As the war enters its 921st day, these are the main developments.
On the first day of classes, Russia launched a bombardment of Kyiv in the early hours of the morning using dozens of drones and missiles. The attack resulted in damage to a boiler house at a water plant in Kyiv, as well as to the entrance of a metro station that was being used as an air raid shelter, and at least three casualties.
The Russian air force also attacked other regions of the nation. According to Ukrainian forces, during the capital and the regions of Kharkiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhia, they have destroyed 20 out of 23 attack drones and 22 out of 35 missiles.
Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov of Kharkiv reported that at least 13 people were hurt when four Russian guided bombs struck a residential area, while Regional Governor Serhiy Lysak of Dnipropetrovsk reported that one person was killed and three injured in a Russian missile attack on Dnipro.
Russia claims to have taken the village of Skuchne, which is a part of the district of Pokrovsk, a strategically significant town that Russia aims to capture. Fighting has continued to be fierce on the front lines in eastern Ukraine. Despite Russia having made “no advance for two days,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that his country was having trouble competing with “the most combat-focused Russian brigades” on the eastern front.
August saw Moscow’s largest monthly advance on Ukrainian territory since October 2022, covering 477 sq km (184 sq miles), according to data analyzed by the AFP news agency and provided by the Institute for the Study of War.
During a visit to the Tuva region of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that his country’s troops were regaining land in the Kursk region “by square kilometers” and that Kyiv’s incursion into the region on August 6 had failed to halt Russia’s advance into the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Following the destruction of a daycare center by a Ukrainian attack, regional governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announced that some kindergartens in the Russian city of Belgorod, which is close to Ukraine, would close for a week and that classes in several other schools would be held virtually.
Politics and diplomacy
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine chastised Mongolia for not detaining Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his arrival on Monday. In response to allegations of war crimes, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin last year. If the Russian president steps foot on one of the 124 member states of the court, he must be arrested and sent to The Hague to stand trial. Mongolia is a member of the ICC. The failure of Mongolia to apprehend Putin, according to spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Heorhii Tykhyi, is “a heavy blow to the International Criminal Court and the system of criminal law.”
Mongolia is required by rights organization Amnesty International to detain and turn over Putin to the ICC. Amnesty International Mongolia’s executive director, Altantuya Baldorj, stated in a statement that “Mongolia’s international legal obligations are clear.”
Major General Valery Muminjanov was detained by Russia on suspicion of bribery; this arrest is the most recent in a series connected to allegations of corruption within the Ministry of Defense. According to investigators, he took bribes in exchange for facilitating the granting of state contracts to private firms that provided army uniforms. In recent months, he is the ninth prominent military figure to be apprehended on allegations of fraud, bribery, or abuse of office.
Zelenskyy promised to meet International Atomic Energy Agency director Rafael Grossi in Kiev. Following Grossi’s tour of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which was taken over by Russian forces shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the meeting will take place.
Weapons
Zelenskyy stated that the Western allies of Ukraine ought to provide Kyiv with more long-range weapons in addition to permitting their weapons to be used for strikes deep within Russia. Following a meeting in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia in the southeast with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Zelenskyy stated that Kyiv was “more positive” about the likelihood of obtaining such permission.
A draft law on the donation of a Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine was approved by the coalition government of Romania. In June, Bucharest announced that, if its allies replaced it with a comparable air defense system, it would donate one of its two operational Patriot systems to Ukraine. The law must now be put to a vote in parliament.
