Russia launched less drones at Ukraine, hit more targets in August. Ukraine strikes Russia’s outpost, patrol boats in Crimea with Flamingo missiles. Russia’s summer offensive campaign yields no major results, Ukraine’s General Staff says.
Russia launches less drones at Ukraine, hits more targets in August
In August 2025, Russia carried out major drone attacks on Ukraine every day. A similar pattern was recorded between January and March, and in June and July this year. At the same time, Russia used one-third less drones against Ukraine than the previous month, Ukrainian news outlet Novynarnya said on September 1 having analyzed daily updates issued by the Ukrainian Air Force throughout the month.
Russia used a total of 4,288 missiles, attack and decoy drones against Ukraine in August. It used an average of 138 aerial targets a day.
In July, Russia fired a total of 6,495 missiles and drones at Ukraine, with the daily average standing at 189. June’s total was 5,665, and the daily average was 209. A total of 4,126 missiles and drones in May roughly match the levels of August.
In August, Russia launched at Ukraine 2,207 missiles and drones, or one-third, less than in July.
It used a total of 4,132 drones, including decoys, 2,165 drones less than in July when it fired 6,297 drones at Ukraine. The May figure stood at 4,003.
In August, Russia used an average of 133 drones in an attack. The figure was 203 in July, 181 in June, 91.7 in May, 138 in April, 135 in March and 139.5 in February.
The August levels are comparable to those of spring.
Ukraine’s air defenses destroyed or otherwise neutralized a total of 3,445 drones throughout August. The number of drones that were destroyed was 5,574 in July, 4,681 in June, 1,852 in May, 1,198 in April, 2,435 in March, 2,209 in February and 1,598 in January.
In August, Ukraine’s air defenses destroyed an average of 111 drones per an attack, placing the number between 180 in July and 90 in June. The figure was 63.8 in May, 44.4 in April, 78.5 in March and 79 in February.
In August, there were slightly less attacks when Russia used both missiles and drones than in July. Five of them also included the use of at least a dozen ballistic and cruise missiles. There were seven such attacks in July and five in June.
In August, drones hit target in 296 locations (the number excludes the sites affected by falling debris), or 9.6 locations per an attack.
The figures stood at 233 and 7.5 in July, and 254 and 8.5 in June.
Ukraine strikes Russia’s outpost, patrol boats in Crimea with Flamingo missiles
Ukraine struck patrol boats and an outpost for Russia’s FSB security service near Armyansk, in Crimea, on Saturday, with Flamingo missiles, not the Neptune, Ukrainian news site Militarnyi said Sunday.
Russian news outlet Astra earlier said Ukraine had attacked the site with Neptune cruise missiles. Militarnyi’s sources deny the claim, saying the strike was delivered with Flamingo missiles.
Footage circulating on social media purports to show the launch of what appears to be three Flamingo missiles at sunrise on August 30, Militarnyi said. The missiles took off thanks to a solid rocket booster, it added.
“New low-resolution satellite images from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem confirm destruction at the site. The images show the outpost’s main building destroyed, with surrounding areas also damaged by fire. Due to the low resolution, the full extent of the damage cannot be determined,” Militarnyi said.
According to Russian news outlet Astra, the attack damaged six hovercraft and killed a service member. It did not say which patrol boats were hit. Available reports say Russia’s border units in northern Crimea use the A-8 Khivus hovercraft that can carry up to eight people, and the A25PS hovercraft that can carry 30–50 people.
The episode was part of a larger attack on Crimea that destroyed Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters at an airbase near Simferopol, Militarnyi said.
The Flamingo FP-5 long-range cruise missile, developed by Ukraine’s Fire Point defense company, is capable of traveling 3,000 kilometers. Its photo was released in mid-August by AP photographer Yefrem Lukatskyi. The missile was photographed in an undisclosed location.
Speaking during a public presentation of the cabinet’s action plan on August 18, Ukraine’s Defense Minister, Denys Shmyhal confirmed that Ukraine had begun producing long-range Flamingo missiles.
“Yesterday everyone saw that. (…) It’s a powerful long-range weapon, and we have it. These are key details. The rest we’ll learn when the time is right,” Shmyhal said.
Ukrainian news outlet Dzerkalo Tyzhnya said Fire Point produces Flamingo missiles in well-defended facilities in the Carpathian woods. The manufacturer prioritized the weapon’s range, the weight of its warhead and a quick-launch capability. The missile is also protected from jamming.
Russia’s summer offensive campaign yields no major results, Ukraine’s General Staff says
Russia has failed to capture any big cities during its offensive in spring and summer 2025. The campaign largely ended in nothing, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement on Sunday, responding to a report by Russian Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov on Russia’s spring-summer offensive campaign.
“At its core [are the] attempts to present wishful thinking as reality and outright lies,” the General Staff said.
Since the beginning of 2025, almost 210,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the battles in the regions of Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk. Russia has lost 2,174 armored fighting vehicles, 1,201 tanks, 7,303 artillery systems and 157 multiple launch rocket systems, the General Staff said.
“The enemy’s fake claims about so-called ‘security zones’ in Sumy and Kharkiv regions are nothing more than attempts to conceal the failures of the operations that came to a dead end and resulted in tens of thousands of casualties,” it added.
Some 19,080 Russian troops were killed and 25,000 more were wounded in the Kursk region in 2025 alone, the message reads.
“Ukrainian forces continue active operations in the Sumy region, where they liberated Kindrativka and Andriyivka, pushing the enemy out of other border settlements,” the General Staff said.
Russia is inflating its claims about the areas it captured.
“The only 100% verified result achieved by Russia since the beginning of 2025 is its own losses — over 291,000 soldiers killed and wounded. The mass decoration of 120,000 Russian servicemen only underscores the scale of these losses,” the statement reads.
“The narrative about the ‘destruction of Ukraine’s missile industry’ is another propagandist illusion,” the General Staff said, adding “General Gerasimov’s final report is a textbook example of the Kremlin’s lies and arrogance.”
Russian Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov claimed on August 30 that Russian forces have seized 3,500 square kilometers of territory and 149 settlements since March 2025. Gerasimov claimed that Russian forces seized 210 square kilometers and 13 settlements just in northern Sumy Oblast — likely also since March 2025. Gerasimov claimed that Russian forces occupy 99.7 percent of Luhansk Oblast, 79 percent of Donetsk Oblast, 76 percent of Kherson Oblast, and 74 percent of Zaporizhia Oblast.
30 серпня начальник Генерального штабу Росії Валерій Герасимов заявив, що російські війська захопили 3500 квадратних кілометрів території та 149 населених пунктів з березня 2025 року. Він також стверджував, що російські війська захопили 210 квадратних кілометрів та 13 населених пунктів лише на півночі Сумської області. Крім того, за його словами, війська РФ окупували 99,7% Луганської області, 79% Донецької області, 76% Херсонської області та 74% Запорізької області.
The Kremlin appears to have launched a coordinated informational effort posturing military strength on the battlefield in order to shape Western thinking and falsely portray a Russian victory as inevitable, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in a report on August 30.
Defense Minister Andrei Belousov similarly claimed on August 29 that Russian forces are currently seizing 600 to 700 square kilometers per month, but ISW assesses that Russian forces advanced only 440 to 500 kilometers per month in June, July, and August 2025.
The Kremlin is trying to convince the West that Russia will inevitably achieve its war goals on the battlefield, such that Ukraine should concede to Russian demands and the West should therefore cease its support of Ukraine, ISW said.