Victory Chronicles
-DAY 497

Counteroffensive successes: Ukrainian defenders advance in the Tavriia sector, destroying more than 3 Russian companies

Artillery units of the Tavriia Defense Forces completed 1,293 firing missions over the last day. The commander of the Tavriia operational and strategic grouping of troops Oleksandr Tarnavskyi reported this. 

“Over the last day, enemy losses in killed and wounded amounted to more than three companies. 47 units of enemy military equipment were destroyed. In particular, 6 tanks, 3 armored personnel carriers, 4 D-30 cannons, 2C5 Giatsint-S cannon, 4 Zala UAVs, Supercam UAVs, 2 Akatsia self-propelled artillery systems, Msta-S howitzer, Murom-M long-range visual surveillance system, Buk anti-aircraft missile system, Zoopark radar, 2 electronic warfare stations, and vehicles. Also, 5 enemy ammunition depots were destroyed. We are moving, knocking out the enemy, returning our land,” wrote Commander Tarnavskyi.

Latest news

• Ukrainian Intelligence Chief: Risk of disaster at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant slowly decreasing
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Counteroffensive slows down as Western weapons arrive late
• Spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: Heavy fighting continues near Klishchiivka on the Bakhmut front.
• UK intelligence: Russia pulls troops from all regions to contain Ukraine’s counteroffensive 
• Belarus leader Lukashenko: Prigozhin back in Russia, Wagner deployment unclear

Symbolic number of the Day - 600

The Ukrainian forces have eliminated another 600 Russian personnel. Also, they destroyed 6 tanks, 22 artillery systems, and other equipment over the past day, wrote General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

War in Pictures

“On July 6, at about 11:00, the Russian military shelled the station “Odnorobivka” in Bohodukhiv district of Kharkiv Oblast. According to preliminary data, they used artillery.” This was reported by the press service of the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor’s Office. The prosecutor’s office also added that the station was completely destroyed as a large-scale fire broke out.

Video of the Day

A 155 mm self-propelled howitzer M109A6 Paladin of the 47th Magura Mechanized Brigade destroyed the latest Russian T-90M “Proryv” in the Zaporizhzhia sector with a precision projectile. Only one wounded crew member escaped from the damaged tank.

ISW report

Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted counteroffensive operations in five sectors of the front on July 5 and made gains in some areas. Geolocated footage posted on July 5 shows that Ukrainian forces have advanced southwest of Berkhivka (6km northwest of Bakhmut), west of Yahidne (2km north of Bakhmut), and southwest of Bakhmut.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces conducted offensive operations south and north of Bakhmut, and Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar stated that Ukrainian forces are advancing in an unspecified area on Bakhmut’s southern flank. Ukrainian MP Yuriy Mysyagin stated that Ukrainian forces established a new position north of Opytne (6km northwest of the outskirts of Donetsk City) along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City front.

Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces conducted assaults in the Lyman direction, the Bakhmut direction, along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City front, on the border between Zaporizhia and Donetsk oblasts, and in western Zaporizhia Oblast. Ukrainian Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff General Oleksii Hromov reported on July 5 that Ukrainian forces had advanced 7.5km into Russian-controlled territory in western Zaporizhia Oblast and along the administrative border between the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk Oblasts. 

War Heroes

Defender Danylo Kondel, with the call sign Viking, died on April 2, 2023, near the village of Khromove near Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast. While performing a combat mission at an observation post, restraining the advance of enemy units of the Wagner PMC, a group of Ukrainian fighters came under enemy artillery fire, resulting in Viking’s fatal wounds. In May, the defender would have turned 22 years old. 

Danylo was born and lived in Kyiv. He graduated from the National University of Physical Education and Sports of Ukraine with a degree in sports management. He has received many awards and honors in sports (sambo, judo, combat sambo), participated in competitions for the honor of the district and city from the Triumph club, and was a candidate for master of sports in sambo.

With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he did not hesitate to defend Ukraine. He fought against the invaders in the ranks of the Honor Company of the 1st Battalion of the Vovky Da Vinci 67th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was an operator of weapons for Special Forces units. He performed combat missions in the Kharkiv and Donetsk frontiers and took part in the liberation of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi in the Kharkiv Oblast. Since mid-February 2023, Danylo’s unit has defended the Bakhmut-Chasiv Yar road, an essential area for Ukrainian fighters. 

“Danylo is an extremely kind, strong, and courageous person. A man for whom honor and justice have always come first. He was an example for his comrades. His colleagues remember him as a true leader with iron discipline. A true fighter and hero. Danylo was an example of what a real man, warrior, and Ukrainian should be. And he proved it at the highest cost – the cost of his own life!” – this is how friends described the fallen fighter. Danylo was buried at the Forest Cemetery in Kyiv.