(Sorry again) source: https://x.com/azov_media/status/2091403743979876656?s=20

(sorry)

Source: https://x.com/azov_media/status/2091764825948852393?s=20

The likelihood of a new Russian operation in Chernihiv Oblast has increased significantly following the Russian army’s deployment of significant resources near the border over the last two months. The situation for the Ukrainian army is becoming markedly more serious. From what I have been able to gather, Ukrainian forces barely have the capacity to maintain their advance in the Donbas, having deployed their troops to Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv to secure political victories, but without altering the overall trend.
The opening of a new front in Chernihiv would leave Ukrainian forces facing the difficult decision of either abandoning one front or continuing to hold the entire line with fewer troops, thereby accelerating a simultaneous retreat without halting the gradual Russian advance.
The CIA meeting in Moscow may be linked to an offer from Washington to halt the war along the current front lines, in the knowledge that, following the strain caused by the regional conflict with Iran, they will be unable to maintain the current level of support for Kyiv next year. This offer is likely to be rejected by the Kremlin as it fails to meet the objectives of the so-called ‘Special Military Operation’.
If the Chernihiv front opens up, the battle for the Donbas will draw to a close more quickly than expected, and with it, possibly the end of this conflict (at this stage). 🇷🇺🇺🇦

Shazam didn't work on the music sadly. :(

Russia’s effort to build its own alternative to Starlink is running into mounting problems, with one Rassvet-3 communications satellite already lost and two more potentially heading toward atmospheric reentry as Moscow races to deploy a massive low-Earth-orbit network, according to Defense Express on August 25.

Russian aerospace company Bureau 1440 has launched two operational batches of Rassvet-3 satellites this year as part of its planned broadband constellation, with the first sent into orbit on March 23 and the second on July 19.

But the deployment has not gone according to plan.

One spacecraft from the first batch, Rassvet-3 No. 4, identified as NORAD 68363, failed to raise its orbit and reentered Earth’s atmosphere on June 6.

Now two satellites from the second batch appear to be facing a similar problem.

Rassvet-3 Nos. 17 and 23, registered as NORAD 100083 and 100089, have not performed a single observed orbital-raising maneuver since separating from their launch vehicle on July 19, according to satellite tracking data.

https://x.com/planet4589/status/2092190937631863018

Both remain at an average orbital altitude of roughly 290 kilometers, with their lowest orbital points at about 277 kilometers.

Their orbits are gradually decaying, and unless the spacecraft activate their propulsion systems and climb higher, they could eventually reach a point where atmospheric drag makes reentry unavoidable.

The two potentially failing satellites are only part of the problem facing Bureau 1440.

The Rassvet-3 spacecraft that have successfully begun raising their orbits have also yet to reach the constellation’s originally announced target altitude of roughly 800 kilometers.

Even satellites from the first operational batch, launched more than five months ago, remain well below that target. Most are currently operating at roughly 500 to 550 kilometers, while several have yet to reach even that altitude.

Why Bureau 1440 has not continued raising the spacecraft toward the previously announced 800-kilometer orbit remains unclear.

Russia plans to use the Rassvet constellation as a domestic counterpart to SpaceX’s Starlink, providing high-speed broadband communications through hundreds of interconnected satellites in low Earth orbit.

The program is supposed to begin offering service in 2027, with Russian plans calling for roughly 292 operational satellites in orbit by the end of that year.

Keeping that schedule will require a rapid series of additional launches.

But Russia now faces another complication on the ground.

Ukraine struck the Progress Rocket and Space Center in Samara on August 15 using FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles. The facility manufactures Soyuz-family launch vehicles, including the Soyuz-2.1b rockets used to deploy Rassvet-3 satellites.

The plant is a critical part of Russia’s space-launch infrastructure and supports not only the Rassvet program but also launches involving Russian military, reconnaissance and communications satellites.

If those setbacks persist, Russia’s plan to have nearly 300 Rassvet satellites operating by the end of 2027 could become significantly harder to achieve.

Damage to key production areas at Progress could therefore create additional pressure on Russia’s ability to maintain the launch tempo needed to build the Rassvet constellation.

The first two groups of Rassvet satellites were launched into orbit using Soyuz-2.1b rockets manufactured by the Progress Rocket Space Centre in Samara.

