Here are the key events on day 1,274 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is how things stand on Thursday, August 21:
Fighting
- Three people were killed and four others injured in a Russian attack on the city of Kostiantynivka, in Ukraine’s Donetsk, the regional prosecutor’s office said in a post on Facebook.
- Russian shelling killed one person in the town of Bilozerka in Ukraine’s Kherson region, the Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office said in a post on Telegram.
- Russian forces are increasing their pressure near Lyman in the north of Donetsk, Oleksandr Syrskii, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, wrote on Facebook.
- A Russian drone attack on a car killed a 62-year-old man in the Synelnykove district of Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, said in a post on Telegram.
- Kharkiv region police said that a Russian drone attack on a car killed two people in their 70s near the village of Petrivka in the Zolochiv territorial community.
- Oleksandr Khorunzhyi, spokesperson for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, told the media outlet Ukrinform that there have been 40,000 fires recorded in Ukraine’s ecosystems since the beginning of 2025.
- Russian shelling killed a woman in the Polohy district of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, said Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration.
- A Ukrainian drone attack on a truck killed one person in the village of Novy Varin, in the Klimovsky district of Russia’s Bryansk region, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.
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Three civilians were killed as Ukraine launched drones and conducted “intensive shelling” of Novaya Zburyevka village, the Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said in a post on Telegram.
- One person was killed in a Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied Luhansk, Russian-appointed local officials wrote on Telegram.
- Russian forces shot down 217 Ukrainian drones in one day, the Russian Defence Force said, according to a report by Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.
Regional security
- Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz accused Russia of “provocation” after a Russian drone exploded in the village of Osiny in eastern Poland, noting the incident came “at a special moment, when there are ongoing discussions about peace”, Polskie Radio reported.
- Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said the Netherlands will send 300 troops and air defence systems, including Patriots and counter-drone systems, to Poland, to “defend NATO territory, protect supply to Ukraine, and deter Russian aggression”.
Peace talks
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that “seriously discussing security issues without the Russian Federation is a utopia; it’s a road to nowhere”, amid ongoing discussions among Ukraine’s allies after United States President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss peace in Ukraine.
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Lithuania “is ready to contribute as many troops as the parliament allows for peacekeeping, and also military equipment” in Ukraine, Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda told commercial television TV3.
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Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told Swedish public radio SR that his country could provide air surveillance and potentially maritime resources, as part of security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement with Russia.
- Turkiye supports efforts to establish a permanent peace in Ukraine with the participation of all parties, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart, President Putin, in a phone call on Wednesday, the Turkish presidency said.
Politics and diplomacy
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has praised “heroic” North Korean troops who fought for Russia in the war against Ukraine, in a meeting with officers of the army’s overseas operation, state media KCNA said on Thursday.
Sanctions
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Russia said on Wednesday it was barring entry to 21 individuals it accused of working with “the destructive British media” to promote anti-Russian narratives. The list includes journalists, experts and members of civil society groups.
- The United Kingdom said it was imposing new sanctions on cryptocurrency networks it said were exploited by Russia.