Russia’s Putin hails war advances; Ukraine retakes parts of Donetsk

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Ukraine reclaimed 62sq km (24sq miles) of territory past month, its commandant successful main revealed connected Monday, contradicting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s caller assertion to beryllium advancing “in each directions”.

“The period successful which the occupiers hoped for their breakthroughs and made maximum efforts for this became the period with comparatively the smallest territorial gains by the force successful caller times,” Oleksandr Syrskii, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, claimed connected his Telegram messaging work channel.

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Most of the gains were successful Donetsk, Ukraine’s eastbound region, wherever warring has been aggravated for astir of the war.

Russian forces determination person been gunning for the towns of Dobropillia and Pokrovsk, but mislaid crushed successful some directions.

Towards Dobropillia, Russia captured 13.5sq km (5.21sq miles), but mislaid 25.5sq km (10sq miles), said Syrskii. “In the Pokrovsk direction, their summation was 5sq km (1.9sq miles), portion our troops regained power implicit 26sq km (10sq miles),” Syrskii said.

He added that Ukrainian troops gained different 4sq km (1.5sq miles) connected different sectors of the front.

INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN UKRAINE-1757334026(Al Jazeera)

Across the full front, Russia made estimated gains of 499sq km (190sq miles) successful August, said the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based deliberation tank, but its losses contradict Putin’s caller assertion successful Beijing that each Russian troops successful Ukraine were “advancing successfully, astatine antithetic speeds”.

“Despite spreading propaganda … the Russians suffered blows,” said Andriy Kovalenko, caput of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation.

Dnipro Group of forces spokesperson Oleksiy Belskyi, whose portion is defending Pokrovsk, said connected Saturday that Russia was concentrating armoured vehicles and drones, and redeploying experienced units successful mentation for a caller offensive.

Although Russian advances person picked up immoderate velocity since the spring, past week Russia claimed to person captured lone 1 village, Novoselivka successful Dnipropetrovsk.

It besides claimed to person “neutralised” a Ukrainian effort to onshore reconnaissance troops connected an land successful the Dnipro River Delta.

Russian assaults person travel astatine large cost.

Syrskii estimated Russian casualties since the opening of the twelvemonth astatine 299,210.

He described Ukrainian tactics arsenic “containing the force and inflicting the maximum imaginable losses connected them”.

Russia escalates drone attacks

Unable to triumph the warfare with crushed assaults, Russia has sought to interruption Ukraine’s morale with long-range drone attacks connected its rear cities. During the week of September 4-10, it unleashed a full of 1,811 drones and 63 missiles. Ukraine said it downed 87 percent of the drones and fractional the missiles.

Russia escalated this maneuver overnight connected Sunday with the largest specified onslaught of the war, erstwhile 810 drones and decoys targeted Kyiv, on with 13 missiles.

Ukrainian Premier Yulia Svyrydenko said the furniture offices had been struck for the archetypal time, and photographed herself successful beforehand of the smouldering ruin.

“For the archetypal time, the authorities gathering – its extortion and precocious floors – has been damaged owed to a hostile attack,” she wrote connected Telegram.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed to person targeted its biggest ever drone onslaught against drone manufacturing sites successful and astir Kyiv, “where long-range drones had been manufactured, assembled, repaired, stocked, and launched”, arsenic good arsenic “airbases successful the central, southern, and eastbound parts of Ukraine”.

Russia denies targeting civilians and claims to beryllium aiming astatine subject targets, adjacent if those are sometimes nestled successful municipality spaces.

One of its attacks connected Tuesday killed 24 retirees who were queueing up to cod their monthly pensions successful the municipality of Yarova successful Donetsk.

A caller aerial defence ‘format’

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy connected Sunday told Ukrainians that astir fractional the drones successful the Kyiv onslaught were decoys sent “to complicate the situation” successful aerial defence, and called the shooting down of respective ballistic missiles “a important achievement”.

Ukraine’s subject quality has estimated for immoderate clip present that the Russian drone accumulation – already astatine 90 a time – aims to present onslaught packages of much than 1,000 drones and missiles to overwhelm Ukrainian defences, and has been strategising connected however to antagonistic the threat.

On September 4, Zelenskyy referred cryptically to “a definite format” of aerial defence that helium and French President Emmanuel Macron had discussed for the archetypal time.

“If we person a affirmative awesome from the United States, since technically overmuch successful this format of aerial defence depends connected them – if we person that affirmative signal, we volition beryllium gladsome to stock this information,” Zelenkyy said.

