[Korrespondent] 23:05 Lithuania proposes to use the Baltic ports to export Ukrainian grain as an alternative to the Black Sea Initiative, AFP reports citing a letter from Lithuanian ministers to the European Commission.
22:39 Reznikov said in an interview with CNN that Ukraine's counter-offensive is behind schedule, but going according to plan. He called the notion that every counter-offensive must be quick, erroneous. The minister also spoke about the reasons why the counteroffensive may be slower than expected: "This is an air defense issue. The issue is that we also have a very long front line. And there are a large number of enemies against us. This is a war, this is not a computer game."
According to Reznikov, the Ukrainian military had to manually clear paths through the fields. He noted that the Russian troops have "serious security zones with mines" through which it is very difficult to break through.
22:03 Emergency services of the Russian Federation reported the fall of another drone - this time near a private house in the village of Pervomayskoye in New Moscow, "no damage or casualties."
21:57 The US State Department said that Washington has provided Ukraine with everything necessary for the counteroffensive and will announce new assistance in the coming days.
21:28 Russia has significantly increased trade with Iran - there are much more ships near Russian and Iranian ports, Texty reports, citing satellite images.
21:19 Zelensky said in an evening video message that the first task at the front in all directions is the maximum destruction of the occupiers, their equipment, supplies, warehouses, headquarters: "Russia must lose every day - this is fair. It is very important that our defense and security forces, our entire state works as a single team for the sake of defense. Of course, we analyze in detail at the Headquarters and all issues of protection against Russian missile and drone terror. We are preparing powerful responses to Russian terrorists to their attacks."
21:14 The Russians fired at Konstantinovka, Donetsk region: at least six people were injured, one child died. Three more children were among the wounded, Pavel Kirilenko, head of the OVA, said. The occupiers opened fire on a local reservoir, on the banks of which people were resting. Fired from MLRS Smerch with cluster munitions.
21:02 During the war in Ukraine, Colonel of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Vashunin, commander of the Leningrad regiment, formed mainly from St. Petersburg mobilized, was liquidated, said Alexander Belsky, chairman of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg.
20:56 In Mariupol, the Russians mined all the bridges and set up defensive structures near each one, Petr Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of the city, said. Now the passage on the bridges is limited, and the territory of the defensive structures is surrounded by a fence.
20:50 The Pantsir-S1 air defense system on the roof of the headquarters of the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow could not shoot down a drone this morning, although it is located less than 300 meters from the strike, Radio Liberty reports, citing satellite images and publications on social networks.
20:33 Zelensky announced that he had held a regular meeting of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander. The three main issues are the current situation and the planning of offensive and defensive actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the response to Russian attacks on grain infrastructure and cultural heritage, and the unblocking of the grain corridor. The President promised that "the results will be tangible."
20:17 The AFP agency reported that its video editor Dylan Collins was wounded while filming a report on the positions of Ukrainian military personnel in the Bakhmut area. Colins received numerous shrapnel wounds and was evacuated to the nearest hospital, there is no threat to life.
19:49 The German publication Bild claims that Ukraine is preparing a "fiery fist" and harsh attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the front are expected soon. Read more in the material The second wave of the counteroffensive .
19:25 During the Russian attack on the port of Reni in the Odessa region, there were six Romanian ships there, according to the Romanian edition of Mediafax. After the missile strikes, the country's authorities decided to move all ships back to Romania. They were not damaged and are now on the Romanian side of the Danube River. At the same time, Romania did not impose any restrictions on traffic along the Danube, the functioning of ports in the border area is carried out as usual.
18:47 UN Secretary General António Guterres appealed to Russia with a call to return to the grain agreement. According to him, now Ukraine and Russia play a key role in ensuring food security throughout the world. The Secretary General supports providing access to the world food and fertilizer markets both from Ukraine and from Russia. Thus, according to him, food security will be "provided for all."
18:36 Spain sent Ukraine a new batch of Leopard 2A4 tanks and armored personnel carriers, the country's Ministry of Defense reported. It is expected that the cargo will arrive in Ukraine in early August. We are talking about the next four Leopard 2A4, which will be added to the previous six Leopard 2 with the same characteristics, as well as ten armored personnel carriers, ten trucks, several ambulances and various ammunition.
17:34 Over the past day, Polish border guards recorded six aggressive attacks by illegal migrants from the territory of Belarus, the Polish Border Service reported. In particular, 54 citizens of Yemen, India, Eritrea tried to illegally cross the border and attacked Polish patrolmen with stones.
17:13 The German government plans to allocate 20 billion euros until 2031 for the purchase of ammunition missing from the Bundeswehr, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.
| How many years we have waited to hear that Germany is beginning to fulfill its NATO treaty promises! |
15:44 China secretly sends equipment to Russia in an amount "sufficient to equip the army," Politico writes, citing customs information. According to the newspaper, goods are delivered not military, but dual-use. In particular, Russia has purchased hundreds of thousands of bulletproof vests and helmets, drones that can be used to correct artillery fire or drop grenades, and thermal imaging optical sights to aim at the enemy at night.