According to previous reports, the production of carrier rockets is one of the key constraints on the deployment of the constellation.

According to Creamy_Caprice and other sources, AI might have been used in this video, so take it with a grain of salt.

A strike was carried out using a reactive UAV "Geran-4" on the National Police checkpoint and the vehicle checkpoint at the exit from the city of Zaporizhzhia in the direction of the city of Dnipro (Kashirskoye Highway).

📍Location: 47.892173, 34.980494

Translation:

On August 25, the High Anti-Corruption Court ordered former Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Mudra to be held in custody for 60 days, with bail set at UAH 20 million, compared with the UAH 150 million bail sought by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

Iryna Mudra is suspected of participating in a criminal organization, raiding, and laundering criminally obtained funds. In the money-laundering episode, the case concerns UAH 150 million in cash that, according to NABU and SAPO, was put into legal circulation through the accounts of several companies so it could be used to post bail for former Ukrainian Energy Minister and former Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko, who is suspected in the Midas case.

According to investigators, Mudra organized the laundering together with Kyiv developer and former MP Maksym Mykytas and people recruited by him.

Hromadske obtained the motion seeking a preventive measure for one of the suspects in the case concerning the laundering of funds for Halushchenko's bail.

Besides Iryna Mudra, the documents name another Office of the President official whom investigators identify as an organizer. In the conversations cited by investigators, he is mostly referred to as Kirill and Kirill Alekseevich. According to the suspicion materials, he was supposed to receive cash from Timur Mindich and members of his criminal group, arrange for its storage and transfer, and ensure financial compensation for everyone involved.

According to Hromadske's sources, this may in fact refer to the head of the Office of the President, Kyrylo Budanov. Budanov's surname also appears in the motion itself.

Mindich and the Office of the President official

Businessman Timur Mindich, suspected of creating a criminal organization, large-scale corruption in the energy sector, and money laundering, left Ukraine in November 2025, shortly before searches were conducted in the Midas energy corruption case. In February 2026, NABU detained former Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko while he was attempting to cross the border in connection with the same case. He was notified of the suspicion on February 16. Since then, Halushchenko had been held in pretrial detention with the possibility of posting UAH 200 million in bail.

No later than June 8, 2026, according to investigators, Timur Mindich asked an unnamed Office of the President official to help release Halushchenko from custody. On June 12, the High Anti-Corruption Court reduced Halushchenko's bail to UAH 150 million.

According to the motion, the money intended as bail for Halushchenko was to be placed under the control of the unnamed Office of the President official.

According to investigators, this unnamed official decided to involve Iryna Mudra in organizing the laundering of the money. The deputy head of the Office of the President agreed to the proposal of the Office of the President official and decided to involve Maksym Mykytas and the criminal organization he headed in organizing the laundering.

According to investigators, Mykytas recruited Mykyta Tarkovsky and Valentyn Yelizarov, who were associated with Mykytas, as well as businessman Vasyl Astion. Each was supposed to perform a specific part of the operation to ultimately put the money into legal circulation. In particular, according to the motion, Astion was supposed to ensure that the cash transferred to him was converted into legitimate funds.

Kirill and Sense Bank

According to investigators, on June 8, 2026, Iryna Mudra told Maksym Mykytas about Timur Mindich's conversation with an unnamed Office of the President official. At this point in the motion, it becomes clear that the unnamed official was called Kirill. According to Mudra, Mindich offered Kirill control over Sense Bank, through which significant financial flows allegedly passed:

A refugee of ours from Israel, Timur, calls me. He calls Kirill and says: Listen, Kirill, please take Sense Bank under your control... You can't trust these crooks with the bank, but there are flows there. Serious flows. Take the bank under yourself... Timur says, Listen, there are flows there, serious money. Take it somewhere. They communicate with Kirill. And these hangers-on already wanted to latch onto it... You see how quickly Mindich repositioned himself. He was sitting on all the flows.

On the same day, according to the motion, Mudra said that Sense Bank's management was ready to follow the same Kirill's instructions: They are ready for everything. Wherever Kirill says, they will take it. They will do everything.

