Russia-Ukraine updates: US unveils new $250m military package for Ukraine

Russian gas giant Gazprom reported an 8.5-fold drop in its net income for the first six months of the year as Europe moves away from Moscow’s energy supplies over the war in Ukraine.

Gazprom said its net profit for January-June 2023 fell to 296 billion rubles ($3.1bn) from 2.5 trillion roubles ($26.2bn) over the same period last year.

Famil Sadygov, deputy CEO at Gazprom, chalked up the fall to the weakening rouble.

“The decline in exports to Europe was partially offset by an increase in supplies to China, which will continue to grow within contractual obligations, as well as by the efficient operation of the oil business,” said Sadygov.

Prigozhin’s funeral took place away from the glare of the media and in stark contrast to the brazen, self-publicising style with which he had fanned his reputation far beyond Russia for ruthlessness and ambition.

Read more here.

The United States White House has come close to declaring the Kremlin responsible for the death of Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“We all know that the Kremlin has a long history of killing opponents,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced a new package of military assistance for Ukraine.

The package includes additional mine clearing equipment, missiles for air defence, ammunition for artillery and high bar systems, and more than three million rounds of small arms ammunition, Blinken said in a statement.

The cap of a Ukrainian fighter pilot known as “Juice” sat atop his flag-draped coffin as mourners gathered to pay homage to the 29-year-old considered legendary by the country’s air force.

Andriy Pilshchykov died last week with two other pilots during a training flight over the northern Zhytomyr region, prompting tributes from across the country for not only his talents but efforts in pushing the West to provide Ukraine with F-16 jets.

“He wanted to fight bureaucracy, so that we could have American-style pilot training – no wasting time, just improving your skills,” reserve Lieutenant Colonel Oleksandr Dovgal told the AFP news agency.

Pilshchykov was inspired to modernise the air force after attending training in the US, he added.

South Korea has unveiled a new financial aid package of 520 billion won ($394m) for Ukraine next year, an eightfold increase from this year.

The aid package includes support for reconstruction and humanitarian aid.

In July, President Yoon Suk-yeol also announced that his country would provide a “large scale of military supplies” to Ukraine this year.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has intensely lobbied Western militaries for fourth-generation aircraft like the F-16 that the latter have begun to shed.

How useful are these jets?

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An explosion caused by a Russian landmine has killed a farmer in the Kherson region, according to the regional administration.

“In the Novopetrivka area, the farmer was driving a tractor and working on the field. The tractor ran over a mine left by the Russian army,” the authorities said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

“Many fields of the Kherson region are mined,” authorities added and reminded people to stay safe until every spot in the region has been inspected.

Prigozhin has been buried privately at a funeral near St Petersburg, according to his press service.

“Those wishing to say goodbye can visit the Porokhovskoe cemetery,” Prigozhin’s press service added in a statement on Telegram.

The Wagner chief was killed in a plane crash near Moscow last week.

The Kremlin has said that a schedule for “bilateral Russian-Chinese contacts” was being worked out and that it would give more details on any concrete events and dates in due course.

Asked about a Bloomberg report that President Vladimir Putin is preparing to visit China for the Belt and Road forum in October, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “The schedule of bilateral Russian-Chinese contacts at various levels, including at the highest level, is being coordinated. We will inform you about specific events and deadlines in a timely manner.”

Russian forces have downed a second Ukrainian drone over the Black Sea at around 1pm local time (10:00 GMT), the RIA news agency cited Russia’s Ministry of Defence as saying.

Earlier, the ministry said the first drone had been shot down by a military jet.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said the European Union “does not take the real problems and aspirations of people living in Western Balkan countries” into consideration.

Commenting on a recent summit between the leaders of the EU, Western Balkans and Ukraine in Athens, Zakharova added: “To continue its confrontation with Russia, the EU is ready to sacrifice the Western Balkan region’s true development and security interests in violation of one of the fundamental principles of the UN Charter.”

Investigators in Germany suspect that a company there is selling electronic components used to produce Russia’s Orlan-10 drones, according to a report by the German news magazine Der Spiegel.

The Orlan drones have enabled Russia’s precise targeting of Ukrainian soldiers.

The head of the Saarbruecken-based company, identified only as Waldemar W, has been arrested, Der Spiegel reported.

Zelenskyy says he has invited Japan to join the Global Peace Summit, which Kyiv intends to hold in the second half of the year.

“We appreciate the G7 declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine adopted during the Japanese Presidency. It is time to conclude relevant bilateral agreements in the framework of this declaration. We are ready to start this negotiation process with Japan as soon as possible,” he added.

Had a phone call with Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida @kishida230.

Thanked for comprehensive assistance, in particular, support for Ukraine's #PeaceFormula.

Invited Japan to participate in the preparation of the Global Peace Summit.

We appreciate the G7 declaration on…

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 29, 2023

Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group have gathered for the funeral of one of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s deputies who was killed with his boss in a plane crash last week.

Dozens of people attended the service for Valery Chekalov, head of Wagner’s logistics.

