Russia-Ukraine war: Day 585

 

Fighting:

30 of the 40 Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones that Russia launched in a nocturnal attack on Ukraine's central and southern areas were shot down by the Ukrainian Air Force.

Russia continues to strike port facilities, according to Ukrainian TV, according to Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesman for the southern command of the Ukrainian military. As part of Moscow's effort to blow up crucial infrastructure "to impact the economy," she added, targets included Danube River facilities.

Along the Danube's border with Ukraine, Romania reported a potential violation of its airspace during Russian drone assaults. According to the defense ministry, a warning was sent to locals in the municipalities of Tulcea and Galati after drones were seen flying into Ukrainian territory not far from the Romanian border. 

According to the ministry, a signal was picked up on a path heading towards the Galati municipality, which "indicated possible unauthorised entry into national airspace."

According to Russia's defense ministry, its air defense intercepted nine Ukrainian missile launches over the western Belgorod area, which borders the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. In the meantime, authorities in the Bryansk area of Russia reported interruptions in the electrical grid as a result of an unidentified attack on the town of Pogar.

Despite the brief Wagner mutiny in June, the British Ministry of Defence reported that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Wagner Group chief of staff Andrey Troshev showed Russia will continue to depend on private armies in its war against Ukraine.

Diplomacy

Accusations that the opposition SMER-SSD party would bring Slovakia closer to Moscow if it won this weekend's elections were rejected by Ludomir Blaha, the party's deputy leader. "It's nonsense that we would be pro-Russian or pro-Putin," Blaha said in an interview with the dpa news agency. SMER-SSD has said that it will stop providing military help to the neighboring Ukraine.

Josep Borrell, the head of foreign policy for the European Union, traveled to the Black Sea port city of Odesa in Ukraine to observe firsthand the impacts of the conflict, notably in the city's historic district and the medieval Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration, which was severely damaged in July. Borrell referred to the attack on the city as "barbaric" as he walked around the cathedral site.