A drone attack on Russian regions damaged a railway station in the Rostov Oblast, located close to the border with Ukraine, and caused significant disruptions to rail traffic, with 26 passenger trains experiencing delays.
Ukraine regularly targets Russian military sites, fuel facilities, and transport networks to weaken Russia’s war effort. The strategy aims to damage airfields, oil refineries, military bases, and railways that support Russian forces. By hitting these targets, Ukraine seeks to reduce Russia’s ability to launch missile attacks and supply its troops.
The overnight strike hit the Kuteynikovo railway station in the Chertkovsky district, according to acting governor of the Rostov region Yuriy Slyusar. The attack damaged the station’s contact network and left an unexploded ordnance on the building’s roof, prompting the evacuation of all passengers and staff.
“No people were injured. The building is now cordoned off. Sappers have been called,” Slyusar stated, however, this information is not independently verified.
He added that station personnel are assisting affected passengers while trains continue operating with delays.
Russian Railways confirmed that all delayed trains are proceeding along their scheduled routes despite the disruptions. The company reported the maximum delay reached 4 hours and 15 minutes as of 6:00 a.m. Moscow time.
The incident occurred as Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed to have intercepted 105 Ukrainian drones overnight, with 25 allegedly shot down over the Rostov Oblast specifically. Ukrainian officials have not issued any statements regarding these reported operations.
Meanwhile, Russian forces attacked Ukraine with a massive coordinated assault on the night of 3 September, launching 526 missiles and drones across multiple regions. Ukrainian air defense systems successfully intercepted 451 of the incoming targets.
The attack caused widespread damage across the country. Four railway workers were injured in central Kirovohrad Oblast when strikes targeted rail infrastructure, while western regions including Lutsk, Khmelnytskyi, and Ivano-Frankivsk experienced fires and structural damage from drone attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Denmark for a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and talks with leaders of the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) cooperation format, according to presidential spokesperson Sergii Nykyforov.
Estonia will participate in the procurement of U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative and is prepared to send a military contingent to Ukraine if such a step is approved by the Coalition of the Willing.
During the night and early morning of September 3, Russian forces attacked the Khmelnytskyi region with drones and missiles, resulting in damage across the Khmelnytskyi community.
Russian forces conducted a large-scale assault on Ukraine during the night of 3 September, deploying 526 missiles and drones across multiple regions and injuring at least four railway workers.
The coordinated attack targeted several Ukrainian oblasts with cruise missiles and attack drones, causing fires, infrastructure damage, and disrupting civilian life.
Ukrainian air defense forces successfully intercepted the majority of incoming targets, though some missiles and drones struck locations across the country while debris from downed targets caused additional damage.
Russia has been conducting frequent large-scale attacks on Ukraine, often launching hundreds of drones and multiple missiles in coordinated waves nearly every night or several times per week. Each air raid siren forces millions into shelters, disrupting sleep, work, and normal life. Power grid attacks leave entire regions without electricity or heating. The campaign is primarily focused on civilian demoralization rather than battlefield advantage. The attacks aim to exhaust Ukrainian resolve and pressure Kyiv toward territorial concessions in any future negotiations.
Air force reports high interception rate
Ukraine’s Air Forces reported that Russian forces used X-101 and Kalibr cruise missiles along with Shahed-type attack drones and various decoy drones in the assault. According to the military statement, Ukrainian air defense systems neutralized 451 out of 526 Russian targets.
The interception breakdown included:
14 out of 16 Kalibr missiles
seven out of eight X-101 missiles
430 out of 502 drones of various types.
The military confirmed that three missiles and 69 attack drones hit 14 locations, while debris from downed targets fell across 14 additional sites.
Kyiv region faces prolonged air alert
Air raid sirens wailed across Kyiv Oblast for nearly thirteen hours, the longest alert in Vyshhorod district since the full-scale war began. Residents spent the night in subway stations and basement shelters while air defense batteries engaged incoming threats overhead.
Debris from a successful intercept crashed between apartment buildings in Vyshhorod, igniting fires that emergency crews quickly contained. The falling wreckage shattered windows in 28 apartments and destroyed two vehicles. A kindergarten lost its windows to the blast wave.
Fragments from a Russian target intercepted by air defenses crashed and ignited fires during the September 3 overnight attack on Vyshhorod, Kyiv Oblast. Photos: Kyiv24 news
Railway workers injured in Kirovohrad region
The attack on Znamianka in central Kirovohrad Oblast specifically targeted railway infrastructure, resulting in injuries to four railway workers, according to Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine’s national railway company. The attack disrupted freight and passenger services along key supply routes.
