Ukraine has expanded their control to the northwest of Verbove slightly. However, there is still no fundamental change in the area. Ukraine has yet to bring heavy equipment across Russia's defensive lines in the region, though Russia is demonstrating that they are unable to expel Ukrainian infantry from the region.
Ukraine has targeted Russian positions immediately behind the trench line between Robotyne and Novoprokopivka, suggesting that the trench line itself is quite possibly contested. If not, Ukraine's grip over the line is not fully secured, with Russian troops just a couple of hundred feet away. Ukraine will probably fully consolidate their positions here over the next week or so, and then we will see a push towards Novoprokopivka in earnest.
Ukraine has made further gains in Klishchiivka, as Russian troops seem prepared to fully abandon the settlement in the near future. Russian attacks along the Kurdyumivka-Klishchiivka line have notably decreased of late. It seems that the Russian troops in the area have run out of steam, and have fully flipped to a defensive posture.
A solitary Ukrainian drone entered Volgograd oblast, Russia. Not only is it behind Luhansk oblast, almost entirely occupied, it's behind Russia's Rostov oblast. This is the first known incident of a Ukrainian drone reaching Volgograd oblast. As Ukraine has been boasting recently of further research and development into their domestically produced drones, this venture was likely a reconnaissance run and an effort to test Russian air defense in the area. In the coming weeks or months, we will probably see somewhat regularly drone strikes against Volgograd oblasts and other Russian territories further away from Russia. A separate drone strike also yet again targeted the Kremniy El electronics plant, which is partially responsible for manufacturing Russian missiles. It was the second such strike against the plant over the past week or so.
There are further signs that Ukraine is running into serious manpower issues. For the first time, women with pharmaceutical or medical backgrounds will be required to register for enlistment beginning in October. Combined with other recent policy changes, it's quite clear that Ukraine is facing manpower shortages whether or not they're wanting to publicly admit so. At this point, it seems that manpower might be a more limiting factor for Ukraine than the upcoming mud season, with the major qualification that of course we don't yet definitively know how harsh the autumn weather will be. Ukraine has done well at sustaining a high ratio of casualties inflicted to taken, but Russia also has a vastly larger population to draw from. Russia is also struggling for manpower issues, but they have been able to augment their troops with militias, and have reconstituted battered units with newly mobilized infantry, meaning green troops can quickly learn from much more experienced troops. In contrast, Ukraine has many fully new, quite untested units trained by NATO partners who have not fought the type of war that Ukraine is currently fighting.
For all of Ukraine's manpower issues, Russia is still massively struggling with command issues. Major General Konstantin Ogienko, who was responsible for the air defense of Moscow, was arrested. So was Major General Dmitry Belyatsky, commander of 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army. Ogienko and Belyatsky were accused of receiving bribes. Given the repeated drone strikes in and around Moscow, I wouldn't be surprised if Ogienko was removed for military failures. According to Russian media, Belyatsky has already admitted that he was "partially" guilty. Ogienko on the other hand is for now maintaining his innocence.
While it's far from the only instance of him doing so, Elon Musk has caught a lot of blowback after it was reported that he cut off Starlink access to a number of Ukrainian naval drones last year. Instead of carrying out their mission to sabotage Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, the drones simply washed ashore. Presumably, this instance is when a drone washed onto the Crimean coast for the first time and was uncovered. At the time, the existence of this particular mode of drone was not yet known, though it would later gain a large amount of fame for the repeated strikes against Ukrainians ships and coastal targets. The notable thing about this reported instance is that evidently Elon Musk didn't inform Ukraine in advance of his veto, wasting valuable drones, as well as the element of surprise for Ukraine. Reportedly, he feared a nuclear response from Russia, even though Ukraine has struck Crimea and Russia itself many times without nuclear reprisal.
Just a day after announcing an aid package for Ukraine, the United States has announced another. Today's package focuses on air defense, artillery munitions, and de-mining equipment. With this announcement, the United States has exhausted all funds earmarked for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative for the 2023 fiscal year. However, billions remain in the Presidential Drawdown Authority, though this is due to expire in a few weeks. In the meantime, President Biden is pushing for Congress to authorize more funds that can be used to assist Ukraine over the coming year. The United States is also reportedly mulling considering sending additional cluster munitions to Ukraine in the future. So far, they have proven to be quite effective against Russian troops, and Ukraine has done well at adhering to their own self-imposed restrictions.
After the drone struck Romania, the government is considering imposing a mandatory evacuation on the village of Plauru, which sits directly across from the Ukrainian river port city of Izmail. Despite their proximity to Romanian (and thus EU and NATO territory), such river ports have been frequent targets of Russian drone strikes since Russia abandoned the Black Sea grain deal.
The split between Armenia and Russia grew larger today, as Armenia detained two Russian media figures, accusing the two of trafficking weapons. This comes after a series of spats between the two countries and official allies. The frequency of disputes between the two countries seems to be escalating as well, which comes at an inopportune time since Azerbaijan is ratcheting up tensions with Armenia to quite concerning levels.