At the same time, the export of equipment to Ukraine has declined sharply, the newspaper notes. Thus, Russia purchased drones for more than $100 million - 30 times more than Ukraine. The purchase of ceramics, which is used in body armor, the Russian Federation increased by 69% - up to 225 million dollars, and Ukraine reduced by 61%, to 5 million.
15:30 Something is burning and exploding in Crimea - a familiar picture of recent days. The Armed Forces of Ukraine systematically destroy the reserves of the Russian army on the temporarily occupied peninsula. On the morning of July 24, explosions thundered near the village of Krasnogvardeyskoye. The occupiers are talking about getting into the ammunition depot near Dzhankoy. More details - in the material New explosion .
15:01 Romanian President Klaus Iohannis condemned Russian attacks on the Danube port infrastructure, where the border between Ukraine and Romania runs: "I strongly condemn Russia's recent attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure on the Danube, very close to Romania. This recent escalation poses serious security risks in the Black Sea. This also affects the further transit of grain from Ukraine, and therefore global food security."
14:55 The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Ukrainian attacks on Moscow and Crimea allegedly "did not have any military meaning", Moscow regards them as intimidation of the population. The ministry also added that Russia reserves the right to "take tough retaliatory measures."
14:13 The Telegram channel Crimean partisans reports, citing its sources, that a batch of P-800 Oniks missiles, which the Russians have been shelling Odessa and Nikolaev for several days, was destroyed in the BC warehouse near Dzhankoy. The damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars: the price of one Onyx missile is about 1.3 million dollars.
14:10 The Russians fired on the village of Peschanoe, Kupyansky district, Kharkiv region - three people were injured, including a 12-year-old child, the OVA reported. Also, one person was wounded during enemy shelling of the village of Dvurechnaya.
14:04 There is no direct threat from Belarus, but military intelligence is monitoring the Wagner PMC, Vadim Skibitsky, a spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, said: "Our assessment is very simple: today there is no direct threat, but we are ready - we monitor everything related to the so-called Wagner PMC. This is a powerful component that was directly involved in hostilities, it is prepared."
Skibitsky expressed the hope that Prigozhin’s mercenaries would no longer participate in hostilities against Ukraine, although intelligence is considering different scenarios: “We understand where the enemy is located. Accordingly, we conduct intelligence. All the necessary information is reported, conclusions are drawn and appropriate actions are made in order to neutralize this threat.”
13:25 On the morning of Monday, July 24, unknown drones attacked Moscow. Drones allegedly damaged two non-residential buildings, one of which is located next to the Russian Ministry of Defense. This is the third drone attack on the Russian capital since early May. It also happened a day after Ukraine promised to answer for the Russian missile attack on Odessa. About what is known - in the material Attack of drones on Moscow .
13:06 Peskov said that Russian troops allegedly do not strike at churches, and the temple in Odessa was destroyed by Ukrainian "anti-missiles".
12:57 According to the Belarus Gayun monitoring group, there are already from 3450 to 3650 Wagner PMC mercenaries on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. According to analysts, at least ten organized columns arrived in the country, the last of which was yesterday, July 23. These columns numbered 670-700 vehicles. All the columns arrived at the tent camp in the village of Tsel near Osipovichi.
12:21 At night, the Russians attacked the port of Reni on the Danube in the Odessa region with Shahed drones, said the head of the Reni community, Igor Plekhov. According to him, about 15 strike drones were recorded, three warehouses with grain were destroyed.
11:49 Putin signed a law on raising the age limit for a number of citizens with military ranks in the reserve by five years. Also, the maximum age for citizens to stay in the mobilization reserve is increased by five years: for senior officers - up to 65 years (was 60), for younger ones - up to 60 years (was 55).
11:37 Reznikov said that Ukraine will soon inform the Pentagon about the consequences of the use of American cluster munitions: "I hope that they will be more effective than conventional ammunition. Especially against artillery systems, during counter-battery battles, as well as against armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and infantry in the fields."
11:22 After modernization, the Russian Kh-32 missile has become not only longer-range, but also more accurate, Air Force speaker Yuri Ignat said: “The Kh-32 is a version of the Kh-22, which was put into service quite recently, in 2016, and its range was made longer. how many of them were made. But the fact that they have already been used is for sure. "
10:56 Bloomberg writes, citing experts, that if at least some of the 2.8 million working-age Ukrainian refugee women cannot be returned, it will cost Ukraine 10% of pre-war GDP, that is, $ 20 billion a year in the worst case.
10:38 Ukrainska Pravda reports, citing a source "in the security and defense sector," that the nighttime drone attack on Moscow was a special operation by the GUR MOU. "Cooperation of volunteers and structures gives good results, to be continued," the source said.
10:33 Russian emergency services reported another incident with a drone: a helicopter-type drone without an explosive device fell in the Zelenograd district of Moscow on the territory of the central cemetery, no one was injured.
09:48 Ukrainian troops on the southern front liberated more than 192 square meters during the offensive. km of territory, said Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar. In particular, over the past week, the Defense Forces have liberated more than 12 sq. km. The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue the offensive operation in several areas towards Melitopol and Berdyansk.
