Worth noting, korrespodent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2022. Linked in the title
23:25 Ukraine today began negotiations with the United States on a bilateral agreement on the provision of security guarantees, the Office of the President reported. These security guarantees are expected to strengthen Ukraine's progress towards future membership in the EU and NATO, which is "the ultimate goal and the most reliable guarantee of security."
23:18 The United States has no illusions about the Ukrainian counteroffensive and understands that it will be difficult, said Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder: "There are no illusions that these military operations that Ukraine is waging are easy. Russia had time to create fortifications, and Ukraine is coming, so the fighting will be difficult... We are confident that they have considerable fighting ability and that they will use it when and where they choose to defend their country and regain sovereign territory."
22:33 The Washington Post writes, citing sources, that Ukraine has launched the third stage of the counteroffensive. The first phase began in June, when the 9th Army Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, armed with Western equipment, ran into well-fortified Russian defenses, especially minefields, and was able to achieve only limited success, experts say.
The second stage mainly consisted of infantry attacks, during which Ukraine tried to gain an advantage with the help of asymmetric methods of warfare, that is, using the weaknesses of the enemy. And last week, the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to send a reserve 10th Army Corps to the battlefield, which led to a sharp intensification of hostilities.
The newspaper notes that the Armed Forces of Ukraine involved the reserve 10th Army Corps in order to advance in the Rabotino region of the Zaporozhye region - this settlement is of great strategic value, since the Ukrainian military has the greatest chances to break through the Russian defensive lines there. At the same time, about 19 km still remain from Rabotino to the main Russian defensive line.
22:27 In a joint statement by Putin and the leaders of seven African countries following the results of the Russia-Africa summit, it is said that the parties agreed to continue discussing the "peace initiative" in Ukraine, called for concrete steps to be taken to remove obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertilizers.
22:24 Russia is shelling Ukraine with X-55 cruise missiles, which Kiev handed over to Moscow in 1999 in exchange for paying off the debt for Russian gas, Radio Liberty reports. The journalists received the text of the agreement and the list of numbers of the transferred missiles at their disposal and compared them with the X-55 numbers that the Russian army began to use against Ukraine during a full-scale invasion. We are talking about at least ten such missiles.
22:09 Zelensky said in an evening video message that he held a meeting on the Crimean Platform today: "The content of the summit, the international presence at the summit, its impact on our ability to constantly put pressure on the liberation of Crimea - we are working on the details. And we are already preparing not only the Crimean Platform summit on level of leaders in August, but also the parliamentary dimension of the Crimean Platform - this summit will be held in autumn."
Also in the Transcarpathian region today there was a second meeting with the ambassadors of Ukraine: "Yesterday, today there were the highest political and high military levels of communication ... I specifically asked both the commander-in-chief Zaluzhny and the commanders with Kuleba to hold an appropriate meeting so that the key things that so necessary for our soldiers, our defense forces - so that they convey all this to the ambassadors.
One of the issues that was considered today was the verification of "military commissars", which revealed many abuses, "frankly disgusting." The President assured that all the facts revealed by law enforcement officers would be presented to the public and investigated within the framework of criminal proceedings. "The conclusion is obvious: the recruitment system needs people who understand what the value of defending Ukraine is. The value, not the price of decisions. People who saw the war and went through it should work in the "military offices". There are those who, unfortunately, have lost limbs, but did not lose dignity and did not lose Ukraine," Zelensky said.
21:28 Zelensky said in an evening video message that heavy battles were going on at the front: “The invaders are trying with all their might to stop our guys. The assaults are very cruel. no matter what the enemy did, it is the Ukrainian force that dominates."
The president also said that in total Russia had already launched at least 1961 Shahed drones on the territory of Ukraine, and "a significant part" was shot down. According to him, "the task for each of our ambassadors, all representatives of Ukraine" is to increase the number of air defense systems.
20:27 The countries of the North Atlantic Alliance are strengthening security because of the Wagner mercenaries in Belarus and are preparing for a possible attack. Poland, Lithuania and Latvia were in a similar situation two years ago, when a large number of migrants began arriving at their borders from Belarus. For more details, see Trouble in NATO .
19:59 The Russians shelled the center of Kherson, a volunteer from Norway was wounded, the OVA reported.
19:30 At a meeting with Ukrainian ambassadors, Zelensky announced the holding of the Defense Industries Forum in the fall. According to the Minister for Strategic Industries Alexander Kamyshin, it is planned to attract international and Ukrainian companies from the defense sector to create new joint ventures.
"The international defense industry is mutually integrated, and this is an important key to military-political alliances. And for us at the Ministry of Strategic Industry, this is another opportunity to increase domestic production of weapons and military equipment. Including with the participation of international companies. This will be the first international event of this format, which we are preparing together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense," the minister said.
