Timeline: day 160 of Ukraine’s defense against russia’s aggression

Today is August 2. russia's military attack on Ukraine has been going on for 160 days. We're reporting on the current news. The article will be updated.

What about today?

Key points

Daily shelling of residential buildings, schools, and other social infrastructure continue. The occupiers did not take into account one thing. Ukraine and our people are stronger than any russian missiles and shells. No matter how the russians try to break the spirit of Ukrainians, we will hold on and fight for our free future on our native land.

What's happening now in the east of Ukraine:

• In the Donetsk direction, russia's efforts are focused on conducting an offensive in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions.
• In the Kramatorsk direction, the enemy conducted an assault near Ivano-Daryivka, had no success, and retreated.
• In the direction of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian soldiers repelled assaults in the areas of Yakovlivka, Vershyna, Kodema, and Travneve. Fighting continues in the areas of Bakhmut and Zaitseve.
• In the Avdiivka direction, russians conducted assault operations in the Avdiivka area, were unsuccessful, and withdrew. Fighting continues near Pisky.

The American Institute for the Study of War believes that the partial withdrawal of russian troops from the northern part of the Donetsk region will deprive the enemy forces of the necessary military power in the Sloviansk area. "The withdrawal will likely create an opportunity for Ukrainian forces to launch a counteroffensive on the Izyum axis, just as the Russian capture of Luhansk Oblast allowed Ukraine to set conditions for a counteroffensive in Kherson Oblast. The Russian redeployment of troops to Zaporizhia Oblast also suggests that Ukrainian counteroffensives are not confined to Kherson Oblast and will likely take place throughout the southern axis," ISW noted.

The latest situation in the south of Ukraine:

The russians continue to build up groups in the Kryvyi Rih direction.

• During the combat day, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine cut off three attempts by the enemy, by the forces of a reinforced platoon in each case, to carry out combat reconnaissance in the areas of Bilohirka and Trudoliubivka. The enemy had no success. russians retreated with the loss of more than a dozen tanks and four armored vehicles.
• Our aircraft struck three enemy strongholds in the Oleksandrivka and Maksimivka areas.
• The enemy's losses are 32 rocket launchers, a Msta-S self-propelled howitzer, a TOR anti-aircraft missile complex, and four more armored vehicles.

During the day, the Ukrainian forces demilitarized four ammunition warehouses and one base of the occupiers.

"The russian occupiers are annoyed by the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kherson region. Strikes have been carried out on bridges that are critical for the enemy. For the enemy, the prospect of losing Kherson is comparable to the loss of the Moscow cruiser," says the South Operational Command.

So far, the occupiers have gathered about 30 battalion-tactical groups in the south for the offensive on Kryvyi Rih and Mykolaiv.

The prosecutor's office will look for collaborators. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine Kostin signed an order to conduct an investigation into the employees of the prosecutor's office in the front-line regions of Ukraine to check who was where and how the premises of the prosecutor's office, case materials, property were protected, and most importantly, whether there is information about the involvement of the prosecutor's office employees in collaborative activities.

The occupiers turned the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant into a "nuclear shield." US Secretary of State Blinken stated that russia was using the plant as a military base and was firing from Ukrainian forces around it. "Of course, the Ukrainians cannot return fire. Otherwise, there will be a terrible accident at the nuclear power plant," he said.

Humanitarian missions

The russians agreed to return the bodies of those killed in Olenivka to Ukraine. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported this on the air of the telethon. "I can report that we received a signal that they are ready to return the bodies of our heroes, but after the end of the investigation. We have not yet received an answer to clarify how much time is needed for the investigation. But we are waiting," he said.

Who's coming to Ukraine?

On financial and information aid, weapons and politicians

The head of the German government, Scholz, said that the information in the media about the reduction of military support to Ukraine is not accurate: "Since then, we have switched to more complex and expensive systems—self-propelled howitzers, multiple rocket systems, anti-aircraft systems, counter-battery radars. Some of these systems are so new that very few of them were made, and some of them were not even presented to the Bundeswehr."

News from partners

Tomorrow, an inspection of the ship with Ukrainian grain, which left the Odesa port yesterday, will take place in Istanbul. This is the first "grain ship" to set sail since the beginning of the full-scale war.

"If Ukraine does not stand up to putin's imperial plans, Poland and the Baltic states are threatened by the further expansion of russia's sphere of influence in Central Europe." President of Poland Andrzej Duda made such a statement in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The US always gets its way. As a result of the successful US counter-terrorist operation in Kabul, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had been in charge of this terrorist network since 2011, since the elimination of Osama Bin Laden, was eliminated.

The Finnish movement "Nationalist Youth" (Kokoumusnuoret) placed a board about Ukraine in russian on the border with russia. It is addressed to russians traveling across the border. The translation was probably done with the help of Google Translate. Still, the message is clear: "While you are resting, many Ukrainians are left without a home to return to," says the inscription on the board located at the Vaalimaa checkpoint. It is reported that in recent weeks more and more tourists from russia have received visas for trips to Finland. The movement calls on the government to ban the issuance of visas to russians.

Sanctions on the aggressor!

France has frozen russian assets worth €1.2 billion, which does not include the funds of the Central Bank of the russian federation, said the head of the intelligence division of the Ministry of Finance, Guillaume Valette-Valla. "These are financial and non-financial assets. These blocks are based on the European regulation, which establishes a list of persons approved by Brussels," he said.

Belgium froze more than 50 billion euros of russian assets. The frozen amount, in particular, includes money and shares belonging to 1,129 individuals and 110 russian companies.

Tea brands Lipton, Brooke Bond, and Saito will leave russia by the end of the year. The company Ekaterra, which owns them, decided to suspend its activities in the russian federation.

The Swiss regulator extended sanctions against Sberbank.

Life considering hostilities

The Ukrainian brand GUNIA Project created a jewelry collection with a Borodianka rooster. This year's school graduates took part in the filming of the campaign.

A new school building will be built in Lviv with the help of a 3D printer. There will be necessary sports and playgrounds around, as well as space adapted to the needs of small children. The city decided to improve the social infrastructure due to the increased number of migrants. The organization "Charitable Fund TIM4YUA" made a proposal to finance the construction.