📝 usncan Note: News And Information From Ukraine
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KYIV, UKRAINE – AUGUST 31: Toys, flowers, and a photo of the dead family lie by the wall of the destroyed apartment building on August 31, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Twenty-five people are killed, including four children, and sixty-four are wounded, including ten children. (Photo by Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 1,287.
Russia’s Attacks on Ukraine
Overnight into Aug. 30, Ukraine’s Air Force intercepted and jammed 510 drones and 38 missiles, out of a total of 582 projectiles launched by Russia in a widespread attack. Still, at least two people were killed and around two dozen injured as five missiles and 24 drones reached targets at seven separate locations. The assault came on the heels of an even heavier bombardment on Aug. 28, when Russia launched 629 projectiles, massacring 28 people in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
Between Aug. 29 and Sept. 1, Russian strikes left at least 17 people dead and more than 150 wounded across Ukraine. Eastern Donetsk oblast, or province, suffered five civilian deaths, with 27 others injured. In southern Kherson province, five more non-combatants lost their lives, and 47 others were wounded. Northeastern Kharkiv oblast recorded three fatalities and 22 injuries, while three civilians were killed and 50 wounded in the frontline province of Zaporizhzhia, much of which is under Russian occupation. One person was killed and at least nine others injured in neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine.
Europe is drawing up ‘precise’ plans to send troops to Ukraine, according to an Aug. 31 report by the Financial Times, which cites Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, saying there is a “clear road map” for possible post-war deployments. She also noted that President Trump had agreed to ensure an unspecified “American presence” to help keep the peace.
The War by Numbers: August
Russia seized some 180 square miles of Ukrainian territory in August, representing Ukraine’s smallest loss this summer. However, the pace of the Kremlin’s territorial gains has more than tripled since May, reaching a peak of 220 square miles in July. Nearly three-quarters of the Russian advancement occurred in the eastern, embattled province of Donetsk.
In August, Russia’s aerial assaults on Ukraine slowed markedly, with 4,288 projectiles raining down on Ukrainian cities, an average of 138 per day. This represents a nearly one-third reduction from July’s 6,495 aerial weapons and brings the aerial attacks roughly in line with May levels. In addition, Ukraine endured three particularly large air strikes, each involving more than 400 airborne weapons, half of July’s peak.
Former Speaker of Ukraine’s Parliament Shot Dead
Andriy Parubiy, the former speaker of Ukraine’s parliament and prominent champion of his country sovereignty, was shot dead on Aug. 30 in his hometown of Lviv, a cultural and historic center in western Ukraine. Security services released fototage that appears to show a man in a courier uniform approaching Parubiy. The assailant reportedly fired seven or more bullets before fleeing the scene. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the killing a “terrible murder,” while Former President Petro Poroshenko said Paruby’s assassination was “a shot fired at the heart of Ukraine.”
Following a 36-hour manhunt, a 52-year-old suspect was arrested in western Ukraine on Sept. 1. Later that day, authorities reported that the suspect confessed to the killing. His motive and possible contacts with Moscow remain under investigation.
Parubiy embodied Ukraine’s turbulent modern history. During the 2014 Euromaidan uprising calling for closer ties with Europe, he stood with protesters in Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) during violent clashes with pro-Russian government forces and organized self-defense brigades. He became secretary of the National Security and Defense Council in the critical months following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea that year. Citizens in Kyiv and Lviv gathered to pay tribute to Parubiy, honoring his dedication to Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty.
Kyiv’s First Made-in-Ukraine, Long-Range Attack on Russia
Ukraine likely deployed its homegrown “Flamingo” cruise missile against a Russian target for the first time on Aug. 30. While the Flamingo’s use has not yet been independently verified, Ukrainian media reported strikes in annexed Crimea, with footage that appears to show missiles resembling those in the Flamingo’s recent test launch from the Ukrainian coast.
The missile, first announced this August ahead of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Washington visit, reportedly has a range of up to 1,850 miles and a one-ton warhead. If confirmed, this capability could allow Kyiv to wreak havoc in virtually all European parts of Russia.
Ukraine at Burning Man
No Fate, Ukrainian Installation at Burning Man Festival, 2025, Nevada
Gregory Vepryk
At the 2025 Burning Man festival in Nevada, Ukrainian artists used the remnants of the country’s original “Black Cloud” art installation to create a new work titled “No Fate.” The original 30-meter-long, 15-meter-high installation, a black storm cloud representing the threat of global conflict, was ominously destroyed by a violent dust storm on the first day of the festival. But shreds of the original were repurposed and reimagined into a new statement. “We made another piece from the leftovers … [collected] thanks to the good people,” said the installations’ producer Vitaliy Deynega. “No Fate” is as much about rebirth, Deynega said, as it is about defiance: “The question is not how many times you fell, but how many times you got up and what conclusions you reached.”
Ukraine’s projects at Burning Man continue to resonate globally; in 2024, DJ Tapolsky performed adjacent to the “I’m Fine” installation, which symbolized perseverance in the face of war, garnering over 100,000 views on social media in just 48 hours.
By Danylo Nosov, Karina L. Tahiliani
