Summary of the Events
The strategic city of Lyman was captured by Russian forces. Lyman is a major rail crossroad and will allow Russia to cross the Siversky Donetsk River with much more ease. Russian forces continue to inch closer and closer to Severodonetsk entering the northern outskirts.
Battle for the Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk)
Target Severodonetsk – Russian forces entered the northern outskirts of Severodonetsk taking the Mir Hotel. But Ukrainian forces continue to hold the city. Russian forces also moved into Ustynivka to the east of Lysychansk.
Target Kramatorsk – Russia forces have captured the very strategic city of Lyman which controls the rail crossroads and allows Russia to cross the Siversky Donetsk River. Ukraine will most likely have to retreat from Severodonetsk and Lysychansk now while they can.
Ukrainian forces took back Velyka Komyshuvakha pushing Russian forces trying to encircle Kramatorsk from the rear back towards Izyum.
Russian forces moved against Dovhenke and Pasika but were pushed back by Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian forces launched a counterattack against the Russian forces expanding from the hole they made at Popasna by driving Russian forces back in the Nahirne area away from the Bakhmut-Severodonetsk highway used to resupply Ukrainian forces in Severodonetsk.
Russian forces moved closer to Bakhmut by capturing Midna Ruda.
Expansion from Donetsk – All Russian attacks near Donetsk were repelled. Ukraine was able to liberate Novopil and Novodarivka pushing Russian forced farther back on the Donetsk/Zaporizhia Defense line.
Battle for Kherson
Ukraine launched a counterattack in the northern Kherson region pushing Russian forces back across the Inhulets River to Bilohirka. But in the south, Russian forces captured Oleksandrivka.
Battle for Kharkiv
Russia has repaired the railway connection at Kupyansk allowing them to again resupply their forces in Izyum. Russia also struck Kharkiv with missiles killing nine civilians.
Other Ukraine Regions
Dnipropetrovsk – Russian Iskander missiles struck a military training base in Dnipro killing nearly a dozen people and injuring another thirty.
Mykolaiv – Russia fired a missile at a residential building in Mykolaiv. One person was killed and six were injured.
Sumy – Russia continues to fire missiles and mortars at border checkpoints in the Sumy region. A church and a kindergarten were hit.
Zaporizhia – A Russian missile destroyed a manufacturing plant in Kryvyi Rih.
Other News
Russia announced that they will increase their grain exports this year by 35% to 50 million tons. Germany also announced they will attempt to retrieve 22 million tons of grain from Ukraine by rail.
Russia has cancelled summer school vacation for children in Mariupol to force them to learn Russian language, Russian history, Russian literature, and math in Russian. So, they are doing exactly what they falsely accused Ukraine of doing. Ukraine allowed both Russian and Ukrainian education and allowed the parents to choose in which language they wanted their children to learn.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has remained loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate Church when the Orthodox Church of Ukraine split away, have now also broken with the Russian Orthodox Church, and have begun discussions of merging with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
International Support
The U.S. is preparing to send advanced, long range rocket systems to Ukraine. Russia has been destroying Ukrainian cities with Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) and soon Ukraine will be able to respond in kind.
The UK, Denmark, and the Netherlands are providing Ukraine Harpoon anti-ship missiles to defend itself against the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.