July 25 2024


The Swiss Foundation for Mine Action’s office in Kharkiv was hit in a Russian missile attack on 24 July. While the building, vehicles, and equipment were significantly damaged, there were no casualties among its staff. The Foundation said it is still committed to continuing humanitarian mine clearing in Ukraine. The attack was part of a series of strikes on Kharkiv, resulting in six injuries.


Turkey's requests to visit Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Russia have been ignored by Russia, according to Turkish Chief Ombudsman Şeref Malkoç. Malkoç has made repeated attempts to visit these prisoners and has gotten no response. In March, Malkoç visited Russian prisoners of war being held in Ukraine. Previously, it was reported that about 7,000 civilians are known to be held in Russian detention in addition to Ukrainian prisoners of war. Ukrainian prisoners of all types face severe torture including electrocutions, beatings, and genital mutilation. During the last exchange of bodies of deceased soldiers, some of the Ukrainian bodies returned reportedly showed signs of torture and some were missing internal organs. Malkoç threatened to take the issue to the UN Secretary-General if Russia continued to ignore his requests. The Russians do not provide information about prisoners to Ukraine or the families of prisoners.  An updated list of Mariupol defenders in Russian captivity was provided to the Turkish Ombudsman.


Rheinmetall has secured an order from Ukraine to build an ammunition factory. Production is expected to begin within 24 months. The project managed in partnership with a Ukrainian joint venture will cost over €100 million. The infrastructure for the factory is already being prepared.


To prevent leaks about their losses, late payments, and widespread abuses in the ranks, Russian authorities are confiscating gadgets from Russian troops. The Russian State Duma mandates up to 10 days of detention for soldiers caught with gadgets. Russian troops rely heavily on their phones for communication between soldiers and units. Confiscating devices may interfere with unit cohesion and cooperation, possibly forcing more Russian units to adopt unencrypted radios for communication.


A car explosion in Moscow injured an officer of the Ministry of Defense, who previously served in the GRU and is the deputy chief of military unit 33790 near Moscow at a communications center for Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces. Both his legs were blown off, and his wife was also injured. Russian authorities suspect the involvement of Ukrainian special services. A bomb with roughly half a kilogram of TNT was placed on his Toyota Landcruiser and detonated. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak denied Kyiv's involvement, suggesting a malfunction was responsible. Turkish authorities have arrested Evgeny Serebriakov, a Russian man suspected of planting the bomb. Russia's FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov confirmed that Serebriakov fled to Turkey and that Russian authorities are seeking his extradition. Conflicting reports emerged, with Torgashev's wife and the Kremlin-funded RT network denying his involvement.


Oryx has reported that they have officially recorded 1500 damaged/destroyed Russian T-72 tanks since the start of the full-scale invasion. The total number of recorded tank losses is 3267.


The Czech Ministry of Defense is preparing a second shell initiative to supply Ukraine with artillery ammunition. Czech Defense Minister Jana Černochová said that money is needed to fund long-term contracts from various European and Czech arms manufacturers and that the sooner this funding is provided, the sooner these contracts can be signed. The ammunition from this plan is set to be delivered starting in 2025, and its delivery will continue into 2026. The Czech ammunition companies involved in this plan include Czechoslovak Group, STV Group, Omnipol with Ompo Holding, Colt CZ Group SE, and DSS. The Czech Republic previously reported that 100,000 shells would be delivered under their original shell initiative in July and August.


Last night, several regions in Ukraine, including Kyiv, were attacked by Russian shaheds. All drones targeting Kyiv were destroyed. There are no reported casualties in Kyiv. However, a new drone has been reported.

Here is how OSINT researcher war_home describes it:

    “A new enemy UAV was discovered in the Kyiv region. It has a radio-transparent fuselage, two 3/4G antennas, a modem with a SIM card (probably for telemetry data transmission - the point of loss).

Interestingly, this UAV has a serial number that begins with "Y" as in Shahed-136, which may indicate that it was manufactured by Alabuga. [Yelabuga is an alternative spelling].”

War_home also provides a few pictures. The drone’s shape is roughly similar to a Shahed’s and has a pusher propeller on its tail. The skin appears to have a fabric texture, like heavy canvas. It doesn’t seem to be carbon fiber or anything along those lines. The skin is a dark mottled gray. Much of the drone’s body appears to have been constructed from a polystyrene foam. The SIM card is apparently a Kyivstar SIM card.


