Several people died during a Russian attack on the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk on August 15, the first such attack near the Polish border for many months. The Kremlin fired around 28 rockets into this and other regions in one day, killing at least four. Lutsk, about 60 miles from the Polish border, was hit by a missile pursuing local industry.
Ukraine’s western region was targeted during the initial months of the war, but this ceased until now – signaling a potential uptick in aggression from Moscow.
Oleksiy Kuleba, deputy head of the office of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, said the surprise assault was an attempt to “sow panic and terror.”
Meanwhile, at least four drones were shot down over Moscow in what British defense officials are describing as attacks conducted from Russian soil. On August 22, the UK’s Ministry of Defense said an assault on a Moscow bomber jet was likely conducted from Russia on the same day the drones were downed over the capital.
On August 19, in another sign of escalation, a missile struck a central square in the city of Chernihiv, killing seven people and injuring 144. The United Nations condemned the assault as “heinous,” and the dead included a six-year-old child. Ukrainian President Zelensky called it a “terrorist attack” and promised a “notable response.”
Ukraine’s much-anticipated counteroffensive began at the start of June and its forces continue to battle to retake territory lost to Russia in the early stages of the war. There were initial criticisms that Ukraine’s advancement was slow and little progress was being made, but Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar insisted things were going well. “It’s incorrect to measure this advance by meters or kilometers. What’s important is the very fact that despite everything, we’re moving forward even though we have fewer people and fewer weapons,” she said.
The United States continues its financial support of Ukraine, with President Biden requesting another aid package worth $24 billion in August.
