Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky claims Putin is drafting 300,000 troops and gives warning on wartime elections
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Vladimir Putin intends to draft 300,000 new troops to join the war from next month in a bid to seize territory.
Zelensky said that the Russian leader would start the drive after elections in September, for Moscow’s key goal of capturing the rest of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
In other comments on Sunday, the Ukrainian leader claimed that holding a wartime election would “destroy” the country by splitting its citizens.
He was responding to calls from his former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov for the country to go to the polls despite the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Meanwhile, Putin has pulled Russia’s ambassador from London, accusing Britain of taking the “path of confrontation”, as relations between the two countries continue to deteriorate.
Andrey Kelin, who served as the Russian ambassador to the UK for over seven years, vacated his post last month.
UK prime minister Andy Burnham said the country is continuing to “support Ukraine 100 per cent” after Moscow threatened consequences for the reported use of British drones for strikes deep into Russia.
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Sam Rkaina23 August 2026 15:49
Ukraine elections now would be 'tsunami for the state'
Zelensky's approval rating has remained generally stable at about 60%, but pollsters have said that while Ukrainians want fresh faces in politics, many have little appetite for voting now.
An August 5 poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 57% of Ukrainians want elections only after fighting ends.
Echoing his previous comments on the matter, Zelensky said a wartime election might be possible if Kyiv's partners could guarantee security, but that no one has proposed such a plan.
“Elections right now are a tsunami for the state, which will split Ukraine,” he said.
“That's why my strategy is to steer the country toward an ending of the war and to preserve an independent and sovereign state.”
Sam Rkaina23 August 2026 14:35
Putin says Ukrainian strikes cause losses but won't turn tide of war
Sam Rkaina23 August 2026 13:00
Wartime election would 'destroy' Ukraine, Zelensky says
Holding a wartime election in Ukraine while active fighting with Russia continues would “destroy” the country by splitting Ukrainians, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
His comments, released to reporters on Sunday, were Zelensky's first on the subject since ousted former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for a wartime poll in an address last week.
Fedorov's surprise dismissal last month sparked widespread protests, but supporters calling for his reinstatement later baulked at his call for an election – the first such demand by a major Ukrainian political figure since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
“I believe that if we want to destroy the country, then we can move towards elections during this kind of war,” Zelensky said.
Sam Rkaina23 August 2026 12:56
Ukraine facing shortage of Patriot interceptors
Russia is bolstering its battlefield offensive with an escalating air war on Ukrainian cities made worse by a critical shortage of U.S.-designed Patriot interceptors.
Zelensky said the 264 interceptors Ukraine is expecting to have received in 2026 represent a significant drop from 2025, when Ukraine received 364, and 2023, when it received 675.
He added that Russia was aiming to develop a capacity to produce up to 1,300 ballistic missiles per year.
Over the summer, Ukraine has escalated a campaign of drone strikes targeting Russian economic infrastructure, including oil refineries and online retailers' warehouses, seeking to destroy infrastructure it says is central to Russia's war effort.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments on Saturday that Kyiv had opened "Pandora's box" by striking economic targets, saying Russia would hit back at Ukraine's "most sensitive economic sectors".
Sam Rkaina23 August 2026 12:01
Norway to give over $9 billion to Ukraine in 2027
Norway plans to give another 85 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.2 billion) in financial support to Ukraine in the 2027 fiscal year, in line with the amount given in 2026, the Nordic country's government said in a statement on Sunday.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region are visiting Kyiv on Sunday in a show of support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.
Norway’s donation will be for both military and humanitarian spending, Stoere was quoted as saying in the text of a speech released by the government in Oslo.
“Supporting and rebuilding Ukraine is not assistance alone. It is an investment in Europe's own security,” Stoere said.
Sam Rkaina23 August 2026 11:15
Putin will draft 300,000 new troops after September elections, Zelensky says
Ukraine believes Russia is planning to mobilise an additional 300,000 troops for its war effort after parliamentary elections in September, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
In comments to reporters released on Sunday, Zelensky added that Russia could draft hundreds of thousands more in 2027 for its key goal of capturing the rest of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
Sam Rkaina23 August 2026 10:33
Russian online retailer Ozon warehouse in Orenburg region hit in drone attack
Two industrial facilities were hit by drone debris, including a warehouse owned by Ozon, a major Russian online retailer.
The governor of Russia's Orenburg region Yevgeny Solntsev said that the Russian defence ministry had repelled six drones over the region, adding that no one had been injured. He did not name the second damaged facility.
Russia's defence ministry said it downed 328 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Ozon, Russia's second-largest online retailer, said in a statement on Telegram that the company had evacuated more than 300 people and that work at its Orenburg region logistics centre had been halted.
Rebecca Whittaker23 August 2026 09:45
Ukrainian refugees open America’s first ever jellyfish museum in Florida
Inside a darkened venue in South Florida, glowing saltwater tanks and wall projections cast light upon tentacled predators as they swirl and pulse in hypnotic rhythms.
Located in Pompano Beach, just north of Fort Lauderdale, the private Jellyfish Museum is believed to be the first museum in the United States focused exclusively on the translucent invertebrates, and among a rare few globally, according to founders and local officials.
Read more here:
Ukrainian refugees open America’s first ever jellyfish museum in Florida
Floating tentacled predators pulse and swirl in hypnotic patterns in the dark museum space, lit primarily by images projected on walls and the light from the saltwater tanksRebecca Whittaker23 August 2026 09:15
Russia has lost 1,476,580 troops in Ukraine, report claims
Russia has lost around 1,476,580 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, The Kyiv Independent reported.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shared a report to Telegram that showed Russia has lost 12,292 tanks, 25,202 armored combat vehicles, 138,219 vehicles and fuel tanks, 48,451 artillery systems, 2,054 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,584 air defense systems, 439 aircraft, 354 helicopters, 474,641 unmanned aerial vehicles, 2,352 unmanned ground systems, 5,052 cruise missiles, 35 ships and boats, two submarines, and 4,569 pieces of special equipment.
