UAF – Ukrainian Forces
RF – Russian Forces
MLRS – Multiple Launch Rocket Systems
Summary of the Events
It was a bloody week in Ukraine as Russia dropped $200 million worth of missiles on dozens of Ukrainian cities as the leaders of the G7 Nations gathered in Bayern, Germany. I hope they will finally discuss closing the skies over Ukraine. RF took Severodonetsk and immediately moved to encircle its sister city of Lysychansk. UAF were able to push RF forces back in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions.
Battle for the Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk)
Target Severodonetsk-Lysychansk – A week ago RF had almost taken all Severodonetsk and were already shelling its twin city over the Siversky Donetsk River resulting in mass casualties among the remaining civilians. After taking Toshkivka, RF pushed west and took Loskutivka and Rai-Olexandrivka last Wednesday as they continued to encircle Lysychansk from the south. By Thursday, RF were within 5 km (3 miles) of Lysychansk having taken Ustynivka, and UAF forces began to an orderly withdrawal with no casualties from Severodonetsk across the river to Lysychansk while they could. UAF forces also retreated from the Zolote pocket giving RF control over the whole south from Lysychansk. On Friday, RF moved into Zolote, Hirs’ke, and even moved farther north taking Mykolaivka. RF attempted to take Borivske to the east of Lysychansk but were repulsed. By Saturday, Severodonetsk was under the full control of RF with 90% of the city destroyed. The Battle for Severodonetsk is over. Lysychansk remains the only major city in Luhansk still under Ukrainian control.
The Battle for Lysychansk started afresh on Monday. RF captured Vovchoyrivka and advanced towards Verkhnokamyanka. If Verkhnokamyanka falls, then UAF in Lysychansk will lose their only route to retreat and their only supply line. RF forces will then move on Bilohorivka completing the encirclement of UAF forces in Lysychansk.
Target Kramatorsk/Slovyansk – RF forces pushed farther south taking the town of Dibrovne and advancing towards Korulka to the northwest of Kramatorsk over the weekend. They also briefly took Mazanivka but were pushed out. Russian forces reentered Mazanivka on Monday and street fighting has begun. Missiles struck Slovyansk on Monday, but no one was hurt.
Target Bakhmut – RF took the town of Volodymyrivka and attempted a pincer move from there and Pylpchatyne against Pokrovs’ke but were repulsed. The taking of Pokrovs’ke would place RF less than 8 miles from the center of Bakhmut. RF also advanced west of Roty in their attempt to seize the Vuhlehirsk Powerplant. The continuous attacks are making it harder for UAF to defend the powerplant, but they were holding on as of Tuesday.
Expansion from Donetsk – RF had ceased their attacks in this region last week as all efforts were diverted to taking Severodonetsk. But after the fall of Severodonetsk, they began their attacks again on Sunday with no success.
Battle for Kherson
Partisans assassinated Ukrainian parliamentarian Oleksiy Honcharenko who was a traitor to Ukraine having become a collaborator with Russia.
Reports are that UAF are making advances in liberating occupied regions of Kherson, but there is such a cloud of secrecy that not much information is known on what is happening. Here is the little we know. Forty RF soldiers were killed last Thursday as Ukraine hit another RF weapons depot. RF retreated to south to Ol’hyne as UAF captured Vysokopilya on Friday and Potomkyne by Sunday.
Battle for Kharkiv
The city of Kharkiv is once again under constant shelling with large loss of civilian life. Friday morning a sports complex was destroyed by RF missiles. More missiles landed on residential buildings in Kharkiv on Monday killing four people and injuring nineteen. And on Tuesday an industrial center was struck injuring six people, with another two missiles falling on the city in the evening.
Ukraine liberated the settlement of Yavirske over the weekend as they begin to move to liberate the strategic city of Balaklia in southern Kharkiv region. The nearby town of Chuhuiv was attacked in retaliation killing two civilians and wounding one other. WAR CRIME. By Monday, UAF had taken Dovhalivka and Zalyman, threatening the southern supply road to Balaklia. Once Balaklia is liberated, UAF can then continue their push to retake Izyum and cut off the supply line to all RF attacking Kramatorsk from the north.
Other Ukraine Regions
Black Sea – UAF destroyed a Russian Pantsir surface-to-air missile system on Zmiinyi (Snake) Island last Wednesday using the new rocket systems recently provided by the US. Strikes continue against the island nearly daily as UAF forces plan to liberate the island.
Cherkasy – On Sunday, RF missiles fell on Cherkassy, the city where my wife’s parents reside, killing one person and injuring five others.
Chernihiv – Russia expanded their missile fire into the Chernihiv region by Saturday hitting the village of Desna with 24 missiles. There were no casualties. Then on Sunday evening the border towns of Novhorod-Siverskyi, Semenivka, and Snovsk were shelled.
Dnipropetrovsk – UAF must be successfully pushing RF back in northern Kherson region as RF have been pounding the Kryvyi Rih region in the southern Dnipropetrovsk district along the UAF line. Almost every day missiles landed on residential buildings in Zelenodolsk, Velyka Kostromka, Apostolove, Hrechani Pody, Shyroke, and Shyrokivska. Fortunately, there were no deaths, but five people were injured. Two of them were injured when they carelessly handled unexploded devices. Water and electricity were knocked out in Velyka Kostromka and Apostolove. Missiles fell on Kryvyi Rih on Tuesday striking the thermoelectric plant.
Six missiles were fired on the regional capital Dnipro on Tuesday, but four of them were shot down. The train station and a car repair center were hit.
Khmelnitsky – Two missiles were fired at the Khmelnitsky region on Saturday but shot down. There remains fell in a forest and a private garden. There were no injuries, but several homes were damaged from the falling debris.