Aftermath of the Russian attack on Znamianka in central Kirovohrad Oblast on the night of 3 September.Photos: State emergency service
Western regions experience fires and structural damage
In the western city of Lutsk, drone attacks caused fires in two garages and one outbuilding, while debris damaged another outbuilding and completely destroyed a private freight vehicle, according to mayor Ihor Polishchuk. The attacks reached deep into what many residents considered relatively safe territory.
Russian drone strikes ignited fires and reduced structures to rubble during the 3 September overnight attack on Ukraine’s western region of Lutsk. Photos: Suspilne
The city of Khmelnytskyi sustained damage and fires that disrupted public transportation services, with mayor Oleksandr Symchyshyn reporting window damage to residential buildings.
The regional administration reported that Russian forces conducted two separate attacks using missiles and drones, resulting in fires at a garage complex where 10 garages were destroyed and five others caught fire.
Firefighters work to extinguish blazes caused by Russian drone strikes during the 3 September attack on Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi region. Photos: State Emergency Service
According to the State Emergency Service, western Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast experienced warehouse fires at three locations in Kalush district, requiring 130 emergency workers and 35 units of emergency equipment for response operations.
Photos: State emergency serviceAftermath of the Russian attack on western Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast on the night of 3 September.
U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Tuesday that he is “very disappointed” in Vladimir Putin and added that his administration plans to take certain measures to reduce casualties in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Russian Railways’ cargo volumes dropped 5.4% in August 2025 compared to the previous year, marking the third consecutive quarterly decline as sanctions and war costs devastate Moscow’s economy.
Over eight months, total shipments fell 7.1% to 738.8 million tons compared to 2024 levels.
Economic backbone crumbles under pressure
The railway data exposes how deeply the war has damaged Russia’s economic foundation. Russian Railways handles 87% of the country’s cargo transport excluding pipelines, making freight volumes a direct indicator of industrial activity across key sectors from construction to metallurgy.
The transport crisis more than validates Western sanctions strategy and signals Russia’s declining ability to sustain prolonged conflict—critical intelligence for policymakers weighing continued Ukraine support.
The steepest declines hit Russia’s most strategic industries. Construction materials shipments collapsed 15%, ferrous metals dropped 17.3%, and coal fell 3.6%.
Oil shipments decreased 4.9% due to refinery maintenance issues, while grain transport plummeted 30.7% following poor harvests and export restrictions.
Earlier data published by Russia’s own Interfax on 12 August showed similar patterns through July, with cargo volumes down 6.2% over the seven months to 739.3 million tons. Domestic shipments fell 8.9% to 437.9 million tons, while international cargo dropped 2.1% to 301.4 million tons.
Sanctions bite deeper as infrastructure crumbles
The transportation crisis reflects broader economic stagnation gripping Russia nearly four years into its war against Ukraine. Western sanctions have severed access to critical railway components, forcing the state monopolist to trim its planned investment program by nearly 40%, cutting spending from 1.3 trillion rubles to 834 billion rubles for 2025.
Labor shortages compound the problems as mobilization pulls thousands of railway workers into military service.
The railway decline parallels Russia’s broader economic struggles. Military spending consumes 6.3% of GDP—the highest since the Cold War. The war economy’s temporary GDP boost masks structural problems, including chronic labor shortages and vanishing productivity gains.
Transport indicators typically warn early about economic downturns, as reduced cargo volumes signal decreased industrial production and weakening domestic demand. The consistent quarterly declines suggest Russia’s economic foundation continues deteriorating under the weight of sustained warfare and international isolation.
Over the past 24 hours, Russian forces carried out 408 strikes across 12 settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region. A 62-year-old man was killed in an attack on the Polohy district.
The Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have destroyed another high-speed boat belonging to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, along with seven invaders.
The total combat losses of Russian forces in the war against Ukraine from February 24, 2022, to September 3, 2025, have reached 1,084,570 personnel, including 780 in the past 24 hours.
On Tuesday evening, ahead of the Coalition of the Willing meeting in Paris, France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot held a phone call with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to discuss ways of increasing pressure on Russia.
Russian propaganda media are circulating a video claiming that Russian army units eliminated 17 servicemen of the National Guard’s Azov Regiment and destroyed two U.S. armored vehicles near Hlushchenkove, Kharkiv region.
Defense Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and NATO Senior Representative in Ukraine Patrick Turner met to discuss ways to meet the priority needs of Ukraine’s Defense Forces.
Another group of children and young people, aged 3 to 18, has been returned from territories temporarily occupied by Russia and directly from the Russian Federation, as part of the Ukrainian President's Bring Kids Back UA initiative.
