Desperate Ukraine Mounts Large Drone Attacks Hours Ahead Of Putin-Trump Talks

"Ukraine has been trying to inflict major blows on Russia in overnight and early morning cross-border attacks, including carrying out a strike on the Olya seaport in Russia’s Astrakhan region, targeting a vessel reportedly transporting Shahed drone parts and Iranian-supplied ammunition.

Ukraine's General Staff described Friday that its operation involved Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) seeking to weaken Russia’s ability to conduct airstrikes utilizing the Iranian-designed suicide drones which have long wreaked havoc on Ukrainian cities.
The early hours of Friday also saw a wave of Ukrainian drones targeted an oil refinery in Syzran, located in Russia’s Samara region.
This flurry of drone activity seeking to take out sensitive Russian targets happened just hours before much anticipated talks between Presidents Trump and Putin are to get underway, and appears a last-ditch effort for the Ukrainian side to establish some badly needed leverage, even as Russia has made big, rapid gains on the ground on the Donbass region.
Yesterday, analysis by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) made clear that "The Russian army took or claimed 110 square kilometers (42.5 square miles) on August 12 compared to the previous day," and that "It was the biggest advance since late May 2024." ZeroHedge