Ukraine Expands Deep Strikes In Russia As Moscow Pushes Toward Sloviansk (Worthy News Briefing)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

AMSTERDAM/KYIV/MOSCOW (Worthy News) – Ukraine has dramatically widened drone attacks deep inside Russia, striking military aircraft, vessels, energy facilities and warehouses, while Russian troops edged closer to the strategic eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk amid reports that Moscow could mobilize hundreds of thousands of additional soldiers.

The escalating strikes came as both countries suffered casualties in attacks far from the immediate front lines. A Russian attack near Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine killed three people late Sunday, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said, while emergency workers evacuated eight others, including several injured residents.

The attack followed one of the deadliest recent Russian strikes on civilians, when drones hit a busy shopping center in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, killing at least 16 people and injuring about 130 others, including children.

Across Ukraine, Russian missile and drone attacks killed at least eight people and injured 43 over the Independence Day period, Ukrainian authorities said, underscoring Kyiv’s continuing shortage of air-defense ammunition.

Ukraine, however, has increasingly taken the war deeper into Russia, including through attacks on commercial logistics facilities that Kyiv says contribute to Moscow’s wartime economy—a strategy that has also raised concerns about civilian casualties.

DRONES STRIKE RUSSIAN RETAILER

In one of the latest strikes, Kyiv targeted four more logistics hubs belonging to Ozon, Russia’s second-largest online retailer after Wildberries, bringing to six the number of Ozon facilities attacked within three days.

Ozon said a logistics hub in Makhachkala, Dagestan, caught fire and suspended operations after a drone attack injured several people. Another facility burned in Enem near Krasnodar, while workers were evacuated from warehouses targeted in Adygeysk in Adygea and Nevinnomyssk in Stavropol Krai.

Earlier drone strikes halted work at Ozon logistics centers in the Samara and Orenburg regions. Ozon shares plunged nearly 30 percent Monday as investors reacted to the widening attacks.

The campaign followed Ukrainian strikes against Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said its forces struck 15 of that company’s largest logistics hubs before shifting their attention toward Ozon.

Yet the attacks have also become controversial because commercial facilities employ civilians and strikes or falling drone debris can cause civilian casualties. Russian authorities said two children were killed and others injured in the Krasnodar region during Ukrainian drone attacks, though claims from the battlefield could not immediately be independently verified.

CIVILIAN TARGETS QUESTIONED

“The question is whether this is allowed,” said Rob de Wijk, professor of international relations and security and founder of The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS), referring to the widening attacks.

De Wijk described the escalating strikes as “tit-for-tat,” pointing to Ukrainian attacks on Crimea and Russian strikes on Ukrainian shopping centers, as well as attacks on ships carrying grain.

While both sides find “all kinds of reasons” to justify their actions, Russia and Ukraine are “increasingly targeting civilian sites,” he told Dutch BNR Newsradio’s Boekestijn en De Wijk podcast.

The attacks prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to give the state sweeping powers to take temporary control of strategically important private companies deemed inadequately protected against Ukrainian strikes.

These measures could affect companies in the fuel, energy, industrial, communications, transport and logistics sectors if authorities conclude that owners failed to adequately protect facilities or restore them quickly following attacks.

PUTIN SEEKS GREATER CONTROL

Before the latest Ozon strikes, Putin had promised state assistance to rebuild damaged warehouses “at a new technological level” as Moscow tries to limit the economic consequences of Ukraine’s expanding deep-strike campaign.

Financial analysts have questioned Ozon’s ability to absorb sustained damage, noting that unlike privately owned Wildberries, which has the backing of state-owned VTB Bank, Ozon’s main shareholder AFK Sistema carries substantial debt.

Additionally, the European Union imposed sanctions on financial units linked to Ozon and Wildberries on July 24 as part of measures intended to increase economic pressure on Moscow.

Kyiv has simultaneously intensified attacks against targets more directly connected to Russia’s military. Drone forces commander Robert Brovdi said Monday that his forces struck a Russian MiG-29 fighter aircraft and two Russian vessels in the Black Sea, including a tanker and a bulk carrier.

