UKRAINE WAR BRIEF DAILY DRAFT
For: 2024-07-25
Slava Ukraini! In early 2022 I began a Telegram channel aggregating news from a number of sources daily on the war in Ukraine. Since June 2023 I have provided a daily draft for the Ukraine War Brief Podcast collecting news from over 60 sources daily, much of which forms the basis of the script. While the Podcast is on hiatus I will make this Draft available here both on my own Substack and The People’s Media for those who wish to keep up with events on a daily basis.
ALONG THE CONTACT LINE
GSAFU Morning Report
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in its Operational Information update at 22:00 on July 24 stated that day 882 of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation against Ukraine was about to begin.
During the past day, 125 combat engagements took place. Over the past 24 hours, the enemy carried out 4 missile strikes, 47 air strikes, 550 drone strikes and 3,313 artillery strikes across the positions of Ukrainian forces.
At the same time, Ukrainian soldiers continue to inflict losses in manpower and equipment on the occupying troops, exhausting the enemy along the entire front line and continue to disrupt the plans of Russian occupiers to advance deep into the territory of Ukraine.
Russia will soon be forced to scale down its attacks in Ukraine.
Russia will be unable to maintain the scale of its attacks in multiple sectors for a long time because its "capabilities are not unlimited," General Oleksandr Pivnenko, the commander of Ukraine's National Guard, said in an interview with Ukrinform published on July 25. Ukrinform reported.
Moscow's troops have been putting ever-growing pressure on Ukraine along the front, attempting to break through Ukrainian defenses near Pokrovsk while capturing the eastern part of Chasiv Yar
"The enemy's offensive capabilities are not unlimited, considering the losses they suffer," Pivnenko told Ukrinform.
Pivnenko stressed that at a time when Russia will be replenishing its troops, Ukraine must pay attention to preparing its own reserves and armament. If Ukraine plans "one step ahead of Russia, then everything will be fine," he added.
"The most important thing that can be done now is training, development of training centers, procurement of weapons and military equipment, production of military equipment, drones, armored vehicles, air defense systems, man-portable air defense systems, and ammunition," Pivnenko said.
Moscow currently fields some 520,000 troops in Ukraine and plans to raise this number to 690,000 by the end of the year, according to Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi.
"When it comes to equipment, there is a ratio of 1:2 or 1:3 in their favor," Syrskyi told the Guardian.
The Ukrainian military said that Russia has lost over 570,000 troops killed or wounded as of late July.
Air Force Daily Report
On the night of July 25, 2024, the occupiers attacked with attack UAVs of the "Shahed" type from Cape Chauda, Crimea and Primorsko-Akhtarsk - Russian Federation.
That night, the enemy used 38 "Shahed-131/136" attack UAVs, attacking the infrastructure of Ukraine in several directions, in particular, the south of the Odesa region and the central regions of Ukraine.
The air attack was repulsed by anti-aircraft missile troops and units of the Reb of the Air Force, calculations of mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. As a result of anti-aircraft combat, 25 attack UAVs were shot down. Three more "shaheds" were lost in location after crossing the state border with Romania.
Anti-aircraft defense worked in Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Sumy, Zhytomyr and Cherkasy regions.
The Khortytsia operational-strategic group
(Responsible for the northeastern part of Ukraine. )
Kharkiv axis: There were 5 Russian attacks near Hlyboke and Vovchansk.
Kupyansk axis: The enemy tried to advance 8 times against Ukrainian positions near Synkivka, Petropavlivka, Berestove, and Stelmakhivka. The situation is under control.
Lyman axis: Russian troops attacked Ukrainian defenders 11 times in the areas of Makiivka and Nevske the Serebryanskyy Forest
Siversk axis: Russian forces carried out 8 assaults in the vicinity of Verkhnokamianske and Ivano-Darivka. One battle continues near Verkhnokamianske.
Kramatorsk axis: In the Chasiv Yar sector Russian forces attacked 10 times in the area of Chasiv Yar, Novyi and Novomarkove. 3 attacks are ongoing.
Toretsk axis: There have been 6 unsuccessful Russian attacks over that last day, All the efforts of the enemy were directed to the areas of Pivinchne and Nui-York. The situation is under control.
The Tavria operational-strategic group
(Responsible for the central-eastern and southeastern part of Ukraine.)