A recent survey by the Razumkov Centre reveals that over 90% of Ukrainians are proud of their citizenship; in 2015 that number was 68%. The survey indicates strong national pride across various regions and a high level of identification with national symbols such as the flag, emblem, and anthem. 53% identify with Ukraine as a nation, 28% identify more with the specific area they live in, 13% identify with their region, 0.1% identify with Russia, 1.6% identify with the Soviet Union, and 2.6% identify with the European Union. 94.6% identify as Ukrainians by nationality/ethnicity. In 2000 that number was only 72%. 61% said democracy is the best system for Ukraine, and 14% said that under certain circumstances, an authoritarian government would be better. 12% said the type of government doesn’t matter. 50.5% said that democracy is more important than strict order, 21.2% said strict order is more important than democracy. 24% said they were willing to give up civil liberties to improve their well-being, while 47% were opposed to that.

75% consider themselves to be culturally Ukrainian, and 14.4% identify with a pan-European identity. 69.5% said they were fluent in Ukrainian, 27% said they were fluent enough to communicate on a more informal level, and only 2.2% said they didn’t understand Ukrainian well. 78% said Ukrainian was their native language, 13% said both Ukrainian and Russian were their native language, and 6% said Russian was their native language. At home, 70% speak Ukrainian, 11% speak Russian, and 17% speak a mix of the two. There were additional results, these are just some of the more interesting ones.


UK Defense Minister John Healey emphasized that supporting Ukraine against Russia is in the interest of every European nation, stating that a Russian victory in Ukraine would pose a broader threat to European security. Speaking at a joint press conference with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, Healey pledged that, over the next 100 days, the UK will speed up the aid already promised by his country, including additional ammunition, rifles, boats, and other equipment. The UK plans to allocate GBP 3 billion annually for military aid to Ukraine.


The U.S. maintains its position that any diplomatic negotiations to settle the Russia-Ukraine war must include Ukraine at the table. Miller noted that Ukraine has always been open to negotiations for a just and lasting peace, but Russia has not shown a genuine willingness to negotiate. He restated that the U.S. approach remains "nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine."


Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine’s domestic missile program is advancing and their missiles are almost ready to be used against Russia. It isn’t entirely clear which system he is referring to. The Neptune-360 design may have been improved and production has been scaled up, or perhaps the Grom-2 is finally matured. Other alternatives could be the Korshun cruise missile or the Coral air-defense missile.

Zelenskyy:

    “Our missile program has good dynamics, and although it is a difficult task, we are gradually approaching the possibility of using our own missiles, and not just relying on supplies from partners. Ukraine should eventually reach maximum defense independence.”

Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba held talks in Guangzhou, China. Kuleba expressed hopes for substantial discussions on bilateral relations, the international agenda, and the path to peace. Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that China plans to increase grain imports from Ukraine to support international food security. Wang stated that China has been Ukraine's largest trading partner and top importer of Ukrainian agricultural products.


Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced new upcoming military aid for Ukraine, which will include the materials necessary to create and have a fully operational Hawk air defense battery,


EU ambassadors adopted the first installment under the Ukraine Plan of the Ukraine Facility Regulation, which paves the way for a tranche of €4.2 billion to support Ukraine's recovery, reconstruction, and modernization. The money will arrive in September, following a final approval by the EU Council.


German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed that Germany will not change their stance on sending Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine and allowing Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia with Western weapons, fearing escalations with Russia. He says decisions are made very carefully to avoid a Russia-NATO war.


Slovakia’s Defense Minister Robert Kalinak aims to boost ammunition production to 200,000 artillery shells next year from 125,000, despite the government's stance against providing direct military aid to Ukraine. While Slovakia's government opposes directly arming Ukraine, Slovak-made ammunition often ends up there through third-party sales and purchases directly from defense companies. Kalinak believes that supporting defense production greatly benefits Slovakia’s economy, projecting it to contribute 2% to economic growth in the upcoming year. However, the Slovak government, led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, opposes Ukraine’s NATO membership and prioritizes national interests over supporting Ukraine, although it does not block private arms sales to Ukraine.


On July 23rd, 2024, based on verified video footage of destroyed, abandoned, and captured equipment, Russian forces lost an estimated $111,475,000 worth of equipment, while Ukrainian forces suffered $2,030,000 worth of losses, a ratio of roughly 55:1. A majority of Russia's losses came from the destruction of a Su-25 and BUK system, while Ukraine faced the loss of 2 M113s. These estimates of vehicle losses are based on Andrew Perpetua’s published lists of confirmed losses.

A database of these equipment loss values has been built and is being updated daily. It can be found at https://tinyurl.com/RTMnumbers


Quote of the Day:

“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books about hedgehogs.”

― Winston S. Churchill