Weekend Briefing

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Morning Headlines

Reuters: Putin should be aware that Germany's support for Ukraine is not waning, German Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said on Monday upon arriving in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on an unannounced visit.

BBC: Over the last three years, the Russian state-backed news channel RT and news agency and radio Sputnik, have expanded their international presence; between them, they now broadcast across Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

The Kyiv Independent: Kyiv and Budapest exchanged sharp rhetoric after tensions escalated following a Ukrainian strike on Russian oil infrastructure, which disrupted flows through a critical pipeline supplying Hungary.

24.08.2025

ABC News: Former CIA Director and retired Army Gen. David Petraeus said Sunday that he's dubious that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

AFP: Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said on Sunday that Kyiv's troops recaptured three villages in its Donetsk region that had fallen under Russian control.

Canadian PM Mark Carney told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday he backed Ukraine's calls for robust security guarantees as part of any peace deal, saying Canada would not rule out sending troops under such a framework. The two leaders also signed an agreement on drone co-production, and Carney said Ukraine would receive more than C$1 billion ($723 million) in military aid from a previously announced package next month.

Reuters: Norway's government said on Sunday that it will contribute approximately 7 billion Norwegian crowns ($696.12 million) of air defence systems to Ukraine.

RFI: Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that has seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.

The Kyiv Independent: Drones struck a natural gas terminal in Russia's Leningrad region and an oil refinery in Samara region on Aug. 24, the Russian Telegram news channel Astra reported, citing local reports and footage of the attacks.

Reuters: A fire at Russia's Novoshakhtinsk refinery was burning for the fourth day on Sunday after a Ukrainian drone strike, the acting governor of the region said.

The Kyiv Independent: Washington approved the sale of Extended-Range Attack Munition missiles to Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 23, citing two unnamed U.S. officials.

Reuters: Ukraine launched a drone attack on Russia on Sunday, forcing a sharp fall in the capacity of a reactor at one of Russia's biggest nuclear power plants and sparking a huge blaze at the major Ust-Luga fuel export terminal, Russian officials said.

ISW continues to assess that the Kremlin is pursuing a hybrid campaign directly targeting NATO states, including using GPS jamming and sabotaging military logistics in NATO members’ territory, and is likely using EW innovations developed in the war in Ukraine against NATO states at this time.

23.08.2025

Reuters: The Pentagon has been quietly blocking Ukraine from using U.S.-made long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems to strike targets inside Russia, limiting Kyiv's ability to employ these weapons in its defense against Moscow's invasion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

The Kyiv Independent: A 31-year-old Russian serviceman claimed in an interview to have participated in the May 2024 killing of five captured Ukrainian soldiers in Donetsk Oblast, according to Polish-Belarusian media outlet Vot Tak.

Reuters: France summoned the Italian ambassador after Italy's deputy prime minister challenged the French president for suggesting that European soldiers be deployed in Ukraine in a post-war settlement, a French diplomatic source said on Saturday.

Bloomberg: NATO’s easternmost member states are grappling with a sharp rise in radio and satellite interference, with Baltic governments accusing Russia of positioning equipment for electronic warfare close to their borders (archive).

The Kyiv Independent: The European Union disbursed more than 4 billion euros in financial aid to Ukraine ahead of its 34th Independence Day, underscoring the bloc's continued support for Ukraine amid Russia's full-scale invasion.

ISW: The Kremlin is likely concerned that a bilateral Putin-Zelensky meeting could undermine Putin’s domestic justification for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

22.08.2025

CNN: Trump said Friday he will give Putin “a couple of weeks,” further extending his deadline for potential consequences against Moscow after urging the Russian leader to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart in hopes of ending the war.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian anti-aircraft gunners shot down a Russian Orlan drone carrying two first-person-view drones under its wings for the first time, the 118th Separate Mechanized Brigade reported on Aug. 22.

Politico: Trump said he got “very angry” after Ukraine damaged a Russian oil pipeline that supplies his friend Viktor Orbán, Hungary's prime minister.

NBC News: Russia’s top diplomat said Friday that no meeting is planned between Putin and Zelenskyy, casting new doubt on Trump’s push for a summit to end the war.

The Kyiv Independent: The Ukrainian Navy attacked a Russian drone base in occupied Sevastopol, Crimea, the Navy reported on Aug. 22.

Reuters: Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia could be suspended for at least five days after a Ukrainian strike on a facility in Russia, Hungarian and Slovakian officials said on Friday, in a widening of the fallout of Russia's war in Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent: A naval drone operated by Ukraine's military intelligence exploded after it lost connection with central control and was seized by Russian military divers in Novorossiysk Bay, killing five of them, the agency reported on Aug. 22.

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