(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Two quick housekeeping notes. First, Rosie is still doing great. She always gets far more active and more back to pre-chemo/pre-cancer normal in the second week of her two weeks off. Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations.

Second, I will continue to do one update a day, in the evening. I’m not doing these to count comments, I’m doing them because they need to be done. As I’ve written before, these are the only posts I do, these are the only posts I will be commenting in. I do not read other posts on this site unless someone reaches out asks me to look at a comment because they think we have a moderation problem. As in someone needs a warning or to go to the sin bin. I’m not ignoring other conflicts – Gaza, Sudan, etc – or other crises – Israel-Hezbullah, Yemen, etc – not because they’re not deserving of my time or because I don’t care, nor because the people suffering aren’t deserving, but because I have no time or energy to cover them in addition to the Ukraine war updates. I also know that what I do no longer fits what this site has become since the rebuild, though it took a bit for that realization to fully sink in, which is the other reason I do these and only these and do not participate in anything else on this site. I’m not writing this paragraph, nor these posts for thanks or compliments, though you are all most welcome. I do these because they have to be done and I’m providing this explanation so everyone is clear on that. And that’s all I have to say on this topic.

The Russians are using their drones to hunt Ukrainian residents of Kherson:

Here is the article. Please help by sharing and letting the world know. https://t.co/2P1QruR6jw

— Zarina Zabrisky 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@ZarinaZabrisky) July 29, 2024

From the Byline Times:

Drones once primarily used for surveillance, have evolved into weapons for hunting human targets in Ukraine.

During June and July, the Russian military dramatically increased drone attacks on civilians in the Kherson region, with the last two weeks breaking all records. Estimates suggest 50 people have been killed or injured in the attacks.

In the port city of Kherson, drones patrol the skies, hovering over devastated coastal suburbs and villages, searching for an old lady with a bucket here or a teenager on a bicycle there—to eliminate by dropping explosives.

“We’ve got something new here,” said Olha, a grocery store owner in Kherson. “It’s called skid, literally ‘a drop’.”

Daily skid statistics are terrifying: on 24 July, a Russian drone dropped explosives on a woman in Romashkove village, hospitalising her with blast and cranial injuries and shrapnel wounds to her legs. The same day, a private house in Kherson’s suburbs caught fire after a skid attack. While firefighters were extinguishing the fire, a second drone attack damaged the fire truck with shrapnel. And in Kherson city, a drone attack on a 57-year-old woman, left her with a concussion, leg wound, and blast injuries.

The following day, two drones struck residents in the suburb of Kindiyka, injuring a couple and killing a 51-year-old man. In Antoniivka, another suburb, a drone attacked a vehicle carrying humanitarian aid, injuring the driver, and another, later that day, wounded a 72-year-old woman. A resident of Sadove village, also 72, suffered blast trauma, concussion, and shrapnel wounds to his forearm after a drone attack.

“Drones are like flies,” said Volodymyr, a resident of the coastal area. “They see you and they target you.”

“Drones are our curse,” said Tatiana, a resident of the Vostochny district, whose building was attacked on 28 July.

Hiding under a tree in front of her high rise, Tatiana pointed out broken windows and shattered doors. For two months, drones have been patrolling the skies over her home, dropping explosives on civilian cars and people.

Getting outside is extremely dangerous but staying inside can be unsafe, too. Tatiana’s neighbour, Elizaveta, survived a drone attack in her apartment.

“It’s a human safari,” Tatiana said.

Kherson Non-Fake, a popular local Telegram channel, reported that due to “attacks by enemy drones, some stores and even gas stations” are closed.

It said Russian Mavic drones “regularly fly at various altitudes” and while it searches for military targets, it’s often civilians that get killed.

“A drone with a grenade takes off from the left bank and flies for some time in search of anything resembling military targets. If the drone does not find such a target, it looks for any car or a group of civilians. After that, the target is attacked so as not to transport the grenade back to the left bank.”

Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, the head of the press service of the Kherson regional military administration and the spokesman of the Kherson region told Byline Times that previously, for several months, drones attacked mostly Beryslav district coastal zones.

They now target residents in most of the Kherson city coastal districts daily, he said, explaining that often the drones do a Russian signature “double tap”, striking first responders and ambulances arriving to help victims of artillery bombardments.