Pokrovsk axis: The greatest activity over the past day was in this sector. The enemy conducted 27 attacks against Ukrainian defences in this area over the last day in the vicinity of Vozdvizhenka, Novooleksandrivka, Vovche, Novoselivka Persha, Karlivka.
Kurakhove axis: The enemy 29 times attacked our positions near Paraskoviivka and Kostiantynivka. 5 attacks are ongoing.
Vremivka axis: The Russians conducted 12 offensive actions near Makarivka and Vodiane 5 confrontations continue.
Orikhiv axis: The enemy made 2 attacks in the vicinity of Novoandriivka and Mala Tokmachka.
The Odesa operational-strategic group
(Responsible for Kherson, Qırım, (also known as Crimea) and the Black Sea.)
Prydniprovsk axis: In this sector, 2 attempts of the Russians to force Ukrainian units from their positions on the left bank of the Dnieper were also unsuccessful.
Ukrainian strike on ferry at Kavkaz port will force Russia to carry fuel across Kerch bridge
The UK Ministry of Defence in their July 25 Intelligence Update on Ukraine stated that the Ukrainian strike of 23 July on the Slavyanin ferry in Port Kavkaz, Russia, will almost certainly cause further logistical problems for Russia in supplying its occupying forces in southern Ukraine and the regional export of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
The report further states that Slavyanin has the largest capacity of the three rail RO-ROs (Roll On-Roll Off) transiting the Kerch Strait between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula.
“Following the successful Ukrainian missile strikes which damaged the other two rail RO-RO vessels on 29 May 2024, Slavyanin had been put back into service as the only rail RO-RO ferry. Prior to 29 May, the Slavyanin was highly likely transporting LPG to customers in the Black Sea.
Rendering RO-RO ferries non-operational, even temporarily, imposes increased costs as well as reducing Russia’s flexibility to transport fuel, munitions and equipment across the Kerch Strait.
Since these attacks Russia has highly likely been forced to change its security procedures and risk the movement of fuel trains across the Kerch Bridge, something it had tried to avoid doing since the first attack on the bridge in October 2022.”
TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Nothing to report.
THE HOME FRONT
Suspect in murder of ex-MP Farion detained in Dnipro
A suspect in the murder of former Ukrainian lawmaker and linguist Iryna Farion was detained in Dnipro, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on July 25, citing Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. The Kyi Independent reports
The detained suspect is an 18-year-old man, Zelensky said. The investigation is ongoing.
An unidentified man opened fire on Farion, 60, on the street outside her home in Lviv on the evening of July 19. She underwent an operation but was pronounced dead later that night.
"The task to detain (the suspect) was challenging. Over the past few days, hundreds of specialists from the National Police of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, and other services worked to solve the murder," Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram channel.
Klymenko said that the search operation lasted 139 hours. Law enforcement agencies inspected about 100 hectares of forest and eventually managed to track down the suspected shooter in Dnipro.
"With his photo, it was a matter of time: smart surveillance cameras 'caught' him everywhere," Klymenko said.
Russian attacks kill three, damage Swiss NGO's office in Kharkiv, Ukraine says
Russia launched a series of attacks on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and the surrounding region on Wednesday, killing three people, wounding at least six and damaging the office of a Swiss mine-clearing NGO, local officials said. Reuters reports
Ukraine's second-largest city and the surrounding region, which borders Russia, have been battered by drone, missile and guided-bomb attacks since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Regional police said a strike on the town of Lozova, south of Kharkiv, killed three people and injured six, with rescue operations proceeding into the evening.
The region's governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said an overnight strike destroyed the facade of the Fondation suisse de déminage's office and the ceilings of several of its floors.
Six cars used by the group's medics were damaged, he said, noting the importance of demining initiatives in his region, one of the most densely strewn with landmines and other potentially harmful war detritus.
RUSSIAN WORLD
The Kremlin Jails the Father of Russia’s Internet
Alexey Soldatov, a Russian Internet pioneer and a founder of the first Internet provider in the country, has been sentenced by a court to two years in a labor colony on charges of “abuse of power.” Soldatov, 72, had been detained by a court in Moscow. He is terminally ill. CEPA reports.
Very few in Russia believe in the government charges against a man widely known as a Father of the Russian Internet.
Soldatov was accused of abuse of power when managing a pool of IP-addresses by an organization he had no position at. This legal absurdity was enough to see him imprisoned even though the court knew of Soldatov’s illness, which meant the court had no legal right to pass a custodial sentence.
