Victory Chronicles-DAY 1281

Russian forces launched an overnight drone attack on energy and gas transport facilities across six Ukrainian regions, including Poltava, Sumy, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry reported on Aug. 27.

The ministry said Russia deliberately targeted gas transport infrastructure in the centrally located Poltava region, causing what it described as “significant damage.” Emergency and rescue crews are working at the strike sites, while assessments of the destruction are ongoing.

Energy officials added that utility workers are exerting every effort to restore electricity and gas supplies as quickly as possible.

Ukraine says over 27,000 Russian vehicles destroyed this year. Ukraine’s top general says Russian logistics are being systematically crippled, with more than 27,000 enemy vehicles taken out since January.

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported the figure — 27,212 destroyed — in a video posted on Aug. 27. He said Ukrainian forces are working “around the clock” to neutralize occupiers and equipment, while calling each strike “a step toward a just peace.”

Russian strikes kill one civilian, injure three in southern Kherson region. Russian forces shelled residential areas of Kherson early on Aug. 27, killing an 81-year-old woman and injuring three other civilians.

Officials said artillery hit the Dniprovskyi district around 5 a.m., injuring a 52-year-old woman at home with blast injuries and burns. Roughly an hour later, drones struck the city center, injuring two men, ages 56 and 67, with shrapnel wounds, concussions and blast trauma. All survivors were hospitalized.

At the end of July, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported 13,883 civilians killed and 35,548 wounded across all of Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion began in February 2022—though actual figures are believed to be higher.

Ukrainian National Guard strikes Russian artillery and ammo depots near Pokrovsk. Troops from the 3rd “Spartan” Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard released footage showing their destruction of Russian artillery and ammunition depots on the Pokrovsk front.

The unit said the strikes disabled enemy guns and triggered explosions at stored munitions, turning the scene into what they described as “a fiery show.” The brigade noted that Russian attempts at camouflage failed to protect their equipment from precision fire.

Key Takeaways:

• The United States is reportedly willing to supply supporting assets to a European-led force grouping as part of postwar security guarantees for Ukraine. The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected the presence of troops from NATO countries as part of any security guarantee for Ukraine in recent weeks.
• The United States will impose an additional 25 percent tariff on India’s exports to the United States due to India’s ongoing purchases of Russian oil.
• Recent Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s oil refineries have contributed to gasoline shortages across Russia that will likely raise inflation and cause further macroeconomic instability in Russia.
• The Russian government proposed that Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin withdraw from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
• Russian residents in border areas are increasingly apathetic toward the war and accepting that Russia will not agree to an end to the war in the near future.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Sumy and Borova. Russian forces recently advanced near Sumy.

• Kremlin says it wants to hold secret talks with US on security guarantees for Ukraine
• Rheinmetall opens Europe’s largest ammunition factory in Germany
• US extends waiver of sanctions on Serbia’s Russian-owned NIS oil company
• Powerful explosion on Ryazan-Moscow main oil pipeline
• FT: Western partners propose three tiers of Ukraine’s defence after war ends
• Trump promises economic war against Russia if it avoids negotiations