UKRAINE WAR BRIEF DAILY DRAFT
For: 2024-08-05
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 Aug 04 stated that day 893 of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation against Ukraine was about to begin.
During the past day, 103 combat engagements took place. Over the past 24 hours, the enemy carried out, 42 air strikes, 515 drone strikes and more than 3,400 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.
Air Force Daily Report
On the night of August 5, 2024, the Russian occupiers attacked with UAVs of the "Shahed" type from the regions of Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Kursk - Russian Federation. 24 attack drones were detected and escorted by the radio engineering troops of the Air Force.
As a result of the anti-aircraft battle, all enemy UAVs were shot down by the mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine, anti-aircraft missile units and EW means of the Air Force in the Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Ukraine officially unveils its F-16s
On Sunday Aug 04 The Ukrainian Air Force officially unveiled its General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons in a ceremony at an undisclosed air force base, with President Zelenskyy in attendance.
I am proud of all our guys who master these planes and have already started using them for our state. I thank our team for this result. I thank all the partners who are really helping with the F-16 and the first countries that accepted our request for aircraft - Denmark, the Netherlands, the United States - and all our partners - we appreciate your support!
And I wish our Air Force, all our soldiers, to feel the pride of Ukrainians in our combat aviation and to bring to Ukraine precisely such combat results that will bring our victory closer - our just peace for Ukraine.
The Khortytsia operational-strategic group
(Responsible for the northeastern part of Ukraine. )
Kharkiv axis: There were 10 Russian attacks, supported by aviation over the last day near Hlyboke, Lyptsi, Vovchansk and Tykhe.
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Kupyansk axis: The enemy carried out 6 attacks against Ukrainian positions near Petropavlivka, Kruhlyakivka Berestovoe and Stelmakhivka. 2 are ongoing
Lyman axis: Russia attacked 7 times unsuccessfully in the direction of settlements of Makiivka, Nevske and Terny.
Siversk axis: Russian forces carried out 7 assaults in the vicinity of Verkhnokamianske, Spirne, Vyimka, and Pereizne.
Kramatorsk axis: Russian forces carried out 15 offensive actions near Chasiv Yar, Ivanivske and Andriivka. 3 attacks continue.
Toretsk axis: There have been 15 Russian attacks over that last day with air support, 3 battles are still ongoing. All the efforts of the enemy were directed to the areas of Pivinchne, Toretsk, Zalizne and Nui-York.
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 24 attacks against Ukrainian defences in this area over the last day in the vicinity of Kalynove, Vozdvizhenka, Novooleksandrivka,, Serhiivka, Zhelanne,Yasnobrodivka and Karlivka. 5 attacks are ongoing.
Kurakhove axis: Russian forces unsuccessfully tried to advance 5 times in the area of settlements Krasnohorivka, Heorhiivka, Paraskoviivka and Kostiantinivka.
Vremivka axis: The Russians conducted several unsuccessful offensive actions in this sector over the last day
Orikhiv axis: The situation in this sector has not changed significantly. 4 enemy attacks were repulsed over the last day. In the vicinity of Novodanylivka 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, over the last day Russian forces made 2 unsuccessful attempts to force Ukrainian units from their positions on the left bank of the Dnieper.
TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Explosions rock Russian-occupied Donbas, fire reported at Luhansk machinery plant
Explosions have rocked the Russian-occupied city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine Sunday afternoon, with plumes of black smoke visible above the city. Euromaidan Press reports.
The strikes, reportedly made with Western missiles, come amid Ukraine’s pleas for permission to strike military objects on Russian soil. While Western precision missiles have been of major use to Ukraine’s military operations inside its occupied territory, it is forced to rely on a burgeoning long-range drone program to hit major assets such as airfields in Russia proper.
According to Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-installed head of the occupied Luhansk Oblast, Ukrainian forces launched “12 missiles of Western manufacture” at the city. Pasechnik claimed that “presumably eight ATACMS and four Storm Shadow missiles” hit “warehouse facilities where fuel tanks were located, and a residential area.
Artem Lysohor, Ukraine’s head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration in exile, provided a different account. Lysohor reported that the strikes resulted in a fire at a machinery plant where Russian forces repair and store military equipment.
THE HOME FRONT
SBU neutralises a large network of FSB agents operating in six oblasts
Counterintelligence of the Security Service as a result of a multi-stage special operation detained 9 Russian agents in Dnieper, Zaporizhia and Sumy, Donetsk, Odessa and Kirovohrad oblasts. As reported in the press service SBU.
Law enforcement officers reported that all the figures acted separately for the conspiracy, but all their activities were closed to one staff member of the FSB, whose identity has already been established by the Security Service. At the behest of the Russian secret services, the traitors collected coordinates for the fire defeat of the Defense Forces and critical infrastructure.
The SBU stressed that the enemy group consisted of two officials. One of them is – an official of the Dnieper City Council, the other is – the head of the department at the Yuzhnensk City Council of the Odessa region. Traitors tried to establish the locations of air defence systems and key power plants to adjust Russian shelling across the regions.
Two more agents explored the locations of military bases and the fire positions of the heavy artillery of the Armed Forces near Pokrovsk and Chasny Yar. Another attacker gathered information about the locations of personnel and military equipment of Kurahov's defenders in Donetsk.
All the arrested were recruited remotely through pro-Russian Telegram channels. During the searches, the detainee’s mobile phones were seized with confirmation of intelligence activities in favour of Russia.
Investigators of the Security Service informed them about the suspicion of Part 2 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (state treason committed in martial law). The attackers are in custody. They face life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
Japan's justice minister arrives in Ukraine, signs cooperation memorandum
Japanese Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi arrived in Ukraine on Aug. 5. Upon arrival, Koizumi met Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin and paid a visit to the Bucha victims' memorial. He also visited a coordination center for the victims and witnesses of the massacre carried out in the town by Russian occupation forces in early 2022. The Kyiv Independent reports.
