Victory Chronicles
-DAY 152

July 25,2022

Above: Peace Plaza in the center of Kramatorsk, Donetsk, now under daily Russian shelling. Photo via Stratcom Centre UA

For most of two weeks, enemy forces have mostly been inert in eastern Ukraine outside of raining shells on military and civilian targets. On Saturday, the enemy’s war criminal defense minister ordered his forces to intensify attacks in “all operational sectors”.
Many analysts believe that Ukraine’s use of medium-range guided artillery has severely compromised Russia’s supply lines and command structure. In particular, Ukraine has destroyed dozens of ammo and fuel caches, forcing the enemy to move depots farther into the rear and resupply the front with extended truck convoys.
An advisor to Kherson’s Oblast Administration Serhiy Khlan stated Sunday that Ukraine is undertaking counteroffensive operations in southern Ukraine. Three bridges important for Russian resupply were heavily damaged by Ukrainian strikes in Kherson Oblast over the last few days. Local residents and media in the region have been warned not to report on Ukrainian positions.
While Ukraine deploys eight game-changing HIMARS missile systems, with more coming, it is apparently running low on ammo for them. It is presumed that the US will ramp up ammo production to supply Ukraine with the medium-range rockets used by the systems.

Above: Even as it creates conditions for global hunger, the Kremlin is courting countries with food insecurities. Map via ISPI

On Saturday, the 150th day of Russia’s war on Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations announced that they would mediate, monitor and enforce an agreement to open Black Sea corridors for Ukrainian grain shipments. Within hours of signing the agreement, Russia launched missiles into the docklands of Odesa. Ukraine expressed skepticism that Moscow would keep its word, but continues preparations for export of grain.
Russian truck convoys were filmed moving through Mariupol towards Sea of Azov ports, filled with looted Ukrainian grain.
Kremlin mouthpiece and foreign minister set off on a tour of African countries to try to make friends through propaganda. The professional liar will attempt to convince African leaders that Ukraine is responsible for the grain blockade. He will visit Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Republic of Congo. Ahead of his trip, he published some fake news in those countries’ main newspapers painting Russia as a champion of freedom and human rights.
At the same time, the Kremlin’s list of countries designated as “unfriendly” to mother Russia is growing. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion started in February, Moscow has condemned fifty free democracies for pro-Ukrainian policies.. Over the weekend, Greece, Denmark, Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia were added to the unfriendly country list. The Kremlin vowed that retaliatory “countermeasures” are being taken.

Above: Photo provided by the Azov Regiment showing Ukrainian soldiers sheltering beneath the steel factory. Photo via NYT

“The two Mi-8 helicopters tore across enemy territory early on the morning of March 21, startling the Russian soldiers below. Inside were Ukrainian Special Forces fighters carrying crates of Stinger and Javelin missiles, as well as a satellite internet system. They were flying barely 20 feet above ground into the hottest combat zone in the war.”
That’s how a story starts in the New York Times, a look back on Ukraine’s epic defense of Mariupol and the history of the Soviet-built industrial city on the Sea of Azov. Putin released his full fury and hatred on Mariupol, using the most brutal Hitlerian tactics to “de-nazify” the home of the Azov Battalion that had so badly humiliated him at the start of the war in 2015.
Perhaps hundreds of thousands of Mariupol residents were forcibly deported to Russia, went through filtration camps and on to remote corners of the empire, their Ukrainian identities stripped and replaced with Russian documents. The fate of the thousands of Azov defenders who were taken prisoner in May is unknown.