Live blog: Russia thwarts Ukrainian drone attacks over Kursk region

Sunday, September 3, 2023

2252 GMT — Russia's air defence systems shot down two Ukraine-launched drones over the Kursk region, Russia's defence ministry has said on its Telegram messaging app.

The Kursk region, in Russia's south, borders Ukraine to its west.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Kiev almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

More updates 👇

1930 GMT — Zelenskyy: Ukraine strikes pilot training deal with France

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he struck a "very important agreement on training our pilots in France" in a conversation with President Emmanuel Macron.

"Our coalition of modern fighters is becoming stronger," he said in his nightly video address.

He said he and Macron had also discussed what France could do to help protect the Ukrainian city of Odesa and the region.

1924 GMT — Ukraine's Zelenskyy moves to replace wartime defence minister

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has decided to dismiss Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov from his post and will ask parliament this week to replace him with Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine's main privatisation fund.

The announcement, made in his nightly video address to the nation, sets the stage for the biggest shakeup of Ukraine's defence establishment during the war launched by Russia in February 2022.

Reznikov, who was named defence minister in November 2021, has helped secure billions of dollars of Western military aid to help the war effort but has been dogged by graft allegations surrounding his ministry that he described as smears.

1814 GMT — Ukraine drone attacks Russia's Kurchatov: governor

A non-residential building in the Russian city of Kurchatov has been set on fire following an attack by a Ukrainian drone, said Roman Starovoit, governor of the Kursk region.

In a post on the Telegram messaging app, he said there were no casualties and that security forces were on the scene.

1539 GMT — Ukraine expects boom in drone production: defence minister

Ukraine intends to increase drone production as early as this autumn, the Ukrainian defence minister has been quoted as saying, as the country conducts more frequent drone attacks on Russian territory.

Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory have picked up in recent weeks, with dozens of drones striking Russia at once on some days, reaching as far as the western city of Pskov, 600 kilometres from Ukraine.

"I think this autumn there will be a boom in the production of various Ukrainian drones: flying, floating, crawling, etc., and this will continue to grow in volume," Oleksii Reznikov told the state-run Ukrinform news agency.

He said one reason for the growth of production was that authorities had reduced various regulations and laws.

1351 GMT — Zelenskyy discussed 'functioning of grain corridor' with Macron

Zelenskyy and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have spoken on the phone, discussing the "functioning" of a sea corridor set up by Kiev for the safe navigation of ships after Moscow exited a landmark grain deal.

The phone call came on the eve of a summit in Russia between President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who wants to revive the grain deal, and as Moscow hit Ukraine's Odessa region with drones.

"We also discussed ways to ensure the functioning of the grain corridor and enhance the security of the Odessa region," Zelenskyy said on social media after a phone call with Macron.

1143 GMT — Romania strongly condemns 'unjustified' Russian Danube attacks

Romania's defence ministry has strongly condemned repeated Russian attacks on Ukraine's Danube infrastructure close to its border as "unjustified" following the latest overnight drone strikes in the southern Odessa region.

The ministry "reiterates in the strongest terms that these attacks against civilian targets and infrastructure in Ukraine are unjustified and in deep contradiction with the rules of international humanitarian law".

"At no time did the means of attack used by the Russian Federation generate any direct military threat to the national territory or territorial waters of Romania," it added in a statement.

1103 GMT — Russian drones downed as Moscow hits port on Romania border

Ukraine has said it destroyed 22 Russian drones in the southern Odessa region, as Moscow said it hit the Danube port of Reni, on the border with NATO member Romania.

Ukraine's South Military Command said on social media at least two civilians were injured in the attack on what it said was the "civil infrastructure of the Danube".

Russia has been targeting Ukrainian port infrastructure in the Odessa region for weeks, after exiting a deal that allowed safe passage for ships carrying grain from Ukrainian ports.