Kyiv – Russia missile strikes over the weekend extended to the capital Kyiv. Ukraine was able to shoot down one missile. At least four missiles hit the city in residential areas burying people under the rubble. At least one man was killed. His daughter and wife, a Russian citizen, were saved from under the rubble but are in the hospital. At least four others were injured.
Lviv – Russia fired six missiles on the Lviv region, but two were shot down. Four people were injured in the attack.
Mykolaiv – Mykolaiv took a beating over the last seven days. RF fired seven missiles on an industrial facility in Mykolaiv last Tuesday morning. They also used illegal cluster munitions on residential neighborhoods killing one man and injuring another. Three residential neighborhoods and a school were hit by RF in Shyroke and Inhulka resulting in two civilians injured. Attacks continued and on Friday the mayor urged all citizens to evacuate the city. On Tuesday three missiles were fired on Mykolaiv with one being shot down by UAF. One hit a field and the other a shopping center. RF also fired artillery rockets against the port city. Three civilians were killed, and six others injured in the attacks. Eight missiles packed with illegal cluster munitions fell on Mykolaiv Tuesday morning. Three of them were shot down. Two of them hit an empty military base destroying a barracks. One missile destroyed the city sports stadium that had only recently been built. There were no injuries in the attacks.
RF fired on the city of Ochakiv on Tuesday morning striking an outdoor market, Palace of Culture, and several residential buildings killing three people, including a child, and injuring six others.
Odesa – Missiles rained down on Odesa on Monday hitting residential buildings injuring eight people. 65 houses were damaged with four of them destroyed.
Poltava – A Russian missile struck a crowded shopping mall in Kremenchuk burning it to the ground. Twenty people were killed and another 59 injured. There are still 40 people missing so the fatality count may rise. A second missile struck a factory.
Rivne – Russia fired two missiles on Koval hitting a gas station and a car repair shop. Three civilians were killed and another four injured, two of them in serious condition.
Sumy – Eighty attacks were made against communities in the Sumy region last Wednesday. A mental institution was hit in Atynskyy, and one person was killed by a drone attack on Velykopysarivska. There were no other injuries apart from farm animals. On Sunday, another 24 missiles hit Yunakivka and Shalyhyne but fortunately no one was injured. The border towns of Seredyno-Budsk, Hlukhiv, and Yunakivka were shelled on Sunday evening. At least one person died in Yunakivka. Two more border towns, Krasnopillya and Bilopillya, were shelled on Tuesday injuring one civilian.
Zaporizhia – RF fired MLRS in the Zaporizhia region Thursday night, but no details were released. UAF forces have moved back to stronger positions in Zelene Pole and Vuhledar as RF forces took Severodonetsk and Ukraine is preparing for an offensive against the southern Zaporizhian defense line after RF punched a hole in their line taking Vremivka last week.
Zhytomyr – Thirty missiles were fired from Belarus at the Zhytomyr region killing one soldier on Saturday. Ten of the missiles were shot down by UAF defense. It was not clear whether they were fired from Russian aircraft or Belarussian, but it confirms that Belarus is taking part in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Other News
British Intelligence released a report that Russia will need to deploy a significant reserve force if they are to win this war. Although Russia is not releasing their casualty counts, the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has reported that 2128 of their military personnel have been killed and another 8897 wounded. If that is true, and is most likely an undercount, then the DPR has lost 55% of its troops. Without tapping into reserve forces, there will not be enough forces to continue much longer. Thus Russia called on Ukraine to surrender.
After Russia threatened Lithuania for shutting down their rail lines to Russian goods that are on the sanction list, which is critical to supply their exclave of Kaliningrad, the US made it clear that as a NATO country, any attack on Lithuania is an attack on the US. Over the weekend, Belarus increased the rhetoric by stating the blockade was akin to a declaration of war.
Russia began mobilizing missile systems in Belarus territory as more and more Belarussian troops are gathering on Ukraine’s northern border. Belarus has been building up their fortifications and placing dummy wooden tanks along its border.
The trial of Russian soldier Mikhail Romanov in absentia on charges of rape and murder has begun. He is accused of breaking into the home during the Russian occupation of Bohdanivka and murdering a Ukrainian man and then raping his wife in front of their 4-year-old son who hid in a nearby boiler room.
Russian President Putin addressed cadets and announced that the new unrivaled Satan-2 nuclear missiles will be ready by the end of the year. With a claimed range of 11,800 miles and able to pack 10 nuclear warheads per missile, they would be able to hit any target on the planet. Putin warned the world that they ought to be more polite to Russia.
Under the orders of the Russian Orthodox Church, the library of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Petro Mohyla in Mariupol was emptied of its shelves of all Ukrainian-language books, some of them unique, and were burned in the courtyard of the church.
RF are kidnapping family members of Ukrainian soldiers in the occupied regions in an attempt to demoralize the soldiers.
The G7 nations opened their gathering by announcing a ban on imports of Russian gold. British Prime Minister called on the nations not to give in to “fatigue” and to increase their support of Ukraine.
International Support
Ukraine and Moldova received unanimous support from all 27 EU countries in being granted candidate status to join the EU. President Zelensky made a televised thank-you to the EU. Actual membership is still a decade off, but some EU countries are already calling on fast-tracking Ukraine’s membership to help them rebuild. In the same vote, Georgia’s application was rejected because of their pro-Russian government.
The US announced another $450 million in military assistance to Ukraine which will include advanced rocket systems which Ukraine has already been using successfully to attack RF.
Although President Zelensky has publicly voiced his disappointment in the lack of Israeli support, Israel did take a step in that direction by reopening their embassy in Kyiv.
A bill was introduced in the US House of Representatives charging Russia with war crimes against Ukraine.