Timeline: Week 28 of Russia’s war in Ukraine

August 31 – September 6

August 31

Gazprom suspended operation of Nordstream 1 until September 3, so that Siemens could carry out scheduled maintenance on what Gazprom says is the only compressor turbine still in operation on the pipeline. The compressor reportedly sprung an oil leak.

September 1

An IAEA mission arrived at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to conduct inspections on safety operations. “It is obvious that the physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times, by chance, by deliberation… this is something that cannot continue to happen,” said IAEA director-general Mariano Grossi.

TASS state news agency reported that Ravil Maganov, chairman of Russian state oil company Lukoil, committed suicide by jumping out of the window of the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow, where he was being treated for a heart attack.

Speaking to young diplomats, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov described the war in Ukraine as “a hybrid war that the collective West unleashed shamelessly, openly, rudely and aggressively against our country, when it realized that the plans for transformation of Ukraine into "anti-Russia", the organization of a bridgehead on Ukrainian territory for the military deterrence of the Russian Federation, failed."

Russia and China launched Vostok 2022, a week-long joint military exercise in the Russian far east and the Sea of Japan. Russia said its forces amounted to 50,000 troops and 5,000 weapons, including 60 warships and 140 aircraft. Undoubtedly the exercise was meant to send a message about the depth of Russian military capabilities despite staggering losses in Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s defence ministry, by September 6 Russia had lost more than 50,000 men, 2077 tanks, 4,484 armoured personnel vehicles, 1179 artillery systems and 443 planes and helicopters.