Vladimir Putin has arrived in China for a regional security summit aimed at countering Western influence in global affairs, as he is joined by Xi Jinping and the leaders of Iran and North Korea in their first public show of cooperation.
Sunday 31 August 2025 10:20, UK
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The Kremlin is deploying propaganda to convince the West that Russian victory is inevitable, military analysts say.
The Institute for the Study of War said the chief of the Russian general staff has exaggerated Russian gains over the summer.
Valery Gerasimov falsely claimed Russia had seized 3,500 square kilometres since March – the real figure is closer to 2,350 square kilometres, the US-based think tank said.
“The Kremlin appears to be trying to use large amounts of quantitative data to create the false impression that Russian forces are advancing at a fast rate on the battlefield.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Russian forces have been suffering from “especially high casualties” since Winter 2024 to make small gains – losses that are “unsustainable” in the medium to long-term, the think tank said.
Here are the discrepancies between Gerasimov and ISW’s assessments of Russia’s territorial control:
Luhansk region: Gerasimov, 99.7%, ISW, 99.7%
Donetsk region: Gerasimov, 79%, ISW, 76.7%
Kherson region: Gerasimov, 76%, ISW, 73.2%
Zaporizhzhia region: Gerasimov, 74%, ISW, 73%
Total settlements: Gerasimov, 149, ISW, 130
Kupyansk town: Gerasimov, 50%, ISW, 6.3%
Towns near Lyman: Gerasimov, 10, ISW, five
Towns near Velykomykhailivka: Gerasimov, five, ISW, three
Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant has restored a reactor after a drone attack, according to state media.
TASS reports the reactor was operating at half capacity following damage to a transformer.
Russia said last week that air defences shot down a drone that detonated near the plant.
Ukraine has hit back at Moscow’s claims of a successful summer offensive.
Russian forces have failed to gain full control of any major Ukrainian city, said the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces.
The chief of Russia’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, “grossly exaggerated” figures regarding captured territories, it said.
Gerasimov yesterday claimed that since March, Russia has captured more than 1,351 square miles of territory and taken control of 149 villages.
“The figures presented by the occupiers regarding captured territories and settlements are grossly exaggerated,” Ukraine’s general staff said.
You might not have heard of this summit, but with the leaders of more than 40% of the global population in one place, it’s “very influential indeed”, says Asia correspondent Helen-Ann Smith.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation brings together 26 presidents and prime ministers including from Russia, Iran, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Belarus.
While not a formal alliance like NATO, it’s designed to “rattle” those in the West, says Smith.
“What this summit will do is provide really striking optics about China’s ability to convene these powers at a time that arguably, some are saying that America cannot, and people will absolutely be watching on from the West.”
She continues: “Putin comes into this summit buoyed up, confident, most certainly.
“He is here to really shore up support from those countries who have had his back through this conflict.
“China, for its part, always says that it’s neutral on the Ukraine war, but it has over the months and years been supplying Russia with not just markets for its oil and gas, but components and crucial diplomatic cover as well.
“I think there will definitely be efforts behind the scenes to make sure those two countries are singing from the same hymn sheet when it comes to Ukraine.”
China does have some interest in ending the instability caused by the war and in contracts to rebuild Ukraine, but it “wouldn’t want to see any sort of conclusion that made Putin look weak or that made Trump look too successful or too victorious”.
“Fundamentally, underpinning this whole summit is about China’s power and about China burnishing its credentials as a global leader.”
A Russian drone attack overnight damaged a power facility near the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, leaving more than 29,000 customers without electricity, the region’s governor said.
Hardest hit was the town of Chornomorsk, where the attack also damaged residential houses and administrative buildings, said Oleh Kiper.
Four power facilities were targeted, said Ukraine’s largest private energy producer DTEK.
“Critical infrastructure is operating on generators,” Kiper said.
One person has been injured as a result of the attack, he added.
The Kremlin has shared some details of Vladimir Putin’s plans for his rare four-day visit to China, starting today.
Summit: Vladimir Putin will take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in the city of Tianjin today and Monday.
China talks: He is then due to travel to Beijing to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Military parade: On Wednesday, Putin will sit next to Xi at a military parade in Tiananmen Square to mark the end of the Second World War after Japan’s formal surrender.
North Korea talks: Also flanking Xi will be North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The Kremlin says a meeting between Kim and Putin is under discussion.
Iran, Turkey, India: Putin is expected to take part in a string of bilateral meetings, including with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Trade? Three documents involving Russian state energy corporation Gazprom are due to be signed in China, the Kremlin said, without providing further details.
