The White House said that US President Joe Biden praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for visiting Ukraine and Kiev as part of efforts to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II. Both leaders expressed “support for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in accordance with international law, based on the United Nations Charter.” Modi later traveled to Moscow to meet with his BRICS “colleague” Vladimir Putin, by the way.
“Ukraine has a victory plan that it will present to the United States,” Zelensky said at a press conference. According to him, the Kursk operation is a component of this plan. The second component is “Ukraine’s strategic position in the global security infrastructure.” The third is a “powerful package to force Russia to end the war through diplomatic means.” The fourth is economic. “I will present this plan first to the President of the United States, since its success depends on him, whether we get what is in the plan or not and whether we are free to use what is in the plan or not,” Zelensky said.
The plan is expected to be shown not only to Biden, but also to Harris and Trump.
Previously, Politico reported on a plan that includes targets for long-range strikes on Russian territory, brought to Washington by Yermak and Umerov.
Ukraine has indeed provided the United States with information about targets in Russia that it would like to hit with Western long-range missiles, the Financial Times writes. Airfields, ammunition depots, fuel storage facilities and command and control centers are on the list.
The FT recalls the White House’s position that the use of such weapons is unlikely to change the strategic situation in Kiev’s favor.
Ukraine has successfully tested its first ballistic missile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on August 27. “There is a great team of people working in the defense industry. It’s not just state institutions, but also private ones. (…) I am very grateful to our guys for doing their job. (…) I thought it was too early to talk about it, but I will say that there was a test, a good one, of the first Ukrainian ballistic missile,” he said at a press conference in Kiev. Zelenskyy later said that citizens who have left Ukraine should be returned home, “but without coercion.”
In Poland, hundreds of Polish soldiers have been searching for a downed drone for two days, which allegedly crossed into the country from Ukraine. The military says the search will be stopped in three cases: if the command orders it, if the drone is found, or if the entire suspicious area is searched.
Lukashenko said that several sides are advising Belarus to distance itself from Russia and side with Ukraine, promising to protect it and move NATO troops to Smolensk, BelTA reports: “Today I am receiving proposals from all sides, which we cannot accept 99%. Therefore, I want it to be understood what kind of environment we are in, what kind of situation we are living in. That’s all I can say,” Lukashenko said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is in Yemen and at a joint press conference with the head of the Yemeni Foreign Ministry said that the Russian doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons is “currently being clarified”; Kiev’s demands for the West to give permission to launch Storm Shadow missiles on Moscow and St. Petersburg are blackmail, and discussing their similar use is “playing with fire.” Russia “will not fall in love” with a “peace summit” with Ukraine in a country in the Global South if it follows the same logic as the first. If the West is interested in resolving the conflict in Ukraine, then we must sit down at the negotiating table.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov chaired the meeting of the Coordination Council on border zone security issues. The Minister stressed that all decisions must lead to a concrete result: what matters is not the formal implementation of demands, but the real improvement in the supply of fighters.
According to data provided by the Russian Defense, the daily losses of Ukrainian troops in the Kursk direction amounted to 400 people and 30 units of armored vehicles. The Russians repelled 11 Ukrainian attacks in the direction of the settlements of Borki, Kulbaki, Kremyanoye and Malaya Loknya.
According to former UK Deputy Chief of Defence Staff General Simon Mayall, Russia may be deliberately avoiding rushing to push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region in order to weaken Ukrainian resistance in other areas of the front.
According to General Mayall said that the concentration of Ukrainian forces and Western weapons in the Kursk region could divert attention from more important directions, such as Donbass: “This could have negative consequences for the Ukrainians, as they have brought quite a lot of foreign equipment and could simply sit there, controlled by the Russians, without having a real impact on what is happening in Donbass,” the general said.
Ukraine will not renew the gas transit agreement with Russia, which expires at the end of 2024. At the same time, the continuation of the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine is possible if companies from European countries agree with the Russian Federation. Gas transit continues at the moment, despite the fighting in the Kursk region and the capture of the gas metering station in Sudzha by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
President Zelensky said on Monday that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had already used F-16 fighter jets in the Russian Air Force strikes, shooting down missiles and drones, and complained again about the lack of help from the West; he then said that Ukraine needs the MiG-29 fighters that remained in Poland. There are between 10 and 14 operational fighters of this type left in the country.
Jens Stoltenberg said that on August 28 he would convene a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council at Kiev’s request.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi was presented with the results of the specific attacks on the Kursk nuclear power plant, Rosatom head Likhachev said: “There can be no ambiguity about who carried them out,” he stressed. Grossi said that there is a danger of a nuclear accident in the Kursk region.
Due to a severe shortage of electricity, emergency power cuts are being introduced throughout Ukraine, without any planning, DTEK reports. It is also learned that the Russian military launched a night attack using Kinzhal hypersonic missiles against key airport infrastructure facilities in Ukraine.
Let’s look at the front in the Kursk region: the situation on the ground is not changing much. Over the past 24 hours, there have been no advances of the Ukrainian Armed Forces or new breakthroughs in the territory of the Kursk region. Ukrainian artillery is actively operating throughout the region. At night, Russian air defense forces shot down four Ukrainian missiles. Cases of remote mining of roads are reported in the Glushkovsky district.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky admitted that, by attacking the Kursk region, Kiev wanted to divert significant forces of the Russian army from the Pokrovsky direction, but the attempt failed.
In the Belgorod area, no major border breakthroughs have been recorded. Regular clashes with small groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue in the area, but it is impossible to speak of the enemy’s entry into our territory.
And now a look at the front updated at 16:00 on August 27
Zaporozhye Front. Positional battles continue. No significant changes.
Donetsk Front. In Konstantinovka, fighting continues, progress is being made. In Krasnogorovka, there are no significant changes. In Karlovka, Russian forces continue to advance into the settlement. There are also advances by Russian troops in Kalinovo. In Novogrodovka, Russian forces are confidently pushing Ukrainians out of the populated area, Ukrainian media report citing sources in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian media report that Ukrainian forces have begun to withdraw from the settlement, however, a focal enemy presence remains on the northern outskirts and in the southwest in the area of the machine-building plant.
On the northern flank, heavy fighting is taking place on the southeastern outskirts of Grodovka. Currently, there are no significant changes in the configuration of the front in this area. At the same time, to the southwest of the settlement, units of the Russian Armed Forces are advancing towards the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Krasny Yar – in the event of liberation of the village and occupation of Nikolaevka, a “half-cauldron” will form around Grodovka. Russian troops are advancing to Dzerzhinsk.
Chasovoyarsk direction. No significant changes. Heavy fighting continues in the eastern part of the city.
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