Ukraine Conflict Monitor
Update
Ukraine war situation update: 23 – 29 August 2025
Overview of political violence and conflict events in Ukraine from 23 to 29 August 2025
Key stats
1,446 political violence events
6% decrease compared to last week
96 incidents of violence targeting civilians
14% decrease compared to last week
At least 48 fatalities from civilian targeting
25% decrease compared to last week
Key events
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26 Aug.
Donetsk – Russian shelling kills one mine worker and injures three others in a mine near Dobropillia
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28 Aug.
Vinnytsia – Russian drones damage a train and railway infrastructure in Kozyatyn
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28 Aug.
Odesa – A Russian naval drone sinks the Ukrainian Simferopol reconnaissance ship in the Danube Delta
Key trends
- Russian forces occupied three settlements at the junction of the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhia regions, as well as another village south of Toretsk in the Donetsk region.
- In the Donetsk region, Ukrainian forces recaptured a settlement north of Velyka Novosilka on the boundary with the Dnipropetrovsk region, two settlements north of Pokrovsk, and another north of Lyman. Ukrainian forces also reclaimed a village north of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region.
- Russian forces launched at least 27 long-range missile and drone strikes, including on the western region of Khmelnytskyi.
- Russian strikes killed at least 47 civilians in the city of Kyiv and in the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Sumy. Ukrainian strikes reportedly killed at least one civilian and injured 28 others in the Russia-occupied parts of the Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhia regions.
Spotlight: Russian strikes kill 25 civilians and hit the EU mission in Kyiv city
On 28 August, Russian forces carried out a 12-hour-long air raid on Kyiv city, using hundreds of drones to overwhelm the city’s air defense and pave the way for dozens of cruise and ballistic missiles. A Russian drone partially destroyed a five-storey apartment building in the Darnytskyi borough early in the morning, burying residents under the rubble. A search and rescue operation lasted for two days.1 Authorities confirmed the deaths of 24 civilians resulting from the strike, including four children. Another civilian died in a strike on the central Shevchenkivskyi borough. Scores of others were injured in strikes across the city.
The strikes also damaged buildings hosting the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine and the British Council, as well as media outlets, including the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.2 Both London and Brussels summoned respective Russian envoys to protest the breach of the Vienna Convention that grants immunity to diplomats and properties used by foreign representations from attacks.3 Though rare, ACLED data shows that previous Russian strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities have damaged missions from Albania, Slovenia, Poland, and the Vatican.
Explore the ACLED Conflict Exposure Calculator to assess the numbers of people affected by armed violence, disaggregated by locations, time period, and actors involved.
