Ukraine Summer Offensive Update for Sept. 5 (Europe Edition): $100m Per Day, Just Think About It’

An updated version of this article is available here.

Overview

• Zelensky meets with military brass in Donetsk region
• Russia claims it intercepted sabotage group at border
• Ukrainian forces reportedly making headway in the Zaporizhzhia region
• Cost of war about $36.5 billion annually, minister says
• AFU repels Russian attacks near Bakhmut
• Russians drones attack civilian structures and grain near Odesa
• Three Russian tank battalions reported eliminated in one week

Russia says it blocked Ukrainian sabotage group from entering Bryansk

The governor of Russia’s western Bryansk region said border guards and security forces had “thwarted” an attempt by a Ukrainian sabotage group that tried to cross into Russia, AFP reported Monday.

“Employees of the FSB border force of Russia and units of the Russian defense ministry thwarted an attempt to penetrate the territory of the Russian Federation by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group,” Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram.

According to AFP, Russia has this year repeatedly reported Ukrainian sabotage attempts on its borders. In May, Russia sent helicopters to foil a cross-border incursion in the Belgorod region.

Zelensky visits combat brigades in eastern Donetsk

President Volodymyr Zelensky broadcast a video of himself on Monday, discussing his visit to the frontlines in the Donetsk region. His social media media account shows him meeting commanders and soldiers in an unnamed location in the Donetsk region.

“We are visiting the combat brigades that are defending Ukraine as part of the Donetsk operational and tactical group,” Zelensky said, posting a video of himself meeting soldiers.

“Important reports, problematic issues, supplies that need to be increased, creation of an auxiliary management system to ensure the brigades’ supply, increasing the motivation of our warriors,” he added.

Other Topics of Interest

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“Everything we talked about with the warriors will be issues for the staff… We heard everything, guys.”

AFU troops hold back Russian attacks near Bakhmut

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), defending troops held off Russian attacks near Bakhmut, in a total of 22 combat clashes there on Monday. The General Staff reported a total of 13 AFU airstrikes on Russian positions: 11 on troops and weapons clusters, and 2 on anti-aircraft missile systems.

Meanwhile, Ukraine defense officials reported five Russian missile attacks and 68 airstrikes that same day, as well as 42 attacks involving multiple rocket launchers. Artillery was primarily aimed at 15 settlements in the northern potions of the Donetsk region, including Ivanivske, Bohdanivka, Chasiv Yar and Bila Hora.

Ukraine Media Center claims three Russian tank battalion equivalents destroyed last week.

According to a post from the publicly funded Ukraine Media Center: “Over the past week, the following were eliminated. “Personnel: 3,810 (nearly 8 battalions); tanks:80 (about 3 tank battalions); armored combat vehicles: 101 (about 3 motorized rifle battalions); artillery units: 186 (around 10 artillery divisions); missiles: 322.”

Defending Ukraine costs $100M a day, Reznikov says

Outgoing Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov calculated that Ukraine is spending roughly $100 million per day in its counteroffensive against invading Russian forces. He added that supporting domestic volunteer fighters has only accounted for three percent of the total.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal had announced previously that Ukraine was using 100 percent of its tax income for military needs.

“A day of war costs us $100 million,” Reznikov said on Monday, as quoted by Ukrinform. “Now take the budgets of all the respectable large volunteer foundations and see how much they raise. And take the state, which spends $100 million per day in general. Just think about it.”

Ukraine shoots down 23 of 32 Russian drones in South

The AFU reported that Russian forces launched 32 Shahed drones from Crimea and the Krasnodar area on Monday night and that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 23 of them.

Ukrainian Southern Command Spokesperson Captain Natalia Humeniuk said that Russian drones struck civilian infrastructure in the Odesa region, and Russian sources claimed that drones also struck port infrastructure in Reni and Izmail in that area. The head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, Mykola Lukashuk, reported that a drone strike destroyed 1,500 tons of grain in that region.

AFU records “tactically significant advances” in the Zaporizhzhia Region

Ukrainian forces made tactically significant advances in the western Zaporizhzhia Region on Monday, according to the Institute for the Study of War. The ISW geolocated footage published on Sept. 4, showing Ukrainian forces advancing south of Robotyne (9 km south of Orikhiv) and west of Verbove (18 km southeast of Orikhiv).

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported that Ukrainian forces continue offensive operations in the Melitopol area and achieved unspecified successes in the direction of Novodanylivka (5 km south of Orikhiv) and Novoprokopivka (13 km south of Orikhiv). She said that, overall, Ukrainian troops have recaptured approximately three square kilometers of land in that area over the past week.