18:58 The website of the TV channel of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Zvezda has deleted the congratulations of the commander of the Airborne Forces Mikhail Teplinsky on the day of the Airborne Forces. In the video, he indirectly acknowledges the high losses of the Russian military in the war against Ukraine, the Agency reports .
In his congratulations, Teplinskiy said that he was proud that during the year and a half of the war "more than 5,000 wounded paratroopers returned to the front after treatment, and more than 3,500 of our wounded refused to leave the front line at all." Thus, he admitted that the Airborne Forces, only one of the Russian military branches, recorded at least 8,500 wounded.
18:17 Commander of the Ground Forces Alexander Syrsky said that today he worked all day in government agencies and military units performing tasks in the most active sectors of the front. In particular, in the Bakhmut direction, the work was devoted to "actual problems of increasing the pace of the offensive, the prospects for further actions."
In the Limansky and Kupyansky directions, together with the commanders, they considered the issues of "an adequate response to enemy offensive actions, increasing the effectiveness of enemy fire engagement, combating various types of drones, and ensuring the actions of our troops."
According to Syrsky, in the Kupyansky and Limansky directions, Ukrainian troops, in the face of active enemy offensive operations, “every day frustrate his plans to break through our defenses, inflict significant losses in personnel and equipment, and reduce the offensive potential of enemy troops.” In the Bakhmut direction, "we continue to carry out offensive operations, step by step, in the face of strong enemy resistance, our fighters liberate the territory."
17:52 Zelensky said he had a "long and comprehensive" meeting with Interior Minister Igor Klymenko. In particular, he listened to a report on the protection and defense of nuclear facilities, the training of the National Guardsmen and other units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the provision of ammunition and equipment, and the verification of shelters.
17:29 Poland has deployed combat helicopters to the border with Belarus, the pilots of which are ready "without hesitation" to open fire in case of a threat, Marek Sokolovsky, deputy chief of the country's General Staff, said. He specified that all the pilots are professionals with combat experience who served in Afghanistan.
17:01 German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the supply of Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine "is not our top priority right now." "Not only do we not supply. Our American allies also do not supply these cruise missiles. Ours have a special range," he added.
16:26 Ukraine's annual defense spending is about 2 trillion hryvnia, Shmyhal said. He recalled that in peacetime, the state budget revenues amounted to 1.3 trillion hryvnia. "Today, we budgeted UAH 1.3 trillion for the Armed Forces. We allocated another UAH 509 billion over the year, and now we will allocate about the same amount. In fact, the Armed Forces, the war cost Ukraine about UAH 2 trillion today," - explained the prime minister. He added that Ukraine mainly receives funds for other needs from Western partners.
16:23 Medvedev said that from January 1 to August 3, more than 231,000 people were accepted for contract service in Russia.
16:15 The European Union has imposed new sanctions against Belarus due to its involvement in Russia's war against Ukraine. According to the European Commission, the new restrictions will ensure closer alignment of EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus and help prevent sanctions circumvention with the help of Minsk. In particular, the ban on the export to Belarus of a number of "very sensitive goods and technologies that contribute to the military and technological development of Belarus" has been expanded, and an additional ban has been introduced on the export of firearms and ammunition, as well as goods and technologies suitable for use in aviation and the space industry.
15:32 At least 43% of Ukrainians who were kept in Russian detention centers during the occupation of Kherson were subjected to extensive torture. This is stated in the report, which analyzed 320 cases of detention in Kherson in more than 35 detention centers. At the same time, the respondents called sexual violence a common tactic of Russian guards in relation to imprisoned men and women. Most often, servicemen and their relatives are tortured in isolation wards.
The report was compiled by the Mobile Justice Team, which is part of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA) with the support of the UK, EU and US, created by the international law firm and human rights foundation Global Rights Compliance to support the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, writes CNN.
15:04 The Indian Foreign Ministry announced that the country has been invited to a meeting on Ukraine in Saudi Arabia and will take part in it.
14:59 Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki urgently met with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda to discuss possible provocations from Belarus. Nauseda said that the presence of PMC Wagner mercenaries in Belarus is an additional risk factor for Lithuania, Poland and NATO allies.
According to the Lithuanian President, part of the Wagnerites are located near the border with Lithuania in the Grodno region of Belarus. It is estimated that there are about 4,000 mercenaries in Belarus now, but the final figure could be 10,000.
14:41 The Wall Street Journal writes that China is changing its view of the war in Ukraine and may join the negotiations in Saudi Arabia. According to sources of the publication, the prolongation of the war in Ukraine carries additional risks for China, despite attempts to maintain neutrality and tacit support for Russia. The last irritant was Moscow's withdrawal from the grain deal, since China was the largest buyer of Ukrainian grain. Recently, Beijing's rhetoric has changed, and it seems to already agree to consider the Ukrainian peace plan.
