Timeline: day 159 of Ukraine's defense against russia's aggression
photo: National Police of Kharkiv region
Today is August 1. russia's military attack on Ukraine has been going on for 159 days. We're reporting on the current news. The article will be updated.
What about today?
Key points
Strategically, russia has no chance of winning this war, Zelensky said in his video message. "We need to hold on so that the terrorist state feels its defeat even at the tactical level. We need to hold on in the south, in the east, and everywhere, hold on to defense, diplomacy, and politics, preserve our unity not only up to the victory but also after and restore everything destroyed by the occupiers. I believe that we will do it."
At night, as the russians say, "saltpeter and humanitarian stockpiles" were blown up in the temporarily occupied Skadovsk. In reality, the Ukrainian forces struck the russian military equipment and ammunition that the occupiers had shipped to the warehouse for three days.
On July 31, Ukrainian units destroyed four tanks, two Nona-S self-propelled artillery units, eight armored vehicles, and motor vehicles, as well as four more warehouses with ammunition in the Berislav and Bashtanska districts, the South Operational Command (OC) reported.
The key points from the Ukrainian General Staff's morning report:
- The russians are fighting in the direction of Bakhmut from the side of Pokrovske. The attack on the neighboring Soledar was repulsed.
- In the Donetsk region, there were attempts to attack Maryinka and Pisky, and the attacks were repulsed.
- The russians are strengthening their grouping in the Kryvyi Rih direction.
- The number of russian aircraft and fleet has increased in the waters of the Black Sea: there are now six Kalibr missile carriers there. It may be connected with the latest "grain agreement" between Ukraine, Turkey, and the UN.
The head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, Mykola Lukashuk, commented on a possible russian offensive in the Kryvyi Rih area. "All the approaches to the Kryvyi Rih district are reliably protected. Strong points and fortifications have been built, and dozens of kilometers of trenches have been dug—the same as in all other directions. The military knows what it's doing," he wrote on the Telegram channel.
In the south, the occupiers are strengthening air defense near the Antonivka bridge and railway. They install "radar reflectors" there. Also, trenches are being dug on the right bank near the bridge. They are already trying to repair the structure itself, the Institute for the Study of War reports, referring to satellite images.
British intelligence says:
- During the last four days, the russian federation continued to make tactical attacks in the Bakhmut direction northeast of Donetsk but progressed slowly.
- russia is likely to transfer a significant part of its forces from the northern sector of Donbas to the south of Ukraine.
- It appears that the russian federation is adjusting the operational plan for its Donbas offensive after failing to achieve a decisive operational breakthrough in line with the program it had been following since April.
- Most likely, russia identified the Zaporizhzhia Front as a vulnerable area that needs to be strengthened.
The analytical project Oryx, which collects information about the military losses of the parties during the war from open data, has reported that since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine, russia has lost at least 5,010 pieces of military equipment. Ukraine's losses are estimated at 1,386 units.
Since the beginning of the war, the occupiers have attacked civilian objects 60 times more often than military ones, the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security Council of Ukraine has calculated. According to the center, since February 24, the occupiers have carried out about 300 strikes on military objects and 17,300 hits on civilians.
Meanwhile, in russia's St. Petersburg and the region, the invaders are forming battalions of "volunteers" for the war in Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War has learned. Analysts emphasized that the purpose of creating "volunteer" units is to fuel russian reserves for the war against Ukraine without general mobilization in the russian federation.
Humanitarian missions
Deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk revealed the details of how the evacuation will take place from the Donetsk region. "Those who will evacuate should call the administration there or write online in chatbots. Everything is recorded in the administration, and the people will be visited, picked up, and transported to the evacuation site. It can be a bus or a train. On the way, we will do everything for them to receive a certificate of IDP. They will be met at the station and given first aid and financial assistance. The Ukrposhta postal service already knows how to do it. There is money," said the Deputy Prime Minister during her visit to Kremenchuk.
According to her, an evacuation headquarters has been created at the state level, and more than 50,000 children and more than 200,000 adults are to leave the Donetsk region.
In the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions, the occupiers intensified the forced distribution of russian passports. Pensioners, people with disabilities, and other socially vulnerable citizens are being blackmailed that they will not receive social benefits and will die of hunger. At the same time, Ukraine continues to pay all pensions and social benefits to citizens in the temporarily occupied territories. Still, the invaders have blocked the work of the banking system and "Ukrposhta," which does not allow them to receive funds for life.
There is also a danger of mobilizing the male population in the temporarily occupied territory to use them as "cannon fodder" in the war against Ukraine. Therefore, the authorities recommend that all men of draft age leave the temporarily occupied territories by any available means before September 11, the possible date of pseudo-referendums.
Who's coming to Ukraine?
On financial and information aid, weapons and politicians
Britain will hand over warships to Ukraine, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Great Britain, Vadym Prystaiko, said. He also said he visited one of the ships that the UK will hand over to Ukraine. "Our soldiers are already training on it. They control the ship, and they control the weapons. There will be several such ships," the ambassador emphasized. According to him, these ships will be reworked, updated, and equipped with special equipment needed by Ukraine.
Poland ordered 48 fighters, 180 tanks, and 600+ howitzers from South Korea. It creates the most capable army on the continent. We, in turn, steadily receive replaced samples of Polish weapons every month.
News from partners
The war in the Balkans is canceled. The mass media write that Washington called on the Kosovo authorities to postpone the implementation of the new passport norms for a month, due to which a new conflict between the local Serbs and Belgrade began. After that, local media reported that the government of Kosovo decided to do so. Now the ban on Serbian documents (which caused the current tension) will be introduced not from August 1 but from September 1.
The first ship with grain from Ukraine left the port of Odesa in the morning and is heading to Lebanon. As reported by Anadolu Agency, the Razoni ship will sail under the flag of Sierra Leone. The vessel is loaded with Ukrainian corn. According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there are a lot of enemy ships and aircraft in the Black Sea today.
There is a scandal in the UK: it became known that the fund of the heir to the British royal throne Prince of Wales Charles, received $1.2 million from the half-brothers of the leader of the terrorist organization "Al-Qaeda" Osama bin Laden in 2013.
The story is not over with Nancy Pelosi either. China fears that Congress Speaker Pelosi may fly to Taiwan. China's Global Times suggests that Pelosi's plane may try to land in Taiwan under the pretext of a technical malfunction or refueling. Meanwhile, the speaker of the Congress is visiting Singapore. And there is no Taiwan in her official schedule.
Military divers found and defused a sea mine off the coast of Romania, the Romanian Ministry of Defense said. It is noted that after the start of russia's unprovoked military aggression in Ukraine, this was the second operation of the Romanian Navy to destroy a sea mine.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkevičs, said that the brutality of the russian occupiers in the war against Ukraine resembles the actions of the militants of the terrorist organization ISIS. Rinkevičs noted that the European Union should declare russia a state sponsor of terrorism, particularly after killing Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka.
Life considering hostilities
Kyiv resident Yevhen Tselyk, who set off on foot to Zaporizhzhia in early July to raise money for the needs of the Ukrainian army, reached the final point of his route. The man traveled more than 500 km, passing 50 cities and villages in six regions. As of July 31, he raised more than 980 thousand hryvnias.
At the training school for UAV operators, which operates in one of the territorial defense brigades of the Dnipro, more than 100 specialists have been trained to use various quadcopters. Recently, the school started training classes for drone aircraft operators.
