🔴 Live: Ukraine says nuclear power plants will be fully operational by winter

03:02: Moscow mayor says two combat drones headed for the capital were shot down

Russian forces downed two combat drones headed for Moscow, the city's mayor said Wednesday, the latest in a surge of drone attacks targeting the capital.

"Two combat drones' attempt to fly into the city was recorded. Both were shot down by air defence. One in the Domodedovo area, the second in the Minsk highway area," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, without naming an attacker.

9:28pm: Ukrainian shelling kills three people in Donetsk, Russia says

Russian-installed Donetsk Mayor Alexei Kulemzin accused Ukraine in a social media post of shelling the city of Donetsk, killing three people on Tuesday.

Ten people were wounded, including a boy born in 2012, Kulemzin said in his Telegram channel.

Kulemzin also said that a number of buildings were damaged in several city districts, including a bus stop, a hospital, a store and some residential buildings.

Kulemzin's version of events could not be independently verified.

8:36pm: Erdogan says revival of grain deal depends on Western countries keeping 'promises'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that the revival of a deal with Russia to allow Ukrainian grain exports, brokered by Ankara and the UN, "depends on Western countries which must keep their promises".

"I think a solution can be found," Erdogan added, referring to a recent telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who refused to extend the accord.

Turkey was a key player in the now collapsed deal that allowed for safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea. 

The accord, brokered in July 2022, ended last month after Moscow refused to renew it. 

8:28pm: Germany ready to extend Patriot air defence deployment in Poland until end of year

Germany has offered to extend the deployment of three Patriot air defence units in Poland until the end of 2023, the defence ministry in Berlin said on Tuesday.

"An extension beyond the end of 2023 is not foreseen," the ministry said in a statement, adding that some of Germany's Patriot units were needed for use by NATO's quick reaction response force in 2024, while others had to undergo maintenance.

Together with three Patriot air defence units, some 300 German soldiers have been based in the Polish town of Zamosc, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the Ukrainian border, since the start of the year to protect the southern town and its crucial railway link to Ukraine.

The deployment was triggered by a stray Ukrainian missile that struck the Polish village of Przewodow in the region last November, in an incident that raised fears of the war in Ukraine spilling over the border.

5:46pm: On the ground with a Ukrainian artillery brigade

As the Ukrainian army continues its counteroffensive, artillery brigades are increasingly using Western weaponry alongside their Soviet-era equipment. FRANCE 24’s Emmanuelle Chaze reports from the Donetsk region, where the 59th artillery brigade is launching strikes at Russian positions. 

02:24

4:42pm: Ukraine will mirror Russian attacks in Black Sea, says Zelensky

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video published on Tuesday that Ukraine would fight back against Russia in the Black Sea to ensure its waters were not blockaded and it could import and export grain and other goods.

The comments, published on the president's website, come days after Ukrainian maritime drones packed with explosives damaged a Russian warship near a major Russian port and struck a Russian tanker.

"If Russia continues to dominate the Black Sea, outside its territory, blockading or firing at us again, launching missiles at our ports, Ukraine will do the same. This is a just defence of our opportunities, of any corridor," Zelensky said.

"We don't have that many ships. But they should clearly understand that by the end of the war, they will have zero ships, zero."

Russia withdrew from a deal last month allowing the safe export of grain from Ukrainian ports. Russian drones and missiles have repeatedly struck Ukrainian port facilities and grain silos.

Ukraine has responded by launching sea-drone attacks on a Russian oil tanker and a Russian warship at the Novorossiysk naval base, next door to a major grain and oil port.

3:55pm: Ukraine says it foiled Russian attempt to hack army's combat information system

Ukrainian special services have foiled an attempt by Russian hackers to penetrate the Ukrainian Armed Forces' combat information system, the SBU security service said on Tuesday.

"As a result of complex measures, SBU exposed and blocked the illegal actions of Russian hackers who tried to penetrate Ukrainian military networks and organise intelligence gathering," SBU said on the Telegram messaging app.

The service said hackers tried to gain access to "sensitive information on the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the location and movement of the Defence Forces, their technical support".

SBU said the responsibility for the attack lay with a Russian hacking team known within the cyber security research community as Sandworm. Cyber specialists found that hackers planned to use Ukrainian military tablets to spread viruses in the battle system, SBU said.

Ukraine has reported an increase in Russian attempts to hack into computer systems of the Ukrainian government, armed forces and energy sector since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Russia has repeatedly denied such accusations.

2:55pm: UK slaps sanctions on people and companies accused of 'sustaining Russia's military machine'

The UK on Tuesday slapped new sanctions on 25 companies and individuals to "close the net" on Russian President Vladimir Putin's access to foreign military equipment.

Those targeted include people and businesses in Turkey, Dubai, Slovakia and Switzerland that the Foreign Office said are "supporting the illegal war in Ukraine".

Sanctions have also been imposed on Iranians involved in producing drones for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Belarusian defence organisations linked to the manufacturing of military technology for the Belarusian regime.

"Today's landmark sanctions will further diminish Russia's arsenal and close the net on supply chains propping up Putin's now struggling defence industry," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.

"There is nowhere for those sustaining Russia's military machine to hide."

1:43pm: Georgia PM calls Russia 'aggressor' on anniversary of war

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili branded Russia an "aggressor" Tuesday as he marked 15 years since the two countries fought a war over a breakaway region.

"We have known for a long time that Russia was an aggressor, we know that and the whole world knows that," Garibashvili told reporters.

