Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses delegates from the United Russia party as he attends the party’s congress ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Moscow, Russia, August 22, 2026. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabSummaryRussia needs
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Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses delegates from the United Russia party as he attends the party’s congress ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Moscow, Russia, August 22, 2026. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
- Summary
- Russia needs new forces for war effort, Ukrainian leader says
- Says Moscow also stepping up ballistic missile attacks
- Kyiv’s $27 billion defence gap another major challenge
KYIV, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Ukraine thinks Russia is planning to draft an additional 300,000 troops for its war effort after Russian parliamentary elections in mid-September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Moscow’s forces are pressing ahead with an effort to capture the rest of eastern Ukraine’s industrialised Donbas region, where its troops have ground forward at what Kyiv says is a great cost.
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In comments to reporters released on Sunday, Zelenskiy said Russia could draft more troops in 2027 to reach an overall goal of 500,000, part of what he described as a “peripheral mobilisation” targeting Russia’s far-flung regions.
“We believe it will not take place in the central cities,” he said. “But I don’t think they will be able to hide it very well.”
Parliamentary elections in Russia are set for September 18 to 20.
As fighting rages around the strategic city of Kostiantynivka, Zelenskiy said Russia was losing a “maximum” amount of troops in its bid to advance into Ukraine’s so-called fortress belt of eastern cities.
He also hailed recent gains by Kyiv’s troops in southeastern Ukraine, adding that the amount of territory occupied by Russia and liberated by Ukrainian forces in 2026 would be equal.
RUSSIA RAMPING UP MISSILE OUTPUT, ZELENSKIY SAYS
Russia is bolstering its battlefield offensive with an escalating air war on Ukrainian cities made worse by a critical shortage of U.S.-designed Patriot interceptors.
Zelenskiy said the 264 interceptors Ukraine is expecting to have received in 2026 represent a significant drop from 2025, when Ukraine received 364, and 2023, when it received 675.
He added that Russia was aiming to develop a capacity to produce up to 1,300 ballistic missiles per year.
Over the summer, Ukraine has escalated a campaign of drone strikes targeting Russian economic infrastructure, including oil refineries and online retailers’ warehouses, seeking to destroy infrastructure it says is central to Russia’s war effort.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments on Saturday that Kyiv had opened “Pandora’s box” by striking economic targets, saying Russia would hit back at Ukraine’s “most sensitive economic sectors”.
UKRAINE BRACES FOR NEW ENERGY STRIKES, FACES FUNDING GAP
Zelenskiy said Ukraine was facing another difficult winter of Russian strikes on its energy grid, a prospect that had prompted Kyiv’s air force to ask for 360 missile interceptors for the season.
He also said he had reached an agreement with France on at least one SAMP/T air-defence system this year, and with Germany on the supply of about 600 PAC-2 and PAC-3 interceptors through 2028.
Ukraine’s war effort is further complicated by a $27 billion defence funding gap this year, Zelenskiy said, a result of higher-than-expected spending in the first half of the year.
At least $8 billion is needed for “a normal start” to 2027, plus about $20 billion more for military salaries, payments to families of the dead, as well as other financing, he added.
Writing by Dan Peleschuk;
Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Helen Popper
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The delegations will hold high-level bilateral and multilateral talks with Volodymyr Zelensky.
— @KyivPost Aug 23, 2026
“Please, boys. Don’t make my final years a misery.” The words of the future King Charles III as he pleaded with his two sons to patch things up at their grandfather’s funeral in April 2021 have just acquired a whole new resonance.
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— @Telegraph Aug 23, 2026
❗️Ukrainian Defense Forces struck a Russian Iskander-M missile launcher on Russian territory near the border. President Zelenskyy confirmed the successful operation and thanked the troops.
— @front_ukrainian Aug 23, 2026
❗️Zelensky says Ukrainian forces struck an Iskander-M missile launcher on Russian territory near Ukraine’s border. He called it another success and said operational details cannot be disclosed because of the mission’s sensitivity, but confirmed the launcher was hit. #Ukraine
— @NOELreports Aug 23, 2026
🇺🇦🚀🇷🇺 Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine has destroyed a Russian Iskander-M ballistic-missile launcher near the border, as Kyiv increasingly focuses on eliminating Russia’s strike capability before missiles can even be launched.
According to Zelensky, Russia currently retains approximately 600–630 ballistic missiles and potentially has the industrial capacity to manufacture as many as 1,300 per year, with the Kremlin seeking a production rate of roughly 100 missiles per month. Ukraine is working to reduce that capability through strikes against military targets, sanctions and specialized operations aimed at disrupting preparations for mass missile attacks. Zelensky also said Ukrainian forces have almost completely liberated the Dnipropetrovsk region this year, with roughly 10 km² still to be recovered, while another Ukrainian operation is currently underway elsewhere on the front and is expected to produce results by the end of August.
On domestic politics, Zelensky rejected the prospect of holding elections immediately, describing them as a “tsunami for the state” that could fracture Ukraine during wartime. He said his strategy remains to bring the country to the end of the war while preserving an independent and sovereign Ukrainian state. Zelensky identified the period between the G20 summit in the United States and the end of summer 2027 as a potential window for ending the war, arguing that the approaching U.S. presidential election cycle would subsequently complicate diplomacy.
Zelensky also addressed the dismissal of Olena Mudra, deputy head of the Presidential Office, following suspicions raised by NABU and SAPO. He said the information available immediately after the searches was sufficient to remove Mudra and another official from their positions, adding that the authorities would respond again if investigators uncover additional information.
The military figures are particularly significant. If Russia is genuinely approaching production of around 100 ballistic missiles per month, destroying launchers, production infrastructure and supporting facilities becomes almost as important for Ukraine as intercepting the missiles themselves. Kyiv’s strategy is increasingly about attacking the entire Russian strike chain, from production and storage to launch platforms, rather than trying to defeat every ballistic missile only after it is already airborne.
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