Russia-Ukraine war live: Robotyne liberated in new counteroffensive advance, says Kyiv; two killed in attack on Ukraine region
Ukraine says it has liberated south-eastern village of Robotyne
Ukraine said on Monday its troops had liberated the south-eastern settlement of Robotyne and were trying to advance further south in their counteroffensive against Russian forces, Reuters reports.
“Robotyne has been liberated,” the deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar was quoted as saying by Ukraine’s military.
The military said last week that its forces had raised the national flag in Robotyne, but also said at the time that they were still coming under fire in the settlement.
Ukraine reported its troops had entered the strategically important village on 22 August, signalling a potentially significant advance in its counteroffensive against Russia.
At the time, Maliar said Ukrainian soldiers were organising the evacuation of civilians, but were still coming under fire from Russian forces.
Key events
We have more details on the reported missile attack on Ukraine’s Poltava region (see earlier post at 07.00).
Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the missiles struck a vegetable oil factory in the Myrhorod district, killing two people and injuring five others.
“The people were working the night shift,” Yermak wrote on Telegram.
He posted photos showing tankers engulfed in flames and the destroyed metal structures of the plant, Reuters reports.
These claims have not yet been independently verified.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a key adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has tweeted:
All of Putin’s domestic legitimacy is built on the belief among Russian elites that he has ‘not lost the war yet’.
The Kremlin understands the inevitable: the more Russia loses the occupied territories, the faster support for the regime will decline.
The murder of Prigozhin and the preparation of a new mobilisation to saturate the front is a time-saving measure. But the clock is already counting down.
It won’t be easy, but it is naive to think that Ukraine will have to regain territory by winning every kilometre with blood.
As Ukrainian forces advance in the south and reach the administrative border with Crimea, events will take on a different shape. In the end, it will all end quickly and in an instant, just as it began.
Hello everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be running the blog until 4pm (UK time). Please do feel free to get in touch on Twitter if you have any story tips.
Ukraine says troops advancing southeast of Robotyne
Some more now on Ukraine claiming it has captured the village of Robotyne on the southern front.
The confirmation came from the deputy defence minister, Ganna Malyar, who appeared on Ukrainian television:
Robotyne has been liberated. Our forces are advancing south-east of Robotyne and south of Mala Tokmachka.
Malyar said troops were advancing south of Bakhmut and that they had recaptured 1sq km there over the last week of fighting.
She also acknowledged a Russian push to take back territory in the north-east of Ukraine, describing fighting in the Kharkiv region as “very intense” over the past week.
– with Agence France-Presse
Zelensky flags ‘aircraft infrastructure’ decisions
Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelensky, posted a short video on Sunday evening outlining some priorities for the week ahead. Here’s a section of his video statement linked below:
As usual, there will be more meetings with staff this week. The agenda is already set. In particular; there will be decisions that will allow us to further strengthen our warriors, that allow military commanders to prepare the infrastructure for new Ukrainian aircraft more accurately, and allow diplomats to promote everything that our warriors need more actively in communication with partners. The requests from each of the units are very clear.
More decisions will be made to strengthen our warriors next week. The military command is in charge of developing infrastructure for new Ukrainian jets. Diplomats — engaging more actively with partners to get what our warriors need. The needs are specific. So should the results. pic.twitter.com/kV7qRq80Qm
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 27, 2023
Russia’s aviation agency says flights temporarily restricted
Authorities in Russia have provided some more information after confirming its air defences had destroyed a drone approaching Moscow, as well as two other regions bordering Ukraine, early on Monday.
According to the Russian defence ministry, the drones appear to be probing Moscow’s air defences from different angles, with Monday’s brought down in the Lyubertsy region to the south-east of the capital.
Reuters reports the state aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, said three airports temporarily restricted flights but later returned to normal operation.
Moscow reported the first drone attacks on the capital in early May, when two were fired at the Kremlin without causing damage. Since then they have become a frequent occurrence.
Most have been intercepted by Russian air defences, but several have hit buildings in a business district of the capital. Ukraine hardly ever takes responsibility for strikes on Russian territory, though officials have often expressed satisfaction over them.
Reuters
Ukraine says it has liberated south-eastern village of Robotyne
Ukraine said on Monday its troops had liberated the south-eastern settlement of Robotyne and were trying to advance further south in their counteroffensive against Russian forces, Reuters reports.
“Robotyne has been liberated,” the deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar was quoted as saying by Ukraine’s military.
The military said last week that its forces had raised the national flag in Robotyne, but also said at the time that they were still coming under fire in the settlement.
Ukraine reported its troops had entered the strategically important village on 22 August, signalling a potentially significant advance in its counteroffensive against Russia.
At the time, Maliar said Ukrainian soldiers were organising the evacuation of civilians, but were still coming under fire from Russian forces.
Zelensky says he will propose tougher corruption measures this week
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said he will ask parliament in the coming week to increase penalties for those found guilty of corruption during wartime.
Here’s a snippet of a television interview he shared on his Telegram channel on Sunday, reported by Reuters.