The Kremlin has said Putin had no plans to attend Prigozhin’s funeral.

The mission of Ukraine’s president in Russian-occupied Crimea has said that Moscow is preparing to start a new drive of mobilising locals into the Russian army in the territory.

In a statement on Facebook, the mission said that Russian authorities were already installing mobilisation points in Crimean cities, with one active in central Alushta.

The Kremlin has said it is at odds about the future of the Wagner Group, Russia’s largest and most notorious private military company.

But observers tell Al Jazeera that Wagner’s battle-tested fighters are too valuable to just be disbanded and let go.

Read more.

Vadym Skibitskyi, a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, has said Russia wants to produce 1,300 Shahed drones by the end of 2023, according to a report by Ukraine’s national news agency Ukrinform.

According to him, Russia has started working on establishing a powerful production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on its territory.

“Russians can use components of both foreign and domestic production. At the same time, in fact, they are not capable of producing such a number of UAVs today,” Skibitskyi told Ukrinform.

Zelenskyy has paid tribute to Ukrainians who died fighting for the country.

“Every year on August 29, we honor the memory of Ukrainians who gave their lives defending our country,” he said in a statement on Telegram.

“May the memory of all our warriors be blessed!” he added.

May the memory of all our warriors be blessed!

Words are never enough to express what we feel. And let the tears that will be shed today, let the silence that will sound louder than any words, let our respect, which is absolutely sincere, tell everyone what we really feel and… pic.twitter.com/k2xrKIB9QA

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 29, 2023

The United States has accused Russia of attempting to intimidate and harass Washington’s employees after Russian state media reported that a former US consulate worker was charged with collecting information on the war in Ukraine on behalf of Washington.

Russia’s state-run TASS news agency cited the FSB security service as saying that Robert Shonov, a Russian national, had supplied information to US embassy staff in Moscow on how Russia’s conscription for the war in Ukraine was affecting political discontent inside Russia ahead of the country’s 2024 presidential election.

Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv oblast, says that one person has been killed due to Russian shelling in the Kupiansk region.

“A 45-year-old civilian man died as a result of artillery shelling. The building of the meat processing plant where the deceased worked as a security guard was damaged,” he said in a statement on Telegram.

“An apartment building and a private household were also damaged in the city. A 67-year-old man was wounded by shrapnel. He refused hospitalisation,” he added.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said he told Zelenskyy in a phone call that Japan planned to keep supporting Ukraine.

Kishida told reporters he also condemned Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine during the call.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence says a military jet has downed a Ukrainian drone over the Black Sea.

“Today, at around 12:00 [09:00 GMT], an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack with one aircraft-type UAV on objects in the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted. The unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed by a naval aircraft over the Black Sea,” the ministry said on Telegram.

Germany’s prosecutor general has said it has issued an arrest warrant for a German-Russian national suspected of exporting components used by Russia in the production of military hardware, including drones.

The suspect has been accused of violating the EU’s sanctions on Moscow, imposed in 2014 after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, and stricter sanctions imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has said that, since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, 9,511 civilians have been killed and 17,206 people have been injured.

The OHCHR added that 2,115 civilians have been recorded as killed in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces but noted the actual figures are considerably higher since access to information has been delayed in some locations where intense hostilities have been going on.

Ukraine’s military says its forces have pushed deeper into Russian defensive lines near the village of Robotyne, a day after claiming control of the village on the southern front.

Military spokesman Andriy Kovalyov said Ukrainian forces were edging farther into the Zaporizhia region, which Moscow claims is part of Russia.

“Ukrainian forces had successes in the direction of Novodanylivka to Verbove,” he told state media.

He added that troops were holding captured territory and attacking Russian artillery.

Pavel Latushko, deputy head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, has said that Russia’s Wagner mercenaries are being issued Belarusian passports, according to an interview with Poland’s press agency.

“The mercenaries receive Belarusian passports, real documents, but of course issued with different names and surnames,” he said.

“That is why, they can simply get to the territory of the European Union,” he added.

On Monday, Poland and the Baltic nations closed their borders with Belarus.

The United Kingdom’s defence ministry has said that military service in the Russian armed forces has become “increasingly lucrative” since the country invaded Ukraine last February.

“It is highly likely that the salary and additional benefits are a strong incentive for personnel to join up, especially to those from the poorer areas of Russia. However, Russia is still unlikely to meet its targets for recruiting volunteers to the ranks,” the ministry said in a statement on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 29 August 2023

Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/nSWXfviLbk

🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/I7HUGt2OsV

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) August 29, 2023

Russian air defences shot down three Ukrainian drones flying over the Russian regions of Tula and Belgorod, the Ministry of Defence has reported.

Two drones “were destroyed” by air defences over the Tula region south of Moscow, the ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app early on Tuesday morning.

Another drone was “destroyed by air defence forces” over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, at about 11pm (20:00 GMT) on Monday, the ministry said in a separate statement.

It did not say whether there had been damage or casualties as a result of the drone raids.