Victory Chronicles-DAY 1290

Ukrainian special forces have evacuated four servicemen who had been hiding in Russian-occupied territory for more than three years, the commander of Ukraine’s Navy said Sept. 5.

The operation began after officials learned that the twin brother of a recently exchanged Marine had survived a severe battlefield injury in 2022. Local doctors hid him from Russian security forces inside a hospital. Alongside him were three National Guard soldiers who also took refuge there, living in secrecy for years.

Once the information surfaced, Ukraine’s Navy launched a complex rescue mission. A special reconnaissance unit known as the “Angels” extracted the Marine, the three National Guardsmen, and a hospital worker who had helped conceal them.

The mission was carried out in several phases to avoid detection, complicated by heavy fighting and Russian filtration measures in the area.

“Our soldiers are safe now and finally with their families,” Navy commander Oleksii Neizhpapa said. He added that the Angels unit has rescued 88 people to date, proving, in his words, “there is nothing impossible for Ukrainian warriors. We fight for everyone.”

OSINT analysis confirms more than 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers held captive in Russia. At least 2,577 Ukrainian service members are confirmed to be held in Russian captivity, according to open-source intelligence (OSINT) analysis presented by Ukraine’s commissioner for missing persons, Artur Dobroserdov.

Speaking to representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Moscow Mechanism fact-finding mission, Dobroserdov said another 680 cases — including 91 civilians — remain unverified by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In eight instances, individuals initially identified as prisoners were later confirmed dead.

OSINT, or open-source intelligence, relies on publicly available data such as websites, social media and news reports. In Ukraine’s case, it has become an important tool for documenting the scale of prisoner cases — and for challenging Russia’s secrecy around their fate.

Russian strikes set fires, injure three in Sumy region. Russian forces launched a series of attacks on Ukraine’s northern Sumy region on Sept. 4, hitting critical and industrial infrastructure, sparking large fires and injuring three civilians, officials said.

From 3 p.m. to 7:10 p.m., explosions rocked the city of Sumy. Three men, ages 56, 59 and 62, were wounded, according to Serhii Kryvosheienko, head of the Sumy City Military Administration. Emergency crews battled blazes caused by repeated strikes on the same sites, but no rescuers were hurt.

The attacks caused power and water outages and temporarily disrupted public transportation. Hospitals switched to backup generators to keep operating.

Later in the evening, a Russian drone struck the grounds of an animal shelter on the outskirts of the city, damaging the building but sparing both staff and animals. Overnight, additional drone strikes set nonresidential buildings ablaze in the Sumy community, though firefighters managed to contain the flames.

Sumy, located about 200 miles northeast of Kyiv and close to the Russian border, has faced escalating bombardment in recent weeks, turning ordinary afternoons into scenes of fire and smoke.

Ukrainian intelligence shares video of Black Sea raid destroying Russian boat and radar. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency released footage Sept. 5 of a special forces raid in the Black Sea last month that destroyed a Russian patrol boat, radar systems and personnel.

The August operation, carried out by the Defense Intelligence Directorate’s Department of Active Measures, used first-person-view (FPV) drones and other unmanned systems to strike Russian targets at sea and along the coast.

Among the equipment destroyed were a BL-680 type patrol boat, a Harpoon-B radar station, and a Groza electronic warfare system. The unit also reported burning four Russian antenna-feeder devices and inflicting casualties on occupying forces.

The Black Sea has become one of the most contested arenas of the war, with Ukraine relying on drones and small-boat raids to chip away at Russia’s much larger fleet. For Kyiv, such strikes are both tactical and symbolic — proving that Moscow’s dominance at sea is no longer guaranteed.

Key Takeaways

• The British and French-led Coalition of the Willing and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met in Paris to discuss possible future security guarantees for Ukraine that aim to ensure a just and lasting peace on September 4.
• Macron stated that a strong Ukrainian military must be at the center of any postwar security guarantees.
• Macron stated that 26 states formally agreed to form a “reassurance force” as part of security guarantees for postwar Ukraine.
• The Kremlin continues to explicitly reject any foreign troops on Ukrainian territory as part of postwar security guarantees.
• The Coalition of the Willing also outlined ways for states that are unable to deploy ground, sea, or air assets to participate in security guarantees for postwar Ukraine.
• The Coalition of the Willing discussed additional sanctions against Russia with US President Donald Trump as part of coordinated Western efforts to deny Russia funding for its war against Ukraine.
• Russian bankers continue to express concerns over the increasingly stagnant Russian economy.
• Ukrainian forces advanced near Kupyansk and Siversk and in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area. Russian forces advanced in northern Sumy Oblast and near Velykomykhailivka.

• Zelenskyy on Western troops in Ukraine: They will be deployed in thousands, not in single digits
• EU representatives head to US to coordinate sanctions against Russia
• Von der Leyen and Vance discuss joint EU-US sanctions against Russia
• Trump says US has lost Russia and India to “darkest” China
• Zelensky: Ukraine and Denmark launch first joint UAV production line
• NBC News: US could take lead in monitoring buffer zone in Ukraine if peace deal reached
• Consequences of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam: water in the cooling tower at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant fell by 3.2 metres
• Ukrainian troops strike oil refinery in Russia’s Ryazan and oil depot in Luhansk