Ukraine-Russia war: Zelensky orders 1,000 daily drone strikes on Russia, Serbia secures sanctions waiver for Russian-owned oil firm

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Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky orders military to hit Russia with ‘1,000 drones a day’

‘There is a concrete goal, and we will fulfil this task,’ Ukrainian president says

Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered his military to increase its long-range drone strikes against Russia to 1,000 per day, up from around 300 currently.

"There needs to ⁠be more: there is a concrete goal, and we will fulfil ‌this task," ​the Ukrainian president ‌said ⁠in his ⁠evening address.

Zelensky also said the US had given Kyiv information about a number of meetings in Moscow over the last few days.

In a Telegram post, he wrote: "Today we received information ⁠from the American side about the meetings in Moscow that took place these days. There were a number of meetings there.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had travelled ⁠to Moscow to warn Russia off any attack on a NATO member.

Kremlin dismissed the report, while Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin would not attack a NATO country, playing down media reports on Ratcliffe's trip.

Two sources told Reuters ‌that Ratcliffe had raised the possibility of a ‌Russian operation against a NATO member during the meeting, although it was unclear whether that was the primary purpose of the trip.

Serbia secures further sanctions waiver for Russian-owned NIS oil firm

Serbia has secured a further sanctions waiver from the United States for its Russian-owned NIS oil firm until 30 September, energy minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic wrote ⁠on Instagram on Friday.

The waiver granted by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control will allow NIS, which operates Serbia's only oil refinery, to continue importing crude oil until the sale of a Russian majority stake in the company to Hungarian oil and gas company MOL.

"The extended licence allows us to continue supplying (the market), while at the same ⁠time working on a long-term solution for NIS," Djedovic Handanovic said.

OFAC imposed sanctions on NIS last October as part of wider measures targeting Russia's energy sector over the war in Ukraine, and demanded divestment of the combined 56 per cent stake held by Gazprom Neft and Gazprom. The waiver is crucial for Serbia as NIS refinery covers around 80 per cent of the country's demand.

Djedovic Handanovic said negotiations between MOL and Gazprom Neft are in their final phase.

"The new licence extension is a signal that there is progress and a willingness to ensure the additional necessary time to complete this complex transaction," she said without elaborating.

OFAC has granted ⁠NIS several sanctions waivers allowing it to import crude via ⁠Croatia's Janaf pipeline while MOL completes the acquisition after signing a provisional ‌agreement in January.

The Serbian government owns 29.9 per cent of NIS, ‌with the remainder held by small shareholders and employees.

Stuti Mishra29 August 2026 04:16

Russian drones batter Ukraine's Kyiv region, hitting apartments and warehouses for a second day

Russian forces on Friday resumed their drone barrage of Ukraine’s Kyiv region, hitting more than a dozen apartment buildings and storage depots in a second straight day of aerial attacks, officials said.

Prolonged air raids in Kyiv on Thursday essentially locked down the Ukrainian capital for 15 hours, the Foreign Ministry said, choking the economy and severely disrupting civilian life more than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Even longer alerts are a daily reality in regions closer to the front line, the ministry said.

Russian drone and missile attacks are also taking aim at the power grid in what Ukrainian officials say is an annual campaign to “weaponize winter.” In Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on the Black Sea, where glide bombs a day earlier forced a combined heat and power plant to shut down, officials predicted a winter of extended outages and told people to move elsewhere if they could.

Russian drones batter Ukraine's Kyiv region, hitting apartments and warehouses for a second day

Russian forces have resumed drone attacks on Ukraine’s Kyiv region, hitting numerous buildings and storage depots

Maryam Zakir-Hussain29 August 2026 03:00

What head of CIA told Russian counterpart on secretive visit to Moscow

CIA Director John Ratcliffe secretly met FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov in Russia.

Ratcliffe presented evidence of heavy Russian losses caused by Ukraine's drone mastery.

He urged Moscow to begin serious peace negotiations with Ukraine to end the conflict.

The CIA chief raised concerns over potential Russian actions against Nato and its support for Iran.

