Poland ‘will close Belarus border’ if there is incident with Wagner; Ukraine troops pushing south – as it happened

Ukrainian servicemen ride a tank near the village of Robotyne. Photograph: Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters

6.47pm BST

Closing summary

This blog is now closing. Below is a roundup of today’s stories:

• Poland and the Baltic states will close their borders with Belarus entirely if a “critical incident” involving Wagner mercenaries takes place, the Polish interior minister, Mariusz Kamiński, said on Monday.

• Three people were killed in an overnight Russian missile strike on Ukraine, and a fourth was killed in shelling on Monday morning, Ukrainian officials have said.

• Finland plans to spend 2.3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence next year.

• Vladimir Putin will not visit India for the G20 summit next month, with the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, representing the country instead.

• A Russian-born Swedish citizen has reportedly been charged with collecting information for the Russian military intelligence service GRU for almost a decade.

• Russian air defences downed two Ukrainian drones over Russian-annexed Crimea on Monday, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of the region, wrote on Telegram.

• Moscow said on Monday it had detained a Russian citizen and former US consulate employee in Vladivostok for allegedly passing information about the war in Ukraine to US diplomats.

• Ukraine said on Monday its troops had liberated the south-eastern settlement of Robotyne and were trying to advance farther south in their counteroffensive against Russian forces, Reuters reports.

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he will ask parliament in the coming week to increase penalties for those found guilty of corruption during wartime.

Updated at 6.53pm BST

6.16pm BST

Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, had a “productive exchange” with Romanian foreign minister Luminița Odobescu on Monday where the pair discussed a European-Ukrainian “integration calendar”.

Had a productive exchange w/🇷🇴Minister of Foreign Affairs @Odobes1Luminita on 🇺🇦🇪🇺integration calendar & ongoing reforms.
Highly appreciate your resolute support on our way towards EU membership.
Welcome the initiative to launch a special training program for 🇺🇦 civil servants.

— Olga Stefanishyna (@StefanishynaO) August 28, 2023

Updated at 6.27pm BST