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The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02.22 to 25.07.23 were approximately:

• personnel - about 243220 (+600) people were liquidated,
• tanks - 4174 (+12) units
• APVs - 8131 (+13) units
• artillery systems - 4705 (+30) units,
• MLRS - 698 (+1) units,
• air defense systems / Anti-aircraft warfare systems - 454 (+2) units
• aircraft - 315 (+0) units
• helicopters - 310 (+0) units,
• UAV operational-tactical level - 3977 (+14),
• cruise missiles - 1307 (+0),
• ships / boats / warships / boats - 18 (+0) units,
• vehicles and fuel tanks - 7194 (+12) units,
• special equipment - 703 (+5).

Data are being updated.

Since 18 July 2023, Russia has conducted greater numbers of long-range strikes against Odesa and other areas of southern Ukraine. These attacks have featured an unusual number of AS-4 KITCHEN missiles, a 5.5 tonne weapon originally designed to destroy aircraft carriers.

Damage has included several grain silos at Chornomorsk Port, south of Odesa, as well as the historic city centre. On 24 July 2023, Russia extended one way attack drone strikes to the docks on the Danube River, approximately 200 metres from the Romanian border.

Between August 2022 and June 2023, when the Black Sea Grain Initiative was still in force, Russia generally refrained from striking civil infrastructure in the southern ports. Since Russia failed to renew the deal, the Kremlin likely feels less politically constrained, and is attempting to strike targets in Odesa because it believes Ukraine is storing military assets in these areas. Since the start of the war, Russia’s strike campaign has been characterised by poor intelligence and a dysfunctional targeting process.

"During a walkdown on 23 July, IAEA experts have observed directional anti-personnel mines on the periphery of the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, Director General Rafael Grossi said today."

"[...] the risk of Long Covid after infection by SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron is approximately 10%. It also found the risk of Long Covid after reinfection by Omicron is almost 20%. [...]"

All Russian school children are to be taught the basics of operating combat drones. Russian Senator Artem Sheikin announced that the lessons will include how to conduct terrain reconnaissance and ways to counter enemy uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The UAV lessons join assault rifle training, hand grenade skills and combat first aid in the revised ‘Basics of Life Safety’ syllabus for year 10 and 11 students, due to be mandated from 1 September 2023.

Russia’s renewed emphasis on military induction for children is largely an effort to cultivate a culture of militarised patriotism rather than develop genuine capability. However, the addition of UAV skills does highlight how Russia has identified the use of tactical UAVs in Ukraine as an enduring component of contemporary war.

The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02.22 to 24.07.23 were approximately:

• personnel - about 242620 (+660) people were liquidated,
• tanks - 4162 (+11) units
• APVs - 8118 (+13) units
• artillery systems - 4675 (+17) units,
• MLRS - 697 (+0) units,
• air defense systems / Anti-aircraft warfare systems - 452 (+1) units
• aircraft - 315 (+0) units
• helicopters - 310 (+0) units,
• UAV operational-tactical level - 3963 (+5),
• cruise missiles - 1307 (+9),
• ships / boats / warships / boats - 18 (+0) units,
• vehicles and fuel tanks - 7182 (+10) units,
• special equipment - 698 (+2).

Data are being updated.

In recent days there has been an increase in artillery fire along the north of the front line, in Luhansk and Kharkiv oblasts. This has likely been accompanied by some increase in Russian small-unit assaults, but the situation has been obfuscated by Russian disinformation.

Russia has likely only achieved marginal gains, but its renewed activity in the north highlights its importance to the Kremlin, when it is concurrently facing significant pressure in the southern Zaporizhzhia sector.

Russia’s Western Group of Forces is likely trying to advance back to the Oskil River in order to create a buffer zone around Luhansk Oblast, the possession of which Russia almost certainly considers one of its fundamental objectives of the war.

The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02.22 to 23.07.23 were approximately:

• personnel - about 241960 (+630) people were liquidated,
• tanks - 4151 (+11) units
• armored personnel carriers - 8105 (+9) units
• artillery systems - 4658 (+29) units,
• MLRS - 697 (+4) units,
• air defense systems / Anti-aircraft warfare systems - 451 (+3) units
• aircraft - 315 (+0) units
• helicopters - 310 (+0) units,
• UAV operational-tactical level - 3958 (+14),
• cruise missiles - 1298 (+0),
• ships / boats / warships / boats - 18 (+0) units,
• vehicles and fuel tanks - 7172 (+13) units,
• special equipment - 696 (+5).

Data are being updated.

In southern Italy, in Sicily, it's just 44 °C (111°F). Up north in Milan, there was a tornado and now massive ice floes are going through the city.

Russian former intelligence officer and leading nationalist mil-blogger Igor Girkin was almost certainly arrested for ‘extremism’ on 21 July 2023. Girkin has long been a critic of the Russian Ministry of Defence’s conduct of the war. However, in recent days his comments turned to direct criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his time in power.

The move is likely to infuriate fellow members of the mil-blogger community - and elements within the serving military - who largely see Girkin as an astute military analyst and patriot. He played a major role in Russia’s war in the Donbas from 2014 and spent months on the front line in 2022.

While Girkin is no ally of the Wagner Group, he was likely only prepared to push the limits of public criticism in the context of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s June 2023 abortive mutiny. The taboo against unmasked criticism of the Putin regime has significantly weakened.

The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02.22 to 22.07.23 were approximately:

• personnel - about 241330 (+640) people were liquidated,
• tanks - 4140 (+7) units
• armored personnel carriers - 8096 (+16) units
• artillery systems - 4629 (+19) units,
• MLRS - 693 (+1) units,
• air defense systems / Anti-aircraft warfare systems - 448 (+8) units
• aircraft - 315 (+0) units
• helicopters - 310 (+0) units,
• UAV operational-tactical level - 3944 (+11),
• cruise missiles - 1298 (+0),
• ships / boats / warships / boats - 18 (+0) units,
• vehicles and fuel tanks - 7159 (+14) units,
• special equipment - 691 (+5).

Data are being updated.

In the coming days, Russia’s Wagner Group is likely to release the last of its convict-recruits from their mandated service. Its Project K prison recruitment scheme peaked in early 2023 and at least 40,000 men served under it.

A significant number of the now pardoned convicts are likely to take up the offer to continue with Wagner as professional contractors. Meanwhile, the Russian MOD has taken over Wagner’s prison recruitment pipeline.

The end of the scheme marks a way point in the history of Wagner and of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The soldiers provided by Project K enabled Russia to seize Bakhmut: one of its few recent claims to success. The project grew Wagner into the organisation which, last month, directly challenged the authority of President Putin. It also marks one of the bloodiest episodes in modern military history: up to 20,000 convict-recruits were killed within a few months.