Moscow threatened to target British military assets after the UK granted Ukraine missile technology.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain29 August 2026 02:00

Putin thinks Trump is ‘weakened’ by Iran war, says report

Vladimir Putin believes Donald Trump has been “weakened” by the war in Iran and this could allow the Russian president to ramp up aggression in Europe, US intelligence has indicated.

While the details of CIA director John Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow this week remain elusive, The Washington Post has reported that the meeting cautioned Moscow against banking on the US president being distracted by conflict with Tehran to escalate action against Ukraine.

For Putin, the ground war in Ukraine has not proved to be the quick victory he presented to the Russian public, where in 2014, he claimed he could, if he chose to take Kiev, do so “in two weeks.”

Putin thinks Trump is ‘weakened’ by Iran war, says report

Capitalising on the Hormuz crisis to ramp up action in Ukraine will have consequences, Ratcliffe warns Putin in secret meeting

Maryam Zakir-Hussain29 August 2026 01:00

Gordon Brown warns Ukraine faces ‘worst winter’ of war as he urges Trump to act

Ukraine is facing its "worst winter" since the conflict with Russia began, Gordon Brown has warned, urging Britain and allies to press Donald Trump to bolster support for the nation.

The former prime minister said the US president should be urged to let Ukraine produce Patriot interceptor missiles, explaining these could help defend the country from Russian bombardment.

Brown said the war – which began when Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022 – is in a "critical moment", and recalled Trump previously "promised he would give the design for interceptors to Ukraine", but "hasn’t yet done so".

Gordon Brown warns Ukraine faces ‘worst winter’ of war as he urges Trump to act

Brown believes it is a ‘critical moment’ in the war between Ukraine and Russia

Maryam Zakir-Hussain29 August 2026 00:00

Zelensky orders military to hit Russia with ‘1,000 drones a day’

Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that he has ordered his military to increase its long-range drone strikes against Russia to 1,000 per day, up from around 300 currently.

"There needs to ⁠be more: there is a concrete goal, and we will fulfil ‌this task," ​the Ukrainian president ‌said ⁠in his ⁠evening address.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain28 August 2026 23:19

In pictures: Moment Russian drone strikes Ukrainian town in Kyiv region

James Reynolds28 August 2026 23:00

UN warns humanity is ‘close’ to handing kill decisions to machines

The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross intensified a joint appeal on Tuesday for countries to enact bans and restrictions on autonomous weapons systems — often called killer robots — warning that "the risks have intensified."

Building on a proposal first issued three years ago and years of multilateral discussions, the stance stops short of requesting a complete ban.

It highlights that such systems are currently under development, though neither the U.N. nor the Red Cross has confirmed their deployment on the battlefield. Still, protections for civilians are urgently required for when that moment comes...

UN warns humanity is ‘dangerously close’ to handing kill decisions to machines

The United Nations and the International Red Cross are urging countries to adopt bans and restrictions on autonomous weapons systems, often called killer robots

James Reynolds28 August 2026 22:00

Watch: The woman making Ukraine safe from landmines amid a brutal war

James Reynolds28 August 2026 21:00

A theater is reimagining Homer’s Odyssey through the agony of Ukraine’s war

War’s timeless ache — death, captivity, the agonizing wait and the pull of home — has found a new stage in wartime Kyiv, with Homer’s epic reimagined as a contemporary Ukrainian odyssey.

The play “Odysseus, Maeotis” is ready to open in the Ukrainian capital as the ancient tale enjoys a global moment with Christopher Nolan’s IMAX spectacle and box-office hit “The Odyssey” starring Matt Damon.

In Kyiv, the story is performed by professional actors and active-duty soldiers, including Daniil Mireshkin, a serviceman who plays the warrior king Odysseus...

A theater is reimagining Homer’s Odyssey through the agony of Ukraine’s war

A new production of the “The Odyssey” in wartime Kyiv reimagines Homer’s epic through the experience of modern Ukraine

James Reynolds28 August 2026 20:00