In today's summary:
- In the Bakhmut area, up to a company of Russian soldiers per day is killed only from artillery fire;
- The plight of the RF Armed Forces near Bakhmut is recognized by both "military correspondents" and military experts;
- An AFU soldier told CNN about the incredible number of mines, which makes it necessary to move "from tree to tree";
- Vladimir Putin voiced a strange idea to direct the flow of tourists to Crimea through "new territories";
- Even more strange seems the proposal of the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation to use the Black Sea Fleet to help tourists;
- Over the past month, more than 50 successful cases of the destruction of Russian artillery and air defense systems have been confirmed;
- Ukraine is unlikely to receive F-16 fighters during the current counter-offensive, the chairman of the NATO Military Committee said;
- Several drones immediately flew to Moscow and were shot down by air defense and planted by electronic warfare.
The situation at the front
The WarGonzo project of "military officer" Semyon Pegov writes about the advance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine towards Rabotino and Priyutnoye in the Ugoldar sector, as well as about assault operations in the area of Ozaryanovka , Kurdyumovka and Kleshcheevka near Bakhmut . According to WarGonzo, "the enemy is trying to attack simultaneously in several directions, moving in the area of Pyatikhatki , Kopani , Rabotino in order to, if successful, create and expand a bridgehead for a further, already more massive offensive." Judging by the geolocated videos, the Ukrainian troops really came close to the northern outskirts of Rabotino .
According to the Rybar Telegram channel associated with the Russian Defense Ministry, several Ukrainian assault groups without armored vehicles under the cover of artillery are moving towards Pyatikhatki and Zherebyanki from Lobkove . According to the same data, the 117th and 118th mechanized brigades of the 10th army corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were transferred to the area near Kamensky .
Given the transfer of two new brigades to the direction of Vasilyevka , Rybar notes, the main focus in the new phase of the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be placed on areas adjacent to the actually lowered Kakhovka reservoir . But it is possible that attacks in different areas will be carried out simultaneously.
According to the representative of the press center of the Tauride direction Valery Shershen, in the Berdyansk direction , the Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced up to 2 km.
One of the field commanders of the separatists in the Donbass in 2014, and now the well-known Z-figure Igor Girkin (aka Strelkov / Runov) writes that the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the Vremevsky ledge is being resumed, a difficult situation has developed in the region of northern Bakhmut, just where On the Russian side, understaffed units of the 3rd Army Corps are located. There is no talk of any cessation of the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine yet, Girkin notes . Ukrainian forces are intensively transferring reinforcements and ammunition to the Zaporozhye front in a very intensive mode.
The Telegram channel GRAY ZONE, close to PMC Wagner, describes the situation near Bakhmut as "deteriorating every day." On the right flank to the north-west of the city, the 56th separate motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, advancing from Orekhovo-Vasilyevka , is trying to cut off the ledge, which is held by the Russians from the settlement of Dubovo-Vasilevka and provides not only cover for the flank, but in fact is a section with dominant heights, the surrender of which will have very deplorable consequences, up to the unblocking of the Bakhmut-Slavyansk road, since under these conditions Berkhovka will have to be left almost without a fight. At the same time, the 92nd separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is trying to cut off this ledge from the other side.
On the left flank of Bakhmut, the situation is no worse and no better – it is also consistently difficult, GRAY ZONE notes. Over the past month, the enemy has driven the forces of the 72nd separate motorized rifle brigade of the RF Armed Forces and the Shtorm-Z detachments, consisting of prisoners, beyond the line of the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal .
The representative of the Eastern Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Sergei Cherevaty, on the air of the telethon , estimated the number of Russian troops in the operational area of the group at 180 thousand people, including 50 thousand in the Bakhmut direction .
Military expert Alexander Kovalenko, in an interview with The Insider, confirmed that serious forces are now drawn to Bakhmut :
The main moment now is Bakhmut himself. To date, renewed urban battles have been noted there, which are being held not only in the southwestern sector along the T-0504 highway at the junction of Karsunsky and Chaikovsky streets. This is exactly the location that the Wagnerites could not occupy and take control of.
