks a scale of vehicle destruction not seen before. That the highest monthly total of the war came in July matches the wider picture of that month, which was also Russia's deadliest for personnel in 2026, as Ukraine's drones reached deeper and hit more.

Air defense and armor were hit hard too

Ukraine also struck at the systems that protect Russian forces. Ukrainian troops hit 68 units of Russian air defense systems in July, chipping away at the shield that guards Russian positions and rear areas.

Armor losses were also heavy. Ukraine destroyed and disabled 162 tanks, including 28 in a single day on 22 July, along with 204 armored combat vehicles and 2,016 artillery systems.

The count is Ukraine's own

The figures are Ukraine's tally and cannot be independently verified. The Defense Ministry reports Russian losses without detailing Ukraine's own.

Meanwhile, July was Ukraine’s deadliest month for civilians since 2022 due to Russia's ballistic missile attacks and lack of Patriot interceptors from allies.

Russia consolidated several units composed of Ukrainian prisoners of war and alleged defectors into a single brigade and labeled it "volunteer," the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported. The move scales up a practice ISW has tracked since 2022, when Moscow first began pressing captured Ukrainian soldiers into combat formations. ISW assessed the practice as a likely violation of the Geneva Convention, which bars using prisoners of war in military operations.

Moscow merges five POW units into one brigade

Russia's Defense Ministry Volunteer Corps announced on 6 August that it had formed the "first Ukrainian Volunteer Spetsnaz Brigade." The formation absorbed at least five existing units: the "Maksim Krivonos" and "Aleksei Berest" battalions, and the "Aleksandr Matrosov," "Martyn Pushkar," and "Slobodskoy" detachments. Each of these units reportedly drew members from captured Ukrainian soldiers or Ukrainians who allegedly defected to Russia.

The Volunteer Corps framed the new brigade as a formation of willing participants. At least one Russian military blogger, however, openly stated the brigade is composed of Ukrainian prisoners of war. ISW noted the admission as significant.

2023

ISW: Russia officially deploys Ukrainian POWs to front lines

One of the merged units, the Krivonos battalion, previously figured in a Russian propaganda operation. Moscow presented a Polish citizen as a defector to that battalion in 2025. Months later, a court in occupied Luhansk Oblast sentenced the same man to 13 years as a mercenary.

A practice ISW has tracked since 2022

ISW first documented Russia forming combat units from Ukrainian prisoners in November 2022. The most recent confirmed case before this brigade was the Bogdan Khmelnitsky battalion, which operated as part of the DNR interior ministry's Kaskad unit in western Donetsk Oblast starting in December 2023.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on July 7 permitting foreigners to serve in the Russian army during periods of mobilization, expanding military recruitment efforts.

Putin's partial mobilization decree from Sept. 21, 2022, remains in force and has never been formally rescinded. Ending it would require a separate presidential decree specifying a termination date.

Previously, it was allowed only during states of emergency or under martial law. Despite its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has avoided formally declaring martial law.

According to the document, the Kremlin is also permitting qualified specialists who have reached the age limit to sign contracts with Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Federal Security Service (FSB), or other state security agencies.

The changes aim to strengthen recruitment as Moscow tries to keep up the pace of troop replenishment without causing another wave of unpopular conscription. The Kremlin has heavily relied on financial incentives and aggressive campaigns to attract new volunteers.

Moscow currently recruits 30,000 to 40,000 individuals into its army each month, sources familiar with U.S. and EU intelligence told the Wall Street Journal.

On March 31, Putin authorized the spring conscription of 160,000 men — the country's largest call-up in 14 years. Though Russian officials claim conscripts are not sent to the front, human rights groups and relatives have reported that many are pressured into signing contracts.

In May, Russia's Investigative Committee Head Alexander Bastrykin said 20,000 naturalized migrants were sent to fight in Ukraine after failing to register for military service.

In the summer of 2024, Russian lawmakers passed a law allowing the revocation of citizenship for naturalized individuals who do not comply with military registration requirements.

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Rotterdam has previously handled weapons shipments, but this marks the first time that it will designate a special berth for military use.

The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy

A former deputy chief of the Russian army's General Staff, Colonel General Khalil Arslanov, was sentenced to 17 years in prison on July 7 over a scheme involving the theft of over 1 billion roubles ($12.7 million) from Defense Ministry contracts, Russia's state-owned TASS news agency reported.

A closed-door military court found Arslanov and others guilty of embezzling millions from state contracts with Voentelecom, a company providing telecommunications services to the Russian military.

Arslanov was also convicted of extorting a 12 million rouble ($152,400) bribe from the head of a military communications company. Two co-defendants, Colonel Pavel Kutakhov and military pensioner Igor Yakovlev, received seven and six years in prison, respectively.

Arslanov, a former head of the Russian military's communications unit, served as deputy chief of the army's General Staff from 2013 until his removal in 2020 and was named a colonel general in 2017.

This high-profile conviction is the latest in a series of corruption scandals that have implicated top echelons of the Russian military establishment over the past year. Russia has significantly stepped up prosecutions of senior defense officials.

