Tuesday, August 27

Russia’s war against Ukraine

An evacuee carries a cat before getting aboard an evacuation train at an undisclosed location in Donetsk Oblast on Aug. 26 amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Genya Savilov /AFP via Getty Images)

Russia launches largest attack on Ukraine since start of full-scale invasion, Air Force reports. Russia launched 127 missiles and 109 drones, while Ukraine downed 102 missiles and 99 drones, according to the Air Force. Russian strikes hit several civilian, energy, and fuel facilities, including a dam in Kyiv, part of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant.

Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant has ‘no critical damage’ after Russian mass attack. After the morning attack on Kyiv Oblast, the Kyiv dam was closed for means of transport until 5 p.m. local time.

Ukraine preparing to respond to Russian mass attack with homemade weapons, Kyiv says. Shortly before, President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that Ukraine has developed a domestic-made missile-drone, Palianytsia.

Suspected Russian drone disappears after violating Polish airspace, media reports. The Polish military was ready to shoot down the object but was unable to identify it with certainty, RMF 24 wrote.

Audit discovers over $4 million in imported ‘humanitarian aid’ never reached destination. From March to July, various military units did not receive the designated humanitarian aid worth nearly Hr 172 million ($4.2 million).

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Ukrainian soldiers down Russian cruise missile with anti-air missile in Zakarpattia Oblast. Governor Viktor Mykyta said the missile was heading toward Zakarpattia Oblast from neighboring Lviv Oblast, and was targeted by the 650th separate anti-aircraft machine gun battalion.

Negotiations with Ukraine have now lost their relevance, Kremlin says. Kremlin spokesperson’s statement comes amid an ongoing Ukrainian incursion in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, which started in early August.

Wagner Group claims to no longer be fighting in Ukraine. Wagner mercenaries are operating only in Belarus and Africa, and are not fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine, the Wagner Group claimed in a statement on Telegram on Aug. 26.

IAEA chief to visit Russia’s Kursk Nuclear Power Plant on Aug 27. The Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is located nearly 80 kilometers (49 miles) from the town of Sudzha, which was captured by Ukrainian forces in mid-August during Kyiv’s ongoing incursion into Kursk Oblast.

Russia’s Rostov Oblast oil depot fire ongoing for 8th day. Satellite images obtained by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty suggest that an oil depot fire keeps spreading at the Kavkaz oil and petroleum storage facility just outside Proletarsk, a town in Russia’s Rostov Oblast.

KI Insights, a newly launched analytical unit powered by the Kyiv Independent, is organizing monthly briefings on a hot political topic of the month. 

We will reflect on the key events in the history of oligarchy in Ukraine, take a deep dive into the power players in 2019 (beginning of Zelensky’s presidency) and where they are now, shed light on the new faces and what place oligarchs hold in today’s wartime Ukraine.  

Format: Online. The event will include a presentation by our director, Jakub Parusinski, and a Q&A session. Seize the opportunity, as the next briefing is planned offline only in Kyiv. 

When: Tuesday, August 27, 16:00 Kyiv time (15:00 in Brussels, 14:00 in London, 10:00 in Washington, DC). Expected duration – 1 hour. You can add the event to your calendar by clicking here.

Where: A Zoom link will be sent to confirmed participants by e-mail. 

In case of any issues or questions, please contact us at insights@kyivindependent.com 
Feel free to reach out to suggest topics of interest for future briefings.  

Read our exclusives

Largest-yet Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure brings back widespread power outages

Ukraine has been racing to restore a severely damaged energy system that has come under waves of Russian attacks since March. It has continued to implement regular scheduled blackouts to reduce demand on its energy infrastructure.

Photo: Sergei Supinsky / AFP via Getty Images

Ukraine war latest: Russia launches largest aerial attack on Ukraine so far

The mass missile and drone attack on the morning Aug. 26 was the largest Russian attack against Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine’s Air Force reported.

Seven people were killed and 47 were injured, including four children, according to the State Emergency Service.

Photo: Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images

Human cost of war

Reuters journalist injured in Kramatorsk hotel strike in serious condition. Reuters camera operator Ivan Lubysh-Kirdey suffered serious injuries from Russia’s Aug. 24 strike on a hotel in Kramatorsk, his wife, Mariia Semenchenko, said on Aug. 26.

3 killed, 5 injured in Russia’s attack on Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Several Russian drones targeted Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast overnight on Aug. 27, resulting in three civilian deaths, regional governor Ivan Fedorov reported.

At least 2 dead, 4 injured in Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih. A Russian missile struck a hotel in Kryvyi Rih late at night on August 26, according to the city’s military administration head, Oleksandr Vilkul.

Russia’s attack on Sumy Oblast injures 16. Russian forces attacked 12 communities in Sumy Oblast, injuring 16 civilians, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported on Aug. 26. In total, 212 explosions were recorded in 83 separate attacks on the region.

International response

Borrell calls for lifting ban on Ukraine’s use of Western long-range weapons after Russian mass attack on Aug 26. Borrell had previously advocated lifting the ban for Ukraine, but he raised the issue again after Russia’s recent attack on Aug. 26, in which it used 127 missiles and 109 drones against Ukraine.

Ukraine has not officially requested withdrawal of Belarusian troops from border, Minsk claims. Kyiv has not yet made an official request for Minsk to withdraw Belarusian troops from the border with Ukraine, Belarus’ Foreign Ministry claimed on Aug. 26, a day after Ukraine urged Belarus to withdraw its forces “to a distance greater than the firing range of Belarus’ systems.”

Arrest of Russian-born Telegram CEO not a political decision, Macron says. The recent arrest of Pavel Durov, the Russian-born CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was “in no way a political decision,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on Aug. 26.

Opinions and insights

Opinion: AI complacency is compromising Western defense

“Just as the West has been forced into confrontation with Russia and China, military conflicts have revealed major systemic weaknesses in the U.S. and European militaries and their defense-industrial bases,” Charles Ferguson, a technology investor and policy analyst, writes in his latest op-ed.

Photo: Francis Farrell/Kyiv Independent

Opinion: Ukraine’s oligarchs were once kingmakers. Where are they now?

“Ukraine’s oligarchs, once the nation’s power brokers, have seen their influence wane dramatically over the past decade. Amid the ongoing war and internal reforms, the oligarchs who once shaped Ukraine’s post-Soviet trajectory face a new reality,” writes Jakub Parusinski, the director of KI Insights.

Photo: Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

In other news

Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov faces multiple criminal charges from Paris prosecutors. Paris prosecutors have outlined potential charges against Pavel Durov, the Russian-born CEO of the messaging app Telegram.

Controversial Ukrainian lawmaker fled country illegally, authorities confirm. The State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) said that controversial lawmaker Artem Dmytruk illegally crossed the border in Odesa Oblast and entered Moldova.

Want to get the news faster? Follow our website: kyivindependent.com.

Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Oleg Sukhov, Chris York, Nate Ostiller, Oleksiy Sorokin, Elsa Court, Kateryna Hodunova, Sonya Bandouil, Volodymyr Ivanyshyn, and Olena Goncharova.

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