Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 551

Here is the situation on August 28, 2023.

Prigozhin plane crash

• Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said genetic testing of the 10 bodies recovered from the site of last week’s plane crash confirmed that Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was among the dead.

Fighting

• Russia launched an overnight cruise missile attack on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine. While Ukraine’s air defence systems intercepted the incoming missiles, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said falling debris damaged a dozen private homes and wounded two people.
• Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces shot down two drones overnight in the Bryansk and Kursk regions bordering Ukraine. The drones, the ministry said, were launched by “the Kyiv regime” in “yet another attempt at terrorist attacks” on Russian soil.
• The Ukrainian army said it was continuing to advance after breaking through the Russian defence line near Robotyne, a settlement in the southern Zaporizhia region. Military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun said their next target was the nearby village of Novoprokopivka.

• The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence, in its daily intelligence update, highlighted heightened tension in the Black Sea, where it said there had been skirmishes between maritime and air forces around strategically important oil and gas platforms.
• Ukrainian authorities began an investigation into a midair collision between two warplanes in the west of the country that killed three pilots, including Andrii Pilshchykov – better known by his call sign “Juice” and an outspoken advocate for Ukraine getting F-16 fighter jets. Ukraine’s Air Force spokesperson Yuri Ihnat said it was not immediately clear how long the investigation would take.
• Relatives of soldiers captured by Russian forces after the weeks-long siege of the eastern port city of Mariupol held a rally marking 500 days since they were taken. The families demanded that the Ukrainian authorities bring their loved ones home.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would ask parliament this week to increase penalties for those found guilty of corruption during wartime. His proposals would “equate corruption with high treason in wartime,” Zelenskyy said.

Diplomacy

• Ukraine’s reconstruction ministry said a second cargo ship stuck in the port of Odesa had left via a temporary humanitarian corridor set up after Russia pulled out of the United Nations-backed Black Sea grain deal guaranteeing safe passage to vessels carrying Ukrainian exports.
• Zelenskyy promised to keep his country on the international agenda, saying he is banking on having a “productive September” that brings in new pledges of military aid and fresh diplomatic offensives to punish Russia. Zelenskyy said he expected to receive more artillery, armoured vehicles, missiles and mine-clearance equipment from Ukraine’s Western allies. “Each partner is aware of our needs. We are expecting decisions,” he wrote on Telegram.
• Zelenskyy said he appreciated the United States’s decision to sanction Russian entities suspected of taking part in the deportation of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied parts of the country, calling it an “important step”. The US announced sanctions on 13 people and entities it said were connected with the forced deportations last Thursday.