WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Ukrainian military says six servicemen killed in helicopter incident
Six Ukrainian servicemen were killed aboard two helicopters while they were "carrying out missions" in eastern Ukraine, the military said on Wednesday.
There was no indication what happened involving two widely-used Mi-8 helicopters on Tuesday.
A military statement on Telegram aid the men were "carrying out missions" in the sector of the Russian-held eastern city of Bakhmut when they died.
The news site Ukrainska Pravda said the incident occurred near Kramatorsk - a large town west of Bakhmut in Donetsk region, theatre of much of the fighting in Russia's 18-month invasion of its neighbour.
Ukrainska Pravda said the two helicopters were "completely destroyed" and the bodies were found at the site.
An air force spokesperson identified as Yevhen Rakita told public broadcaster Suspilne that the men aboard were officers.
He said a service for the men would take place on Thursday in the central town of Poltava but their identities were not being made public for security reasons.
** Zelenskiy decries corruption in military medical exemptions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy decried on Wednesday what he described as systematic corruption in medical exemptions to people avoiding military service, saying the system was subject to bribes and mass departures abroad.
Ukraine has made a crackdown on graft a priority as it presses on with a counteroffensive 18 months into Russia's invasion. Uprooting corruption is also a key element in the country's bid to join the European Union.
Zelenskiy said the National Security and Defence Council had considered data showing the extent of false exemptions, bribe-taking and flight abroad since the February 2022 invasion. The investigation of dubious medical exemptions was still being conducted, he said.
"There are examples of regions where the number of exemptions from military service due to medical commission decisions has increased tenfold since February last year," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
"It is absolutely clear what sort of decisions these are. Corrupt decisions."
He said the investigation had exposed corrupt practices in different regions and by officials in different positions, involving bribes ranging from $3,000 to $15,000.
Zelenskiy said a separate analysis was needed to determine the numbers of people who had fled abroad, largely on the basis of medical commission decisions.
"We are talking about at least thousands of individuals," he said.
Zelenskiy this month dismissed all the heads of Ukraine's regional army recruitment centres.
He said more than 100 criminal cases had been opened in a wide-ranging probe launched after a graft scandal at a recruitment office in southern Odesa region last month.
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Russian air defenses repel multiple coordinated drone raids – MOD
The Russian military has prevented a series of attempted Ukrainian drone strikes overnight, with over half a dozen unmanned aircraft shot down across five regions spanning from the Ukrainian border to Moscow, the Defense Ministry claimed early on Wednesday.
Russian air defense units prevented an “attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by airplane-type UAVs on Russian infrastructure,” the military said in a brief statement.
Shortly after midnight, three unmanned aircraft were shot down in the border region of Bryansk and at least one intercepted over Oryol, some 200 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Around 2am, another drone was detected and downed over Kaluga Region, to the southwest of Moscow, the Defense Ministry added in another statement.
At 2:30am a plane-type unmanned aerial vehicle was downed in Ryazan Region.
At about 3:30am, another Ukrainian UAV was intercepted and crashed over the territory of Moscow Region. The hostile UAV was downed while heading towards the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said, adding that it caused no damage or injuries on the ground.
At 4am yet another UAV was downed over Ryazan Region, according to the Defense Ministry.
At 8:30am, Bryansk Region governor Aleksander Bogomaz reported another incident, saying that two drones had targeted a TV tower in the city of Bryansk. Both aircraft were shot down by air defenses, he wrote on Telegram, adding that the fires at their crash sites had already been extinguished.
Earlier, the Russian aviation authority announced the emergency closure of airspace over the Tula, Ryazan, and Kaluga regions and parts of Moscow Region, following explosions at an airfield in northwest Russia.
At least 10 drones attacked Pskov, according to the regional governor. Most were brought down by air defenses, but some reportedly caused damaged at least two Il-76 transport aircraft. There were no reports of casualties.
Pskov is about 700 kilometers north of Ukraine, but only 30 kilometers from the Estonian border. Latvia is about 60 kilometers to the southwest. Both are NATO member states. To reach the city, drones launched from Ukraine would have to fly over eastern Belarus.
Ukraine has previously used “drone swarms” to attack Crimea, but has not sent more than a handful of UAVs in the direction of Moscow, where they caused minor property damage to the city’s financial district. The Kremlin had dismissed the attacks as an “act of desperation,” intended to distract from Kiev’s failures on the battlefield.
** Russia cripples Ukrainian military command, intel centers in overnight precision strike
Russian forces delivered a strike by long-range precision weapons, wiping out Ukrainian military command and intelligence centers over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.
"Overnight to August 30, Russian forces delivered a multiple-launch strike by airborne and seaborne long-range precision weapons against enemy military command and intelligence centers," the ministry said in a statement.
The goals of the strike were achieved. "All the designated targets were destroyed," the ministry stressed.