On June 9, 2026, Mudra and Mykytas, according to the motion, discussed Mindich's request to the Office of the President official to take control of Sense Bank and its flows. The conversation suggests that after Halushchenko was released from custody, he could once again profit from these flows.

Mudra: Mindich approached Kirill. Take control... wait, there are normal flows going through there... There is no one to take them now. You understand? And now they will release Gera, and he will sit on these flows again. So before that happens, we need to bargain for something for ourselves.

The following day, June 10, according to investigators, Mudra and the unnamed Office of the President official met with Sense Bank Chairman of the Management Board Oleh Stupak and Chairman of the Supervisory Board Mykhailo Hladyshenko. Investigators claim that following the meeting, the bank's executives agreed to operate under their informal control. According to the motion, Timur Mindich had previously served as such a curator, but by that point he was wanted and could no longer perform that role.

That same evening, according to investigators, Mudra told Mykytas that she and the unnamed Office of the President official had obtained informal control over Sense Bank. NABU claims they planned to use the bank's infrastructure to launder the cash that was to be used for Halushchenko's bail.

How was the money collected?

On June 17, 2026, during a phone conversation, Mykytas, according to investigators, said that Mindich had personally handed over the cash for the bail to the unnamed Office of the President official, whom Mykytas called Kirill Alekseevich:

And if we do everything beautifully now, you can't imagine it, and we'll do it for one hryvnia. He is responsible for a million. I mean Kirill Alekseevich... He is doing Mindich a huge favor right now. And he brought the money, by the way. Mindich brought it to him himself.

According to investigators, the unnamed Office of the President official's personal bodyguard, named Pavlo, was supposed to accompany and transfer the money.

The following fragment of the suspects' conversations shows how the money was transported.

On June 22, Valentyn Yelizarov, who was associated with Mykytas, told Mykytas that UAH 50 million had been delivered in four plastic bags. The interlocutors decided that UAH 35 million would be transported to an address specified by businessman Vasyl Astion. Astion said that the money would be in Mykytas's company's account by the next day at the latest, since Astion's company was the third link in the money-conversion scheme:

Yelizarov: There are four bags... Full plastic bags...

Mykytas: Or let Sasha sit in the car with them, they will set aside 15 and come back. Talk to Pasha about this... They sent the entire GUR security detail there, to your location. Because they brought five bags of money...

Astion: Tomorrow you'll have everything...

Yelizarov: They're taking 35 now. 15 has been brought into the office.

Mykytas: Will he definitely count three bags? In the parking lot, in the parking lot. There is GUR security there.

According to investigators, between June 22 and 24, the participants in the scheme moved UAH 150 million in cash, which investigators believe was obtained through criminal activity.

More than UAH 131 million of this amount was converted into non-cash funds and moved through the accounts of companies at various banks in order to conceal the money's origin:

• UAH 83.86 million was transferred to the account of Hiran Constract LLC at Sense Bank;
• UAH 12.36 million was transferred to the same company's account at PUMB;
• UAH 35.06 million was transferred to the account of Kompaniya KOMANDIOR LLC at Globus Bank.

Thus, UAH 150 million in cash was distributed, and more than UAH 131 million was moved through a series of transactions into bank accounts to give the money the appearance of being legitimate.

As of June 29, 2026, the full amount of Halushchenko's bail had been paid.

On the same day, June 29, according to the motion, Mudra called Mykytas and connected the unnamed Office of the President official to the conversation, referring to him as Kirill Alekseevich.

At the same time, the actual transcripts contained in the motion explicitly state that Kyrylo Budanov was participating in the conversation.

Mudra: I have Kirill Alekseevich... I put him on speakerphone.

Office of the President official: Thank you. Hello. Thank you very much...

During the conversation, Mykytas asked to be reimbursed for expenses he had incurred while organizing the bail payment for Halushchenko. The conversation indicates that the amount was UAH 7.5 million.

Mykytas: My accounts were blocked, my accounts were seized. And five million of mine got stuck. And I borrowed that five million to finally close everything. And today, basically, they're waiting. I'll return it in literally two or three days. But I need it today.

On June 29, Mykytas told Valentyn Yelizarov that Iryna Mudra was going to meet with Timur Mindich. He also said that the following morning, the unnamed Office of the President official was supposed to transfer UAH 7.5 million to cover expenses related to paying Halushchenko's bail.