13:54 Putin said that all Russian officials should drive domestic cars.
13:46 Russia is attacking Zmeiny Island to put pressure on civilian shipping, says Natalya Gumenyuk, speaker of the OK Pivden: "Three such sorties indicated an air threat for foreign civilian ships that could resort to voyage to Ukrainian ports. All this was aimed at continuing pressure on civil shipping, taking into account the future prospects of the grain agreement". At the same time, she added that there were no direct hits on the island - "the area of the island was bombed."
13:07 The units of the Offensive Guard are already performing tasks at the front, said the head of the Planning Department for the use of the Main Directorate of the National Guard Nikolai Urshalovich. According to him, in the Melitopol direction, units of one of the operational brigades of the National Guard advanced up to 650 meters into the depth of the enemy’s defense, 1,500 meters along the front and entrenched themselves on the occupied line.
12:58 A plant in Tatarstan for the production of Iranian Shahed drones can start working as early as next year, said John Kirby, coordinator of strategic communications at the US National Security Council. According to him, Iran supplies the Russian Federation with the necessary equipment through the Caspian Sea, and military cooperation between the countries is deepening.
12:36 The Office of the President showed what the Kakhovka reservoir and hydroelectric power station look like after the Russian terrorist attack:
12:25 Russia has included Norway in the list of "foreign states committing unfriendly actions directed against Russian diplomatic and consular missions abroad."
12:19 The largest Ukrainian agricultural companies are reducing the area under crops due to Russia's withdrawal from the grain deal and attacks on port infrastructure and warehouses, writes Bloomberg. Specifically, HarvEast said it is withdrawing from cultivation 10-15% of the least productive areas.
11:54 A meeting on Ukraine at the level of heads of state may be held in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly or as part of the G20 meeting in India, Politico writes, citing sources.
11:33 In Russia, mass recruitment of women from the colonies to the front began - they are more willing to fight than men, Olga Romanova, the founder of the Rus project , said in an interview with the channel We can explain . According to her, until recently, women were actively recruited in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Now there have already been cases of recruitment in Lipetsk and even in Moscow pre-trial detention centers.
Romanova says that, unlike men, women in prison are extremely susceptible to propaganda. According to the testimonies of captured prisoners, women are fighting as part of the Ministry of Defense in stormtrooper units. Many of them have the call sign Wolf. They are kept together with men, but they fight separately. The law adopted on June 24 by the State Duma of the Russian Federation, which provides for the termination of criminal prosecution against "volunteers" who signed up for the war, does not say what gender a citizen should be. Therefore, a woman can now also go to fight in Ukraine and avoid punishment.
10:52 Danilov confirmed Ukraine's involvement in both cases of blowing up the Crimean bridge: "Our military put in place the untouchability of many objects that were considered 100% protected in Russia. This is the Crimean bridge, about which representatives of our Security Service spoke, who took part and in the first and second cases.
10:45 SBU detained Denis Safonov, legal adviser of the "Shariy party" in Odessa, who worked for Russian military intelligence. He handed over to the Russian Federation targets for air strikes on the city, tracked the locations and movements of Ukrainian air defense units, and reported on the consequences of the strikes. After the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, he and his wife left for Simferopol, where he himself turned to the "military commissariat of Crimea." The inhabitant of Odessa signed a tacit cooperation in favor of the Russian Federation, after which he received a $500 "advance" and returned to Odessa to collect intelligence.
10:31 Danilov said that Ukraine has no prohibitions on the use of weapons developed by its own military-industrial complex to strike at Russian territory. He recalled that Ukraine undertook not to use weapons provided by partners for attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation, so that they would not be accused of involvement in the war.
The NSDC secretary added that Kyiv has "certain achievements", but not everything can be told: "We have certain achievements in this. Although not everything can be told, but what CNN representatives have learned about sea drones are things that have very limited number of countries. According to him, such developments perform combat missions "excellently".
10:04 In the Donetsk region over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, one person was killed (in Druzhkovka), five more were injured. In the Zaporozhye region, one person was killed as a result of artillery shelling of Preobrazhenka, in the Kherson region, two people were injured, according to the IVA.
09:56 British intelligence has named another factor hindering the advancement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the south - these are bushes and small trees that gradually grow on the battlefields. Thus, the predominantly arable land in the war zone has remained unplowed for 18 months, and the growth of weeds and shrubs accelerates in warm and humid summers.
Vegetation provides additional cover that helps mask Russian defensive positions and makes clearing minefields more difficult. While the undergrowth can also provide cover for small sneak attacks by Ukrainian infantry, it generally makes it difficult to advance.
