1. The Donetsk oblast experienced one of the hardest days of this summer. The russians carried out eight airstrikes with bombs on Sloviansk. In Kramatorsk, 14 strikes were recorded on August 25-26. A total of 91 civilian facilities were damaged, including 73 residential buildings.
The russians have begun systematically erasing Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. The Sloviansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration is logistics, hospitals, repair facilities, and housing for military personnel and civilians. It will only get worse from here.
2. In Kstovo, the Nizhny Novgorod oblast, Ukrainian long-range drones struck Lukoil’s oil refinery — the fourth-largest facility in the industry in russia and the country’s second-largest gasoline producer. A large-scale fire with several fire sources broke out at the refinery. Following the July attack, the Wildberries logistics hub in Kotovsk, the Tambov oblast, was also hit again.
The gasoline shortage and risks to online commerce will lead to higher transportation and insurance costs in russia, affecting the entire consumer market.
3. In Donetsk, missile strikes hit the industrial zone at 97 Ilyicha Avenue — the site of a former research institute that the russians used as a concealed deployment point for personnel and unit headquarters. A two-level underground parking garage of an unfinished residential complex, where launchers and armored vehicles were stationed, was also hit.
Locating headquarters and equipment in residential areas no longer provides immunity, and the russian command will be forced to disperse rear facilities, losing command-and-control tempo.
4. Volodymyr Zelensky, together with Mykhailo Drapatyi, worked in the Zaporizhzhia oblast and in the Oleksandrivka sector. He announced that positions in the Donetsk oblast would be reinforced by two reorganized groupings under the command of Heroes of Ukraine Denys Prokopenko and Andrii Biletskyi — the latter was awarded the title that same day.
The appointment of two of the most recognizable and effective commanders to the most critical section of the front indicates Kyiv’s genuine intention to hold Donbas. The focus is on strengthening trust in military command and reducing the level of unauthorized abandonment of military units. For Biletskyi and Prokopenko (especially the former), such personalization carries political risks in the event of military setbacks in the Donetsk oblast.
5. The eastern districts of Luhansk were left without electricity and water for an indefinite period. “Luhanskvoda” attributes this to an accident on the power supply networks and acknowledges that water supply will resume only after stable power is restored to the pumping station. It was previously reported that nearly 50 settlements in occupied Luhansk oblast remain without water, while the occupation authorities said they were unable to restore electricity to Novodruzhesk and Pryvillia.
The utility collapse in occupied Luhansk oblast is a slow-moving but irreversible factor: it destroys russia’s main propaganda argument about “returning to normal life.”
6. Another attack on a mobile TRC group took place in Ternopil: during a document check, servicemen were beaten, the official vehicle was damaged, and one of the soldiers was hospitalized. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets called this “a signal that tensions surrounding mobilization have reached a dangerous level”.
Attacks on TRCs are no longer isolated incidents. They are a consequence of distrust in the state and civilians’ assessment of the internal situation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The current mobilization mechanisms are creating an internal crisis of its legitimacy.
7. On August 26, oil prices fell significantly amid news of talks between Iran and Oman on a joint navigation corridor: Brent fell 2.84% to $86.06 per barrel, while WTI fell 2.53% to $80.28, with both benchmarks reaching their lowest levels since August 10.
Every dollar of decline in Brent cuts russia’s export revenues, and combined with the loss of up to 40% of oil refining capacity, creates serious budgetary pressure on the kremlin.