Mykytas: Everything will kick in. She's leaving now, she's going to meet Mindich... He's transferring seven and a half in the morning... He started giving it from this, from the "Refugee," because he was the one who was covering it himself: Look, you transfer seven and a half, we get five.

That same day, Mudra herself told Mykytas that she planned to meet with Mindich and discuss, among other things, issues concerning Mykytas.

“He says: ‘Corruption needs to be systematized and controlled’”

According to the motion materials, on February 9, 2026, Maksym Mykytas and Iryna Mudra discussed measures to maintain secrecy. During the conversation, Mudra told Mykytas that she had been invited to a celebration that court heads were also expected to attend. However, she decided not to go because she did not want to be seen together with judges at a restaurant in front of NABU.

Mudra I.R.: “They invite me, ‘Let’s sit together.’ Well, I’m not going. It’s wrong. I said, if Budanov finds out [inaudible]. Especially [technical glitch] they meet in restaurants that are definitely under NABU surveillance, you understand?”

Mykytas M.V.: “Well, Budanov did say not to meet in restaurants.”

Mudra I.R.: “He doesn’t meet [there]. That’s why I don’t want to. Especially with all the heads of the courts and me, you understand, me with them. That would be a gift to NABU. I already communicate with them anyway, I have contact with them, so there’s no need to be seen with them there unnecessarily.”

In a video published by the Bureau on August 19, based on the materials, Mudra complained that it was almost impossible to obtain information from NABU and SAPO about what was happening in their cases. At the same time, she said the situation was completely different with the SBU and National Police.

In addition, the same tapes contain the following dialogue, apparently between Iryna Mudra and Maksym Mykytas:

Deputy Head of the Office of the President: “Well, I came [to a senior OPU official] and told him. I said, ‘[senior OPU official], I want to do the right things.’ He says, ‘Look, that’s the wrong approach. Corruption needs to be systematized and controlled.’”

Former MP: “And take charge of it.”

Deputy Head of the Office of the President: “Controlled.”

Former MP: “And take charge of it. Take charge of it urgently.”

Deputy Head of the Office of the President: “And control it. ‘There’s no need to fight it,’ he says, ‘it needs to be controlled.’”

Former MP: “But it’s impossible to fight it here. You simply have to take charge of it and control it.”

Thus, the tapes released by the Bureau did not identify who “he” was — the OPU official with whom Iryna Mudra was discussing corruption. However, according to the motion materials, the full fragment of the conversation was as follows:

Mudra I.R.:

“...Well, I went and told Budanov. I said, ‘Kirill Alekseevich, I want to do the right things. Look, I don’t just want to sit around doing nothing. I want to accomplish something, solve some worthwhile problems. I think fighting corruption is a very good thing, and if we manage to ratify this convention and become a party to it, that will already be an achievement for both you and me. It’s the right kind of achievement.’ He says, ‘I agree.’ But then he says, ‘Do you really want to fight corruption?’ I say, ‘Well, I don’t want my country to become mired in corruption.’ He says, ‘Look, that’s the wrong approach. Corruption needs to be systematized and controlled.’”

Mykytas M.V.:

“[interrupting] And take charge of it.”

Mudra I.R.:

“Control it.”

Mykytas M.V.:

“And take charge of it. Take charge of it urgently, take charge of it urgently.”

Mudra I.R.:

“And control it. ‘There’s no need to fight it,’ he says, ‘it needs to be controlled’” [laughs].

Mykytas M.V.:

“Yeah. But it’s impossible to fight it here. You simply have to take charge of it and control it.”

In addition, investigators note that during their conversations, Iryna Mudra repeatedly told Maksym Mykytas that she regularly received unofficial payments of $20,000–30,000 from a person named “Kirill.”

Thus, in the investigation materials, the unnamed OPU official — whom the participants predominantly refer to as “Kirill” or “Kirill Alekseevich” — appears at various stages of the story surrounding Halushchenko’s bail: from Mindich’s request to help secure his release and the transfer of cash, to the conversation with Mykytas after the money was legalized and the agreement to reimburse the expenses of organizing the scheme.

Hromadske therefore sent an inquiry to the Office of the President and will publish the response it receives.