Daily Briefing

Key Takeaways

• CIA Director Ratcliffe made the first US spy-chief visit to Moscow since 2021, meeting Russian intelligence counterparts (not Putin directly) amid US intelligence on Russian mobilization plans and NATO stress-testing; Putin signed three classified decrees the same day — corroborated by 26 sources.
• Bloomberg, citing three Kremlin-adjacent sources, reports Putin is planning to intensify ballistic missile strikes on central Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities after concluding peace talks have stalled; GUR separately warns Russia has ~400 RM-48U ballistic missiles ready with 17 converted S-400 launchers in Bryansk and Rostov.
• Ukraine's deep-strike drone campaign has now knocked out all of LUKOIL's main refineries simultaneously, with the NORSI plant (Russia's 4th-largest refinery) shut down on Aug. 26 and the Perm refinery losing ~86% of primary refining capacity.
• Italy and France are preparing to transfer 4 SAMP/T NG air-defense batteries and 7 long-range radars to Ukraine, with Aster-30 local production licensing planned — a significant boost to Ukraine's long-range air-defense capacity.
• Zelensky appointed prominent Azov commanders Andriy Biletsky and Denys Prokopenko to lead two reinforced groupings on the Donetsk front, signaling a high-profile command restructuring to stabilize the eastern line.