UAF – Ukrainian Forces
RF – Russian Forces
MLRS – Multiple Launch Rocket Systems
Summary of the Events
RF have been stalled in their offensive in the Donbas but were able to enter the outskirts of Blahodatne in the Kherson theater of war.
Battle for the Donbas
Target Bakhmut – After weeks of a pause in major assault operations, RF launched a wave of attacks over the weekend to take Bakhmut but were repelled at most locations. House to house fighting continues in Bakhmutske and Soledar, and fighting continues to the east of Bakhmut. A three-pronged RF attack on Kodema was thwarted as well as an attack on Zaitseve and the village of Kurdyumivka.
An elementary school in Kostiantynivka was destroyed as well as a private home in Toretsk by missiles. There were no casualties.
Target Siversk – RF have launched an assault from Spirne against Vesele which is still ongoing.
Target Slovyansk – RF conducted artillery fire against three areas of UAF on the defense line. RF attempted an assault of Dibrovne and Dolyna but were not successful and were forced to retreat. Assaults on Bohorodychne, Nova Dmytrivka, Dmytrivka, Karnaukhivka, and Ivano-Darivka were all repulsed as well.
Target Kramatorsk – RF has shelled UAF troops defending approaches to Kramatorsk near five communities.
Avdiivka/Novopavlivka/Zaporizhia Line – RF fired artillery at three locations on the defense line as well as conducted two airstrikes. An assault was made against Vremivka but was stopped and forced to retreat. A two-pronged attack on Niu York was thwarted, as well as an assault on Krasnohorivka. Fighting continues at Opytne and Marinka. RF tried to circumvent Marinka and launched an assault towards Pobieda, but UAF stopped them. RF did make some progress towards Pervomaiskyi and Nevelske.
Battle for Kherson (includes Mykolaiv)
Mykolaiv came under missile attack again on Sunday evening destroying a local business, as well as a dozen surrounding towns.
RF reached the outskirts of Blahodatne which is now under contest. An attempt to also move on Tavriyske was repulsed.
UAF continued their destruction of command posts and weapon depots in the Kherson region. On Sunday they destroyed two Russian S-300 missile systems, a Giatsint-S self-propelled gun, a Msta-S self-propelled howitzer, a surveillance radar system, two towed mortar systems, and three armored vehicles. Twenty Russian soldiers were also killed in the attacks.
UAF forces fired MLRS completely destroying the Antonovskiy Bridge over the Dnepr River as well as the makeshift replacement that Russia is trying to build underneath. Russia is still unable to send supplies and reinforcements to troops in Kherson region.
Residents in Russian occupied Kherson reported hearing explosions in their city.
Battle for Kharkiv
After a rare 36-hour reprieve of being bombed, Kharkiv came under attack again on Sunday evening with three rockets hitting the center of the city. Nine other communities to the north of Kharkiv were shelled with artillery from RF.
UAF destroyed a Russian anti-aircraft system discovered north of Kharkiv.
Other Regions
Crimea – Residents in Russian-occupied Sevastopol reported hearing explosions in their city.
Dnipropetrovsk – Nikopol was hit by 42 RF artillery rockets on Sunday night destroying power lines and injuring four people. Two private homes were destroyed and almost another 50 damaged. Also hit was a kindergarten, shops, pharmacies, markets, a court building, and a bus station. 2000 people have been left without electricity.
Odesa – RF fired an X-59 missile from a SU-35 aircraft at infrastructure facilities in Odesa in the morning.
Sumy – RF shelled two border communities in Sumy with artillery and mortars and attacked another with a UAV drone. There were no casualties or damage by these attacks.
Zaporizhia – RF killed a man driving into the Zaporizhia Combined Heat and Power Plant. Russia claims the car was destroyed by Ukrainian rocket attack, but their own video of the car shows it was riddled by machine gun bullets which would have been done at close range and thus by Russian soldiers.
Other News
Factions within Russia are forming due to the economic hardships caused by international sanctions on Russia as revealed by the cruel assassination of Darya Dugina, the daughter of Alexander Dugin who is a trusted advisor to President Putin. Ukraine has denied any part in the assassination as Russia has opened an investigation into the car bombing that took her life, probably meant for her father as it was his car. A group calling themselves the National Republican Army (NRA) took credit for the hit. The NRA has a membership of 16,000 Russian citizens whose main goal is the overthrow of the Putin regime.
Russia claims it was a Ukrainian agent who assassinated Darya Dugina, and that she was the main target. The Russian Secret Service (FSB) reported that Natalia Vovk, a citizen of Ukraine, entered Russia with her daughter in a vehicle with a license plate from the Donetsk People’s Republic. They rented an apartment in the same building as Dugina and were at a festival that Dugina attended the day of her death. The FSB claims that Vovk and her daughter then left Russia and escaped into Estonia.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held an open house over the weekend which allowed people to take a photo-op with the German leader. Two Ukrainian women tore off their tops just as the photo was taken revealing a “Gas Embargo Now” emblazoned on their topless body. The women were swiftly taken away by security officials.
Russia is moving most of the Ukrainian residents still in occupied Mariupol into Internment Camps.
Ukraine reported that almost 9000 Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives in this war since the Russian invasion six months ago.
Russia has requested a meeting of the UN Security Council for tomorrow to discuss the situation around the ZNPP.
International Support
Residents of Ottawa (Canada) and members of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada have expressed outrage and call for an official response to a shocking incident that occurred in from of the Russian embassy. Ukrainian supporters had erected a memorial bicycle painted in the blue-and-yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag across the street from the Russian embassy in honor of the nearly 400 Ukrainian children who have been murdered thus far in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Close to midnight last Tuesday, three men were photographed by local resident Peter O’Neill vandalizing the bicycle spray-painting it black with a “Z” symbol dubbed on the sidewalk in front of it. When O’Neill confronted them, the suspects responded with verbal abuse and sped off in their car. O’Neill snapped a picture of the car which contained diplomatic plates of the Russian embassy. And the three men were later identified as embassy officials. The pro-Ukrainian activists left the blackened bicycle on display with the added sign “STOP RUSSIAN IMPERIALISM” (the “Z” symbol was the marker of the most brutal Russian units that raped and killed Ukrainians at whim and is now considering declaring it a hate symbol in Canada on par with the swastika). The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has called on Canada to expel the Russian ambassador and shut down the embassy.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, and the United States held a conference call together on Sunday to discuss the crisis around the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant. They called for military restraint around the nuclear power plant and called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to send a delegation of inspectors to the nuclear power plant.
On June 22, the Serhiy Prytula Charitable Foundation started a fundraiser to purchase three Bayraktar drones for Ukraine. Within two days they had raised $600 million, more than enough to purchase the drones. But the drone manufacturer Baykar Makina decided to provide the three drones for free, and so the foundation began looking for something else to purchase. On Thursday they signed a deal with the Finnish company ICEYE to purchase a high-technology satellite for Ukraine. ICEYE threw into the deal free access to their whole Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) network, the largest network in the world. With this network, Ukraine will be able to pinpoint any target with complete accuracy and will no longer be dependent on spotters behind the lines.
Poland supplied Ukraine with 5000 Starlink antenna terminals for satellite connection.
General Patrick Sanders, Britain’s top general, in an article in the official British Army magazine “Soldier Magazine” called on the British troops to “raise its game” in case they are obliged to confront Russia. They were also told to inform their families that they may be deployed to Ukraine.