Every day, as a result of only artillery fire, since Bakhmut is located in a lowland, and almost all the dominant heights are controlled by the Ukrainian defense forces, up to a company of Russian soldiers die from artillery fire alone. In Bakhmut, a rather serious resource of Russian troops is being concentrated to deter the counteroffensive actions of the Ukrainian defense forces.
There now, in addition to the 11th separate airborne assault brigade, the 31st airborne assault brigade and the 51st airborne regiment from the 106th airborne division, there are units of the 4th MSBR of the 1st army corps from the so-called. OSR. Another 51st MSBR, 72nd MSBR and 200th MSBR.
Among other things, after the withdrawal of the Wagnerites, the Russian command tried to compensate for their absence by introducing units and subunits of territorial troops in the second echelon – this is the 1428th motorized rifle regiment of territorial troops, these are the 1486th SME, 1307th SME, 105th SME of the mobilization reserve. In addition, the resource of the 27th artillery regiment and the 1182nd artillery regiment of the territorial troops is used, i.e. quite a significant resource.
The CNN TV channel released an article with the story of one of the servicemen of the 47th mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine about the offensive in the Zaporozhye direction . He said the minefields in southern Ukraine are so dense that troops trying to liberate the area can only move "from tree to tree." A soldier with the call sign "Legion" said that he had never seen so many mines.
So, the advancement of the Ukrainian forces, in his opinion, is quite successful and effective, given how mined the area is:
They knew that it was in this area that the main attack would take place, so they carefully prepared. They have artillery and aviation here, and fighter jets and helicopters work regularly.
According to The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), some of the most important sections of the front line are fortified with several lines of defense, which makes it very difficult for the Armed Forces to operate. The ISW also believes that information published by Russian pro-military bloggers about the situation on the front line indicates that "Ukrainian forces are not currently undertaking large-scale operations." Instead, they appear to be conducting tactical attacks in various directions along a nearly 1,000-kilometer front line in an attempt to deplete Russian reserves before launching a major offensive.
This information was confirmed by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov on Twitter:
Task number one is the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, b / c, command posts, artillery and air defense forces of the Russian army. The last days are especially fruitful. Now the war of annihilation is equal to the war for kilometers. More destroyed, more released.
In this context, President Vladimir Putin's proposal to direct the flow of tourists to Crimea through "new territories" seems extremely strange. This idea was voiced at a meeting with members of the government to resolve the situation with a multi-kilometer traffic jam that formed in front of the Crimean bridge , RBC reports . People, mostly going on vacation, are stuck in a traffic jam for days.
Even more strange is the initiative of the Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev to use large landing ships of the Black Sea Fleet. According to Savelyev, six ferries are currently in use, and if the traffic jam cannot be eliminated by July 16-17, the Ministry of Transport is ready to resort to the help of the fleet.
Mutual shelling and sabotage
There is new information about the consequences of the recent shelling of the city of Sumy . President Zelensky confirmed the arrival of the Shahed kamikaze drone (aka Geran) to the SBU building. In addition, two residential multi-storey buildings were damaged. According to the head of the city, Alexander Lysenko, as a result of the attack, 3 people were killed, more than 20 were injured. Four more people, according to him, remain in hospitals.
More than 30 people, including 9 children, were injured in a Russian army strike on the city of Pervomaisky in the Kharkiv region . According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, a high-explosive projectile (later, the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine clarified that it was an Iskander missile) hit a parking lot near a multi-storey residential building.
The RF Armed Forces also shelled Kherson again, killing two civilians.
Several drones immediately flew to Moscow . The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation published a message about this. According to the agency, the attack was carried out by five Ukrainian drones, four of which were shot down by air defense on the territory of New Moscow , another drone was suppressed by electronic warfare in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region .
As Rybar clarifies , two drones were intercepted near the village of Valuevo , one fell on a garage in Krivosheino , and another fell in Kubinka . The authors of the channel suggest that the purpose of the raid, in addition to the military unit in Kubinka , was Vnukovo International Airport . This may be due to regular flights there by military transport aircraft from Iran.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked a medical warehouse in Akimovka in the Zaporozhye region , according to "military commander" Yuriy Kotenok. He claims that four people were injured, all of them volunteers. Two are in critical condition.
