Volodymyr Zelensky revealed on Tuesday that Kyiv has delivered fresh proposals to American negotiators aimed at ending the four-year war with Russia.
US-mediated talks have been on ice since the war in Iran broke out in February. Efforts to bring Ukraine and Russia back to the table have not produced any material results since.
But even with the war in the Middle East no closer to being resolved, the Ukrainian president said in his nightly address: “We have conveyed our proposals to the American side.”
“And the United States can help strengthen our defence, first and foremost with air defence, and put pressure on Russia so that its plans are different -- to prepare for an end to the war rather than prolonging it,” he said.
Ukraine says that Russia is scaling up its production of ballistic missiles, aiming to exploit Kyiv's critical shortage of Patriot air defense interceptors that can stop them, and claims Moscow is preparing to recruit more troops for a new push on the front line that now stretches 1,250 kilometers.
In an indication that Putin is determined to press on with the invasion, Russia's highest court on Monday ordered that Yabloko, the only political party opposing the war, to be excluded from the ballot in next month’s parliamentary election.
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Latvia finds tunnel under Belarus border
Latvia said on Tuesday a tunnel had been discovered under the border with Belarus and announced plans to combat networks that it says are helping a growing number of migrants cross the frontier illegally.
Latvian soldiers last month used teargas and fired a warning shot to stop migrants trying to enter from Belarus, which shares a 173km border with European Union member state Latvia.
"The protection of Latvia's eastern border will be strengthened, with closer cooperation between the Border Guard, State Police, National Armed Forces and security services, and more intensive use of drones for early detection and detention of illegal migrants," Interior Minister Janis Dombrava told a joint press conference with Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs.
Romania destroys drones drifting near major offshore gas project
Romanian army divers destroyed two Gerbera-type drones drifting in the country's Black Sea exclusive economic zone near the offshore gas project Neptun Deep, Defence Minister Radu Miruta said on Tuesday.
The NATO state shares a 614-km land border with Ukraine and has seen Russian drones repeatedly breach its airspace over the last four years, as well as mines floating in the Black Sea across key trade and energy routes.
In July, Romanian F-16 fighter jet pilots shot down three Russian drones breaching national airspace over three consecutive days after dozens of such incursions in the more than four years of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Analysis | Ukraine are hitting deep inside Russia – but don’t expect Putin to capitulate yet
Russia’s war on Ukraine has entered its latest phase, with each side making use of increasing numbers of long-range munitions to strike deep into the other’s territory.
In the early summer of this year, there was a surge of optimism across the media when it became clear that Ukraine was stepping up its strikes at enormous ranges into Russia, and there was little that Moscow could do about it. But that optimism needs to be balanced against the new reality that with anti-missile interceptor systems exhausted, there is not much Ukraine itself can do to blunt Russian missile attacks. For now, those attacks sow misery and death by blasting residential areas with little warning: but next winter, they could once again target heating and power infrastructure and have an even more devastating effect on Ukraine’s ability to keep its people alive than last year.
Russia’s campaign against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure is not new: it began almost as soon as it became clear that Russia had failed in its initial objective of swiftly overrunning the country in February 2022. But its new character today results both from massive increases in the numbers of missiles and drones available to Russia, and the way they have outstripped Ukraine’s air defences.
Ukraine says it struck oil refinery in Orsk
Kyiv’s military has said it attacked an oil refinery in the Russian city of Orsk, the second-largest city in the Orenburg region and an important industrial hub.
In a statement on Telegram, the Ukrainian military said it had targeted the Orsknefteorgsintez oil refinery, which has an annual crude oil capacity of 6 million tons.
“Fire was recorded. Damages are being ascertained,” it said.
The Orsk refinery produces gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel, fuel oil, bitumen, and other petroleum products.
Russia claims it has seized two more villages in Ukraine
Russian troops have taken control of two settlements in Ukraine, Moscow’s Defence Ministry is claiming.
Shcherbakivka in the Kharkiv region, and Nove Pole in the Zaporizhzhia region were seized by Russian forces, it said on Tuesday - although we have not been able to independently verify the claims.
Death toll rises to six in Zaporizhzhia after Russian strikes
Russian attacks killed six people and wounded 20 in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia early on Tuesday and also struck Kyiv, triggering fires in the capital, officials said, taking the death toll to 12 across Ukraine in the last 24 hours.
Zaporizhzhia regional governor Ivan Fedorov said Russian troops launched missiles and aerial bombs at the city.
Air raid alerts were sounded in both Zaporizhzhia and in Kyiv, where the capital's military administration said warehouses in a central district were ablaze. One person was reported injured.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said medical personnel had been dispatched to a central district.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, local authorities reported another six people were killed and 16 wounded overnight in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk.
Trump says Putin agreed to release Robert Gilman on humanitarian basis
Donald Trump says in a post that former US marine Robert Gilman will be returning home as a result of a deal with Russia.
Robert Gilman, 32, an English teacher who briefly served in the US Marines was arrested in early 2022, allegedly for kicking a police officer while drunk, according to Russian state media.
“After my discussions with President Vladimir Putin, Russia has agreed to release him, very much on a Humanitarian Basis,” Trump said.
“We appreciate this decision, and the fact that Russia asked for no one in return — No exchange took place.”
He went on: “I just spoke to him, and he had one request — A GREAT cheeseburger when he lands. I will take care of that!”