Much more at the link.

Here’s is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

We Understand How the Electricity Deficit Will Be Gradually Eliminated, Government Officials Were Given Clear Tasks – Address by the President

29 July 2024 – 19:41

Dear Ukrainians!

Today, we are working in two regions, in communities. Our Kharkiv region at first, and now we are in the Poltava region.

I started this day with our warriors of the Special Operations Forces, today is their professional holiday. And this is one of the strongest elements of our Defense Forces, very effective. It is too early to say much about it now – only after the war will it be possible to tell about everything that the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces have managed to do. They operate both at the front and in the occupied territory. They have been actively engaged since 2014 and after February 24th in many areas. From the battle for Donetsk airport to the battles for Hostomel, as well as Kherson, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions. We are proud of the Special Operations Forces! Today we were with the team in the town of Derhachi in the Kharkiv region – and what is important is that this is one of the good examples of how we have started to restore normal life. I am grateful to all those involved in rebuilding homes, supporting people, saving jobs and our Ukrainian enterprises in the Kharkiv region and in all our regions. I held a meeting in Kharkiv to discuss security and energy issues first of all. Energy is always one of the top priorities. We understand how the electricity deficit will be gradually eliminated step by step. Government officials were given clear tasks, and their responsibility is personal. The preparation for the winter is what we are working on now, in the summer. We are also working on the configuration of our air defense so that Kharkiv and our other regions have more protection from Russian strikes. Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi, who also participated in the meetings today, and the relevant commanders are to present an updated structure of our air defense systems and new requests for partners – what exactly we have to provide by the end of this year. There was a report by General Hnatov on the defense of the east of our country, our actions, our combat capabilities. And then there was the Poltava region. Meetings with entrepreneurs and workers in the framework of the Made in Ukraine platform. Including defense industries. There are many business initiatives, companies’ willingness to work for the state and offer new products. We will support all this and increase government orders. We have signed contracts today. All our Ukrainian products, both military and civilian, every job – all this helps Ukraine to withstand.

I am grateful to everyone who strengthens Ukraine! I am grateful to everyone who defends Ukrainian interests – the interests of the state and people!

Glory to Ukraine!

Here is Tatarigami’s assessment of President Zelenskyy’s address:

In today’s speech, Zelensky, after talking to Commander in Chief General Syrskyi, reported that Ukraine has the strength to achieve its goals. While he is correct that Ukraine has the strengths and resources to take the worsening situation under control, the situation in the…

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) July 29, 2024

In today’s speech, Zelensky, after talking to Commander in Chief General Syrskyi, reported that Ukraine has the strength to achieve its goals. While he is correct that Ukraine has the strengths and resources to take the worsening situation under control, the situation in the Pokrovsk direction remains critical, and some areas of defense have started to collapse.

Feedback from officers and soldiers on the ground, the rapid progress of Russian forces, and the unacceptable attitude towards regular soldiers from higher command indicate that the situation is not “under control.” It is not a total disaster only due to the actions of people on the ground who are trying their best to prevent advances and showing examples of individual heroism and leadership.

Of course, deliveries of F-16s, permission to strike deeper into Russia, and supplements of vehicles would have helped the situation, but resources alone can’t fix the problem of continuous command mistakes, including unrealistic tasks disproportionate to available human resources, combined with demands to retake lost positions.

Unsurprisingly, for the past few months, following the events in Kharkiv, there have been circulating rumors about the administration’s dissatisfaction with Syrskyi and his potential replacement. The decision to remove the 80th Brigade commander, followed by the public demand from the officers of the 80th Brigade to reinstate the commander, might accelerate this process. That being said, while Syrskyi might be responsible for many problems on the frontline, he is also executing the vision and will of the President in many cases, and it was his decision to appoint him.

My team has been working on a comprehensive update on that area, but the Russians have progressed so quickly multiple times that we had to postpone the report to include the latest updates, redo the maps, and add new details. Hopefully, tomorrow we will be able to address most of the questions regarding the situation in the Pokrovsk direction and cover the problematic situation.

Here’s the context regarding the 80th Brigade:

This is how Ukraine tries to survive in war and save itself as a nation, including when it comes to prevailing over the dark side of itself.

Now, troops of Ukraine’s top-notch 80th Airborne have released a public address in defense of their brigade leader, Colonel Emil…

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) July 29, 2024

This is how Ukraine tries to survive in war and save itself as a nation, including when it comes to prevailing over the dark side of itself.

Now, troops of Ukraine’s top-notch 80th Airborne have released a public address in defense of their brigade leader, Colonel Emil Ishkulov.

Colonel Ishkulov, a highly popular decorated battlefield commander with an excellent service record, is now reportedly in a bitter conflict with the superior command.

Moreover, he is under threat of being dismissed from his position, reportedly due to his opposition to the high command’s plans and decisions regarding his brigade, which he considers unrealistic and inconsistent with the combat formation’s resources and capabilities.

“We don’t understand why the supreme military command dislikes commanders who have absolute respect from their personnel, who have combat records of victories, and who are experienced in large-scale hostilities.

It’s because they don’t shy away from talking about issues of concern and report real things on the ground instead of eye-washing and insouciantly ditching their troops for promotions and decorations,” the 80th Airborne says.

The paratroopers demand that their commander stay with them so they can go on combating Russia.

The military now often has to appeal to the general public on the most burning problems to trigger a nationwide stir and broad criticism towards the Zelensky administration and his top appointees.

Unfortunately, scandal is the only way to get them to do something and improve things—or at least stop hampering them.

The fact that civil society is active and ready to overwhelmingly support those trying to make this country a better place has been essentially saving Ukraine all this decade of the war of independence from Russia.

But heaven knows this has been a terribly hard fight against all those things that drag us back into being a depressed Russian colony, and it’s veeeeeeery far from over.

Our first medal! Bronze for Olga Kharlan! Go Ukraine!!! 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/3m9HlZfEEh

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) July 29, 2024

The cost (Kharkiv Oblast):

сьогодні перед сном думаєм про те, що цих троянд і цієї стіни (як і всіх інших стін) бабусиного будинку вже не існує, бо його розбила русня pic.twitter.com/NEBuRg5esb

— кілограм щypa ⚔️ (@nana247online) July 22, 2024

у бабусі був здоровенний комод, в якому була ціла купа чорно-білих фотокарток родичів/знайомих/друзів і воно все згоріло 🤐 а я не знаю, як про це НЕ думать

— кілограм щypa ⚔️ (@nana247online) July 22, 2024

Here’s the machine translation:

1/ Today, before going to bed, I think about the fact that these roses and this wall (like all the other walls) of my grandmother’s house no longer exist, because it was broken by a Russian

2/ this slate fence no longer exists either… 🫨🤐🤕

3/ my grandmother had a huge dresser in which there was a whole bunch of black and white photos of relatives/acquaintances/friends and it all burned 🤐 and I don’t know how NOT to think about it

The US:

Great news from the USA 🇺🇦🤝🇺🇸@DeptofDefense announced a new military aid package valued at $200 million.

This Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) package includes:
◾️Ammunition for HIMARS
◾️Munitions for NASAMS
◾️Short- and medium-range air defense munitions
◾️RIM-7… pic.twitter.com/Hn3aVUbE3K

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) July 29, 2024

Great news from the USA 🇺🇦🤝🇺🇸

@DeptofDefense announced a new military aid package valued at $200 million.

This Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) package includes:
◾️Ammunition for HIMARS
◾️Munitions for NASAMS
◾️Short- and medium-range air defense munitions
◾️RIM-7 missiles for air defense
◾️Electronic Warfare equipment
◾️155mm and 105mm artillery rounds
◾️120mm mortar rounds
◾️Precision aerial munitions
◾️TOW missiles
◾️Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems
◾️Small arms
◾️Explosives material and demolitions equipment and munitions
◾️Secure communications systems
◾️Commercial satellite imagery services
◾️Spare parts, maintenance and sustainment support, and other ancillary equipment

We are grateful to our American partners for their leadership and staunch support. Together, we will win!

France:

“French authorities arrested an ultra-left activist at a site belonging to…SNCF in northern France…The man was detained at Oissel on Sunday and had access keys to SNCF technical premises, tools and literature linked to the ultra-left” https://t.co/OUNMAjKX8V

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) July 29, 2024

France24 has the details:

France is leaning towards the likelihood that far-left extremists were behind last week’s sabotage of the country’s SNCF rail network – which coincided with the Olympic Games opening ceremony – French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Monday.

“We have identified the profiles of several people,” Darmanin told France 2 TV, regarding the hunt for those saboteurs.

Far-left French anarchists have a history of targeting the train network with arson attacks.

The attacks were “deliberate, very precise, extremely well-targeted”, Darmanin said. “This is the traditional type of action of the ultra-left,” he said.

But when asked whether the profiles that were identified were close to the far left, Darmanin said: “We must be cautious.”

He said “the question is to know whether they were manipulated” or acted “for their own benefit”.

“These are people who may be close to this movement,” the interior minister added.

A statement signed by “an unexpected delegation” was sent to several news media outlets expressing support for the sabotage and criticising the Olympic Games as being a “celebration of nationalism” and the oppression of peoples by nation states.

Darmanin said the statement was “something that resembles a claim”, but “we must be careful because it could be an opportunistic claim”.

French authorities arrested an ultra-left activist at a site belonging to national rail operator SNCF in northern France, a police source told AFP on Monday.

The man was detained at Oissel on Sunday and had access keys to SNCF technical premises, tools and literature linked to the ultra-left, said the source, asking not to be named.

The suspect was placed in police custody for questioning in Rouen, the main city of France’s Normandy region.

In a separate incident, France’s telecoms network suffered isolated outages after being hit by acts of vandalism overnight, affecting some fixed and mobile services, junior minister for digital matters Marina Ferrari said on Monday on X.

“I condemn, in the strongest terms, these cowardly and irresponsible acts,” said Ferrari before thanking digital teams for repairing and restoring affected sites earlier Monday.

A French police official said there were issues in at least six of the country’s administrative departments, which include the region around the Mediterranean city of Marseille, which is hosting Olympic soccer and sailing competitions.

Paris Games organisers said they had been informed of acts of sabotage on fiber optic networks across several French departments but “we can only confirm that there is no impact on our operations”.

Police said the cables of several telecoms operators had been sabotaged in six areas of France overnight from Sunday into Monday, but Paris was not affected.

AFP confirmed with major carriers including Free and SFR that they had been affected, although no major disruptions had yet been reported.

“It’s vandalism,” said Nicolas Chatin, spokesman for SFR, one of France’s four biggest operators. “Large sections of cables were cut. You would have to use an axe or a grinder.”

But the group minimised the impact of any disruption, saying that in the end only 10,000 fixed-line customers had been affected.

Paris chief prosecutor Laure Beccuau said police had opened a second criminal probe into the fibre optic cable incidents, saying the perpetrators were suspected of “causing material damage with the intention of harming fundamental interests of the nation”.

Let’s recap: We’ve had one attack on France’s high speed rail network. We’ve had an attack that took the power across Paris down. And now we’ve had the fiber optic cables for France’s telecom network cut. Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.

Mali:

“Kyiv Post obtained an exclusive photo Monday, July 29 from sources in Ukraine’s defense and security sector showing Tuareg rebels posing with a Ukrainian flag after having just dealt a major defeat to Russian state-funded Wagner mercenaries in Mali”

A bit earlier, Andriy Yusov,… pic.twitter.com/KsKaZtq95X

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) July 29, 2024

“Kyiv Post obtained an exclusive photo Monday, July 29 from sources in Ukraine’s defense and security sector showing Tuareg rebels posing with a Ukrainian flag after having just dealt a major defeat to Russian state-funded Wagner mercenaries in Mali”

A bit earlier, Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, stated that “the rebels received necessary information, which enabled a successful military operation against Russian war criminals,” adding, “We won’t discuss the details at the moment, but there will be more to come.”

https://kyivpost.com/post/36557

Question: how did the Tuaregs get themselves a Ukrainian flag in the middle of the Sahara desert?

Ah, never mind 🤭

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) July 29, 2024

John Helin, a Finnish journalist who also works with the Blackbird Group, has a detailed assessment of the effects of Russia’s latest offensive in Ukraine. It is grim reading.

“Russia is burning Ukrainian troops to exhaustion”

The situation around the village of Prohress is deteriorating.

Russia is advancing at a rate of up to a kilometre per day. It has advanced 8km in two weeks.

The Pokrovsk front is buckling.

Some thoughts on the situation.

1/

A week ago Ukraine lost the village of Prohres after just 48 hours of fighting.

Defending Ukrainian units fled, while the reinforcing troops from the 47th also had to withdraw due to lack of infantry.

After the loss of the village the Russians have advanced up to 1km a day.

2/ 

Some Ukrainian units even got surrounded in the midst of the Russian offensive, although they managed to break free.

Check @Deepstate_UA for details.

Multiple Ukrainian sources are now calling the situation on the Pokrovsk front “critical”

What has led to this situation?

3/

The situation on the Pokrovsk front is the result of many of the long- and short-term challenges the Ukrainians face coming together at the same time.

The most significant ones are the issues with leadership and the manpower situation, which we’ve discussed since spring.

4/ 

To start off with leadership: The Ukrainian sources are continually criticising their own commanders for too slow, bad, or even self-destructive decisions. The troops surrounded at Prohress apparently never got a command to withdraw.

5/

Ukraine still seems to expend the lives of its soldiers to hold on to as much territory as possible.

It’s politically understandable, but it does mean that the commanders at the frontline have very little flexibility and even need to leave their men in dangerous positions.

6/ 

This problem is exasperated by the issue of manpower & reserves.

Majority of the combat-capable Ukrainian troops are now at the front, even the 150-154 series of brigades. Russia has managed to create multiple crises over the summer which have tied up UA resources & reserves

7/

With little reserves left, to solve these crises Ukraine needs to move reinforcements from one part of the front to another. To strengthen defences in one place Ukraine needs to make another place vulnerable.

This constant fire-brigading burns through Ukrainian troops.

8/ 

Many Ukrainian formations haven’t received replacements in a long time. When they do, the replacements may be of poor quality either due to age, or due to subpar training.

The same applies to green formations sent to the front, who are just getting their baptism of fire.

9/

Battered formations can rarely be pulled out of the line because there is nothing to replace them.

Russia on the other hand attacks the brigades and units that it has learned are either the most exhausted or the worst lead/trained. It especially strikes at troop rotations.

10/ 

Crises have accumulated over the summer with Ocheretyne, Kharkiv, Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, and now Prohress.

Russia has strived to exhaust the Ukrainians. Now, for the first time, it has managed to create multiple larger crises in different areas at the same time.

11/

With multiple fires to put out, (Toretsk is still very much ongoing and both sides are attacking in Kharkiv) Ukraine can’t simply attempt to throw everything at Prohres like it did in Kharkiv.

Russians on the other hand have brought in fresh units to lead the attack.

12/ 

Ukraine’s new mobilization laws will hopefully make the situation easier over the autumn, but we are not there yet. The reinforcements are still some ways away (and of unknown quality).

Russia definitely has a few weeks to even a couple of to try and exploit the situation.

13/

Ukraine will need to come up with a solution to the problem at hand with the limited resources it has, and within whatever political constraints it has.

Luckily, many Russian units are exhausted as well, and Russian resources are not limitless.

14/ 

Russia has also failed to make the most of Kharkiv. Had something like this happened after Kharkiv started the situation would be even worse. Russia is less prepared to exploit this than in early summer.

Ukraine has also managed to navigate precarious situations before.

15/

If they can stem or even exhaust the tide until the new waves of mobilized start appearing on the frontlines, the crisis is averted.

Russia seems to be throwing everything it has to break the Ukrainians before that happens.

16/

I wrote much the same in my analysis in Helsingin Sanomat. It’s in Finnish, but it can be read from the link below.

While not in journalistic pursuits I’m still monitoring the Russian invasion of Ukraine with my colleagues at @Black_BirdGroup

HS-analyysi | Tilanne rintamalla on ”kriittinen” – Venäjä polttaa Ukrainan joukkoja loppuunUkrainalla on edessään vaikeita valintoja ympäri rintamaa syntyneiden kriisipesäkkeiden ratkaisemiseksi, kirjoittaa Helsingin Sanomien ulkomaantoimittaja John Helin.https://www.hs.fi/maailma/art-2000010586249.html

to even couple of months*

Wouldn’t be my thread without typos.

Kharkiv:

🇺🇦 tank is destroying russian positions in the Kharkiv region.

📹: 42nd Mechanized Brigade pic.twitter.com/cXDvuwuYUq

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) July 29, 2024

For the love of everything sacred, let us strike back! It would save countless lives. I’m at my wit’s end trying to explain this. I’m exhausted by the cowardice of those who impose restrictions on us, effectively killing us, while they sit comfortably under the NATO umbrella. https://t.co/EYSppwJTsc

— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) July 29, 2024

Russia is devastating Ukrainian cities & critical infrastructure with attacks launched from inside of Russia.

Ukraine must be allowed to stop these attacks from the source. 🇺🇦#LetUkraineStrikeBack https://t.co/OKjcTPTyBH

— U.S. Helsinki Commission (@HelsinkiComm) July 29, 2024

From the Associated Press:

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — The first shock wave shattered aisles stacked almost to the ceiling with home improvement products. The next Russian bomb streaked down like a comet seconds later, unleashing flames that left the megastore an ashen shell.

A third bomb failed to detonate when it landed behind the Epicenter shopping complex in Kharkiv. Investigators hope it will help them trace the supply chain for the latest generation of retrofitted Russian “glide bombs” that are laying waste to eastern Ukraine. The Soviet-era bombs are adapted on the cheap with imported electronics that allow distant Russian warplanes to launch them at Ukraine.

Other cities that have been devastated by the weapons include Avdiivka, Chasiv Yar and Vovchansk, and Russia has nearly unlimited supplies of the bombs, which are dispatched from airfields just across the border that Ukraine has not been able to hit.

Store manager Oleksandr Lutsenko said the May 25 attack hints at Russia’s aim for Kharkiv: “Their goal is to turn it into a ghost city, to make it so that no one will stay, that there will be nothing to defend, that it will make no sense to defend the city. They want to scare people, but they will not succeed.”

Russia has accelerated its destruction of Ukraine’s front-line cities in 2024 to a scale previously unseen in the war using the glide bombs and an expanding network of airstrips, according to an Associated Press analysis of drone footage, satellite imagery, Ukrainian documents and Russian photos.

The results can be seen in the intensity of recent Russian attacks. It took a year for Russia to obliterate Bakhmut, where the bombs were first used. That was followed by destruction in Avdiivka that took months. Then, only weeks were needed to do the same in Vovchansk and Chasiv Yar, according to images analyzed by AP that showed the smoldering ruins of both cities.

Now, Russia is putting the finishing touches on yet another airstrip less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Ukraine and launching the bombs routinely from multiple bases just inside Russian borders, according to the AP analysis of satellite pictures and photos from a Russian aviation Telegram channel.

The bombing of the Epicenter in Kharkiv killed 19 people, including two children. In all, glide bombs have hit the city more than 50 times this year, according to Spartak Borysenko of the Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office.

He showed investigation documents to AP that identified at least eight Russian air bases used to launch the attacks, all within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Ukraine. He said at least one of the munitions had foreign electronics and was made in May. That date suggests Russia is using the bombs rapidly and that it has successfully circumvented sanctions for dual-use items.

Photos on Russian Telegram channels linked to the military show glide bombs being launched three and four at a time. In one launch of four bombs, the AP traced the aircraft’s location to just outside the Russian city of Belgorod, near the air base now under construction. All four bombs in the photo were headed west — with Vovchansk and Kharkiv in their direct line of fire.

At the end of May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was launching more than 3,000 of the bombs every month, with 3,200 used in May alone.

Oleh Katkov, whose military-oriented site Defense Express first traced the launch location, said hitting air bases is key to slowing the pace of the bombings by forcing Russian planes to launch farther away.

“This doesn’t mean they will completely stop their bombings, but it will become more difficult for them,” Katkov said. “They will be able to make fewer sorties per day.”

Much more at the link including lots of imagery.