"On the night of September 3, 2023, the Russian occupiers launched several waves of attacks by 'Shahed-136/131' UAVs from the south and southeast," Ukraine's Air Force wrote on Telegram.

Twenty-five of the Iranian-made attack drones had been launched and "22 of them were destroyed by the forces and means of the Air Force in cooperation with the air defence of other components of the Defence Forces of Ukraine," it said.

1022 GMT — Kiev breaches Russian lines in the south: general to UK media

Kiev's army has made an important breakthrough by breaching Russian lines in southern Ukraine, a key general told British media this weekend, saying he now expected faster progress in the Zaporizhzhia area.

General Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, leading the southern counteroffensive, spoke several days after Kiev declared a strategic victory by recapturing the southern village of Robotyne.

The interview came as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has increasingly vocally dismissed criticism of Kiev's counteroffensive, which has made slower gains than expected.

1000 GMT — Ukraine detains tycoon Kolomoisky on fraud suspicion

A Kiev court has ordered a two-month detention for billionaire Igor Kolomoisky, under suspicion of fraud and money laundering, Ukrainian media has reported.

The arrest of the tycoon — one of Ukraine's richest men and once an ally of Zelenskyy — comes as Kiev says it is still determined to crack down on corruption during the Russian invasion.

"The court chose a preventive measure for Igor Kolomoisky in the form of detention for two months with an alternative in the form of a bail of more than 509 million Ukrainian hryvnias," Radio Svoboda reported.

Ukraine's SBU security service said Kolomoisky was under suspicion of fraud and illegally obtaining property.

0500 GMT — Zelenskyy vows to take back Lysychansk city from Russia

Zelenskyy has congratulated three Ukrainian cities on their celebration days via a video message from Kiev.

Zelenskyy praised Odessa, Sumy and the occupied Lysychansk in his fresh video address, saying the three cities without which Ukraine cannot be imagined are celebrating their "City Day."

The Ukrainian president said despite "Russian terror" including shelling, rockets, bombs and subversive groups to enter the region "the Sumy region lives."

"And the third city is Lysychansk. A city that Ukraine has yet to return along with the entire Luhansk region."

0323 GMT — Russia signs 280,000 for contract military service

Some 280,000 people have signed up so far this year for professional service with Russia's military, the deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev, has said.

Visiting Russia's Far East, Medvedev said he was meeting local officials to work on efforts to beef up the armed forces.

"According to the Ministry of Defence, since January 1, about 280,000 people have been accepted into the ranks of the Armed Forces on a contract basis," including reservists, state news agency TASS quoted Medvedev as saying.

Last year Russia announced a plan to expand its combat personnel more than 30 percent to 1.5M, an ambitious task made harder by its heavy but undisclosed casualties in Moscow's war against Ukraine.

0302 GMT — Russians press Ukraine in the northeast

Concealed under pine branches in the forests of northeast Ukraine, the muzzle of a Soviet-era howitzer rises, aiming for a group of approaching Russian infantrymen many kilometres away.

A Ukrainian soldier signals to fire, then swiftly runs for cover. The thunderous crash of the unleashed projectile sends a pall of black smoke billowing above jabs of yellow flames. A pile of spent shells in the nearby foliage grows by the day.

Here, along a small section of the 1,200-kilometre front line, Moscow’s army is staging a ferocious push designed to pin down Ukrainian forces, distract them from their grinding counteroffensive and minimise the number of troops Kiev is able to send to more important battles in the south.

The Kremlin tactic threatens to further slow the pace of the counteroffensive that was launched almost three months ago.

0124 GMT — Crimean Bridge traffic resumes after brief suspension

Traffic on the main bridge linking the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula has resumed after a brief suspension, the Russian-installed operator of the bridge said on the Telegram messaging app.

The administration did not disclose the reason for the suspension.

Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 in a move condemned by many Western governments as illegal.

The Crimean Bridge has been a target of increased air and sea drone attacks in recent months.

For our live updates from Saturday (September 2), click here.