I have set a task for the legislation and the Ukrainian legislators will be offered my proposals to equate corruption with high treason in wartime. I think the parliament will get it in the next week and then the ball is in the parliament’s court.
Ukraine ranks 116th out of 180 countries on campaign group Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index.
Zelensky, who says ending graft is key to defeating Russia, also hopes that by fighting corruption he will make it easier for partners to support rebuilding efforts that will cost billions of dollars.
A series of government shake-ups over corruption included Zelensky’s dismissal this month of all the regional military recruitment chiefs after a nationwide audit.
Two killed in Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Poltava region
Two people were killed in an overnight Russian missile attack on Ukraine‘s central Poltava region, governor Dmytro Lunin said on Monday.
Lunin has provided an update on the Telegram messaging app, as reported by Reuters. He said the attack was on an industrial facility, but he did not provide further details.
Here’s Lunin’s statement:
As a result of the hostile attack, two people were killed, two people were taken to hospital with minor injuries, and the whereabouts of two more people are currently unknown.
The Ukrainian military has said Russia launched four missiles from the Black Sea overnight, two of which were shot down.
The military reported that Kryvyi Rih region was also hit by missiles in a separate attack. Local authorities said several private houses were damaged, but they did not report casualties.
Ukraine reports killed and wounded civilians in latest update
Ukrainian authorities have reported four Russian cruise missiles were intercepted on Sunday.
Here’s a portion of a statement issued the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces a short time ago:
During the day of August 27, the enemy launched a total of 11 missiles and 48 air strikes, 54 multiple launch rocket system attacks at the positions of Ukrainian troops and various settlements.
Unfortunately, the Russian attacks have killed and wounded civilians. Residential buildings, schools and other civilian infrastructure were damaged.
Zelenskiy says elections could happen under fire if West helps
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has indicated democratic elections could take place during wartime if certain conditions are met, Reuters reports.
Elections cannot currently be held in Ukraine under martial law, which must be extended every 90 days and is next due to expire on 15 November, after the normal date in October for parliamentary polls, but before presidential elections which would normally be held in March 2024.
In a television interview with the 1+1 Channel, Zelensky said he discussed the issue of elections with US Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who visited Kyiv last week. He said elections could occur provided partners shared the cost, legislators approved, and everyone got to the polls:
I gave Lindsey a very simple answer very quickly. He was very pleased with it. As long as our legislators are willing to do it.
Zelensky said it would cost USD $135m to hold elections in peacetime.
“I don’t know how much is needed in wartime. So I told him that if the US and Europe provide financial support …
He added:
“I will not take money from weapons and give it to elections. And this is stipulated by the law.
Zelensky said he told Graham that election observers would have to go to the trenches:
I told him: You and I should send observers to the frontlines so that we have legitimate elections for us and for the whole world.
Graham told reporters during a briefing in a bunker with fellow Senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren, both Democrats, that his message to Zelenskiy would be they would fight to keep weapons flowing “so you can win a war that we can’t afford to lose”. Graham then added this:
But I am also going to tell him this: You’ve got to do two things at once. We need an election in Ukraine next year. I want to see this country have a free and fair election even while it is under assault.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name’s Henry Belot and I’ll be bringing you all the latest as it happens.
There was another attempted drone attack on Moscow overnight – the latest in a series of strikes on the Russian capital over the last few weeks.
Authorities say that air defence systems brought down the drone on its approach to the city, and there were no injuries.
More on that shortly – here are the rest of the headlines:
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A senior Ukrainian government official has confirmed the safe passage of a second vessel through the Black Sea from Ukraine’s port of Odesa, after Russia’s withdrawal in July from a UN-brokered deal allowing the export of grain.
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Russia’s defence ministry said it sent a fighter plane in response to a US air force reconnaissance drone over the Black Sea. The Tass news agency said the drone had not breached Russia’s state border.
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said national elections could take place during wartime if international partners shared the cost, legislators approved, and everyone got to the polls. Zelenskiy was responding to comments from the US senator Lindsey Graham who, while praising the war effort, said Ukraine needed to show it was different by holding elections in wartime.
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The co-founder of Russian tech company Yandex has made a formal request to have EU sanctions on him lifted, in a potential test of whether the EU will take a more sympathetic view of figures who distance themselves from the Kremlin.
Drones attacking Moscow and Russian border destroyed – Russian officials
Authorities in Russia say that air defences destroyed a drone approaching Moscow and as well as two other in a region bordering Ukraine, early on Monday.
Air defences in the Lyubertsy district southeast of the capital “destroyed a drone flying towards Moscow,” the city’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram, without naming an attacker.
“There were no casualties or damage, according to initial reports. Emergency services are on the scene.”
Air traffic at Moscow’s Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports was suspended, the state-run TASS news agency reported earlier, citing the aviation service.
Two other drones were destroyed by air defences over the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram.
It did not say whether there had been damage or casualties.
The capital and other Russian regions have been targeted by a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent days after Kyiv vowed earlier this summer to “return” the conflict to Russia.
