Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev assured on Sunday, September 3, that Moscow had recruited around 280,000 soldiers since the beginning of the year, 50,000 more than the previous figures from the beginning of August. State news agency TASS reported that the statement was made during a visit by Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, to the island of Sakhalin in eastern Russia. Follow our live stream.
Kiev announces that it has shot down 22 Russian drones in the Odessa region. The Ukrainian Air Force said on Sunday it had foiled a Russian drone attack in the Odessa region in the south of the country. “On the night of September 3, 2023, the Russian occupiers launched several waves of Shahed-136/131 drone strikes from the south and southeast,” she wrote on Telegram, adding that out of a total of 25 throws, 22 were destroyed. Since the end of the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain, Russia has increased attacks on the Odessa and Mykolaiv regions in southern Ukraine, where there are ports and important infrastructure for this trade.
The Ukrainian army says it has broken through the first Russian defense line. Kiev troops managed to open a gap in the front line near Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine. “We are now between the first and second lines of defense,” Oleksandr Tarnavsky, the commander of the counteroffensive in the south of the country, announced in an interview with British media The Observer published on Saturday. He explains that this advance was only possible after Ukrainian infantry carried out difficult mine-clearing operations at night for several weeks.
Volodymyr Zelensky assures that the Ukrainian armed forces are “advancing”. “Despite everything that can be said, we are making progress,” assured the Ukrainian head of state a message published on (formerly Twitter). “The Ukrainian armed forces are advancing” and “this is the most important thing,” emphasized Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian counteroffensive, which has been announced for months, is proving more difficult for Kiev than expected. However, recent progress gives Ukrainian troops hope of breaking through thick enemy defenses.
Moscow claims to have shot down three naval drones that targeted the Crimean bridge. The night from Friday to Saturday was again the scene of drone attacks, this time by the Navy. Russia said on Saturday it had fired three Ukrainian missiles in the Black Sea that targeted the Crimean Bridge. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian drones were destroyed at around 2:20 a.m. Moscow time before reaching this bridge, built as part of the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and regularly attacked by Kiev.