Just last week, on July 1, former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony after being found guilty of corruption. It was the harshest verdict in a series of high-level military corruption cases until Arslanov's sentencing on July 7.

Authorities initially detained Ivanov in April 2024 on bribery allegations, later adding embezzlement charges in October. His trial, like Arslanov's, was held behind closed doors reportedly due to national security concerns.

Ivanov's co-defendant, Anton Filatov, a former logistics company executive, received a 12.5-year sentence.According to state media, the embezzled amount totaled 4.1 billion roubles ($48.8 million), primarily funneled through bank transfers to two foreign accounts. Ivanov pleaded not guilty.

The court stripped him of all state honors and ordered the confiscation of property, vehicles, and cash valued at 2.5 billion roubles, including a luxury apartment in central Moscow, a three-storey English-style mansion, and a high-end car collection featuring brands like Bentley and Aston Martin.

Russia striking NATO while China invades Taiwan ‘plausible’ scenario, experts say

If Beijing moves against Taiwan, NATO might soon find itself in a two-front war with China and Russia — or so the alliance’s secretary general believes. “If Xi Jinping would attack Taiwan, he would first make sure that he makes a call to his very junior partner in all of this, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin… and telling him, ‘Hey, I’m going to do this, and I need you to to keep them busy in Europe by attacking NATO territory,’” Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a July 5 interview with the New

The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek

Ukraine is launching a joint weapons production program with members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), or Ramstein summit participants, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced on July 1.

The UDCG was formed in 2022 under former U.S. President Joe Biden to coordinate military assistance for Ukraine among about 50 of Kyiv's allies.

As part of a new joint production program, new factories and weapons manufacturing facilities will be built in Ukraine and abroad, Umerov said in a social media post. The international sites will be UDCG member countries participating in the Ramstein-format summit.

New legal and tax regulations will also be put in place for Ukrainian weapons manufacturers, facilitating the construction of new sites and allowing them to rapidly scale up production, Umerov said.

The Defense Ministry on July 1 joined the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) Finance, Tax, and Customs Committee in presenting four draft laws regarding domestic weapons production "aimed at developing the industry." The legislation introduces amendments to tax, customs, and budget regulations, as well as the Criminal Code.

The first vote on the new legislative package is expected to take place in a month, according to Umerov.  

"This is a new type of military-industrial cooperation, where Ukraine is an equal partner and player in the global defense market," he said.

As Ukraine scales up domestic defense production, President Volodymyr Zelensky has been lobbying foreign partners to provide funding to help match its manufacturing capacity. At the NATO summit in The Hague, Ukraine signed agreements on joint weapons production with the U.K. and Denmark. Norway also pledged to jointly develop air defense systems with Kyiv.

Editor's note: The story was updated with information about the death of one of the pilots who was operating the plane.

A Russian Air Force Su-34 fighter jet crashed during a training exercise in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russian state media Ria Novosti reported on July 1, citing Russia's Defense Ministry.

One of the pilots died due to sustained injuries, Russian media outlet Mash reported later in the day. After ejecting, he landed on a tree. Medics could not save him, according to Mash.

One of the landing gear struts was not released during landing. The crew made several attempts to fix the malfunction in flight, but it did not help.

The crew successfully ejected from the plane, and there were no casualties, according to the ministry.

The Russian Su-34 is a Soviet-era medium-range fighter-bomber.

Plane and helicopter crashes have become more commonplace in Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent imposition of Western sanctions.

According to the U.K. intelligence, Russia has lost over 30 Su-34 aircraft since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Moscow does not comment on its losses it faces inn its war against Ukraine.

‘With surgical precision’ — Ukrainian drones strike Russian plant 1,300 km away, SBU source says

The SBU said its long-range drones targeted the Kupol plant in Russia’s Udmurt Republic on the morning of July 1, resulting in at least two confirmed strikes and a fire at the site.

The Kyiv IndependentAnna Fratsyvir

Editor's note: This story was updated with information shared by an SBU source.

Ukrainian drones struck a major Russian military plant in the city of Izhevsk, over 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from the front in Ukraine, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told the Kyiv Independent on July 1.

The SBU source said the agency's long-range drones targeted the Kupol plant in Russia's Udmurt Republic on the morning of July 1. At least two confirmed strikes struck production and storage facilities, starting a fire at the site, according to the source.

The facility produces Tor and Osa air defense systems, as well as Harpy attack drones for the Russian military, and is under international sanctions as part of Russia's defense-industrial complex.

"With surgical precision, the SBU continues to carry out strikes against Russia's military-industrial enterprises contributing to the war effort against Ukraine," the source said.

"Each such operation weakens (Russia's) offensive potential, disrupts weapons production chains, and proves that no part of Russia is a safe zone for its military infrastructure."

Residents of Izhevsk reported explosions early on July 1, while local authorities confirmed a drone strike on a facility in the city. Alexander Brechalov, head of Russia's Udmurt Republic, said emergency services had responded to the attack and that further information would be provided as it became available.

Brechalov later reported casualties, citing deaths and serious injuries, but did not provide specific figures.

Russia's aviation agency temporarily suspended flights in and out of the city's airport following the incident.