Later the same day, Koizumi met his Ukrainian counterpart, Denys Maliuska, to sign a memorandum on cooperation in the fields of law and justice.
"Areas of cooperation include anti-corruption efforts, judicial reform, and institutional capacity building," the Japanese Embassy said.
Japan has committed over $12 billion worth of humanitarian, economic, and other assistance to Ukraine since March 2022. Under a security agreement signed in June, Tokyo pledged to provide Ukraine with an additional $4.5 billion in 2024 and to continue to support the country throughout the next 10 years.
Koizumi's visit comes only a week after his colleague, Education and Science Minister Masahito Moriyama, arrived in Kyiv to discuss cooperation in cultural and educational spheres.
RUSSIAN WORLD
The Russian Economy has overheated and has almost no reserves
The head of the Russian Central Bank, Elvir Nabiullin on Friday Aug 2 said that the Russian economy has "overheated" on a record scale over the last decade and a half, its reserves are virtually depleted. MSN reports.
The Russian economy, inflated by trillions of dollars spent on state defence orders and payments to soldiers fighting in Ukraine, is increasingly overheating. Putin's war machine operates around the clock, yet GDP is declining. The end of the war could cause a "total collapse" of the economy, says an expert.
After two years of war and thousands of Western sanctions, industry slowed to 1.9 percent, three times less than the previous month and winter (5.3 percent in May and 5.6 percent in the first quarter).
Amid payment problems affecting imports to Russia, wholesale trade growth has practically ground to a halt: in June, it increased by just 1.9 percent year-on-year, although in May, this rate rose by 11.1 percent and by 16-20 percent or more at the end of last year.
The economy on the brink of war has hit a dead end: sending a million citizens to war has caused an unprecedented staff shortage, and the defence industry and import substitution boom has ‘absorbed’ all available factory and plant resources. Central Bank President Elvira Nabiullina said last week that the country's labour reserves and production capacities are practically exhausted.
According to her estimates, the economy's overheating has reached a record level in the past 16 years, which ultimately could result in stagflation and a "deep recession."
According to the Russian Central Bank's forecasts, next year the Russian economy could slow down to almost zero. The dynamics of investments and private consumption may also drop to zero. Additionally, foreign deliveries to Russia will continue to decline – they will amount to $291 billion this year, which is $12 billion less than last year, and nearly $50 billion less than before the annexation of Crimea (2014).
"Shifting the economy to war mode has led the Kremlin into a dead end: almost all economic growth is driven by the defence industry, and the end of the war could cause a "total collapse" of the economy," notes Renaud Foucard, a professor at Lancaster University. The Russian regime has no incentive to end the war and deal with that kind of economic reality. So it cannot afford to win the war, nor can it afford to lose it. Its economy is now entirely geared towards continuing a long and ever deadlier conflict," Foucard warns.
SU-34 and ammo dump confirmed destroyed in Aug 3 attack on Russia’s Morosovsk airfield
The Press service of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR) has reported that they have assessed satellite imagery from the Aug 3 strike on the Russian Morosovsk and determined that the attack destroyed a SU-34 and an ammunition warehouse.
"Satellite reconnaissance data indicate that a Su-34 fighter-bomber was destroyed as a result of a strike on the aggressor state’s Morozovsk airfield in Russia’s Rostov region on August 3, 2024. Two more Russian aircraft of the same type were likely damaged by debris - craters from explosions were recorded nearby," the statement said.
In addition, the enemy's aircraft weapons warehouse was destroyed, with extensive areas of scorched earth visible following the secondary explosion of Russian munitions on and around the airfield.
Four technical buildings and two hangars at the Morozovsk airfield, located 265 kilometers from the front line, also sustained damage clearly visible from space.
NEWS WORLDWIDE
Ukraine’s Kuleba begins African tour.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in Malawi as the first step in his fourth diplomatic tour in Africa, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said on Aug. 5. The Kyiv Independent reports.
Kuleba met with Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera in Lilongwe, thanking the country for its consistent stance on Russian aggression while highlighting Ukraine's humanitarian assistance.
"We appreciate Malawi's firm and consistent stance on Russian aggression against Ukraine, as well as its support for the peace summit communique," the minister said.
In a social media post, Kuleba wrote that Ukraine has decided to assist Malawi as part of Kyiv's Grain From Ukraine program.
"Ukraine is not only grateful; we also want to be helpful. We are aware of the severe impact of climate change on Malawi's food security," he added.
As of early July, Ukraine has shipped 221,000 metric tons of agricultural products to 10 countries in Africa and Asia under the initiative, providing food to 8 million people, said Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine's Presidential Office.
Ukraine and Malawi also discussed the potential for cooperation in agriculture, the pharmaceutical sector, digitalization, and other fields, according to Kuleba.
Kuleba's next stops will be Zambia and Mauritius, adding them to the list of countries the minister has toured in the past years to mobilise support on the continent.
MILITARY & TECH
Ukraine releases first-ever combat footage of Storm Shadow missile launch
The Ukrainian Air Force has released the first official video showing the launch of Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles from a Su-24 aircraft. The footage was published on the YouTube channel of Ukraine's Air Force on 4 August 2024, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the Ukrainian Air Force. Euromaidan Press reports.
According to Defense Express, this is the first official video of Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles being used by the Ukrainian Air Force and the first video of these missiles being used in combat.
The video shows the missiles being dropped from an altitude of approximately 500 metres at subsonic speed. The Su-24 aircraft do not perform anti-aircraft evasive manoeuvres after launch, which Defense Express suggests indicates the launches occur at a considerable distance from the front lines.
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