
Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine kill at least six
Moscow launched at least 49 Shahed-type attack drones, as well as two Iskander-M or KN-23 ballistic missiles overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. Air defences were able to destroy or disable at least 32, with several direct hits.
Four people were killed in the Kherson region, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said, with one dead and four injured in a series of drone strikes that targeted residential areas.
Separate strikes killed one in the village of Chornobaivka and two civilians in a car in the city of Beryslav, Prokudin added.
"A house has been destroyed in the attack. Rescue workers have recovered the body of a 61-year-old woman from under the rubble," Prokudin wrote in a post on Facebook.
The strikes targeted residential areas and infrastructure, he explained, destroying a high-rise building, five houses, a cell tower and several vehicles.
In the Donetsk region, strikes killed two people in Kostiantynivka and injured 10 others, governor Vadym Filashkin wrote.
Another person was injured after strikes on the city of Vasylivka in the Zaporizhzhia region. In total, Moscow carried out 529 attacks on 10 settlements over the course of the day.
Russia has continued to strike Ukraine despite US efforts to reach a ceasefire deal. On Friday, Trump is set to meet Putin in Alaska for the first face-to-face encounter between US and Russian leaders since Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
Despite the talks, Moscow's troops have launched a sudden push in eastern Ukraine in recent days, reports suggest.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Moscow is "redeploying their troops and forces" to launch new attacks on his country, despite external efforts to hold talks that move toward a ceasefire.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Euronews
37 minutes ago
- Euronews
Trump to offer Putin economic incentives to end the war in Ukraine
US President Donald Trump is preparing to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. He is reportedly ready to present Putin with a proposal that includes several economic concessions to Russia in exchange for peace, according to The Telegraph. Among the incentives would be access to Alaska's natural resources, as well as Ukrainian rare earth minerals and the lifting of some sanctions on Russia's aircraft industry. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other senior administration officials are reportedly working closely with Trump to finalise the proposals ahead of the summit. In April, Kyiv and Washington signed a deal that gives the US access to Ukraine's minerals. According to the Kyiv School of Economics, Ukraine holds one third of Europe's and 3% of global lithium reserves. Two of Ukraine's largest lithium deposits lie in Russian-held territory and Putin has laid claim to the valuable minerals extracted there. Ukrainians are sceptical Ukrainians in Kyiv on Wednesday voiced scepticism that the planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will bring the war on Ukraine to an end. Trump has threatened 'very severe consequences' if Putin does not agree to stop his war in Ukraine the summit, to be held in Alaska on Friday, though he did not say what those consequences might be. Kyiv residents weren't optimistic of a breakthrough. "In my opinion, nothing is likely to change in the coming days," said a woman who gave her name only as Natalya. "We have already seen numerous times how negotiations have been postponed, failed, and other changes have occurred." Oleksandra Kozlova, 39, head of department in digital agency, echoed her sentiment. "People have already lost hope. Personally, I don't think this round will be decisive," she said. Many Moscow residents were more hopeful. 'This (conflict with Ukraine) must end someday, so I hope that some kind of compromise can certainly be found,' one resident said. 'It's a huge deal, that the first step has already been taken,' another commented. 'There will definitely be an advantage.' Conflicting terms for peace Trump consulted with European leaders earlier on Wednesday, who said the president assured them he would make a priority of trying to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine when he speaks with Putin on Friday in Anchorage. Prior to Trump announcing the meeting with Putin, his efforts to pressure Russia into stopping the fighting had delivered no progress. The Kremlin's bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armour. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Moscow presented ceasefire conditions that are nonstarters for Zelenskyy, such as withdrawing troops from the four regions Russia illegally annexed in 2022, halting mobilisation efforts, or freezing Western arms deliveries. For a broader peace, Putin demands Kyiv cede the annexed regions, even though Russia doesn't fully control them, and Crimea, renounce a bid to join NATO, limit the size of its armed forces and recognise Russian as an official language along with Ukrainian. Zelenskyy insists any peace deals must include robust security guarantees for Ukraine to protect it from future Russian aggression.


Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
Is Russia really contesting US sovereignty over Alaska?
United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet face-to-face in a remote army base in the Alaskan capital of Anchorage on Friday for much-anticipated talks on Russia's war in Ukraine. The choice of venue is practical. Mainland Alaska and Russia are just 90 kilometres apart, while Alaska's Little Diomede Island lies fewer than 4 kilometres from Russia's Big Diomede Island in the Bering Strait. It means Putin will be able to travel for talks while avoiding the airspace of Western countries that could attempt to intercept his flight to enforce the arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court (ICC). But the venue is not only practical, it's also symbolic. Alaska was once a fully-fledged Russian colony. In 1867, Russia's Tsar Alexander II sold Alaska to the US for $7.2 million, to help pay back high debts accrued during the Crimean war of 1853-1856. For the Kremlin, Alaska was not considered an economically significant part of its territory. Alaska was officially proclaimed the 49th US state in 1949, and is now the largest of the US' current 50 states. Putin will be the first Russian president to visit Anchorage. Choice of venue re-ignites imperialist narratives The Anchorage summit has reignited narratives that hail Alaska a 'historical' Russian land, with prominent Kremlin officials and allies quick to highlight the territory's Russian heritage and history. The theory that Russia will one day re-claim the US state as its own is not new, and has been peddled by several prominent Kremlin officials and allies in the past. Last year, Russian state TV propagandist Olga Skabeyeva referred to the US territory as 'our Alaska'. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, has joked on social media about going to war with the US over the territory. Kirill Dmitriev, a top Kremlin negotiator who also heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said last week that Alaska was a 'Russian American' and suggested the summit could trigger closer cooperation between Moscow and Washington in the Arctic. A 2022 billboard carrying the message 'Alaska is ours', which at that time sparked outrage among some US senators, has also resurfaced. No publicly available evidence Moscow has nullified 1867 sale of Alaska Speculation that Moscow is taking steps to regain the territory is also circulating widely. That speculation has been fuelled by Trump appearing to confuse Alaska for Russia in a press conference on Monday, when he said he would travel to 'Russia' to meet Putin despite having already confirmed Alaska as the venue. Some social media users have suggested that a 2022 Russian Supreme Court ruling nullified the 1867 sale of Alaska to the US. But Euroverify couldn't find any official court document to corroborate that claim. Other users have referenced a 2024 decree that purportedly declared the 1867 sale of Alaska illegal. That decree does exist. It's dated 18 January 2024 and allocates funds for the search, registration, and legal protection of Russia's historic overseas assets. We verified its contents and found it makes no reference to Alaska or any of Russia's historical claims to the territory. Analysts however do believe that the Kremlin could use the decree to re-open historical disputes, not only in Alaska but also in former Russian territories.
LeMonde
3 hours ago
- LeMonde
European leaders see hope for a ceasefire after the Trump and Putin summit
European leaders expressed cautious relief following their videoconference with Donald Trump, organized on Wednesday, August 13, at the initiative of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Europeans sought to decipher the intentions of the US president ahead of his meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on Friday, August 15, and to persuade him not to compromise European security. Have these efforts paid off? The European participants answered in the affirmative. Merz said he had "hope that something is moving." Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said he believes there is a "viable chance" of achieving a ceasefire, echoing Zelensky's view. French President Emmanuel Macron concluded from discussions with Trump that "what the United States wants is to obtain a ceasefire during this meeting in Alaska (...) as well as new prisoner exchanges and the liberation of children." Securing Putin's swift agreement to a ceasefire will therefore be Trump's objective on Friday in Anchorage, according to European officials. While Putin wants to maintain or even expand his positions in eastern Ukraine, "territorial" questions will reportedly not be raised at the summit, even though Trump had suggested otherwise two days earlier. Macron has stressed that there is no serious plan for territorial transactions and that Donald Trump has made it very clear that "the question of Ukrainian territory can and will only be negotiated by the Ukrainian president." A trilateral meeting, including Zelensky, could take place in the coming days, depending on the outcome of Friday's summit.