In the Bakhmut direction during the offensive, about 35 square meters were liberated. km of territory, including for the past week - about 4 square meters. km. Key battles are taking place in the area of Kleshcheevka, Andreevka, Kurdyumovka.
09:19 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that Ukraine's attempt to carry out an attack by 17 drones on objects in Crimea was allegedly suppressed at night. Of these, 14 drones were allegedly suppressed by electronic warfare: 11 drones crashed in the Black Sea, three more fell on the peninsula. In addition, three UAVs were destroyed by air defense systems. There were no casualties as a result of the attack, according to Moscow.
09:14 An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Petr Andryushchenko, said, citing his sources in Crimea, that in the village. Volnoe, Dzhankoy district, there were at least three defeats in the area of the military airfield Vesele. Ukrainian sources claim that we are talking about missile strikes, and not about UAVs. In with. Free on the loudspeakers are already announcing the evacuation. There are still no official reports from the occupying authorities of Crimea about the territories from which they are being evacuated.
09:09 The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) states that Putin and Lukashenko have stepped up information operations against the West, claiming that PMC Wagner allegedly poses a threat to Poland. However, the Wagner forces in Belarus do not pose a military threat to Poland or Ukraine until they are re-equipped with mechanized equipment, analysts are convinced.
08:57 Poland will create a new military unit by the end of the year, Defense Minister Mariusz Blashak said. According to him, the place of deployment will be the city of Augustow near the border with Belarus, and the main task is to strengthen the eastern border and the Suwalki corridor (a conditional territory connecting the Baltic countries with Poland and other NATO states, as well as separating the territory of the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation from Belarus).
08:53 The FSB of the Russian Federation announced that in order to prevent "terrorist and sabotage actions" inspections of ships going through the Kerch Strait are being carried out. The department claims that on July 22, traces of explosives were allegedly found in the hold of a foreign dry cargo ship en route from Turkey to the port of Rostov-on-Don to load grain, as well as "signs of third-party interference in the structural parts of the dry cargo ship."
The FSB "established" that in May the ship was allegedly in the Ukrainian port of Kiliya, in July the crew, consisting of 12 citizens of Ukraine, completely changed in the Turkish port of Tuzla. These circumstances may indicate the possibility of using a foreign civilian ship to deliver explosives to Ukraine, the FSB said. A decision was made to ban the passage of a foreign ship through the Kerch Strait "with its further departure outside the territorial sea of the Russian Federation."
08:48 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of July 24:
- personnel - about 242,620 (+660) people liquidated,
- tanks - 4162 (+11),
- armored combat vehicles - 8118 (+13),
- artillery systems - 4675 (+17),
- MLRS - 697 (+0),
- air defense systems - 452 (+1),
- aircraft - 315 (+0),
- helicopters - 310 (+0),
- UAV operational-tactical level - 3963 (+5),
- cruise missiles - 1307 (+9),
- ships/boats - 18 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tankers - 7182 (+10),
- special equipment - 698 (+2).
08:36 The "head" of the occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said that 11 Ukrainian drones were allegedly shot down by air defense forces and suppressed by electronic warfare in the sky over the peninsula. According to him, an ammunition depot in the Dzhankoy district was hit, a private house in the Kirov district was damaged by UAV fragments. Railway traffic in the Dzhankoy region and the Dzhankoy-Simferopol highway has been suspended. A decision was also made to evacuate the population of nearby villages within a radius of 5 km.
The head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Mikhail Fedorov, noted that drones attacked Moscow and Crimea tonight: "EW and air defense are less and less able to protect the sky of the invaders. No matter what happens there, there will be more of it."
08:04 The number of victims as a result of a night attack in the Odessa region has increased to six, said the head of the OVA Oleg Kiper.
07:50 The Russian army is concentrating its main efforts on the Kupyansky, Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions, there are heavy battles. Over the past day, there have been 35 combat clashes, the General Staff said in the morning summary .
07:42 At night, the Russians attacked the Odessa region with Shahed-136 drones - they were sent along the port infrastructure of the Danube, OK Pivden reported. Three drones are destroyed by air defense forces. As a result of the hits, a hangar with grain was destroyed, tanks for storing other types of cargo were damaged, a fire broke out in one of the production premises, which was promptly eliminated. It is preliminary known about four injured port workers, the information is being specified.
05:43 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that on the morning of July 24, an attempt by Ukraine to carry out a "terrorist attack by two unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in Moscow" was suppressed. By means of electronic warfare, two Ukrainian UAVs allegedly "were suppressed and crashed", no one was injured. Russian publics write that drones tried to attack the building of the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.
05:01 In the coming days, a UNESCO mission will arrive in Odessa, which will conduct a preliminary assessment of the damage caused to the regional center by Russian attacks, the press service of the organization reported. The message says that UNESCO is "deeply alarmed and condemns in the strongest possible terms the audacious attack carried out by the Russian troops." It is emphasized that the Russian Federation attacked cultural sites in the historic center of the city, which is under the protection of UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
UN Secretary General António Guterres also strongly condemned the Russian missile attacks on Odessa, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.