Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 926 

Here is the situation on Sunday, September 8, 2024.

Fighting

The Russian army has claimed that it had captured the town of Novohrodivka in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow’s forces are advancing on the strategic city of Pokrovsk. The town had more than 14,000 inhabitants before the start of the Russian offensive in February 2022, according to official statistics.
Ukraine has said three more people wounded in a major Russian missile strike on the city of Poltava last week succumbed to their injuries, taking the death toll to 58. The September 3 attack was one of the most lethal Russian hits in months, targeting a military education institute.
A Russian air strike on the Ukrainian border city of Sumy killed two people and wounded four others including two children, the region’s military administration said. The city’s mayor, Oleksiy Drozdenko, also said homes and vehicles were destroyed in the attack early on Sunday.
At least five people were killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Three people were killed and four injured in the town of Kostiantynivka, Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin said, while two men were reported killed near the town of Toretsk about 20km (12 miles) to the southeast.

Ukraine’s air defence units said they destroyed 15 of 23 attack drones and one guided air missile launched by Russia overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. Two of the drones and three other missiles did not reach their targets, the air force added.

Serhiy Lysak, the governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, said the number injured in a Russian missile attack on the city of Pavlohrad the day before had increased to 82. “Sixty people remain in hospital,” he said.
Debris from one of dozens of Russian drones shot down over Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday was found next to Ukraine’s parliament building, the country’s parliament said in a statement.
Funerals were held in Poltava for the more than 50 people killed when Russia attacked a military educational institute in the eastern Ukrainian city. Residents knelt in silent tribute as hearses carrying the victims passed by on their way to a military cemetery outside the city for burial.
At least three people were injured in Ukrainian shelling of the town of Shebekino in Russia’s Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had taken control of the village of Kalynove in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Kalynove lies about 25km (16 miles) southeast of Pokrovsk, a major Ukrainian logistics hub that Russia aims to capture.
Ukraine attacked a munitions depot in the Russian region of Voronezh with drones, a Ukrainian security source told the Reuters news agency. Alexander Gusev, the province’s governor, said that “explosive objects” had triggered a fire. There were no casualties but several hundred people were evacuated and a local state of emergency declared.

Politics and diplomacy

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed former arms production minister Oleksandr Kamyshin as an external adviser for strategic issues.

Richard Moore, the head of the United Kingdom’s MI6 foreign intelligence service, and CIA chief William Burns wrote a joint op-ed for the Financial Times highlighting British and United States efforts to help Ukraine in its war against Russia, and stressing it was crucial for the West to maintain its support.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to London on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the war in Ukraine, the war in Gaza and other key security concerns, the State Department said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged unwavering support for Ukraine after a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of a conference at Lake Como in which they discussed Kyiv’s plans to end the war against invading Russian forces and reconstruction efforts.
Zelenskyy also met Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders at the forum and the two discussed Ukraine’s peace plan. Wilders is the leader of the largest Dutch parliamentary party.

Weapons

The United States has informed allies that it believes Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was deeply concerned by reports about a possible impending transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia. The ministry said the deepening military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow was a threat to Ukraine, Europe and the Middle East, and called on the international community to increase pressure on Iran and Russia. Reports in August said Russia was expecting the imminent delivery of hundreds of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles from Iran.