Sunday, September 8

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Aftermath of a Russian strike on Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast on Sept. 7, 2024. (Vadym Filashkin / Telegram)

‘Ukraine’s not asking for anything more than you already have,’ Zelensky says in Italy. Ukraine is grateful for air defenses provided by its partners, but they are still “not enough to secure our entire territory and repel every Russian attack,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said during his visit to Italy on Sept. 6.

Russian offensive near Pokrovsk slowing down, media reports. Russian forces have captured considerably less territory in the Pokrovsk direction over the past week than during earlier periods, the independent Russian outlet Agentstvo reported on Sept. 7.

Zelensky meets Dutch far-right leader Wilders in Italy. Zelensky “thanked the Netherlands and the entire Dutch people for the comprehensive support of Ukraine: defense, financial, and humanitarian,” and noted “the significant contribution of the Netherlands to the strengthening of Ukrainian air defense,” the Presidential Office said.

Russian drone debris falls near Ukraine’s parliament. Debris from a Russian Shahed-type kamikaze drone downed overnight was discovered outside the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, on the morning of Sept. 7.

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Telegram threatens Ukraine’s national security, Budanov says. The Telegram messenger app is “harmful” and a “threat to our national security,” Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said in an interview published on Sept. 7.

Ukraine warns Iran against providing ballistic missiles to Russia. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on Sept. 7 that if Iran provides ballistic missiles to Russia, “it will have devastating consequences for Ukrainian-Iranian bilateral relations.”

Ukrainian drones hit ammunition warehouse in Russia’s Voronezh Oblast, source confirms. Drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck an ammunition and military equipment warehouse in Russia’s Voronezh Oblast overnight on Sept. 7, a source in the SBU told the Kyiv Independent.

Kirby: Russian disinformation ‘more sophisticated’ in election lead-up. According to U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, there is “no doubt” the Kremlin is using propaganda and disinformation to “sow discord” among the U.S. population.

Read our exclusives

Howitzers, missiles, armor — what Ukraine was promised in Ramstein

As the allies gathered at the Ramstein Air Base for the 24th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in person to lobby for faster deliveries of air defenses and long-range weapons.

Photo:  Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images

Human cost of war

Russian afternoon attacks kill and injure multiple civilians across Ukraine. Russian attacks on the afternoon of Sept. 7 killed and injured multiple people in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kherson oblasts, Ukrainian authorities reported.

2 killed, 4 injured in Russian attack on Sumy. On the night of Sept. 8, a Russian airstrike hit Sumy, killing two people and injuring four, including two children.

Russian strike on Kostiantynivka kills 3, injures 3. A Russian artillery attack on the city of Kostiantynivka killed three people and injured three others, Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin reported on Sept. 7.

International response

Negotiations underway on Azeri gas transit to EU via Ukraine, Azerbaijan says. Negotiations are underway between Azerbaijan and the EU, Moscow, and Kyiv on supplying natural gas to Europe via Ukraine, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sept. 6 at the Cernobbio Forum in Italy.

Polish FM: Poland should protect Ukrainian nuclear plants from Russian missiles. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski is in favor of shooting down Russian missiles in Poland, warning of a potential nuclear disaster, he told BBC Radio 4 on Sept. 6.

Opinions and insights

Opinion: Russian soldiers in Ukraine are ‘ordinary guys’ who commit horrific war crimes

The director of “Russians at War,” Canadian-Russian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova, claims that she “secretly” embedded with Russian troops fighting in their war of aggression against Ukraine without getting permission from the Russian Defense Ministry.

Photo: Contributor/Getty Images

In other news

Ukrainian official urges Toronto film fest to cancel documentary on Russian soldiers. Ukraine’s consul-general in Toronto, Oleh Nikolenko, has urged the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to remove a documentary centering Russian soldiers fighting on the front lines in Ukraine.

Russian outlet RT trying to push US viewers toward Trump, Reuters reports. Russian state media channel RT is attempting to push U.S. viewers toward voting for Donald Trump in the presidential election through a network of Western media personalities, Reuters reported on Sept. 6, citing a senior U.S. intelligence official.

Fires sweep through Chornobyl forests, containment efforts ongoing. As of September 7, over 2,600 hectares of land in the Chornobyl zone have been affected by fires, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Team Ukraine wins 12 medals on day 10 of Paralympics. On the sixth day of the 2024 Paralympic Games, Ukraine won the highest number of medals that day—12 in total.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Elsa Court, Martin Fornusek, Dominic Culverwell, Sonya Bandouil, and Abbey Fenbert.

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