The situation 1631 – September 8, 2026

1. Russian President Vladimir Putin likely used his September 8 phone call with US President Donald Trump to push Putin’s misrepresentation of the battlefield situation.
2. The Kremlin is notably maintaining its long-standing position that Ukraine accept all of Russia’s demands even as the battlefield dynamics have fundamentally changed.
3. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to express support for US proposals for intensifying negotiations by moving to a trilateral format.
4. A Russian drone spent just under one hour flying in Moldovan and Romanian airspace on September 8.
5. The Kremlin benefits from such drone incursions into NATO and Moldovan airspace, particularly if Russia is using its faster jet-powered drones that limit the reaction times of states neighboring Ukraine.
6. Russian and open-source sources continue to report unconfirmed Ukrainian counterattacks near Lyman. ISW is not prepared to assess the extent or results of these counterattacks at this time, however.
7. Ukrainian forces continued their long-range strike campaign against oil infrastructure in Russia. Russia launched an unspecified number of Onyx anti-ship missiles and Iskander-M, S-400, and KN-23 ballistic missiles, 32 Kh-101 cruise missiles, and 166 drones against Ukraine overnight.
8. Russian forces recently advanced in the Pokrovsk direction and Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area.

The full update of the Russian offensive 1631 is available on UNDERSTANDING WAR