Ukraine’s General Staff also reported striking the Kamensky military plant in Russia’s Rostov region, causing a fire at a facility that authorities say produces solid rocket fuel for Russian weapons.

RUSSIAN MILITARY TARGETS HIT

Russia’s Perm oil refinery, the country’s seventh-largest by processing volume, also shut down after an August 21 drone attack, according to industry sources. One primary processing unit representing nearly 40 percent of the refinery’s capacity stopped operating.

Another primary refining unit, accounting for about 34 percent of capacity, had already been idle following a July 29 drone attack. Repairs to the latest damage could take between one and two weeks, according to industry estimates.

The strikes are increasingly aimed at degrading Russia’s ability to wage war while simultaneously imposing economic costs on Moscow, but they have not prevented Russian forces from continuing their grinding advance in eastern Ukraine.

Military observers said Russian troops recently advanced east of Sloviansk and are trying to secure favorable positions and higher ground east and southeast of the city before attempting more direct assaults toward Sloviansk and Ukraine’s remaining heavily defended cities in Donetsk province.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War explained that the Kremlin has reportedly set a December 31 deadline for Russian forces to reach the administrative borders of the Donetsk region, a goal analysts described as extremely difficult to achieve at Russia’s current rate of advance.

RUSSIANS CLOSER TO SLOVIANSK

ISW said Putin has repeatedly imposed deadlines for capturing the remainder of Donetsk, but Russian forces have failed to meet them. Analysts said Moscow faces major obstacles in trying to seize Ukraine’s remaining Donbas “Fortress Belt,” including Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Russian forces continue advancing, but at a relatively slow rate despite committing significant manpower and equipment, raising questions about whether Moscow can meet its territorial objectives within the Kremlin’s reported timetable.

Those difficulties have added significance to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claim that Putin is preparing another major recruitment effort after Russia’s parliamentary elections in mid-September.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian authorities believe Moscow plans to mobilize about 300,000 additional troops, mainly through what he described as a “peripheral mobilization” focused on Russia’s more distant regions rather than major cities.

“We believe it will not take place in the central cities,” Zelenskyy said. “But I don’t think they will be able to hide it very well.”

MOBILIZATION FEARS GROW

Such a mobilization could provide Moscow with substantial additional manpower for a prolonged war but could also bring economic and social consequences, potentially encouraging more Russians to leave the country as happened during the partial mobilization of 2022. The Kremlin has not announced such a mobilization.

Amid the clashes, unusually heavy traffic has been reported at the Upper Lars crossing between Russia and Georgia, with more than 113,000 people traveling in both directions over the past week amid discussion of a possible new mobilization.

Georgian authorities cautioned against calling it an exodus, citing seasonal travel, but the congestion revived memories of 2022, when tens of thousands of Russians fled after Putin announced a partial mobilization.

Ukraine is also watching reports that North Korea could eventually provide tens of thousands more personnel to Russia. Zelenskyy has suggested another 30,000 to 50,000 North Koreans could be deployed, though the timing and scale remain uncertain.

For Kyiv, the prospect of additional Russian forces adds urgency to securing more Western weapons as Russian missiles and drones continue to strain Ukraine’s air defenses.

ALLIES PLEDGE MORE WEAPONS

Zelenskyy says Ukraine has received a small number of additional U.S.-made Patriot interceptors capable of destroying Russian ballistic missiles and confirmation of future deliveries of France’s Crotale surface-to-air missile system.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, visiting Kyiv as Ukraine marked the 35th anniversary of its independence, urged allies to release additional Patriot interceptors from their own stocks and called for increased economic pressure on Moscow.

Britain also agreed to release classified technical information allowing Ukraine and France to establish local production of the long-range Storm Shadow/SCALP missile, helping Kyiv eventually become less dependent on foreign supplies of the weapons.

France pledged additional air-defense support as European leaders rallied around Zelenskyy during the Independence Day commemorations.

Senior officials from the administration of U.S. President Donald J. Trump were notably absent from the ceremonies, reportedly because of security concerns as Russian missiles and drones threatened Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities during the anniversary period.

MOSCOW ACCUSES WEST

Amid the commemorations, the Kremlin responded angrily to expanding Western military assistance, accusing Burnham and Finnish President Alexander Stubb of encouraging Ukraine to continue the conflict by supporting Kyiv’s ability to strike targets inside Russia.

