Ukraine War News Today - Top Stories and Breaking Updates from Kyiv Post

Irate taxpayers have accused the local Russian-appointed government of doing little to repair damaged water mains, in order to sell more bottled water manufactured by insider companies.

Authorities in the Russia-occupied sections of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region on Wednesday announced water supplies to six cities would be drastically reduced or cut off completely, worsening a water crisis that has already left tens thousands of homes and businesses with bone-dry faucets for months.

Deliveries via water mains to the industrial cities of Yenakiyeve, Debaltseve and Bunhe (Yuzhnokomminarsk in Russian) will be turned off “as a temporary measure” immediately, and supplies to the cities Holubivka (Kirovsk in Russian), Zhadnivka and Shakhtarsk will be reduced by half until further notice, a statement from the occupation water utility Voda Donbassa said.

The state-owned factory specializing in production of ammonia and carbamide has been languishing for years – only supplying oxygen and nitrogen for Ukraine’s critical needs during wartime.

Ukraine’s government initiated the fourth possible sale of Odesa Portside Plant, this time putting the price tag of Hr.4.5 Billion ($108 Million) for the whole plant. 

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced the government’s decision to place the 99,5667% block of shares on an open auction online. 

Russia recruits young African women for Alabuga drone factory in Tatarstan, producing Shahed kamikaze drones. South Africa warns citizens as the Kremlin exploits BRICS networks for military purposes.

Russia has been recruiting young women from South Africa to manufacture drones in factories in Tatarstan’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone, the Center for Countering Disinformation under State Council of National Security reported. 

The Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Russia is conducting an active advertising campaign to recruit workers from African and Asian countries, promising high salaries and career prospects.

From Jan. 1 next year, a questionnaire will be sent to all young German men and women to assess their interest in serving, including questions on their level of fitness, skills and interests.

The German cabinet on Wednesday signed off steps to boost recruitment for the country’s armed forces and strengthen military readiness in the face of high tensions between NATO and Russia.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the drive aims to attract volunteers to the Bundeswehr, but the proposal also includes provisions for compulsory service in case numbers fall short in coming years.

As Kyiv and Moscow continue their tit-for-tat strikes on energy facilities, locals near Russia’s Ryazan reported an explosion on Monday near a state-controlled pipeline.

Locals in Russia’s Ryazan Oblast have reported an explosion near the village of Bozhatkovo on Monday.

Ryazan Oblast is home to a number of oil refineries that have come under intensified Ukrainian attacks in recent months.

The announcement came after Russia’s foreign minister suggested that Beijing should be part of the security guarantees for Kyiv – a proposal that Kyiv rejected.

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is set to visit China for a four-day visit between Aug. 31 and Sept. 3, according to his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov called the visit “completely unprecedented” and said it would involve bilateral delegation meetings, though the full agenda remains unclear.

Majority-owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, the company has successfully negotiated six extensions to avoid a broad package of sanctions originally due to take effect in February.

Serbia’s largest oil producer was given another 30-day reprieve from sanctions by the United States, the sixth deferral for the majority Russian-owned firm, Serbia’s energy minister said Wednesday.

The operator of the country’s only oil refinery, the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS), has received numerous delays to the sanctions since the measures were announced as part of Washington’s crackdown on the Russian energy sector.

Russia struck energy infrastructure in Poltava and Sumy, causing partial blackouts in Sumy. Ukrainian forces shot down 74 of 95 drones overnight, and crews are working to restore critical services.

Russia hit an energy facility in the Poltava region and electricity infrastructure in Sumy, leaving part of the city blacked out. 

During the night of Aug. 26-27, “the enemy carried out another massive terrorist attack using unmanned aerial vehicles on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure,” according to Ukraine’s Energy Ministry. Energy and gas transportation system facilities in six regions of Ukraine – Sumy, Poltava, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhia – were targeted. 

Ilya Kostyakov, a student in Moscow, posted a TikTok video and said he couldn’t imagine people going three years without bubble tea during WWII’s siege of Leningrad.

A student in Moscow has landed in trouble for saying in a TikTok video that he could not imagine people going three years without bubble tea during WWII’s siege of Leningrad.

Ilya Kostyakov, the accused student, has been charged with rehabilitating Nazism for his comment.

While unveiling Ukraine’s long-awaited multiple citizenship reforms in July, the Ukrainian president said only certain countries are eligible due to national security concerns.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic will be the first countries eligible under Ukraine’s new multiple citizenship law. 

Zelensky unveiled the reform in July, ending decades of requiring Ukrainians and foreigners to give up their original citizenship to obtain another. At the time, it was said that a selected list of countries would be first to enjoy the treatment due to national security concerns. 