Throughout August, the Defense Forces of Ukraine eliminated 21,668 enemy personnel, 63 tanks, 102 armored fighting vehicles (AFVs), and 148 enemy ammunition depots on the eastern front alone.
In August 2025, demining units of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine cleared 5,973.1 hectares of liberated territory contaminated by explosive remnants of war resulting from Russia’s armed aggression.
. Distance from Russia no longer equals safety for NATO members, Secretary General Mark Rutte warned in Luxembourg, citing missile technology that can strike The Hague, Madrid or London within minutes of launch.
Merz: Putin “may be the most serious war criminal of our time”. Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared that dealing with war criminals requires zero tolerance, specifically targeting Russian President Putin as potentially the current era’s worst offender
Ukraine liberates Udachne village near Pokrovsk. After two weeks of house-to-house fighting, Ukrainian assault groups have liberated the village of Udachne in Donetsk Oblast, raising the national flag over the settlement located 10 kilometers west of the contested city of Pokrovsk.
Russia is turning the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant into a nuclear weapon. Any attempt by Moscow to impose new forms of control over the facility constitutes a direct escalation of nuclear security threats for both Ukraine and Europe, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine has warned.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), the largest in Europe, has been occupied since 2022. It has enough capacity to cover the annual electricity needs of countries like Ireland, Slovakia, or Finland.
Putin floats “cooperation” on ZNPP
On 2 September in Beijing, during a meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that “under favorable circumstances, Russia, the US, and Ukraine could cooperate at the Zaporizhzhia NPP.”
Ministry of Energy: plant occupied and in peril
Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy stresses that Russia seized the civilian nuclear facility by force and continues to block legitimate Ukrainian control.
“Russia attacked with heavy military equipment and occupied Ukraine’s civilian nuclear facility, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” it claims.
The ministry emphasizes that the plant is operating under an extraordinary threat scenario, unanticipated by design standards or international safety frameworks.
Dangerous shutdowns and risk of disaster
Since the occupation began, Russia has caused “systemic, critically dangerous deformations” at the site.
This includes the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, which eliminated the primary water source for cooling reactors, and nine full disconnections from Ukraine’s power grid.
“These are direct preconditions for a nuclear accident,” the ministry warns.
Call for international action
Kyiv views Putin’s remarks on new maintenance models at ZNPP as an attempt to turn the plant into a military tool.
“Ukraine calls on the international community to provide a clear assessment of these statements and actions, given their potential impact on the security of the entire European continent,” the ministry stressed.
Ukraine will raise the issue at the September session of the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference (IAEA) and urge global condemnation of Russia’s actions.
IAEA denied access to a new dam
On 31 August, IAEA Director Rafael Grossi said that Russia did not allow the organization’s inspectors to access the new dam that the occupiers built near the plant, according to Sky News.
“Our access to this dam is essential to assess the cooling water situation which is crucial given the fragile nuclear safety situation at the ZNPP,” he said.
He added that the problem is further complicated by the fact that the ZNPP currently relies on a single external power line to supply electricity to the plant’s safety systems, while the plant itself is not producing power.
A total of 122 combat engagements took place on the front line today, with the Pokrovsk, Lyman, and Novopavlivka directions seeing the most intense fighting.
Following the end of active hostilities, Ukraine must remain prepared for continued Russian information and psychological operations (IPSO), which will not cease, warned Andriy Yusov, representative of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate.
The 10th underground school in Zaporizhzhia Oblast has opened its doors at Semenenko Lyceum in the Pavlivska community, the Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration reports.
Ukraine’s underground classrooms provide secure spaces for students living in frontline regions to learn even during the threat of missile and drone attacks. These facilities aim to provide a sense of normalcy, protect students, and ensure education can continue uninterrupted during the war.
The school in Pavlivska is designed for 200 students, with 10 classrooms including a modern computer lab and a sports hall. An elevator ensures the facility is accessible and inclusive.
Before the new underground school opened, many students in Pavlivska had been learning remotely due to the ongoing threat of attacks in the region.
This facility is part of Ukraine’s growing network of underground schools, providing safe education in frontline areas.
Similar schools have been built in Kharkiv, where metro stations were converted into classrooms for thousands of students.
Across Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine has already opened multiple underground schools, including missile-proof facilities designed to protect children from attacks and even potential nuclear threats.
French President Emmanuel Macron is set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris on the evening of 3 September, a day before the “Coalition of the Willing” summit scheduled for 4 September, according to an undisclosed source at the Élysée Palace cited by European Pravda.
The meeting comes as Ukraine continues to press for security guarantees from Western allies amid efforts towards a ceasefire with Russia.
