Kyiv is seeking Musk’s approval to equip its drones with Starlink

In Sumy, a night-time drone attack left six people injured, including a 16-year-old girl. Overall, authorities in the region report that eight people were injured in Russian attacks over the past day, but six of these were linked to the night-time raid on the city.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, during the entire wave of attacks that began on the evening of 20 August , Russia deployed 135 drones , 107 of which are reported to have been shot down or neutralised. However, this figure also includes drones launched before 11.00 pm Italian time and cannot therefore be attributed entirely to the night-time period under consideration here.

The Odessa region has also been affected: overnight, a Russian drone damaged the Tabaky international border crossing with Moldova, forcing the authorities to temporarily suspend the movement of people and vehicles.

“Last night, our deep-strike attacks hit an oil refinery in Perm , more than 1,600 kilometres from the border, and the Marinovka military airbase in the Volgograd region,” wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on X, further emphasising that Ukraine’s action is aimed at “ensuring that the consequences of the war return to where they came from”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned Moscow’s ‘cynical and despicable’ attack on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine, which left at least five people dead and 52 injured, according to official figures. “An utterly cynical and despicable attack was carried out by the Russians against an ordinary shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih,” Zelensky said on X, reporting a death toll of five and 52 injured, “including six children”, following the daytime attack in his hometown.

A secret weapons cache has been discovered near Berlin. The German security authorities suspect that the weapons are Russian and were intended for agents tasked with carrying out attacks. This is according to reports by Ndr, Wdr and Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

According to media reports, as early as the end of last summer, following a tip-off, officers discovered a hidden cache in the woods containing firearms. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution believes that the cache was set up on the instructions of the Russian secret services. One suspect has been arrested in Romania as part of the investigation.

The Moldovan border police have temporarily suspended operations at the Mirnoe checkpoint on the border with Ukraine after several drones crashed in the area around the Ukrainian checkpoint at Tabaki. This was reported by the Moldovan Ministry of the Interior.

“In the early hours of 21 August, explosions were reported near the Moldovan-Ukrainian border . Several drones crashed in Ukraine, around 300 metres from the Moldovan border, in the area of the Tabaki checkpoint,” the ministry said in a press release.

The ministry added that, following the incident, operations at the Mirnoe checkpoint had been temporarily suspended. According to the ministry, the Ukrainian checkpoint at Tabaki sustained damage, but so far no casualties have been reported.

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, for its part, announced on its Telegram channel that the transit of people and vehicles through the checkpoint had been suspended.

France has confirmed that a meeting will be held in a ‘hybrid format’ (in person and via videoconference) of the Coalition of the Willing, on Monday 24 August at 1.00 pm. In confirming this, the Élysée Palace added that ‘President Zelensky will also be attending’.

“Following on from the summit of the Coalition of the Willing and the first meeting of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition, held in Paris on 13 July – a source from the French Presidency has announced – the leaders will reaffirm their determination to strengthen support for Ukraine so that it can defend itself against Russia’s aggression.”

At the meeting, co-chaired by “the German Chancellor and the British Prime Minister”, Friedrich Merz and Andy Burnham, the leaders “will reaffirm their determination to step up the pressure on Russia”, “whilst Moscow continues to reject peace and chooses to continue its attacks on civilians. To this end, they will continue to coordinate measures aimed at reducing the resources available to Russia to sustain its war effort, in particular by combating the ‘shadow fleet’.”

On this occasion, discussions will resume on the security guarantees with a view to achieving ‘a just, solid and lasting peace in Ukraine’. The Élysée Palace emphasises that the meeting ‘will symbolically take place on the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence and will provide an opportunity to reaffirm our unwavering support for the Ukrainian people and their struggle to preserve their country’s sovereignty and independence’.

The President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, who is due to travel to Kyiv on Monday, will also take part in the meeting remotely. The Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has also indicated that she will follow the meeting remotely.

The German Ministry of Defence has confirmed that it is aware of cases of Ukrainian soldiers who have gone missing whilst on training in Germany, without providing further details. “The Ministry of Defence is aware that individual members of the Ukrainian armed forces have absconded whilst undergoing training in Germany,” said a spokeswoman for the Special Training Command in Strausberg, near Berlin, when questioned by Die Zeit. The Bundeswehr, the spokeswoman clarified, plays no role in investigating cases of desertion. These are “internal matters for the Ukrainian armed forces”, she explained, referring the matter to the relevant Ukrainian authorities.

After leaving the German training centres, the soldiers, as reported by *Die Zeit*, are said to have sought the right to remain in Germany through the standard asylum procedure. The simplified reception rules intended for Ukrainian war refugees do not, in fact, apply to deserters, as they had been officially sent to Germany for training. However, applying for asylum offers the soldiers the prospect of remaining in the country, not least because the processing of applications can generally take a year or more. According to Die Zeit, among the reported cases is that of a soldier who fled directly from the training ground in Altengrabow, Saxony-Anhalt. The weekly spoke to ten Ukrainian soldiers who had deserted. Among the reasons given for their escape are conflicts with superiors, ill-treatment and the desire to join family members living in Europe.