Russian raids on Kryvyi Rih and Mykolaiv: 14 dead, 121 injured. UN convenes Security Council over the crisis in Ukraine

According to some of those present, during the meeting at the White House in July, Zelensky asked Trump to speak to Musk to secure permission for Ukraine to use Starlink beyond its own borders to target Russian ballistic missile launchers.

Zelensky’s request was for Musk to allow Ukraine to use Starlink on deep-strike drones up to 200 km inside Russia, a range that would include ballistic missile launch facilities, command systems and other assets.

“Kiev believed that limiting the depth of such attacks might encourage Musk to approve the request. However, according to those present at the meeting in the Oval Office, Trump was evasive and did not appear to be in favour of the plan. The sources added that they believed Musk would not grant approval,” notes the FT.

Meanwhile, the night between Thursday 20 and Friday 21 August saw a fresh wave of attacks between Russia and Ukraine. In the Kharkiv region, Russian drones struck the village of Lebyazhe, in the Chuhuiv district, killing two people and injuring two others. The attack caused fires and damage to homes.

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 caused by last night’s 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 on the border 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, emphasising further that Ukraine’s action is aimed at “ensuring that the consequences of the war return to where they came from”.

Sz: secret weapons cache found near Berlin; Russians under suspicion

A secret cache of weapons 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. A suspect was 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 a number of drones crashed in the area of 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 taking part’.

“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 once again focus on security guarantees with a view to achieving ‘a just, solid and lasting peace in Ukraine’. The Élysée Palace emphasises that the meeting ‘will be held symbolically 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 AWOL during training in Germany, without providing further details. “The Ministry of Defence is aware that individual members of the Ukrainian armed forces have gone AWOL 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 to obtain 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 examination 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 cited for their escape are conflicts with superiors, mistreatment and the desire to join family members living in Europe.