War funds
Vladimir Putin is seeking to reverse a fall in trade with China which is crucial for his war, three Russian sources told Reuters.
China rescued Russia in the wake of Western sanctions, pushing bilateral trade to a record $245bn in 2024, but it has since fallen 8.1% year-on-year from January to July.
China accounts for the bulk of Russia’s export revenues, said one source, and technology supplied by Beijing has been important for the Russian military.
“Without them, we would not have been able to make a single missile, let alone a drone, and the whole economy would have collapsed long ago,” the person said.
“If they wanted it, the war would have been over long ago.”
Diplomatic boost
Putin’s visit provides him with a high-profile diplomatic boost despite Western sanctions and an International Criminal Court warrant out for his arrest.
The Russian president will be among more than 26 world leaders, including China’s Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A day before his visit, Putin blasted Western sanctions in an interview with China’s Xinhua news agency, saying Moscow and Beijing jointly opposed “discriminatory” sanctions.
Xi and Putin have met many times and signed a “no limits” strategic partnership in February 2022, just weeks before Putin sent his army into Ukraine.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit is not the only event for which Vladimir Putin is visiting China.
He will join Chinese President Xi Jinping and the leaders of North Korea and Iran publicly for the first time at a military parade in a show of solidarity against the West.
Tens of thousands of troops will march through the Chinese capital for a Second World War “Victory Day” parade, watched by a quartet that Western political and economic analysts have described as the “Axis of Upheaval”.
The loose coalition of states has sought to undermine US interests, whether over Taiwan or by blocking shipping lanes, and sought to undermine Western sanctions by providing economic lifelines to each other, analysts say.
Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who rarely travels abroad, will also attend, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
“Xi Jinping is trying to showcase that he is very strong, that he is still powerful and well received in China,” said Alfred Wu, Associate Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.
“When Xi was just a regional leader, he looked up to Putin, and saw the kind of leader he could learn from – and now he is a global leader. Having Kim alongside him, as well, highlights how Xi is now also a global leader.”
Vladimir Putin has arrived in China for a regional security summit aimed at countering Western influence in global affairs.
For the rare four-day visit to Russia’s neighbour and largest trading partner, Putin arrived to a red carpet welcome in the northern port city of Tianjin.
Ties between China and Russia are at their “best in history”, having become the “most stable, mature and strategically significant among major countries”, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said in its report of the arrival.
President Xi Jinping will host about 20 Asian and Middle Eastern world leaders from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – the largest gathering since the group was established in 2001.
The security-focused bloc has expanded to 10 permanent members and 16 dialogue and observer countries in recent years.
Xi is expected to use the summit to showcase what a post-American-led international order would look like, while providing a high-profile diplomatic boost for Russia.
A day before his visit, Putin blasted Western sanctions in a written interview with China’s official Xinhua news agency, saying Moscow and Beijing jointly opposed “discriminatory” sanctions in global trade.
Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
We’ll bring you all the latest throughout the day.
Before we begin, here are the latest updates from the past 24 hours.
Ukrainian politician killed
Andriy Parubiy, a former speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, was shot dead in the western city of Lviv.
A gunman fired several shots at Parubiy, killing him on the spot before fleeing, the prosecutor general’s office said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack was “carefully planned”.
Russia launches another massive overnight attack
Overnight into Saturday, Russia launched one of its largest attacks of the war.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 537 Shahed-type attack drones and decoys against Ukraine overnight, eight Iskander-M and North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles and 37 cruise missiles.
Both sides tout military success
Both Russia and Ukraine talked up apparent military successes Saturday, even with the frontline remaining largely frozen in place.
Ukrainian military spokesperson Viktor Trehubov said Kyiv’s forces had scored frontline successes, keeping Russian troops from seizing targets in Donetsk region and halting further advances into Dnipropetrovsk region.
In one area, he said, Kyiv’s troops had surrounded Russian units.
“The combined group of troops continues a non-stop offensive along almost the entire front line,” Russia’s General Valery Gerasimov told his deputies in an address published by the defence ministry.
“At present, the strategic initiative lies entirely with Russian forces,” he claimed.
‘Deeper-strike capabilities’
Meanwhile, Donald Trump was giving Ukraine “deeper-strike capabilities” that “could help them offensively”, said the US ambassador to NATO.
“Most likely the Ukrainians are going to use them, and that obviously is much different than what Joe Biden did,” Matt Whittaker told Fox News.
Washington recently approved the sale of 3,350 Extended-Range Attack Munition (ERAM) missiles for $850m to Ukraine, paid for by Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The conditions on their use are unclear, but the missiles have a range of 150-280 mile.
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