09:38 Ukrainian troops repelled Russian counterattacks on the southern front. The enemy made unsuccessful attempts to restore the lost position in the direction of Harvest - Blagodatnoye and west of Staromayorsky, said the speaker of the General Staff Pavel Kovalchuk. Meanwhile, the Defense Forces are conducting offensive operations south of Bakhmut, and the Russians have made unsuccessful attempts to restore the lost position west of Kurdyumovka, south of Andreevka and west of Kleshcheevka. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are also holding back the offensive of Russian troops in the Kupyansk and Liman directions.
09:27 In the morning, the Russian army fired on a church in the center of Kherson, wounding three passengers of a trolleybus that was driving past the cathedral at the time of the impact, said Alexander Prokudin, head of the OVA. In turn, the head of the State Emergency Service, Serhiy Kruk, said that today in Kherson, while extinguishing a fire caused by shelling in St. Catherine's Cathedral, there was a second shelling, four rescuers were injured.
08:55 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced that Ukraine's attempt to carry out an attack by drones was allegedly suppressed over the territory of the Kaluga region tonight, six UAVs were destroyed by air defense systems, there were no injuries or damage.
08:41 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of August 3:
- personnel - about 247,850 (+620) people liquidated,
- tanks - 4224 (+7),
- armored combat vehicles - 8234 (+21),
- artillery systems - 4892 (+26),
- MLRS - 704 (+4),
- air defense systems - 465 (+2),
- aircraft - 315 (+0),
- helicopters - 311 (+0),
- UAV operational-tactical level - 4077 (+35),
- cruise missiles - 1347 (+0),
- ships/boats - 18 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tankers - 7372 (+23),
- special equipment - 721 (+3).
08:27 At night, air defense forces shot down all 15 Iranian Shahed-136/131 drones that Russia attacked from the Bryansk region, the command of the Air Force reported. In addition, during the day on August 2, air defense destroyed seven reconnaissance UAVs of the operational-tactical level.
07:35 Over the past day, 44 combat clashes occurred at the front, the General Staff said in the morning summary . In particular, in the Bakhmut direction, the enemy made unsuccessful attempts to restore the lost position west of Kurdyumovka, south of Andreevka and west of Kleshcheevka in the Donetsk region. In the Maryinka direction, the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to hold back the offensive of Russian troops in the Maryinka area. At the same time, the Defense Forces continue their offensive operation in the Melitopol and Berdyansk directions.
According to the General Staff, the invaders continue to mobilize prisoners. Thus, in accordance with the order of the so-called "Ministry of Internal Affairs of the DPR", recruitment is being carried out into the units of the internal troops of persons serving sentences or detained for crimes of light or medium gravity.
05:44 At night, the Russians again attacked Kiev with Shahed drones. On approaching the capital, air defense forces detected and destroyed almost 15 air targets, said Sergey Popko, head of the KGVA. According to operational data, there are no casualties or destruction. Popko noted that the air raid lasted exactly three hours and was the 820th for Kyiv since the start of a full-scale invasion.
04:23 Ukrainian brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who were trained in NATO countries, stopped using American tactics during the offensive and returned to the tactics "which they know best", writes The New York Times.
According to the newspaper, the White House hoped that nine brigades numbering about 36,000 people during the counteroffensive would demonstrate that "the American way of warfare is superior to the Russian one." We are talking about the decentralization of control of different military units in battle. However, Ukrainian commanders changed tactics and focused on wearing down Russian forces with artillery and long-range missiles.
The newspaper notes that on the battlefield, the Ukrainian military faced significant mining of the territory and constant shelling from artillery and aircraft, so NATO's hopes for an early liberation of the territories did not come true. However, in the event of a breakthrough in the defense lines of the Russians, the Ukrainian military can still use the tactics of the United States and NATO, experts say.
01:19 The Economist writes that Ukraine is making 3D-printed bombs to improve efficiency on the battlefield. A 3D-printed 800-gram anti-personnel bomb called the Bunny is cheaper and much more effective than conventional bombs, for example, dropped from a drone.
More than 30,000 of these bombs have been manufactured in the last four months, according to the publication, and the pace of production is growing. Printed bombs can easily cut through wood planks and are sometimes more effective than conventional grenades.
00:57 Ukraine has no schedules or deadlines on the issue of counter-offensive, said NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov: "No one can set deadlines for us, except ourselves, this is firstly. Secondly, there is no schedule. Thirdly When such conversations begin, we mean what people say who do not understand what war is."
According to Danilov, the Russian Federation "prepared very powerfully" for the Ukrainian counteroffensive, a huge number of territories were mined. "The number of mines located on the territory that our military needs to overcome is simply insane. On average, there are 3-4-5 mines per square meter," Danilov added.
00:21 Analysts in the German government believe that Russia will have enough combat forces to continue the war in Ukraine for another 2-3 years, and if necessary, the Kremlin can increase the army to 3 million people, writes Bild. At the same time, there is little belief in Germany that the Russians can go on the offensive.