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News that he expects to meet with representatives from Ukraine in New York “this week.”

US special envoy for peace missions Steve Witkoff said Washington is “hopeful” that by the end of 2025, or “a bit sooner” Ukraine and Russia may get closer to a peace deal. 

“We are hopeful that by the end of this year, and maybe quite a bit sooner, we actually can find the ingredients to get to that peace deal,” he said, speaking on Fox News “Special Report with Bret Baier” show on Tuesday. 

Locals reported a fire at a building in the city of Rostov-on-Don, which Russian authorities attributed to a “UAV crash” during a reported Ukrainian drone strike.

A building in southern Russia’s Rostov-on-Don was set ablaze on Tuesday evening due to an alleged Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strike. 

Rostov-on-Don, around 200 km (124 miles) from the closest Ukrainian-controlled territories, is the regional capital of the Rostov region bordering Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. 

Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil and gas sites, carried out in response to Moscow’s attacks on its energy grid, have caused fuel shortages and disrupted key exports.

Ukrainian drone strikes have knocked out 17% of Russia’s oil refining capacity, hitting 10 refineries and cutting about 1.1 million barrels of daily output, according to Reuters estimates.

The attacks followed Russian advances on the battlefield and heavy strikes on Ukraine’s energy system, occurring during Russia’s peak fuel demand season for farmers and tourists.

All military drone makers want to test their products in Ukraine. Now there is a need to change the relationship between Western defense-tech companies and the Ukrainian military units they support.

The advent of drones has fundamentally changed how wars are fought. During the course of my military service, unmanned systems have gone from taking a supporting role, to becoming the central element of combat operations.

Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine is driving not only the employment of drones – but also their innovation, which has sparked an arms race between both sides of the war.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• The United States is reportedly willing to supply supporting assets to a European-led force grouping as part of postwar security guarantees for Ukraine. The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected the presence of troops from NATO countries as part of any security guarantee for Ukraine in recent weeks.
• The United States will impose an additional 25 percent tariff on India’s exports to the United States due to India’s ongoing purchases of Russian oil.
• Recent Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s oil refineries have contributed to gasoline shortages across Russia that will likely raise inflation and cause further macroeconomic instability in Russia.
• The Russian government proposed that Russian President Vladimir Putin withdraw from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
• Russian residents in border areas are increasingly apathetic toward the war and accepting that Russia will not agree to an end to the war in the near future.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Sumy and Borova. Russian forces recently advanced near Sumy.

Macron, Merz and Tusk want to reaffirm their “support for Moldova’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a French presidential adviser told journalists.

The leaders of France, Germany and Poland are due in Moldova on Wednesday in a show of support, a day before campaigning starts for next month’s tense parliamentary election amid claims of Russian interference in the pro-EU nation bordering Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will meet Moldova’s President Maia Sandu to celebrate the country’s 34th independence day as she pushes for EU membership.

The United States was India’s top export destination in 2024, with shipments worth $87.3 billion.

US tariffs of 50% took effect Wednesday on many Indian products, doubling an existing duty as President Donald Trump sought to punish New Delhi for buying Russian oil.

Trump has raised pressure on India over the energy transactions, a key source of revenue for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, as part of a campaign to end the conflict.

“Yes, they have entered, and fighting is ongoing as of now,” said Viktor Tregubov, spokesperson for the Dnipro Operational Strategic Group of Forces.

Ukraine’s military leadership acknowledged for the first time on Tuesday that Moscow’s forces have entered the Dnipropetrovsk region, a central region that has been regularly shelled during Russia’s full-scale invasion but so far has been spared from major ground battles. 

“Yes, they have entered, and fighting is ongoing as of now,” Viktor Tregubov, spokesperson for the Dnipro Operational Strategic Group of Forces, told AFP.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and the Middle East, won a round of applause after he said his “only one wish” was for his boss to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

US President Donald Trump is famed as a political showman –– and during a record-breaking three hour and 16 minute cabinet meeting, the show went on, and on, and on.

The extraordinary performance on Tuesday was the 79-year-old Republican’s longest ever televised press event, the White House and US media said.

Sources said that the US could rescind its offer if Europe did not seem to be living up to its commitments to safeguard a possible Ukraine settlement.

The US could provide intelligence assets, air defense support and battlefield oversight to support European-led efforts to enforce a peace settlement in Ukraine, according to Financial Times (FT) citing four officials.

Senior US officials reportedly told European counterparts that Washington is willing to offer “strategic enablers” including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), command and control and air defense assets to support European boots on the ground.