The Ukrainian air force destroyed four cruise missiles from overnight Russian air strikes on northern and central parts of the country including the Kyiv region, authorities said. The news came as Moscow said its forces had shot down two drones in regions bordering Ukraine. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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03:45am: Ukrainian drone 'destroyed by air defences near Moscow'
Air defences shot down a hostile drone near Moscow in the early hours of Monday, city mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on messaging app Telegram.
He said that according to preliminary information no casualties or damage on the ground have been reported.
11:15pm: Zelensky says elections could happen under fire if West helps
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, responding to calls by a US senator this week to announce elections in 2024, said on Sunday voting could take place during wartime if partners shared the cost, legislators approved, and everyone got to the polls.
Elections cannot currently be held in Ukraine under martial law, which must be extended every 90 days and is next due to expire on Nov. 15, after the normal date in October for parliamentary polls but before presidential elections which would normally be held in March 2024.
Top American legislators visited Kyiv Aug. 23, among them Senator Lindsey Graham, who heaped praise on Kyiv's fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin but said the country needed to show it was different by holding elections in wartime.
7:12pm: World Athletics president says he's not changing view on Russia 'anytime soon'
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said Sunday he would not be changing his views "anytime soon" when it comes to welcoming Russia back into the fold.
All Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from track and field competition "for the foreseeable future" since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. That includes the option of competing under neutral status.
International sports bodies are taking wildly varying stances on allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete while the war in Ukraine continues.
Coe's World Athletics is among the most stringent of opponents to their return should the conflict continue.
"I've been an athlete, I was able to prepare in the safety and security of my home city. I was able when I needed to travel abroad," Coe told a press conference to mark the end of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. "I cannot imagine what it must be like for athletes in Ukraine, to be dealing with this landscape. It's an intolerable situation and that's why I won't be changing my views anytime soon."
5:20pm: Russia says it scrambled fighter plane to deter US drone over Black Sea
Russia said on Sunday it scrambled (quickly mobilised) a fighter plane to deter a US air force reconnaissance drone from crossing its borders over the Black Sea.
"As the Russian fighter approached, the foreign reconnaissance UAV made a U-turn away from the state border of the Russian Federation," Russia's defence ministry said.
4:46pm: Second blocked ship leaves Odesa port, says Ukrainian minister
The second vessel blocked by Russia's withdrawal last month from a UN-brokered deal allowing the safe passage of grain through the Black Sea has left Ukraine's Odesa port, a senior Ukrainian government official said on Sunday.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on the social media platform X that the Liberian-flagged ship PRIMUS had begun sailing through a temporary corridor set up for civilian vessels, carrying steel products destined for African countries.
12:57pm: Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's death in plane crash confirmed by genetic tests, Russian inquiry says
The death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner paramilitary group, following a plane crash on Wednesday has been confirmed by formal genetic analysis, Russia's Investigative Committee said Sunday.
"Molecular-genetic examinations have been completed as part of the investigation into the plane crash in the Tver region," Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said.
"According to their results, the identities of all 10 victims were established, they correspond to the list stated in the flight list," she added.
Read moreWagner chief Prigozhin's death in plane crash confirmed by forensics
11:23am: Ukraine launches probe into deadly plane incident that killed 3 pilots
Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation after a midair collision between two warplanes in the west of the country killed three pilots.
Ukraine's air force spokesman Yuri Ihnat told Ukrainian television on Sunday it wasn't immediately clear how long the probe would take.
According to the air force's Telegram page, two L-39 training military aircraft collided on Friday during a combat mission over Ukraine's western Zhytomyr region.
Three pilots were killed, including Andriy Pilshchykov, a well-known pilot with the nickname “Juice” who was an outspoken advocate for Ukraine getting F-16 fighter jets.
9:03am: Gazprom to ship 41.5 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Sunday
Russia's Gazprom said it will send 41.5 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Sunday, a volume in line with recent days.
8:02am: Ukraine downs four cruise missiles during overnight Russian air strike, Kyiv says
The Ukrainian military destroyed four cruise missiles during an overnight Russian air strike, Kyiv's air force reported early on Sunday.
Russia sent missiles over other northern and central parts of the country, authorities said.
The governor of the Kyiv region, Ruslan Kravchenko, said two people had been wounded and 10 buildings damaged by falling missile debris in one unspecified area of the region.
“Thanks to the professional work of the air defence forces, there were no strikes on critical or residential infrastructure,” he said in a statement.
All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts for about three hours early on Sunday before they were lifted at around 6am local time.
7:19am: Russian ships return from joint Pacific patrolling with Chinese Navy
A detachment of Russia's navy warships returned from more than three weeks of joint-patrolling of the Pacific Ocean with Chinese navy ships, the Russian Interfax news agency reported on Sunday.
Warships of Russia's Pacific Fleet, together with a detachment of Chinese navy ships travelled more than 7,000 nautical miles through the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean, Interfax reported citing the Fleet's press service.
During the patrol, the Russian-Chinese detachment passed along the Kuril ridge, the agency reported.
The islands, off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, are known in Russia as the Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories and have been at the core of decades of tension between the neighbours.
6:27am: Russia shoots down two drones over Kursk, Bryansk regions
Russia's defence ministry said its forces shot down two drones overnight on Sunday in two regions bordering Ukraine.
One drone was shot down over the Bryansk region in Russia's west and another in the Kursk region, just south of it, the defence ministry said on the Telegram messaging channel.
There was no further information about possible damage or casualties.
4:18am: Ukraine repels air attack on Kyiv
Ukraine's air defence systems were repelling a Russian air attack on Kyiv's outskirts early on Sunday, Kyiv's military administration said on the Telegram messaging app.
A witness reported the sound of blasts. All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts at 5am.
Key developments from Saturday, August 26:
The Russian defence ministry said Saturday that it downed three drones over its territory.
In Ukraine, three pilots died after two L-39 trainer aircraft collided in mid-air in the Zhytomyr region, the Ukrainian air force said in a statement.
A second ship since Moscow's withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal left Ukraine's port city of Odesa for Bulgaria on Saturday, according to local news reports.
Read yesterday's liveblog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