Burnham rejected Moscow’s criticism and said Britain would continue supporting Ukraine, while Kyiv’s Western allies maintained that Ukraine has the right to defend itself against Russian aggression.

Yet diplomatic efforts continued. Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, saying the war in Ukraine “must end” and stressing the need for diplomacy and dialogue.

The Vatican said the two sides discussed possible avenues toward a lasting and just peace as well as humanitarian issues.

The talks came amid continuing international efforts to find a diplomatic path toward ending a conflict that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

NORD STREAM QUESTIONS

Yet Western support for Kyiv has been overshadowed by controversy over alleged Ukrainian actions affecting Western allies. Zelenskyy has again denied that his government was behind the September 2022 explosions that severely damaged the Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines built to transport Russian natural gas to Germany.

“Ukraine has never officially taken part in any operations regarding the blowing up of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline,” Zelenskyy said as German prosecutors pursued Ukrainian suspects allegedly involved in the sabotage.

However, his carefully worded denial did not necessarily exclude the possibility that individual Ukrainian operatives prepared or carried out the operation without official government authorization. German prosecutors have alleged Ukrainian involvement, while Kyiv denies state responsibility.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine was cooperating with Berlin’s investigation and has stressed the importance of maintaining the trust of European countries that have supported Kyiv since Russia’s invasion.

The controversy could complicate relations with Germany, one of Ukraine’s largest military and financial supporters, while investigators continue trying to establish who ordered the destruction of the pipelines.

GERMANY PROBES DRONES

Concerns about the war spilling into Western Europe grew Tuesday as reports emerged that German investigators had discovered a third drone and suspected military explosives linked to an attempted attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport, a major cargo and military logistics hub used by NATO and Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines.

The drone was discovered west of the airport on August 14, 10 days after the initial incident, along with about 50 grams (1.8 ounces) of a substance believed to be the military explosive hexogen. Details of the discovery were reported publicly Tuesday.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that the German government was working closely with security authorities and would soon announce who it believes was responsible.

“They will pay for this,” Merz warned, saying Germany increasingly found itself targeted by hybrid attacks.

Security sources cited by German media suspect Russian intelligence involvement, but Berlin has not formally accused Moscow, and Russia denies involvement.

ELECTION DEBATE GROWS

Yet with the war raging, questions are also mounting over when Ukrainians will again be able to vote to determine their future. Presidential and parliamentary elections have been suspended under martial law since Russia’s full-scale invasion, while Zelenskyy’s original five-year presidential term expired in 2024.

Zelenskyy has argued that holding elections under current wartime conditions could divide the country, warning: “Elections right now are a tsunami for the state that will split Ukraine.”

However, he said he could support elections if conditions were established for a safe, legitimate and democratic process.

Any election would have to accommodate military personnel, residents of frontline territories and millions of Ukrainians living abroad, while addressing the security threat posed by continuing Russian missile and drone attacks.

The issue has become increasingly sensitive as the war continues, raising questions about how Ukraine can maintain democratic accountability while much of the country remains under martial law and parts of its territory are occupied.

WAR ENTERS NEW PHASE

The debate unfolded as Ukraine marked 35 years of independence and exactly four and a half years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

The anniversary brought some relief for families when Zelenskyy announced that 10 Ukrainian prisoners of war previously believed missing in action had been released through neighboring Belarus.

Yet developments on and beyond the battlefield suggested the conflict may be entering another difficult phase, with Russia continuing its slow territorial advance while Ukraine expands attacks against military, energy and increasingly commercial infrastructure deep inside Russia.

The Kremlin’s reported December 31 deadline for capturing the remainder of the Donetsk region appears increasingly difficult to meet at Russia’s current pace. ISW noted that Putin has repeatedly set deadlines for taking all of Donetsk that Russian forces have failed to meet.

With Moscow potentially seeking hundreds of thousands of additional troops and Ukraine’s allies expanding missile production and air-defense assistance, there was little indication that either side was preparing to end military operations soon—even as diplomatic efforts continued to seek an eventual end to Europe’s bloodiest conflict in generations.

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