Russia’s Defense Ministry announced yesterday in its weekly report on the “special military operation” in Ukraine that it shot down a total of 281 Ukrainian drones between August 25 and September 1, including 29 flying over western areas of Russia. However, there is no mention of those who hit the targets. Unmanned aerial vehicle attacks are becoming more common, and Kiev warns that this number will increase.
On Wednesday alone, at least six Russian regions were hit by drones in what was the largest attack since the start of the war. One of the targets hit was Pskov Air Base, 700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, where two military transport aircraft were destroyed and two others damaged. Yesterday, the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, revealed that this attack came from deep within Russia – without taking responsibility.
The adviser to President Volodimir Zelensky, Mychailo Podolyak, warned in an interview with Reuters that such attacks would continue to increase. “There has been an increasing number of attacks by unidentified drones launched from the territory of the Russian Federation and the number of these attacks will increase,” said Podoljak. “Because this is the stage of the war when hostilities are gradually being transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation”he added.
Attacks on Moscow and other Russian cities, attributed to Kiev, have been almost daily for several weeks. Ukraine is trying to push the fighting into Russian territory as it continues its counter-offensive to regain lost territory in the east and south of the country. Despite complaints from several allies about the slowness of this counter-offensive — with Kiev dismissing the criticism and pushing for more weapons — the White House tried to change the narrative yesterday.
National Security spokesman John Kirby admitted that the fighting is progressing more slowly than even Ukraine expected. “Having said that, we note that remarkable progress has been made by Ukrainian forces on the southern frontline over the past 72 hours.” declared. “They had some success against that second Russian line of defense,” he added.
At stake is a several-kilometer advance between Robotyne and Verbove, in the Zaporizia region, with Russia saying it has captured several strategic locations near Kupiansk, to the east. In addition, the Russians continue to bomb in several regions, killing at least one civilian in Kherson during the night rocket attack.
This was announced by the head of space agency Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov Moscow already has Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying a dozen nuclear warheads. The first test of this missile was in April 2022 and in June Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that this would soon be an option. With a range of between 17,000 and 18,000 kilometers, these missiles are an important part of the Russian arsenal and can hit targets all over Europe and the US.
back to school
Yesterday was the opening day of the school year for Ukrainian and Russian students. In a special class, Putin told the students that Russia is as invincible today as it was during World War II. “I understood why we won the Great Patriotic War: it is impossible to defeat a people with this kind of mentality,” said Putin, who regularly compares the current conflict to the war against Nazi Germany. “We were absolutely invincible and we still are today,” he declared.
The Russian lessons began with a new history textbook, which teaches that Ukraine has neo-Nazi authorities, that Moscow is the victim of a Western economic blockade, and that the invasion was a matter of survival. Pupils in the last two years of secondary education will have to learn about “Russia today. Special military operation”, according to the Spanish agency EFE. The manual includes a map of Russia with the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, which were illegally annexed a year ago and were not fully under Moscow’s control.
Source: DN