Russia sent thousands of troops into Georgia on August 8, 2008 after Tbilisi launched a large-scale military operation against South Ossetian separatists who had been shelling Georgian villages in the region.

Hundreds of soldiers and civilians from both sides were killed during the 2008 war. The United Nations said around 120,000 people were displaced, though many returned to their homes afterwards.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that Kyiv stood in solidarity with Tbilisi, and that Russia would "pay the most" for its aggression.

"Ukrainians stand in solidarity with the people of Georgia, and I thank all Georgian citizens who are defending freedom with us," he said.

1:11pm: Russia said hit military command post in east Ukraine

Russia said Tuesday its forces had struck a Ukrainian military command post in the eastern Ukraine town of Pokrovsk, a day after a fatal attack Ukrainian officials said damaged civilian buildings. 

"Near the settlement of Krasnoarmeysk in the Donetsk People's Republic, an advanced command post of the Khortytsya joint group of Ukrainian troops was hit," Russia's defence ministry said, using the Russian name for Pokrovsk.

11:17am: Russia pins recruitment office arson attacks on Ukraine

Moscow on Tuesday accused Ukraine of inciting Russians to set fire to military recruitment offices, following a recent uptick in the number of arson attacks.

Since the start of the Russian offensive on February 24, 2022 military recruitment centres have repeatedly been targeted, with Russians setting them on fire or throwing Molotov cocktails at them.

"All these crimes were committed by Russian nationals following the so-called 'instructions' received by phone from Ukraine," the general prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The statement said individuals working on behalf of Ukraine posed as members of law enforcement or bank employees during phone calls, forcing Russians to "commit crimes".

The ministry stressed that attacks on military recruitment offices are considered grave crimes and are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

10:58am: Poland to send additional troops to Belarus border

Poland's defence ministry has agreed to send additional troops to the border with Belarus following a request from the border guard service, state-run news agency PAP reported on Tuesday.

Poland's border guard service requested an additional 1,000 border troops amid an increase in attempts to illegally cross the frontier, the deputy interior minister said on Monday.

"Due to the dynamic situation on the Polish-Belarusian border... the minister of national defence ordered that the request be implemented and that additional soldiers be assigned to patrol the Polish-Belarusian border," the defence ministry was quoted as saying by PAP.

Poland has built a face on the border with Belarus, equipped with electronic protection.

In recent weeks, soldiers from the Wagner mercenary group have appeared near the border, a development Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said was aimed at destabilising the situation on NATO's eastern flank.

10:31am: Double missile strike in Ukraine’s Pokrovsk follows Russian ‘pattern’

Two missiles launched 40 minutes apart hit the city centre of Pokrovsk on Monday evening, following what has become an established Russian pattern of attack in Ukraine.

“There’s a first strike then Russian forces are waiting for rescue workers to arrive onsite,” said FRANCE 24’s Emmanuelle Chaze reporting from Kyiv. “Then there’s a second strike, which causes even more damage and also usually kills a lot of rescuers.”

The deputy head of the Donetsk rescue services was among those killed in Pokrovsk on Monday evening.

01:23

8:46am: Ukraine nuclear plants fully operational for winter, operator says

Ukrainian nuclear power plants located in territory held by Kyiv will be fully operational by winter to provide electricity for the country, Ukraine's atomic energy operator said Monday.

"All the power at our disposal will be given to the electricity grid" after the servicing of some reactors before winter, Energoatom chief Petro Kotin told journalists at the Yuzhnoukrainsk plant in southern Ukraine.

Ukraine currently has three power stations with a total of nine reactors in the territory under its control.

The fourth nuclear power station, which is also the biggest in Europe, is the Zaporizhzhia plant which houses six reactors. It has been occupied by Russian forces since March 2022.

Ukrainian nuclear power stations were not "directly affected" by the wave of Russian strikes on energy infrastructure in the autumn and winter of last year, which cut off power to millions of Ukrainian homes, Kotin said.

3:41am: Several killed, scores wounded in Russian missile strikes on east Ukraine city 

Rescue workers combed through the rubble of damaged buildings in the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the day after Russian strikes killed at least seven people.

Pokrovsk sits just 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the eastern frontline, where Moscow says it is gaining ground and repelling Ukrainian attacks. 

Two missiles – launched 40 minutes apart – damaged residential buildings, a hotel, catering establishments, shops and administrative buildings on Monday, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk region's military administration said. 

Seven people died and 67 were wounded, including two children, according to Igor Klymenko, Ukraine's minister of internal affairs.

Those killed included a high-ranking emergency official of Donetsk region, Klymenko said.

"We are resuming the demolition of rubble," he said early Tuesday after the rescuers "were forced to suspend work for the night due to the high threat of repeated shelling." 

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Moscow had struck a residential building, and shared a video on social media of civilians helping wounded people and rescuers clearing rubble from a building that had lost its top floor.

Key developments from Monday, August 7:

Two Russian missile strikes on the east Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, including on a residential building, on Monday killed at least seven people and wounded 31, Kyiv said. Earlier on Monday shelling of border areas of the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine and the southern city of Kherson killed three people, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukrainian troops are creating conditions to advance forward step-by-step and have the initiative on the battlefield, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said on Monday. Zaluzhnyi said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that the Ukrainian defence was stable with troops repelling Russian attempts to counter-attack and distract Ukrainian forces from other areas of the front

Read yesterday's live blog to see how the day's events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)