Ukraine Summer Offensive Update for July 31: ‘We Are Close. Death is Inevitable’

LATEST: Ukraine Summer Offensive Update for August 1: ‘A Very Unpleasant Situation’

Snapshot

Explosions occurred in Moscow, Bryansk, and Rostov regions in Russia, and the Chonhar bridge in occupied Crimea was hit, while Russian attacks took at least five civilian lives in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, Sumy and Donetsk regions.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) continued offensive operations on at least three sectors of the front and made claimed advances in some areas, ISW reported.

Ukrainian military sources claimed small successes on the southern flank of Bakhmut and gradual advances in the Berdyansk (western Donetsk-eastern Zaporizhzhia regional boundary area) and Melitopol (in western Zaporizhzhia region) axes.

General Developments

Russia undertook four missile attacks, 42 airstrikes, and 76 MLRS rockets strikes on Ukrainian settlements and positions; the Ukrainian Air Force undertook 7 airstrikes on Russian positions.

Russia shelled approximately 100 Ukrainian population settlements with artillery and mortars across the regions of Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia.

Russian general Sergei Surovikin, detained after the mutiny of the leader of Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin, has had his form of detention changed, according to an independent Russian media source. “His family is still tight-lipped. The only thing that can be understood is that the form of isolation has been changed for him and now he is already in a living room, but any communication is prohibited,” it said.

Other Topics of Interest

Zelensky Meets CIA Director William Burns in Ukraine

Zelensky said he had met Burns on multiple occasions throughout the war, but their meetings had been undisclosed.

Journalists of CNN visited a secret Ukrainian military base where naval drones are being tested.

British military intel said that Wagner forces in Belarus are lacking heavy equipment.

The Ukrainian Air Force has converted some of its 1960s-vintage S-200 surface-to-air missile systems into surface-to-surface weapons by adding a GPS seeker to the systems’ eight-ton V-860/880 missiles. According to an expert, the first confirmed S-200 strike, around July 9, may have blown up an industrial site somewhere in Bryansk region just north of the Russian border with Ukraine.

Russian propaganda channels shared an update on Ukrainian equipment losses during the full-scale war. They allege that Ukraine has now lost more than 11,000 tanks. Ukraine is known to have never had more than 1,500 tanks.

Operational Aspects in Bakhmut

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said: “Today, we continued our advance on the southern flank around Bakhmut. There are certain promotions. Northern flank – battles continue without changes in positions. The enemy is now charging additional forces and resources to the Bakhmut axis.”

Operational Aspects in Donetsk, Crimea and other areas

The AFU announced that Ukrainian forces successfully struck the Chonhar bridge on the M-18 (Dzhankoi-Melitopol) highway between occupied Crimea and occupied Kherson region, ISW reported.

Russian forces conducted offensive operations along the Svatove-Kreminna and Avdiivka-Donetsk City lines and did not make any confirmed gains in these areas, ISW said.

A pro-Russian milblogger wrote: “The daily shelling of the border areas of Russia continues. The settlements of the Bryansk, Belgorod and Kherson regions, as well as the Donetsk People's Republic, were under the blows – unfortunately, there are destructions and victims.”

Malyar said: “The enemy is active in the Kupyansk and Lyman axes. Today, there were several attempts to advance, but [they] failed and suffered losses. Fighting continues in the Avdiivka axis. The enemy is unsuccessfully trying to advance. Today, the enemy increased assault operations in the Maryinka axis with the use of equipment – tanks, BMPs. But unsuccessfully.”

Ukrainian milbloggers claimed that the AFU had “retaken” Nadya and Novoyehorivka near Kupyansk.

Ukrainian partisans reportedly sabotaged Russian military equipment in occupied Mariupol, Donetsk region on July 29, ISW said.

Operational Aspects on Boundary of the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions and in Western Zaporizhzhia

Ukrainian forces continued offensive operations in the western Donetsk region and western Zaporizhzhia region and claimed marginal advances, ISW said.

Following last week’s loss of Staromaiorske, a pro-Russian milblogger has written: “Some experts assessed the abandonment of the village as a serious loss. I specifically asked the military who work in this direction. They told me everything was under control. Leaving Staromaiorske is not critical. It will not lead to any serious problems in our defense. Allows you to use the gap to your advantage. I already wrote that in the process of repelling the Ukrainian offensive, you may have to retreat with a fight from part of the settlements in the gray zone, pulling the enemy closer to our artillery.”

The 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the AFU scattered “death cards” on the local battlefields. They read: “We Are Close. Death Is Inevitable.”