War in Ukraine: latest news. Missiles strike Kyiv: 16 dead. Romanian President Dan condemns Russia over marine drone

Turning to the weapons used , during the night Russia ‘deployed various types of missiles and 168 drones. The main target of the attack was the Kyiv region. Ukrainian air defences shot down 186 aircraft’. This was reported on social media by the Ukrainian Air Force. Russian forces – it is explained – ‘attacked the Kyiv region with Onyx, Zircon and Iskander-M missiles, as well as with missiles launched from S-400 systems that reach their targets via a ballistic trajectory’.

 A Romanian F-16 fighter jet destroyed a maritime drone hundreds of metres from the Neptun Deep offshore gas extraction project, in the latest incident involving the NATO member state on the border with Ukraine. This was stated by the Defence Minister. The drone was ‘loaded with explosives’ and did not originate from Ukraine, said Defence Minister Radu Miruta on Facebook.

Romanian President Nicusor Dan has blamed Russia for sending the drone, which was shot down by a Romanian fighter jet a few hundred metres from a natural gas field in Romanian waters in the Black Sea, and has ‘firmly’ condemned Moscow for “the escalation of such irresponsible incidents” in a social media post.

The incident is the latest in a series affecting the NATO country on the border with Ukraine. Allied forces recently shot down four drones in Romania, with the latest incident occurring last weekend, and Bucharest today reported the crash of another drone (see below) following Russian attacks on Ukraine; the incident took place in an uninhabited area four kilometres north-east of the village of Grindu, in eastern Romania, near the border.

The scale of the bombing has had repercussions even beyond Ukraine’s borders. Poland activated defensive operations by its air force during the Russian attack, a procedure employed when large-scale raids on Ukraine may approach Polish airspace. Warsaw has not, as yet, reported any violations of its airspace.

Whilst another drone of unknown origin crashed this morning in Romanian territory, near the border with Ukraine – with incursions also into Moldova’s airspace, according to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha – the Ministry of Defence in Bucharest said.

At 3.21 am, a drone entered Romanian national airspace, approximately 13 kilometres east of the city of Galati. Three minutes later, the aircraft crashed approximately four kilometres north-east of Grindu, in Tulcea County, in an uninhabited area.

The offensive comes after weeks of intensified long-range attacks by both sides. In recent days, Ukraine had carried out some of its largest drone operations against Russian territory, including the Moscow region and logistical infrastructure, whilst Moscow had continued to strike Ukrainian cities and infrastructure with missiles and drones. On 18 August, a Russian attack in the Kharkiv region left ten people dead.

The Russian Ministry of Defence stated that the attack launched overnight targeted ‘military industrial facilities, a transport and logistics centre, and warehouses in Kyiv and the Kyiv region’. This was reported by TASS. The attack – it is explained – was carried out “using high-precision weapons from land, air and sea, as well as long-range drones”.

The Russians “had been preparing for a long time” for the attack carried out last night on Ukraine. This was stated by the leader of Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelensky. “The attack was massive. They combined various types of munitions, cruise missiles and drones to cause as much damage as possible to civilian infrastructure. Damage has been reported in Kyiv and the surrounding area, as well as in the Odessa and Chernihiv regions,” he wrote on Telegram. “And until Ukraine has an adequate anti-ballistic defence, Russia will not take peace seriously.” So said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on X. “We are doing everything possible to ensure such protection, and work on the Freyja programme continues on a daily basis,” he added. “But Patriot interceptor missiles are still irreplaceable and we need them every day. Every additional missile saves the lives of our citizens.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha wrote on X: “Every Russian ballistic missile is an act of barbarism. And every interceptor delivered to Ukraine is an act of humanity and has saved lives. We know of partners capable of supplying these interceptors and we urge them once again to act without delay. Every delay costs lives,” the minister added.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been informed of the loss of external power supply to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and the switch to emergency power, according to Russian news agencies. Earlier, the plant had reported that it had activated emergency power supply via diesel generators due to the loss of external power. The ZNPP’s Ferrosplavnaya-1 high-voltage external power line was damaged and subsequently taken offline by the automation system.

Last night, Ukrainian forces launched 726 drones at 18 Russian regions, the occupied Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. This was reported by the Russian Ministry of Defence, which added that all the drones were intercepted. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin specified that 250 unmanned aerial vehicles were launched towards the Moscow region, where no deaths or injuries have been reported.

In Crimea, according to the Tass news agency, restrictions have been imposed on the electricity supply following the damage caused by the attacks. In total, there are three injured: two in the Belgorod region, where a car was hit, and one in the Ulyanovsk region.

“Russia is losing the war it started. And it is retaliating by targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. We are working with Member States and our partners to support Ukraine’s anti-ballistic capabilities. So that Ukraine has the means to prevent the loss of life. This is the most urgent priority.” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made this statement on social media.

There is no specific information regarding a possible visit to Russia by the American negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, and no dates have been set. This was stated by the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov. “As far as we know, the American negotiators are actively working on other aspects of US foreign policy . But at the same time, they are always welcome guests in Moscow. They are always welcome interlocutors for their Russian counterparts, with whom they are in constant working contact, and for President Putin,” he said.

Ukraine’s Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo) has revealed the names of 13 suspects featured in new recordings relating to the latest corruption cases. This was reported by Ukrainska Pravda. Among those mentioned in the ‘Forrest Gump’ and ‘Themis’ investigations, in addition to the aforementioned Iryna Mudra, former deputy head of the President’s Office, are Viktor Dubovyk, director-general of the Directorate for Legal Policy at the President’s Office; Olena Ferens, Deputy Minister of Justice; former MP Maksym Mykytas; Vadym Stolar, a sitting MP; and Vasyl Astion, a businessman and former member of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council. Furthermore, the suspects also include Mykola Hladyshenko, the suspended chairman of the supervisory board of the state-owned Sense Bank; Oleh Stupak, chairman of the board of directors of the state-owned Sense Bank; and Liudmyla Snihur, head of a department at the state-owned Sense Bank. Valentyn Yelizarov, an associate of Mykytas and head of Metrobud LLC, and Mykyta Tarkovskyi, who is linked to Mykytas, are also on the list of suspects. Also included are Yehor Merkulov, Mykytas’s driver and nominal head of Montage Service LLC, and Oleksandr Ostapenko, Mykytas’s bodyguard and nominal director of Philosophy Development LLC.

They were sent to Germany for training and then to return to fight in Ukraine, but many Ukrainian soldiers are said to have taken advantage of their stay to desert. This is according to an investigation by the German newspaper *Die Zeit*, as reported by *Bild*, which states that there are hundreds of such cases nationwide. In the state of Saxony-Anhalt alone, the Ministry of the Interior has reported around 80 cases. According to Die Zeit, the Bundeswehr is currently training Ukrainian soldiers at around 60 facilities across Germany. The programmes include shooting exercises, camouflage, first aid and other basic skills, similar to those provided for German conscripts. Since 2022, around 29,000 Ukrainian soldiers are said to have completed a training period in Germany. Not all of them, however, are said to have returned to Ukraine. The German Ministry of Defence confirmed to *Die Zeit* that some Ukrainian soldiers “left” the facilities without authorisation, whilst pointing out that it did not have an overall figure at national level. In Saxony-Anhalt, among the approximately 80 cases reported by the Ministry of the Interior, there is that of a soldier who fled the Altengrabow training ground. According to Ukrainian law, as Die Zeit points out, unauthorised absence from one’s unit may constitute the offence of desertion, punishable, upon conviction, by years in prison. It is, however, unlikely that the soldiers who have left the service will face trial in Ukraine.