The situation as of 8:00 a.m. on August 29, 2022
OPERATIONAL SITUATION
Russian provocations near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant continue, which threaten the safety of the facility and could lead to a nuclear accident. The overall situation on the front line has not changed significantly. Russian troops are concentrating their efforts on attacks in Donbas (in the Avdiivka and Bakhmut areas). In other directions, they carry out local operations to restrain the AFU. The start of the movement of additional Russian units (the so-called “3rd Army Corps”) into the theater of combat operations has been recorded. It is expected that it can be used to reinforce the strike grouping in Donbas or in the South. Intense shelling along the entire front line and missile strikes on Ukrainian territory are ongoing. For their part, the Armed Forces of Ukraine strike Russian military infrastructure to reduce the Russian army’s logistical and firepower capabilities.
Battle for the Donbas
Russian forces keep concentrating their main efforts on the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions. In the vicinity of Bakhmut, urban fighting continues. The invading forces have advanced south of the city along the Bakhmut-Horlivka highway. Auxiliary attacks take place in the Sloviansk direction. However, here the Ukrainian Armed Forces effectively hold their positions.
Intense shelling continues along the front line. Between 25 and 28 August, 13 people were killed and 27 civilians were injured in the Donetsk region.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out several strikes against Russian military infrastructure in the Luhansk region. A base of Russian troops on the territory of temporarily occupied Kadiivka was destroyed. The Russian military location in Svatove was also hit.
Kharkiv direction
In the Kharkiv direction, Russian troops are focused on maintaining taken lines. Permanent shelling of Kharkiv and other settlements in the region continues. On the night of August 27, a missile strike on the central part of the regional center damaged a historic building and an educational institution. In the evening of August 27, an enterprise in Kharkiv was hit. The next day a missile strike targeted the center of the city, damaging an administrative building. In recent days, at least 4 civilians were killed and 6 people were wounded in Kharkiv territory.
Zaporizhzhia direction
Russian troops have intensified strikes on Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses were recorded operating near the city. On the night of August 27, a missile strike on the regional center destroyed a boarding school building. The following night, the shelling was repeated, and 2 people were injured as a result.
The shelling of the town of Orikhiv resumed. On August 25, 1 civilian was killed on its territory; on August 28, 3 people (including 2 children) were injured in the town. 5 civilians are also known to have died as a result of shelling in the temporarily occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia region.
On August 26, explosions of Russian depots near Melitopol were recorded. On August 28, according to Mayor Ivan Fedorov, the AFU struck one of the largest Russian military bases located at the Avtokolorlyt plant.
On August 25, due to fires near the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the plant was disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid. Subsequently, its work was resumed, but the situation around the facility remains threatening.
Southern direction
Russian troops are carrying out intensive shelling along the front line. In the Kryvyi Rih direction, strikes using heavy artillery and MLRS are carried out in the Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol districts. In Nikopol, an administrative building and multi-storey residential buildings were damaged. On August 28, 1 civilian was killed in the city and 4 other people were injured. In the Mykolaiv direction, the shelling also continues, affecting local residents.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue striking at the military and logistics infrastructure of Russian troops in the Kherson region. The Antonivskyi and Kakhovskyi bridges over the Dnipro River were hit again, and the Ukrainian military also hit the Darivskyi bridge over the Inhulets River. In addition, a base of Russian troops located on the territory of the penal colony in Kherson was shelled. The Ukrainian military also destroyed the headquarters of the Russian troops in Nova Kakhovka.
Shelling of Ukrainian territory
On August 26, a missile strike was launched against the Dnipropetrovsk region. The results of the Russian strike on Chaplyne on August 24 have been clarified – 25 people, including 2 children, are currently considered dead.
On August 28, four rockets were fired at a military facility in the town of Sarny (Rivne region) damaging more than 30 civilian facilities – residential buildings and a hospital – as a result of the strike.
The shelling of the border areas of the Chernihiv and Sumy regions continues. On August 27, 2 people were wounded in the Sumy region.
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, as of the morning of August 28, as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, the number of injured children increased to 1,112 (379 children were killed, 733 were wounded). According to the government platform Children of War, as of August 28, 7,013 children had been deported and 226 were missing. The Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine has informed that since the beginning of full-scale war more than 6,000 orphaned children have been evacuated from dangerous regions. More than 800 other orphans and children left without parental care from Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and other potentially dangerous regions are planned to be evacuated in the future.
