‘Entirely Justified, by Any Means Necessary’ – Ukraine at War Update for Sept. 2

Among Moscow’s targets during its relentless Sunday air strike on Ukraine’s northeast were a center for the rehabilitation of children and an orphanage, both in the Sumy region. Thirteen people have been reported injured in those attacks, including two children.

The head of the city of Sumy’s Military Administration Oleksii Drozdenko reported that on Sunday night, “the enemy launched a missile attack on the premises of a Sumy educational institution where the Centre for the Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children and an orphanage are located. The building is located in the middle of a residential area.”

News outlet Suspilne Sumy reported that at least two people were injured in the Russian strike on the children’s center, a seven-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl. At the same time, the city council later added that there were at least 13 civilians injured in the attack as of Sunday night local time which smashed about 400 windows in the buildings.

Earlier in the afternoon, authorities reported that Russian missile strikes injured at least 41 civilians in the neighboring Kharkiv region, specifically in the regional capital, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Later in the day, the toll was increased to 47, including three people found alive under the rubble.

Oleh Sinehubov, the head of Kharkiv’s Regional Military Administration, said that more than ten ballistic missiles were used in that attack but the exact Russian munitions have not yet officially been confirmed.

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With winter already approaching, the latest attack renewed discussions about a potentially unforgiving winter for Ukrainians and what the future might hold under the upcoming US administration.

He added that the Kharkiv Sports Palace, a shopping center, and the building near the Hydropark recreational area in the Kyiv district were among the structures hit.

President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a video on social media of the aftermath of the Kharkiv strikes, noting “Russia is once again terrorizing Kharkiv, striking civilian infrastructure and the city itself. As of now, there are over 30 wounded. All necessary forces have been deployed for the rescue operation,” he posted.

The state’s emergency services reported that evening that the injury toll from the Russian attack on Kharkiv “has increased to 47, including seven children,” adding that three people, still alive, were rescued from under the rubble.

The state prosecutor’s office on Sunday evening claimed that the Russians launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles at the shopping center, another three of the same type at the Sports Palace building in the Nemyshlianskyi district, hitting the targets directly, while three S-300/400 type missiles hit the surrounding areas. Those claims are yet to be verified.

Moscow tries to downplay Ukraine’s successful drone attack on Russian energy infrastructure

AFP reported that the Kremlin says it had “repelled” a huge Ukrainian drone attack on energy and fuel plants in Moscow and 14 regions on Sunday, “one of the largest such strikes since the start of the two and half-year conflict,” the news agency said.

At least 158 Ukrainian drones targeted various energy infrastructure on Sunday, Kremlin-loyal outlets stated. A local official in the Moscow region said three drones had tried to hit the Kashira coal-fired power station. At the same time, Russian news agencies also reported a fire at the Moscow oil refinery in Kapotnya, and videos from the site also suggested a drone strike on the oil depot. 

Russia’s defense ministry claimed that “most” of the drones were downed over the border regions of Kursk, Bryansk, Voronezh, and Belgorod. At the same time, Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said that 10 drones had targeted various targets around the capital, and a coal-fired power plant near the city was also reported to have been targeted.

AFP reported that Sobyanin said Sunday morning that a “downed” drone had hit a “technical building” at the Moscow oil refinery, owned by Gazprom, in the southeast Kapotnya area of the capital. The mayor later said, “The fire at the oil refinery has been localized.” And in the Tver region northwest of Moscow, five drones targeting the area of the Konakovo power plant caused a fire that was “swiftly extinguished”, according to Governor Igor Rudenya.

In a Facebook post on Sunday night, Zelensky posted that it is “entirely justified for Ukrainians to respond to Russian terror by any means necessary to stop it.”

A Russian military blogger said that “the night attack by the Ukrainian armed forces was the most massive since the start of the special military operation” in 2022.

“Not a single question about abortion, Ukraine, or the homeless,” laments US late-night comedy host

Two days after CNN’s interview with US Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, some American voters and international leaders are waiting for some insight as to what Donald Trump’s opponent in November thinks about the war in Ukraine, among other topics.

Neither candidate for president has offered voters much information on their plan to continue to support Kyiv, with Trump saying only he would end the war “in 24 hours,” without offering any details. Meanwhile, Harris, though voicing support for Ukraine, has not given detailed information on the topic.

This information gap has not been lost on late-night comedian and cynic Bill Maher, a self-described centrist Democrat who regularly lambasts Trump and has recently questioned Harris’ agenda.

As he opened an episode this weekend of his late-night political comedy show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” he wondered aloud why Harris had not granted any broadcast interviews on her proposed policies, foreign or domestic, before the CNN interview.

“Now she finally does,” Maher quipped, “and not a single question about abortion, Ukraine, the homeless, the Opioid crisis, the national debt.”

The CNN interviewer, Dana Bash, asked no policy questions about Ukraine or Russia during the interview, concentrating on Harris’ recent elevation to party nominee, the US economy, and perceived border policy changes.

“And then they wonder why the kids get their news from TikTok,” he joked.