A Ukrainian deliberation tank, Price of Freedom, has projected an aerial defence plan whereby 120 European craft would patrol Ukraine’s occidental skies, allowing its aerial unit to absorption much efficaciously connected antiaircraft and violative operations successful the contested eastbound airspace. It was unclear if Zelenskyy was referring to this plan.

INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN EASTERN UKRAINE copy-1757334011(Al Jazeera)

That aforesaid day, Syrskii said, “We are creating a layered strategy to antagonistic force ‘Shaheds’ and ‘Gerans’,” referring to Russia’s kamikaze and decoy drones, respectively. “Our associated task is to signifier much specified crews, bid much combatant operators, and supply them with much effectual means of demolition and radars.”

That caller aerial defence “format” received renewed value connected Wednesday, erstwhile an estimated 19 drones crossed implicit into Polish airspace, forcing NATO to mobilise Polish F-16s, Dutch F-35s and Italian airborne aboriginal informing and power (AWACS) planes for the archetypal clip to sprout them down.

For the archetypal time, also, NATO’s Article 4 was invoked successful the discourse of the Ukraine warfare by Polish Premier Donald Tusk. The nonfiction says “Parties volition consult together, whenever, successful the sentiment of immoderate of them, the territorial integrity, governmental independency oregon information of immoderate of the Parties is threatened.”

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the airspace usurpation was “an enactment of aggression that created a existent menace to the information of our citizens”, and called it “unprecedented”.

Russian absorption paper Verstka recorded six occasions erstwhile a drone strayed into Polish airspace during the war. “It is improbable that specified a fig of drones could person each entered into Polish airspace by mishap oregon arsenic a effect of a method oregon relation error,” said the ISW.

Ukraine’s heavy strikes

Ukraine has been processing long-range onslaught capabilities arsenic a means of leverage to bring Russia to the negotiating table.

On Friday, Ukrainian drones deed the Ryazan refinery, 1 of Russia’s 4 largest, putting its superior processing portion retired of action. The aforesaid refinery was struck connected August 2 and August 28.

Ukraine besides claimed to person struck 2 S-300 aerial defence vehicles successful the Kaluga region.

On Sunday, drones struck an lipid pumping presumption successful Russia’s Bryansk region, adjacent Naitopovichi. “The installation is of strategical value for transporting lipid products from Belarusian refineries to the Russian Federation,” said Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, commandant of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces.

On the aforesaid day, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) said they had struck the Ilsky refinery connected the Russian borderline territory of Krasnodar Krai and destroyed its superior oil-refining complex.

Residents fell  successful  a structure  during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s onslaught  connected  Ukraine, successful  Kyiv, Ukraine September 7, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter TPX IMAGES OF THE DAYResidents fell successful a structure during a Russian drone onslaught successful Kyiv, Ukraine, connected September 7, 2025 [Thomas Peter/Reuters]

Brovdi said drones besides struck and severely damaged Transneft’s Vtorovo lipid pumping presumption successful Penkino, successful the Vladimir region.

Two days later, Ukraine’s subject quality said 2 lipid and 2 state pipelines had been damaged, besides successful the Penkino area.

Ukraine has been conducting galore of these strikes with domestically built drones, which transportation tiny payloads of little than 100kg (220lb).

Last month, it unveiled wide accumulation of the Flamingo, a 3,000km- (1,900-mile-)range cruise rocket carrying a warhead of much than a tonne, and whitethorn person begun investigating it connected the battlefield.

On September 4, the Flamingo’s manufacturer, Fire Point, besides revealed 2 ballistic missiles nether improvement – the FP-7 with a 200km (124-mile) scope and 150kg warhead, and the FP-9 with a 855km (1,860-mile) scope and 800kg payload.

Ukraine’s allies person already entered into associated accumulation of drones.

On September 3, Denmark said Fire Point would physique a rocket substance works for the Flamingo adjacent the Danish Air Force basal astatine Skrydstrup.

On Tuesday, UK Defence Secretary John Healy said helium would money the accumulation of “thousands of long-range drones” successful the UK for Ukraine, and German defence curate Boris Pistorius said helium was allocating $350m to motorboat a caller heavy onslaught inaugural by purchasing long-range drones from Ukrainian companies and giving them to Ukraine’s equipped forces – a exemplary of assistance pioneered by Denmark.

Twenty-six of Ukraine’s allies connected September 4 committed subject resources to a peacekeeping unit that would run down Ukrainian beforehand lines aft a ceasefire.

Zelenskyy described it arsenic a “security system”.

“We are preparing spot – connected the ground, successful the air, and astatine sea,” helium said.

Separately, successful an interrogation with French mag Le Point, Zelenskyy said, “The question is whether the civilised satellite is acceptable to endure arsenic agelong arsenic Ukraine.”

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