News from Ukraine, Eastern Europe

Russia struck a factory belonging to U.S. multinational food company Mondelez International in Sumy Oblast on Aug. 23, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

Ukraine is preparing "radical" changes to its mobilization system, including potential changes to the country's draft age, secretary of the parliamentary defense committee Roman Kostenko said on Aug. 23.

"We feel we are not alone. Our allies are with us," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Ag. 23.

"So far, he has said that this constitutes an escalation," President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on Aug. 22. "However, he may change his mind once he sees further arguments."

The two jets, a Su-33 and a Mig-29, as well as a large Orion strike drone, were hit at the Vityazevo airfield in Russia's southern region of Krasnodar Krai, Robert Brovdi said.

In this episode of Ukraine This Week, Anna Belokur examines 35 years of Ukrainian independence and the centuries of Russian attempts to control, suppress, and ultimately deny Ukraine’s sovereignty.

"Elections right now are a tsunami for the state that will split Ukraine," Zelensky told journalists.

Zelensky said that Ukrainian military struck an Iskander ballistic missile launcher near Ukraine's borders on Aug. 22, without providing further details.

Russia's voluntary recruitment system has increasingly struggled to make up for losses on the battlefield, while diminishing returns in Russian offensives on the front line have fuelled talk of a new wave of mobilization in the country.

In Odesa Oblast, a Russian jet-powered attack drone hit a passenger train, Ukrainian Railways CEO Oleksandr Pertsovskyi said on Aug. 23.

The figure includes 1,310 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Ukraine's military reportedly launched a drone attack on the Russian city of Orenburg overnight on Aug. 23, striking an Ozon logistics center, Russian Telegram media channels reported.

Kellogg, previously regarded as one of the most pro-Ukrainian voices in the White House, left his position in 2025 but said his work in support of Ukraine would continue after leaving his government role.

Former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov detailed what he described as widespread corruption within Ukraine's Defense Ministry in a wide-ranging interview with Channel 24 released Aug. 22, while reiterating his call for Ukraine to prepare for elections even as war continues.