War in Ukraine: drone attacks near Moscow, one dead and several injured in a Russian bombing… an update on the situation

At least 40 injured after Russian missiles fired on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. MAXPPP – SERGEY KOZLOV

Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Sunday, September 1, 2024, discover the latest news around this conflict.

Zelensky calls on the US to allow Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday increased pressure on the United States to allow Ukraine to carry out strikes against military targets deep inside Russian territory. Washington has provided more than $50 billion (€45 billion) in military aid to Kiev since 2022, but the use of American weapons is permitted only on Ukrainian territory or for cross-border defense operations.

Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian attacks using guided bombs, such as the one that hit a residential building in the city of Kharkiv on Friday, could be prevented only by striking Russian military airfields, bases and terror logistics. Russian".“We need capabilities to truly and fully protect Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,”, he told the United States, France, Britain and Germany.

“We need both the authorization for long-range capabilities and your long-range missiles and shells.” Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to make his case again when he travels to the United States next month to present a plan for victory to President Joe Biden and attend meetings of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Russian bombing kills one, injures four in Sumy region

One civilian was killed and four others injured in a Russian shelling in the Ukrainian region of Sumy, on the border between the two warring countries, the local Ukrainian administration said on Sunday. “During the night and morning, the Russians launched 18 shelling attacks on the border territories and settlements of the Sumy region; 47 explosions were recorded,”, the administration said on Telegram.

Nine districts of the region were attacked. The Ukrainian Air Force said in a separate statement that it had destroyed eight of the 11 Russian attack drones used overnight.“This time, the occupiers targeted Ukrainian grain and agricultural logistics, particularly in the Mykolaiv and Sumy regions,”, the air force said, without giving further details.

The Sumy region borders Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a major cross-border incursion on August 6. Russian troops continue to advance toward the strategic center of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian drones target refinery and power plants near Moscow

Ukraine launched drone attacks targeting power plants and a refinery near Moscow, sparking fires, while more than 150 drones were destroyed elsewhere in the country, Russian officials said Sunday. Drone debris caused fires at the Moscow oil refinery and the Konakovo power plant in the Tver region, one of central Russia's largest energy producers, officials and media said. The Russian Defense Ministry said on the Telegram messaging app that its units had destroyed 158 drones launched by Ukraine overnight, including nine over Moscow and its environs.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said several drones had targeted the Moscow refinery and that a fire had broken out in a “separate technical room” at the plant. The state news agency TASS, citing emergency services, later said the fire had been brought under control. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. Ukraine did not immediately comment. Temporary restrictions imposed overnight at Moscow's Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports were lifted Sunday morning, according to aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia.

The two-and-a-half-year war is at a pivotal moment, with Russia continuing its offensive in eastern Ukraine while trying to expel Ukrainian forces that crossed its western border in a surprise incursion on August 6. Last week, Russia launched its heaviest airstrikes against Ukraine since the war began, hitting energy facilities across the country. Ukraine, which has a rapidly developing domestic drone industry, has stepped up its own attacks on Russian energy, military, and transportation infrastructure.

Kiev is meanwhile lobbying the United States to be allowed to use more powerful weapons supplied by the West to inflict greater damage inside Russia and prevent Moscow from continuing its attacks on Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022. Top officials under Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Washington last week to demand what the Ukrainian president called the“capabilities to truly and fully protect” the country. The affected refinery in the southeast of the Russian capital belongs to Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom.

Gazprom Neft declined to comment. The Baza Telegram news channel, which is close to the Russian security services, reported that loud explosions were heard near the Konakovo power plant. Tver Governor Igor Rudenya said a fire had broken out in the town of Konakovo, but that electricity and gas supplies had not been interrupted. He did not specify the location of the fire.

Ukraine also tried to strike the Kashira power plant in the Moscow region with three drones, Mikhail Shuvalov, head of the Kashira city district, said on Telegram. There were no fires, damage or casualties as a result of the attack. “Electricity is supplied without problems,”, he said on Telegram. The Defense Ministry said that 46 drones were destroyed over the Kursk border region, 34 over Bryansk, 28 over Voronezh and 14 over the Belgorod regions.

Others were shot down over Kaluga, Lipetsk, Ryazan and about 20 other Russian regions, the ministry said. According to initial reports, none of the attacks caused any injuries. Russia rarely reveals the extent of damage inflicted by Ukraine's airstrikes.

Moscow to revise nuclear doctrine due to West's actions in Ukraine

Russia will change its nuclear doctrine in response to the West's actions in the conflict in Ukraine, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Sunday by the state news agency TASS. Ryabkov did not specify what the changes would be. Russia's current nuclear doctrine, set out in a 2020 decree by President Vladimir Putin, states that it can use nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear attack by an enemy or a conventional attack that threatens the existence of the state.

Russia, which accuses the West of using Ukraine as a proxy to wage war, has previously said it is considering changes, though it has never been as categorical as Sergei Ryabkov. “The work is at an advanced stage and there is a clear intention to make corrections,”, he said, according to TASS. Sergei Ryabkov added that this decision was “connected with the escalation of (Russia's) Western adversaries” in the framework of the conflict in Ukraine.