Soldatov, a nuclear physicist by training, made his career in the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, a leading Soviet nuclear research facility during the Cold War. In addition to research on atomic weapons, scientists at the Kurchatov were involved in many crucial defense projects, ranging from Soviet nuclear submarines to laser weapons. As a result, the institute held an exalted status in the Soviet Union.
Russian economist falls from window amid rash of suspicious deaths
82-year-old Russian economist, Valentina Bondarenko, has died after falling out of the window of her apartment, according to the Russian news agency Tass. "Newsweek" described her as "a top Russian economist." She is yet another prominent person in Russia who has "fallen out of a window" since the war in Ukraine began. ESSA reports.
The incident reportedly occurred on Monday evening, with Russian state controledmedia announcing her death on Tuesday. Bondarenko was a leading researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.
Russian propaganda outlet Tass added that the economist's fall "was not of a criminal nature." "She fell out of the window of her apartment, unfortunately, it was not possible to save her, the injuries she received were incompatible with life," said an anonymous source in an interview with the Tass.
Bondarenko is the latest to have died by "falling out of a window" or other similar unlikely circumstances since the Kremlin began the war in Ukraine.
NEWS WORLDWIDE
Wreckage of Russian Shahed UAV crashed in Romania
For the second night in a row, an air raid alert was declared in the Romanian border town of Tulcea, the wreckage of a Russian drone was found in the Plauru area. Digi 24 reported.
At about 1:20 a.m., the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations issued an air raid alert.
“We make it clear that the territory of our country is not the object of attacks by the Russian Federation, and these messages are aimed at informing the population that there is a possibility of objects falling from the downing of unmanned aerial vehicles on the territory of Romania,” the inspectorate said in a statement.
This is the second alert issued to the population of Romania's northern district of Tulcea County in 24 hours.
Romanian soldiers were deployed to investigate in Tulcea County. They found metal parts that could be components of Russian drones near the city of Plauru in the Danube Delta.
MILITARY & TECH
Ukrainian Senator defies damage to rescue wounded soldiers
A Canadian built Roshel Senator Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle sustained severe tire damage while transporting wounded soldiers in the Kharkiv region.
Remarkably, the run-flat device installed on the vehicle prevented it from being immobilized, allowing the mission to continue successfully.
In another incident earlier in May, a Roshel Senator MRAP encountered an 8kg anti-tank mine. Despite the powerful explosion, all Ukrainian soldiers on board survived without injuries. This marks the first documented instance of a commercial-based armored vehicle withstanding such an attack, underscoring the robust protective capabilities of the Senator MRAP.
The Senator MRAP is built on the heavy-duty commercial platform of the Ford F-550, making it a preferred choice for combat teams due to its ease of serviceability and maintenance. The vehicle’s design leverages the widespread and established service network of Ford vehicles, ensuring efficient and accessible maintenance support worldwide. Its high ground clearance, four-wheel drive, and 6.7L turbo diesel engine provide effective off-road capabilities across various terrains.
A crucial feature of the Senator MRAP is its V-shaped body design, which enhances survivability during explosive attacks, particularly from landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). This design incorporates a pronounced V-shape that deflects the force of an explosion away from the vehicle’s cabin, minimizing the impact and reducing the risk of severe injury or death to the occupants. The V-shaped hull helps absorb and dissipate the explosive energy, further enhancing the vehicle’s blast resistance.
Canadian-based Roshel has delivered over 1,000 Senator vehicles to Ukraine. The company has since become one of the largest armored vehicle manufacturers in Canada, producing Senator vehicles in various configurations, including the Senator APC, ERV, MRAP, and Senator Pickup, designed for cargo transport, counter-UAV systems, mortar installations, and other equipment.
Ukraine to receive 14 more Leopard 2 tanks from The Netherlands and Denmark by end of summer
Fourteen Leopard 2A4 tanks, acquired by the Netherlands and Denmark for Ukraine, are set to be delivered by the end of summer, according to the Dutch Ministry of Defense. Defense Express reports.
These tanks were purchased last year. After being previously used, they underwent an overhaul at the facilities of Rheinmetall.
“Yesterday and today, the final two Leopard 2 tanks are undergoing verification tests for delivery. The first 12 tanks are already prepared for shipment. All 14 tanks will be delivered simultaneously by the end of summer,” the Ministry of Defense announced.
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