Daily Briefing From Ukraine

·      Top 5 Headlines

·      President Zelensky’s Message of the Day

·      Ukraine Summer Offensive Summary

·      Infographic of the Day

Headlines

1.     Russia claimed that Ukraine undertook a swarm drone attack on occupied Crimea, potentially involving up to 42 drones. Its Ministry of Defense did not say whether there was any damage or casualties. It also claimed that there was a missile attack on Kaluga and Tula regions which forced the temporary closure of Moscow airports.

2.     The Pentagon said the training Ukrainian F-16 pilots would begin in the US starting next month. “These pilots will be conducting English language training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas in September prior to attending F-16 flying training in Arizona the following month,” a Pentagon spokesman said.

3.     Vladimir Putin spoke about the plane crash that reportedly killed mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and other senior members of the Wagner Group. “I knew Prigozhin for a very long time, since the early 90s,” Putin said. “He was a man of complicated fate, and he made serious mistakes in his life, but he achieved the right results.”. In an address to Russians during the Wagner rebellion, Putin had called Prigozhin – once his ally – a “traitor.”

Other Topics of Interest

Ukrainian Drone Reportedly Strikes Russian-Seized Ship in Crimea

This vessel, built in 2010, was seized by Russia from Ukraine during the 2014 annexation of Crimea but has remained largely unused in recent years.

4.     Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Valery Zaluzhny told American officials that Ukrainian forces are on the verge of a breakthrough, Wall Street Journal reported based on apparent access to US intelligence.

5.     Russian assets in the US, the UK, Germany, Italy and France will be frozen until Moscow compensates Ukraine for damages, Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor, said.

President Zelensky’s Message

Ukraine Summer Offensive Summary

Snapshot

Potential “verge of breakthrough” situation near Robotyne; probing raids along Dnipro and on the shores of occupied Crimea.

Operations – Southern Front

According to ISW, Ukrainian forces advanced closer to the Russian second line of defense in the Robotyne area in the western Zaporizhzhia region on Aug. 24, further widening their breach of Russian defensive lines in the area. Geolocated footage published on Aug. 24 shows that Ukrainian forces advanced further towards the Russian defensive lines west of Verbove (18 km southeast of Orikhiv) and into southern Robotyne (10 km south of Orikhiv).

Ukrainian Southern Operational Command Spokesperson Nataliya Humenyuk reported that Russian forces are conducting additional lateral redeployments from the Kherson region to the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, suggesting that Ukrainian forces have further degraded Russian defensive lines in the area.

Pro-Russian milblogger Rybar said “the difficult situation continues in the Robotyne area. The fighting has already moved to the southern outskirts of the settlement, from which only ruins remain. To the east, the enemy is trying to break through to Verbove.”

Pro-Ukrainian milblogger War Monitor posted that Ukrainian forces continue to be engaged in clashes and battles along the Dnipro River in Kherson region.

Other Operations

The Wagner Group will likely no longer exist as a quasi-independent parallel military structure following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s almost certain assassination of Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner founder Dmitry Utkin, and reported Wagner logistics and security head Valery Chekalov, ISW said.

Ukrainian forces conducted a limited raid on the western shore of occupied Crimea on Aug. 24. Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR) posted footage and announced that Ukrainian forces landed on the shores near Olenivka and Mayak (both 116 km northwest of Sevastopol), according to ISW.

Explosions were recorded earlier this morning in Odesa and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Infographic of the Day