Russia struck Ukraine's eastern region of Poltava overnight, killing three people, Ukrainian authorities reported on August 28, as Kyiv confirmed the liberation of the southeastern village of Robotyne and said it was making further advances in the Zaporizhzhya region.
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Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the three people were killed at an industrial plant in central Poltava region. Five were wounded and another person was unaccounted for, he said.
Two other people were killed on August 28 by shelling in other parts of Ukraine. Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of southern Kherson region, said a 63-year-old woman had been killed in mid-morning shelling of the village of Sadove. Russian shelling later in the day killed at least one person in Toretsk in the Donetsk region, prosecutors said.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar in a post on Telegram confirmed that Robotyne, which sits along an important road leading from the town of Orikhiv to Tokmak on the way to the strategic southern city of Melitopol, had been liberated.
The Ukrainian Army last week announced that it had raised the national flag in Robotyne and was evacuating civilians, as mopping-up operations were still under way.
"The defense forces of Ukraine were successful in the southeastern settlement of Robotyne," Malyar wrote. "Our forces are advancing southeast of Robotyne and south of Mala Tokmachka in the Zaporizhzhya region."
Ukrainian forces continue their offensive operation in the Melitopol direction, Ukraine's General Staff said in its evening summary on August 28.
In addition, the Ukrainian military said it made eight air strikes on personnel concentration areas, including one on a Russian command post and three on antiaircraft missile complexes.
Melitopol, in the Zaporizhzhya region, is a vital transit hub for Russian forces and a key link in its so-called "land bridge" between Russian-occupied Crimea and the parts of eastern Ukraine occupied by Russia.
Ukraine's forces fought 26 combat clashes on August 28, the General Staff said in its summary, which also reported that Russian forces carried out eight missile strikes, 30 other air strikes, and 19 attacks from rocket-salvo systems on positions of Ukrainian troops and populated areas.
In Russia, authorities said that drones were shot down in one of the districts of Moscow and in the western Bryansk region overnight on August 28.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said a drone was destroyed in the Lyubertsy district of the capital, and there were no damages or casualties.
Two Moscow airports, Domodedovo and Vnukovo, suspended operations for about an hour, Sobyanin added. The Russian Defense Ministry said air-defense forces shot down two drones over the Bryansk region at night. No damage or casualties were reported.
WATCH: A Ukrainian anti-tank unit has been on the hunt for Russian armor using the Stuhna guided-rocket system to destroy military vehicles worth millions of dollars. According to Ukraine, Russia has lost over 4,000 tanks and 8,000 armed personnel carriers during the full-scale invasion.
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Ukrainian Anti-Tank Unit Estimates It's Destroyed $20 Million In Russian Armor
One day after saying he expected "a powerful September for Ukraine," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the next meeting of the command staff had two tasks.
"The first is a report on preparations for the winter. Various aspects, including security. Second: a program of preparation for the use of new combat aircraft," he said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Zelenskiy said on August 27 that he expected "new defense packages for Ukrainian soldiers" in the coming weeks.
"Artillery, armored vehicles, air-defense systems and missiles, demining equipment," he wrote. "Our partners have been informed about our needs. We are expecting decisions."
"A united world is stronger than any aggressor," he concluded. "In September, there will be more unity."
Separately, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said any suggestion of differences with Washington over Ukraine's military strategy were "mistaken and invented."
He told a news conference that Ukrainian Commander in Chief Valeriy Zaluzhniy was meeting "systematically" with senior officials from countries supplying Ukraine with weaponry.
"Everything is going according to the plan, which was discussed with our partners in advance when our brigades were being formed, when they were equipped," Reznikov said.