Commissioner for Issues of Persons Missing under Special Circumstances Oleh Kotenko reported that Ukraine has already returned the bodies of 541 fallen military personnel. 428 bodies have been brought back from Mariupol, of which more than 300 were Azovstal defenders.
Human Rights Watch stated that the use of cluster munitions by Russian troops resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Ukrainian civilians. Ukraine remains the only state in the world against which this type of weapon is being used. According to preliminary estimates, in total, cluster munitions attacks occurred in 10 of the country’s 24 regions between February and July 2022; and 689 Ukrainian civilians were killed as a result of these attacks.
On August 28, Russia launched new rocket and artillery fire near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Of particular concern is the state of the plant’s nuclear reactor cooling system. A cooling failure could lead to a meltdown of the reactors. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi stated that the situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remains very dangerous after the plant resumed electricity supplies to Ukraine following a temporary outage.
According to plant employees, Russian troops have deployed artillery and rocket launchers at and around the Zaporizhzhia NPP. They caused explosions near the facility in an attempt to discredit the Ukrainian military. The plant workers also note that there have been cases of torture of employees there.
In the last six months of the war, the World Health Organization confirmed 173 attacks on medical facilities in Ukraine, resulting in nearly 100 deaths and 134 injuries.
Resistance
In the temporarily occupied city of Berdiansk (Zaporizhzhia region), one of the heads of the pseudo-law enforcement structures working for the occupation administration was killed in a car explosion. Another head of the occupation structures was found dead in another population center in Zaporizhzhia region. Also, local media reported that a staff for the preparation of a so-called “referendum,” in which Russia wants to legalize the occupation of Ukrainian territories, was blown up near Melitopol.
ECONOMIC SITUATION
Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko shared the Government’s forecasts for the next year. She revealed that in 2023, the pace of development of the Ukrainian economy will fluctuate from a further decrease of 0.4% to a growth of 15.5%.
In preparation for the heating season, the government has separately allocated UAH 1.4 billion for the purchase of special equipment, which will quickly respond to the challenges and problems of heating and water supply.
As of August 27, more than 1 million tons of agricultural products were transported from Ukrainian ports to 15 countries for a month within the framework of the Initiative on the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs.
The Prosecutor’s Office and the Security Service of Ukraine continue to search for and seize Russian-related assets in favor of Ukraine. In particular, the Office of the Prosecutor General reported that it had transferred UAH 4.6 billion of assets of an agrarian enterprise affiliated with Russia to ARMA (Asset Recovery and Management Agency).
POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC EVENTS
The Ukrainian authorities are actively communicating with international partners in an effort to secure increased support from them. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi had a telephone conversation with the U.S. President Joseph Biden. The head of the state informed the U.S. President in detail about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP and the global risks that could lead to its aggravation. The two leaders emphasized the need to bring the nuclear power plant back under Ukraine’s control and provide access to it for IAEA representatives.
On 25 August Volodymyr Zelenskyi held a meeting with Luigi Di Maio, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic. The president of Ukraine noted Italy’s leadership in supporting Ukraine’s candidate status to the European Union and also noted the importance of support in the context of the preparation of the eighth package of sanctions against Russia. In particular, he stressed the need to introduce visa restrictions for Russian citizens.
On August 25, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the Putlos military training ground and met soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who are trained in Germany. He also promised to continue supporting Ukraine with weapons. Scholz recalled that Germany already supplies Ukraine with “Gepard” anti-aircraft guns and specified that half of the promised 30 units had already been provided. Meanwhile, the UK announced plans to transfer six underwater drones to Ukraine – this equipment will help clear the country’s coastline from mines. Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anušauskas declared that Lithuania would buy 37 kamikaze drones for Ukraine.
Increased sanctions pressure on the Russian economy is also of great importance. In particular, the Norwegian government imposed new sanctions against Russia, designed to significantly limit its ability to finance the war in Ukraine. The new package of restrictive measures establishes a ban on the purchase, import or transfer of Russian gold; expands the ban on Russia’s access to Norwegian ports; and prohibits the acceptance of deposits from Russian citizens and legal entities. Another 54 individuals and 10 legal entities were added to the sanctions list.
The information in the digest is collected from official sources — reports of state authorities of Ukraine, Ukrainian and international news agencies. The accuracy of the data is carefully checked by the project team and corrected in case of fake news.