Russian Telegram channels reported that no air raid siren was sounded before the drone attack on the Kupol plant. According to Astra, Izhevsk residents also could not access warnings via Telegram due to mobile internet outages, which locals say have persisted for nearly two weeks.

The city was previously targeted on Nov. 17, 2024, when a drone strike damaged a factory known for producing air defense systems, including Tor missile systems and radar components used by the Russian military. That strike marked the first known Ukrainian drone attack on the region during the full-scale war.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 60 Ukrainian drones overnight across several regions, including 17 over occupied Crimea, 16 over the Rostov Oblast, and 11 over the Sea of Azov. Others were reportedly downed over the Kursk, Saratov, Belgorod, Voronezh, and Oryol oblasts, as well as the Black Sea.

In occupied Crimea, local Telegram channels reported explosions near the town of Kurortne on the Kerch Peninsula, where Russian S-300/S-400 surface-to-air missile systems and radar stations are allegedly located. A monitoring group cited NASA satellite data showing a large fire in the area overnight, though there was no official confirmation of any damage to the air defense assets.

Local residents reported explosions between 0:20 a.m. and 0:50 a.m. in the cities of Kerch and Feodosia.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claims.

Smashing previous monthly record, Russia launches 5,337 kamikaze drones against Ukraine during June

Russia launched a record 5,337 Shahed-type drones against Ukraine in June, according to data from the Ukrainian Air Force and Dragon Capital, smashing the previous record of 4,198 set in March. Russia’s bombardments, a fact of life after three years of full-scale war, have intensified dramatically in May

The Kyiv IndependentYuliia Taradiuk

Ukraine's one-year military contract for volunteers aged 18 to 24 is proving effective on the battlefield, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said at a June 26 press briefing, citing fresh reports from commanders across the front line.

Umerov said units made up of young contract soldiers had shown "resilience, professionalism, and confident actions in combat," challenging early skepticism about the new recruitment model.

"We saw them on the battlefield — and it's truly motivating."

The contract, launched in February, offers substantial benefits to young volunteers. It includes basic general military training, vocational training, and an adaptation course in an army unit. Volunteers will receive a one-time monetary aid payment of Hr 1 million ($24,000) and a monthly allowance of up to Hr 120,000 ($3,000).

The campaign initially faced backlash from some front-line troops and activists, who argued it created unfair disparities in pay and support. Now, the initiative is being credited with improving performance in specific units, Umerov said, citing internal military assessments received by the ministry two weeks ago.

Umerov, however, hasn't shared the number of soldiers recruited through the campaign.

The campaign is under constant evaluation based on financial, personnel, and training metrics. Umerov said the Defense Ministry is working to enhance the motivational package further, using data and feedback from participants and focus groups.

Despite pressure from international partners, particularly the United States, to lower Ukraine’s mobilization age from 25 to 18, service for those aged 18–24 remains voluntary. President Volodymyr Zelensky has consistently rejected compulsory mobilization starting at 18, warning that it could damage Ukraine's long-term future.

In a recent interview, Zelensky said Ukraine's Western allies have at times withheld new sanctions on Russia over Kyiv's refusal to lower the draft age. He stressed that the "weapons and technology," rather than raw manpower, were more decisive on the battlefield.

Ukraine faces personnel challenges as Russian forces continue to press along the front line. While a mobilization reform law lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 in 2024, the pace of new enlistment has slowed, leaving infantry units understaffed.

"The younger generation is a powerful human resource that deserves support and development," Umerov said.

Facing manpower shortage, Ukrainian brigade turns to women in first-ever female recruitment drive

Editor’s note: This article originated as a winning story idea in a vote by members of the Kyiv Independent’s community. Join our community today and join our exclusive members-only Discord channel, where you can discuss and suggest stories, ask our journalists questions, and more. “Her strength is her

The Kyiv IndependentNatalia Yermak

Ukraine's Defense Ministry has officially approved the new domestically produced unmanned ground vehicle, known as the Termit, for front-line use, the ministry announced on June 21.

The tracked robot is a next-generation version of Ukraine's existing ground-based unmanned systems already deployed across the front. These systems have supported operations by transporting supplies, conducting reconnaissance, and carrying explosives in contested areas.

Termit, the newest model in the series, features improved mobility and modularity. The drone can carry up to 300 kilograms and operates on various terrains thanks to its low profile, tracked design, and improved weight distribution.

Its traction battery system allows for several hours of continuous movement over dozens of kilometers. According to the Defense Ministry, Termit drones can be equipped with combat modules, used for medical evacuations, or for transporting specialized equipment as needed.

Ground drones such as Termit are being used more frequently to minimize soldier exposure to front-line risks. Since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Kyiv has prioritized the development of unmanned systems across all domains — air, sea, and land.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the production of at least 30,000 long-range drones in 2025, alongside expanded investment in strike-capable hybrids such as the Palianytsia and Peklo missile-drone platforms.

Russia ‘afraid to admit’ scale of losses, trying to hide by dumping soldiers’ bodies on Ukraine, Zelensky says

Ukrainian authorities have confirmed that at least 20 of the bodies Russia returned as Ukrainian were actually Russian soldiers, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy