Victorious news of 890th day of war: Russia’s losses in Ukraine reach 35,680 in July, guerrillas discover Russian Buk-M2 missile system in Donetsk region, hunting for F-16s

Guerrillas discover Russian Buk-M2 missile system in Donetsk region, hunting for F-16s

Atesh guerrilla movement agents have discovered a Buk-M2 anti-aircraft missile system in the Volnovakha district of the Donetsk region.

The Atesh movement reported the information.

The guerrillas say that their agent figured out the location of the Russian missile system.

Atesh speculates that the news of the first F-16s arriving in Ukraine has led to the deployment of a missile system to hunt down the fighter jets.

"It seems that due to the new arrivals of fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, the Russians are forced to deploy additional air defense systems closer to the front line," the statement says.

Russian military pay bribes en masse to leave Ukraine

Russian servicemen are reportedly paying bribes to avoid combat duties in Ukraine, as indicated by a notable increase in registered criminal proceedings.

Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate reported the information.

"The army of the aggressor state of Russia is facing increasing personnel issues: the number of people willing to leave the service and avoid death in the war waged against Ukraine is growing," the statement says.

Intelligence officials report that this is evidenced by a sharp surge in registered criminal proceedings on bribery in the Russian army.

For example, in the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, the number of criminal cases opened for illegal dismissal for health reasons and illegal leave has tripled in the first five months of 2024.

At the same time, over 100 proceedings opened against officials of military units of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces concerning bribery for granting leave from the combat zone.

The level of corruption in the Russian army has always been high, but such cases of bribery have not been noticed before.

Russia’s army losses in Ukraine reach 35,680 for July

In July, Russia lost 35,680 troops in Ukraine, as reported by Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Oleksandr Pavliuk.

Pavliuk detailed Russia's losses for the month as follows: 35,680 personnel, 300 tanks, 653 armored combat vehicles, 1,520 artillery systems, 21 MLRS units, 33 air defense systems, 2,103 vehicles, and 265 pieces of special equipment.

Additionally, Ukrainian forces downed three aircraft, 1,348 UAVs, and 74 Russian missiles during July.

Ukraine announces first tender to purchase domestic FPV drones

A tender for the purchase of Ukrainian-made drones has been announced: these will be super-tech FPV drones.

This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

This is the first purchase of Ukrainian drones by the state through Prozorro online platform. According to him, the procurement will be for super-tech FPV drones that use machine vision to help them target.

“How does it work? The pilot identifies the target, directs the drone to it, and the drone attacks even in the absence of signals. That is, even if the operator loses contact with the drone, it can still complete the task,” the minister said. 

Fedorov noted that the procurement will take place through the closed Prozorro module, where all sensitive information is hidden. 

“Thanks to competition, the state will be able to buy them at the most favorable price, and for Ukrainian producers, this is an opportunity to increase their profits and scale up,” the Deputy Prime Minister added.

Ukraine wins first silver medal of 2024 Olympics in shooting

Ukrainian athlete Serhiy Kulish won silver in the 50m three-position rifle and brought Ukraine its second medal of the Olympic Games in Paris.

The official website of the 2024 Olympics shared the information. 

Serhiy Kulish, the reigning world champion, competed in the final of the 50m rifle three positions event at the 2024 Olympics. The competition required athletes to shoot targets from kneeling, prone, and standing positions.

In the kneeling position, Ukrainian shooter Serhiy Kulish scored 153.9 points, placing third. Norwegian Jon-Hermann Hegg led with 155.3 points, followed by China's Yukun Liu with 154.0 points.

After the prone shooting phase, the top three rankings remained unchanged: Hegg led with 312.1 points, Liu was second with 311.5, and Kulish was third with 311.1.

In the standing position before the elimination shots, Kulish surged to first place with a total of 412.6 points. Liu remained in second with 412.5 points, while India's Swapnil Kusale secured third place with 422.1 points.

Following the standing position round, Kulish secured his place in the top three, guaranteeing himself a medal. He ultimately claimed the silver medal at the Paris Games.

After the final shootout, Yukun Liu scored 463.6 points and became the Olympic champion. Serhiy Kulish (461.3) won silver and brought Ukraine its second medal of the 2024 Olympics. Swapnil Kusale (151.4) won bronze.  

Ukraine launched more long-range attack drones than Russia in July

In July, for the first time since the full-scale invasion began, Ukraine launched more attack drones than Russia.

Forbes reports that Russia sent 426 Shahed drones into Ukraine, while Ukraine deployed over 520 drones during the same period.

This marks the first time since the beginning of the full-scale war that Kyiv has launched more drones than Moscow. The article also notes that Ukrainian UAVs have caused significant economic damage to Russian oil refineries and other facilities, due to Russia's weaker defenses. This development may give Kyiv a strategic advantage, according to Forbes.

“Russia appears to be less effective at shooting down the attackers as the Ukrainian strikes appear to be causing greater economic damage on oil refineries and other targets. Ukraine may be gaining the advantage in the strategic war of long-range drone strikes,” the article reads.