Kyiv:

29 липня міністр Моріяма @mextjapan 🇯🇵 поклав квіти до Стіни пам’яті полеглих захисників України та віддав шану полеглим захисникам. pic.twitter.com/VxKIm8WtG0

— Посольство Японії в Україні (@JPEmbUA) July 29, 2024

On July 29, Minister Moriyama @mextjapan 🇯🇵 laid flowers at the Wall of Memory of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine and paid tribute to the fallen defenders.

The Dnipro River, Kherson Oblast:

Drone dropped grenade on a Russian boat with infantry. Dnipro river, Kherson region. https://t.co/wPN2yRZHAl

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) July 29, 2024

Moscow:

US Intelligence Community: Russia is mounting a “whole of government effort” to help elect Trump.

Would be nice if both campaigns were asked to speak publicly about the threat of foreign interference for our democracy. ⁦@dnvolz⁩ https://t.co/B4FOZnrPky

— Andrew S. Weiss (@andrewsweiss) July 29, 2024

Who could’ve possibly imagined?

The Wall Street Journal has the details:

U.S. intelligence officials have held two briefings with reporters this month on foreign attempts to influence the November elections. They reiterated Monday that Russia remained the pre-eminent threat to the election and was most sophisticated in its influence operations.

In the previous briefing on election threats on July 9, officials said the Russian government is engaged in a “whole-of-government” effort to influence the U.S. presidential election and that it favored Trump, paralleling its preferences in the 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

Moscow’s preferences haven’t changed since President Biden dropped out of the race earlier this month, officials said Monday, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top goal remained opposing candidates he believed would more likely pursue additional military aid for Ukraine.

Vice President Kamala Harris’s emergence as the presumptive Democratic nominee hadn’t appeared to change Iran or Russia’s calculus about the election, officials said.

Iran’s influence activities included attempts to directly engage Americans, officials said. Some of the covert activity was likely directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization that operates under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran is seeking to harm Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in covert online influence operations, fearing a return to power by the Republican nominee would inflame relations with Washington, U.S. intelligence officials said Monday.

U.S. spy agencies have “observed Tehran working to influence the presidential election, probably because Iranian leaders want to avoid” increased tensions with the U.S., an official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said during a press briefing.

The assessment of Iran’s election preferences marked a shift from a view shared by American intelligence agencies just a few weeks ago, when they said that Tehran was chiefly focused on acting as a “chaos agent” in the election.

The officials didn’t assert directly that Tehran was seeking to undermine Trump, but said that its current operations aligned with its goals before the 2020 election, when it sought to harm Trump’s candidacy. “We haven’t observed a shift in Iran’s preferences” since 2020, the intelligence official said.

“Iran does not engage in any objectives or activities intended to influence the U.S. election,” a spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York said in a statement. The spokesman added that the accusations are “psychological operations designed to artificially pep up election campaigns.”

Iran remains primarily focused on fueling distrust in U.S. political institutions and increasing social discord, officials said, especially over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Tehran is using “vast webs of online personas and propaganda mills to spread disinformation,” but is also engaging in surreptitious online campaigns reflecting a preference for who wins in November, the official said.

A statement earlier this month from Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, said Iran’s activities around the Gaza protests included “posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters.”The Biden administration in recent weeks determined there was an increased threat from Iran against Trump that was serious enough to prompt additional security measures for the former president, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. The threat had no apparent connection to this month’s attempted assassination of the former president in Pennsylvania by a gunman identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, U.S. officials said.

More at the link.

Ugh:

Ukrainians: went through 2 revolutions and 10 years of war to resist russian influence, came together as a united society to resist larger and stronger enemy, and every day sacrifice their lives for freedom and democracy.

Western press: meh, uninteresting.

Russians: *looks away… https://t.co/KXxSKoNSZh

— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) July 29, 2024

Ukrainians: went through 2 revolutions and 10 years of war to resist russian influence, came together as a united society to resist larger and stronger enemy, and every day sacrifice their lives for freedom and democracy.

Western press: meh, uninteresting.

Russians: *looks away from putin painting on the wall for 3 seconds*

Western press: OMG, they resist despite the danger of being ARRESTED! ARRESTED!!!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

Current mood: I’m on vacation 🤩 pic.twitter.com/6L2HyRagNS

— Patron (@PatronDsns) July 29, 2024

Open thread!