Russia has been continuing its long‑range strikes on Ukraine over the past week, once again targeting strategically critical civilian infrastructure. Around 15 Ukrainian regions were hit including Kyiv, with the resulting damage also causing widespread power outages. Russia also continued attacking Ukrainian ports, railway infrastructure and land transport links in an effort to disrupt Ukrainian exports.

Since the beginning of August, Ukraine itself has carried out medium‑range strikes against more than 250 energy infrastructure facilities in Russia and the occupied territories in southern and eastern Ukraine.

Speaking at the regular Friday Ministry of Defense briefing, Kaju, who heads up the ministry's Defense Readiness Department, said: "If we take the Crimea region as an example, both land and sea connections are under constant threat. Freight traffic along the land corridor to Crimea has fallen by around 70 percent, while ferry services by sea have been suspended."

The attacks have also resulted in restrictions on electricity use on the Crimean peninsula. As Ukrainian strikes in Russia have primarily targeted oil and gas processing plants, significant restrictions on fuel use have also been imposed in Russia, including in Moscow.

In addition to energy targets, Ukraine has used long‑range strikes to target warehouses belonging to e‑commerce platforms such as Wildberries and Ozon.

As a result, the Kremlin issued a decree expanding the list of strategic facilities to include logistics infrastructure. The decree states that if the private sector is unable to protect its infrastructure from air strikes or other attacks, the state has the right to take control of protecting that infrastructure.

Kaju said the decree has prompted a strong reaction from the business community, forcing the Kremlin to clarify that it did not amount to nationalization.

"In reality, this means that responsibility for protecting facilities has been delegated to the private sector in a situation where this was previously very strictly the responsibility of the state's armed forces," Kaju continued.

Meanwhile on the frontline, an average of 224 clashes per day took place in Ukraine last week, slightly fewer than the preceding week. Fighting remains most intense, as it has done for much of the war, in Donetsk Oblast, around the areas of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka. Russian losses have remained at around 1,400 troops per day.

However, the Russian side does not have enough fresh units for its current attacks, the official noted. "A situation is emerging in which the Russian units going on the offensive tend to be under-strength, and to compensate for this shortage, units on the front line are being reinforced at the expense of other units that are either stationed farther in the rear or undergoing training elsewhere," Kaju concluded.

The recent decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin permits the seizure by the state of private sector facilities hit by drone strikes.

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