Daily Briefing from Ukraine

·      Top 5 Headlines

·      Ukraine Summer Offensive Summary

·      President Zelensky’s Message of the Day

·      Infographic of the Day 

Top 5 Headlines

1.    “It really annoys me,” said Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny about Western complainants about the alleged slowness of Ukraine’s offensive. In a rare interview with the Washington Post, he also expressed frustration at the slow deliveries of weaponry promised by the West. Zaluzhny said his Western supporters would not launch an offensive without air superiority, but Ukraine has and is still awaiting F-16 fighter aircraft promised by its allies. His President yesterday added, in reference to F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots that “I believe that some partners are dragging their feet.” 

2.    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia is “technically ready” to blow up the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), as he called for more support from Western allies. He cited a potential Russian plan to blow the plant once it had been handed back to Ukrainian forces. Local Enerhodar Mayor said some 100 Russian technical personnel have left the plant. According to him, Russian operatives brought explosives to the plant almost a year ago and have mined the perimeter of the plant and the entire shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir.

Other Topics of Interest

Iranian President Dies in Helicopter Crash in Remote Mountains – Ukraine at War Update for May 20

Russian airstrikes near Kharkiv kill 11 civilians; Rescuers say no survivors in Iranian president's helicopter crash; Blackouts will continue “for months,” Ukrenergo says; AFU destroys Russian ship.

 3.    A prominent Ukrainian writer wounded in a Russian missile strike on a pizzeria last week has died. Victoria Amelina, 37, was wounded when a Russian missile destroyed the Ria Pizza restaurant in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, killing 12 people, including three children, and wounding more than 60. She was hospitalized with “multiple skull fractures,” according to a surgeon treating the wounded. Her novel “Dom's Dream Kingdom” was published in 2017 and shortlisted for the UNESCO City of Literature Prize and the European Union Prize for Literature. Her poems, prose and essays have been translated into English, German, Polish and other languages. Since 2022, Amelina had been working to document Russian war crimes since the invasion. Russia has called those who died at the pizzeria “NATO instructors.”

4.    “Russia will be fragmented, and the world must prepare for this,” said Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine ahead of the NATO Summit. According to him, the West should abandon the illusion that Russia will remain in its current form. The Kremlin “cannot control such a large territory, it does not have the ability to do so,” Danilov said. He further said that the Wagner Group’s mutiny has shown that “Russia is not a state.”

5.    Ukraine’s air defenses destroyed eight enemy Shahed attack UAVs and three Kalibr cruise missiles aimed at Kyiv on the night of July 2.

Ukraine Summer Offensive Summary

Snapshot

·      “It's hot everywhere now,” according to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar.

·      Increased Russian assaults took place around Severodonetsk line toward Luhansk region, as well as at Avdiivka, Lyman and Marinka in Donetsk region, as Russia stretches Ukrainian forces.

·      “Partial success” for Ukraine on Bakhmut’s southern flank was reported, as encirclement of Russian forces there is pushed.

General Developments, including Luhansk, Avdiivka, Marinka, etc.

·      The Russian army attacked near Svatove in the Luhansk region (50 kilometers north of Severodonetsk). “Heavy battles are ongoing there,” said Malyar.

·      “The aggressor attacks Bilohorivka and Serebrianka. The situation is quite difficult,” Malyar said. These villages are 10 kilometers west of Severodonetsk.)

·      Malyar also reported Russian forces were on the attack near Avdiivka and Marinka in the southern Donetsk region, as well as near Lyman, in the northern Donetsk region.

·      Russia undertook 40 air raids, according to Ukraine’s General Staff; Ukraine undertook nine.

·      Near the Antonivka Bridge near Kherson, heavy fighting continued as Ukraine continued attempts to establish a left-bank Dnipro River foothold, according to the spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern forces.

·      While Germany and Poland failed to agree on opening a maintenance center in Poland to repair Leopard tanks supplied to Ukraine, according to Der Spiegel, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeted as follows:

·      There were explosions in Russia’s Belgorod and Krasnodar regions.

·      Poland increased security on its border with Belarus following the transfer of Wagner units there.

Zone A. TO518 / Mokri Yaly River Axis - boundary of the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions

Malyar on the situation in the south: “With heavy battles, but gradually we are advancing in the Berdiansk and Melitopol directions. Our troops are facing intense enemy resistance, remote mining, redeployment of reserves, but persistently and unceasingly we are creating conditions for the fastest possible movement forward.”

Zone B. Western Zaporizhzhia

·      Pro-Russian sources said that Ukraine continued small group assaults and skirmishes around Robotyne. Russian reserve forces were brought into the fight.

·      Pro-Russian sources said Russian counterattacks took place at Rivnopil with partial success.

·      Eleven explosions were recorded in Russian-occupied Berdyansk.

Zone C. Bakhmut

·      Ukrainian forces reported advances on Bakhmut’s flanks, including “partial success” on the southern flank.

·      Pro-Russian sources cited “massive attacks” by Ukrainian forces, involving mechanized infantry, along the southern flank stretching from Chasiv Yar through Klishchivka to Kurdyumivka.

·      “There is no intensive urban warfare in Bakhmut itself. Our sniper groups and some other units operate there... A massive offensive continues on the southern and northern flanks around the city. And we have advanced there," said Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern forces.

·      "The enemy attacked us for ten months. Now, we are pressing the enemy, but we are pressing with completely opposite tactics,” Cherevaty said. “We use the achievements of modern world science, we use unmanned aerial vehicles, reconnaissance, high-precision systems that we have to destroy the enemy, break through minefields, and also train personnel as much as possible before that. And we are moving forward step by step.”

President Zelensky’s Message

Infographic of the Day