Here are the key events on day 1,289 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Published On 5 Sep 2025
Here is how things stand on Friday, September 5:
Fighting
- Russian drones killed three people – two men and a woman – and injured three others in the village of Khotimlia in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
- A Russian missile strike on a Danish-sponsored humanitarian demining mission near the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv has killed two people, according to Governor Viacheslav Chaus. Another three were wounded in the attack, which Chaus said had purposely targeted the team from the Danish Refugee Council. All victims were Ukrainian.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed it destroyed a launch site for long-range drones with an Iskander missile strike in the same attack in the Chernihiv region.
- Russian troops have taken control of the village of Novoselivka in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
- Ukraine wants to see improved performance by interceptor drones to counter Russian aerial attacks more effectively, top Ukrainian military commander Oleksandr Syrskii said.
Coalition of the Willing
- Twenty-six nations have pledged to provide post-war security guarantees to Ukraine, which will include an international force on land and sea and in the air, French President Emmanuel Macron said after the “coalition of the willing” group met for a Paris summit of Kyiv’s allies to discuss those guarantees.
- “The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed,” Macron told a news conference at the Elysee Palace, standing alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
- Macron initially said 26 nations – which he did not name – would deploy to Ukraine. But he later said some countries would provide guarantees while remaining outside Ukraine, for example, by helping to train and equip Kyiv’s forces.
- Zelenskyy said after the meeting that “we are working out which countries will take part in which security component”. He added that “26 countries agreed to provide security guarantees. Today, for the first time in a long time, this is the first such serious, very specific substance”.
- Germany is ready to step up funding for and training of Ukrainian forces, but will decide on further military commitments, including deploying troops to Ukraine, only after broader conditions are clarified, a government spokesperson said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and France’s President Emmanuel Macron speak before their meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, on September 3, 2025 [AFP]
- Ukraine must become a steel porcupine, indigestible for present and future aggressors, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the meeting.
- Macron also said he, fellow European leaders and Zelenskyy held a call with United States President Donald Trump after the summit, and US contributions to the guarantees would be finalised in the coming days.
- Macron said there is “no doubt” about Washington’s willingness to take part in the security guarantees offered to Ukraine, adding that the relevant planning work needed to be finalised with Washington.
- On that call, Trump told European leaders that Europe must stop buying Russian oil that he said is helping Moscow fund its war against Ukraine, a White House official said, striking a combative tone amid slow diplomatic progress to end the fighting.
- “The president also emphasised that European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts,” the official said.
Sanctions
- The United Kingdom imposed sanctions on 11 more individuals and entities affiliated with the Russian state, targeting those involved in what it said were Moscow’s attempts to forcibly deport and indoctrinate Ukraine’s children.
- Former president and current deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, said Russia would take more Ukrainian territory and go after British property after London said it had spent about $1.3bn raised from frozen Russian assets on weapons for Ukraine.
- Russia has expelled an Estonian diplomat in a reciprocal move, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. In mid-August, Estonia expelled a Russian diplomat over alleged sanctions violations and other offences against the state.
- Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft has secured an additional deal on the supply of 2.5 million metric tonnes of oil to China via Kazakhstan, Interfax news agency quoted Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev as saying.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their visit to Beijing, China, on September 3, 2025 [KCNA via Reuters]
Regional security
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country would “fully support” Russia’s army as a “fraternal duty”, and Russian President Vladimir Putin called the two countries’ ties “special”, North Korean state media KCNA reported.
- Putin also reportedly sent Kim a congratulatory message for North Korea’s foundation day.
- “Your combat force’s heroic involvement in liberating the Kursk territories from the invaders is a distinct symbol of friendship and mutual aid between Russia and North Korea”, Putin’s message read, according to KCNA. “I am confident that we will continue to work together to consolidate the comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries,” Putin said.