The Paris summit will bring together countries ready to provide security guarantees to Ukraine if a ceasefire is reached, with the aim of coordinating technical and strategic measures to strengthen Ukraine’s defense and support the enforcement of peace efforts.
A French official told European Pravda that the talks aim to convey that the countries ready and able to provide security guarantees have completed their planning. They said that chiefs of staff and defense ministers have already completed the necessary groundwork.
“Today we are ready to provide these security guarantees,” the official said, adding that the effort also includes support for applying pressure on Russia to achieve a ceasefire.
The “Coalition of the Willing” summit will take place in a hybrid format under the joint leadership of Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is expected to join.
Discussions are likely to cover potential deployment of peacekeeping forces, as highlighted recently by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.
This meeting follows earlier efforts by Ukraine to secure Western security guarantees. Western nations are continuing to develop frameworks for post-ceasefire security in Ukraine, but many believe that a ceasefire remains unlikely in the near term.
The upcoming Paris talks are seen as a continuation of these efforts, providing Ukraine with a platform to push for concrete commitments on security guarantees and measures to strengthen pressure on Russia.
The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine considers any attempts by the Russian Federation to introduce new forms of management or control at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) a deliberate escalation of the threat to nuclear safety.
Ukraine’s state defense group Ukroboronprom has revealed the specifications of its updated “Palianytsia” kamikaze drone at the MSPO international defense exhibition in Kielce, Poland, according to Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi.
The upgraded drone gives Ukraine a long-range, domestically produced option for striking stationary land and naval targets deep inside Russian territory. It was developed in response to restrictions on the use of Western long-range missiles and reflects ongoing efforts to scale production and reduce costs.
The Palianytsia is not a new weapon – Ukraine first unveiled it in 2024, and it has already seen combat. Ukrainian officials say it was created out of urgent necessity, while its cost-effective design offers a long-range alternative to Western missiles.
The redesigned “Palianytsia”
The new model, presented a year after the drone’s initial debut, features redesigned wings, a longer fuselage, and modified tail surfaces. It measures 3.5 meters long with a 1.7-meter wingspan and weighs 320 kilograms, one third of which is a 100-kilogram warhead.
The drone can fly up to 650 kilometers at speeds of 900 km/h and operates at altitudes between 15 and 500 meters. It is powered by a turbojet engine and launched with a solid-fuel booster. Navigation combines inertial guidance, resistant to electronic jamming, with satellite correction for accuracy.
Proven in combat
The developers describe the drone as intended to strike targets deep behind enemy lines, including stationary land and naval positions. Its first reported combat deployment was on 24 August 2024. Details of that strike were not disclosed, but officials have announced plans to scale up production and reduce costs.
The name “Palianytsia” comes from a traditional Ukrainian bread. During the war, it has taken on symbolic meaning, since Ukrainians can pronounce it easily while Russians often struggle – turning it into a cultural marker of identity and resistance.
At MSPO, the drone was displayed alongside other systems. Poland’s WB Group showcased a mock-up of its “Lanca” cruise missile, while Ukrainian company Ukrainian Armor presented the “Krechet,” a mobile command unit that integrates air-defense systems, mobile fire teams, and radars.
On Tuesday, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss ways to end Russia’s war and ensure future security guarantees for Ukraine.
Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and intelligence agencies have issued a warning: Russia is attempting to recruit citizens via social media for espionage and sabotage. These so-called “single-use agents” are lured into committing crimes on behalf of foreign intelligence services.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called Russian President Vladimir Putin “perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time.” Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has warned that geographical distance provides no security guarantee for Europe against Russian threats, citing missile technology that can reach European capitals within minutes.
How the recruitment scheme works
According to German intelligence, malicious actors initiate casual conversations on social networks, assess the user’s political stance, and later offer money for criminal acts — such as property damage.
“Anyone who agrees becomes an ‘agent’ of another state… Behind these recruitment attempts may stand foreign intelligence services. Their goal is to destabilize Germany using people within the country,” the agencies cautioned.
Military facilities in focus
Authorities stress that Russian intelligence is particularly interested in military bases and sites where Ukrainian soldiers are being trained.
“Perpetrators hope to gain strategic advantages by spying on such facilities or disrupting their operations… Successful sabotage could severely damage military structures and undermine trust in the state,” the statement reads.
This represents a classic case of hybrid warfare, where an enemy seeks to weaken its opponent without direct confrontation.
Harsh punishment for “agents”
German citizens are urged not to fall for such recruitment attempts and to remember the consequences. “Anti-constitutional sabotage” in Germany carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, while “espionage activities” can result in up to ten years.
If crimes are proven to be carried out in the interests of a foreign intelligence service, the punishment is even harsher.
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