Snapshot
Ukraine and Russia traded blows using missiles and airstrikes with the former hitting bridges in occupied and the latter hitting airbases in western Ukraine.
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Analysis
Independent intelligence and analysis organization, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), commented as follows about Ukraine’s targeting of Crimean road bridges in its latest update:
“The Ukrainian strikes on the eastern crossing points will likely disrupt the transport of Russian personnel, materiel, and equipment from occupied Crimea to critical Russian defensive operations in the western Zaporizhzhia region and the Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk regional border area for some undetermined time. Ukrainian forces appear to be also expanding their interdiction efforts to target Russian naval targets involved in Russian logistics in the Black Sea as ISW has previously observed.”
General Developments
Ukraine tried to take out two key logistics and supply road bridges in Crimea using Storm Shadow missiles, while Russia tried to take out military airbases in western Ukraine which are thought to be home to Storm Shadow missiles. The below image of the Chonhar bridge was released by Russian state media.
Commenting on overarching strategy, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said: “For the enemy, the eastern front remains the epicenter of hostilities. These are the strategic priorities of his offensive. The enemy believes that by striking in the [north] East, they will be able to turn the tide of the situation at the front [including in the South – ed.]. Therefore, the greatest efforts are currently being made precisely in the East.”
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Prior to Saturday’s attack, during the past week, Russian forces used 65 missiles of various types, as well as 178 attack drones, of which 87 were Iranian-provided Shahed, against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly address.
Ukrainian officials stated that Ukrainian air defenses have destroyed 3,500 aerial targets since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, ISW reported. Ukrainian Air Force Command Spokesperson Colonel Yuriy Ihnat stated that that includes 350 Russian fixed and rotary wing aircraft, 1,200 cruise missiles, including 13 hypersonic Russian Kinzhal Kh-47M2 missiles, and 24 ballistic missiles.
Over the past 24 hours, Russian forces launched 30 missiles, 52 airstrikes, and 75 attacks from MLRS rocket systems, according to Ukraine’s General Staff report.
Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian air defense forces have flown 14 airstrikes, according to the General Staff.
Over the past 24 hours, 129 Ukrainian population settlements and 81 infrastructure objects across 11 regions were attacked from various types of weapons, including artillery shelling and mortar fire, according to the General Staff.
Russia plans to produce about 18,000 large and medium-sized drones in 2024, said its first vice-premier, Ukrainska Pravda reported. Also, according to the Pentagon, the Russians have completed the construction of a factory to produce Shaheds and will fully launch it in 2024.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defenses had destroyed a drone nearing the capital yesterday.
Operational Aspects on the Northern Front
“Yesterday and today, our troops are completely repelling enemy attacks in the Kupyansk, Lyman and Svativsk axes. The number of enemy shelling has increased. Heavy fighting is going on. The enemy's goal is to draw our forces away from the offensive area and break through our defenses in these sectors,” Malyar said.
Russian milbloggers claimed that Russian forces had taken “full control of Novoselivsk” near Svativsk but this was unconfirmed.
In Kharkiv region, a 58-year-old woman was killed as a result of shelling in the village of Podoliy near Kupyansk.
Operational Aspects on the Eastern Front
“The enemy is trying to stubbornly push, even break us psychologically, using the most modern types of weapons, taking advantage of technological superiority,” a prominent pro-Russian milblogger wrote about fighting around Bakhmut.
Malyar said the following: “The situation in the Bakhmut area is also difficult. On the southern flank, our troops are gradually going through heavy artillery fire and mine fields but continue to move forward. The enemy is attacking on the northern flank – we are repelling the attacks. Here too, the enemy wants to regain lost positions.”
ISW reported that Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR) Head Major General Kyrylo Budanov stated in an interview published on August 5 that Ukrainian forces are advancing faster around Bakhmut than in southern Ukraine. Budanov also stated that Russian forces have built stationary, fully equipped, concrete-filled defense posts in southern Ukraine, making the Ukrainian offensive there difficult.
Two people were killed and two others injured in Russian attacks against the Donetsk region over the past 24 hours, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported.
Operational Aspects on the Southern Front
In terms of Ukraine’s destruction of bridges in Crimea, ISW said: “Ukrainian strikes on bridges along critical Russian ‘ground lines of communication’ are a part of the Ukrainian interdiction campaign focused on setting conditions for future decisive counteroffensive operations.”
In the Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk regional border area, Ukrainian troops managed to advance near Staromaiorske, according to a prominent pro-Russian milblogger.
In the western Zaporizhzhia area, pro-Russian milbloggers said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine continued attacks near the village of Robotyne.
Malyar said: “The enemy is fiercely resisting. In addition to continuous mining, the enemy equipped protected concrete engineering fortifications on key commanding heights. In such difficult conditions, our troops are moving forward gradually, but very persistently.”
On the Donetsk front, the Russian Armed Forces again conducted assault operations in Maryinka and Pervomaisk, according to pro-Russian milbloggers.
Pro-Russian milbloggers again reported firefights on islands along the Dnipro River.
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