Z-channels also report that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are shelling the Donetsk agglomeration . In Donetsk , residential buildings in Petrovsky , Kirovsky , Kievsky and Kuibyshevsky districts were damaged, two people were killed and two were injured.
The Telegram channel of the Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykola Oleshchuk published the first photos of planning JDAM-ER bombs in service with the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Apparently , the MiG-29 fighter is the carrier of these bombs. Also in the photo there is an AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missile.
Photos of the intercepted Storm Shadow cruise missile have also emerged. The last two pictures clearly show the BROACH penetrating warhead with a cumulative precharge and a concrete-piercing "bullet".
Losses
A video with the destroyed Leopard 2R HMBV mine-clearing vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Zaporozhye direction has appeared.
Ukraine Weapons Tracker experts publish footage of the remains of a destroyed piece of Ukrainian equipment, which they define as an AS-90 self-propelled artillery mount delivered from the UK – the first lost vehicle of this type. It is not known what exactly left such a huge funnel in which the skeleton of a self-propelled gun is located – an explosion of shells or a powerful Russian ammunition.
However, Ukrainian artillerymen do not remain in debt. Among the recently published videos are footage of the destruction of the Russian self-propelled guns "Gvozdika" by the fire of the 45th artillery brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Bakhmut , as well as another use of HIMARS as a means of counter-battery combat, where missiles hit the Russian self-propelled guns 2S7 "Pion" (or 2S7M "Malka"), as well as three Grad multiple rocket launchers.
OSINT-project GeoConfirmed publishes a map of cases of destruction of Russian artillery and air defense systems by Ukrainian forces over the past month. In total, the researchers were able to count more than 50 confirmed cases, with some accounting for two or more destroyed pieces of equipment.
Armaments and military equipment
Ukraine is unlikely to receive F-16 fighter jets during the current counteroffensive. NATO Military Committee Chairman Rob Bauer said in an interview with British radio station LBC that providing Ukraine with the fighter jets it is asking for "will not be resolved in the short term" as it requires "training pilots, training technicians, ensuring that we have a logistics organization that is really will be able to support these aircraft."
According to Bauer, these two issues should not be confused – the receipt of fighter jets by Ukraine is not connected with the counteroffensive. Asked if Ukraine could win the war against Russia without fighter jets, Baur said:
I think Ukraine has an advantage because it has Western weapons systems, it has better training and, very importantly, it has much higher morale and motivation.
At the same time, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that “one of the countries” promised to start training Ukrainians on F-16 fighter jets last month, but this did not happen due to an error in calculations.
Training didn't start in June. This means that the timetable is starting to shift … We are now working with all the parties involved, with all the countries that participate in the aviation coalition, in order to speed up this process as much as possible.
The issue of providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets was discussed at the meeting of the Contact Group on Defense Issues of Ukraine in the Rammstein format in June. After the meeting, it became known that before July, Ukraine's partners plan to approve a training program for Ukrainian pilots, engineers and technicians on F-16 fighter jets.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to actively use old equipment, including as air defense systems.
Footage appeared on the network with the Soviet short-range anti-aircraft missile system S-125M. You can pay attention to the "burned" launcher, which indicates multiple launches.
Photos with a 25mm 2M-3 naval gun mounted on a Ukrainian Navy truck have also been published .
The Russians, in turn, judging by another video , are sending “immediately to the front line” equipment removed from storage of dubious freshness. Russian fighters, it seems, are not at all embarrassed by the inscription “Do not touch – 2 cat[egoria]” on the turret of the Nona-S self-propelled mortar, which should indicate that the vehicle requires some restoration before being sent to the troops.
About the main events of the war on July 3 – in the previous report: “The Armed Forces of Ukraine are striving to capture Bakhmut, the Shaheds attacked Sumy, the registered tanks “Happiness is not beyond the mountains.” What's going on at the front .