Victory Chronicles
-DAY 512

As a result of a missile strike on Mykolaiv, a 3-story residential building and garages caught fire – 18 people were injured, 9 of them, including 5 children, were hospitalized, and 2 people were rescued from the rubble, reported Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych. 

Also at night, Russian occupants struck Odesa, causing destruction and fire, 2 people were injured, one man was killed, reported the head of the Odesa Oblast military administration, Oleh Kiper. “As a result of the Russian attack in the center of Odesa, there is destruction and fire in an area of 300 m2. Specialists of the relevant services are working at the scene. We know about two hospitalized victims.”

Photo: A residential building destroyed by a Russian missile strike in Mykolaiv facebook.com/mvs.gov.ua

• Kidnapping of children: Red Cross of Belarus admits stealing children from Ukraine
• NASAMS, shells, and equipment: US announces US$1.3 billion in new military aid to Ukraine
• MI6 Chief: Ukraine liberated more territory in a month than Russia captured in a year
• Zelenskyy: 60,000 tonnes of agricultural products destroyed by Russian missiles were to be sent to China
• Defense Intelligence: Russians prepare false flag “assault” on ZNPP
• Sanctions against Russia: Family of man who designed Russian loitering munitions owns flat in central London

Photo: Head of the Belarusian Red Cross Society Dmitry Shevtsov, zerkalo.io

As of June 25, according to the regional military administrations, more than 664 cultural heritage sites were damaged or destroyed, excluding cultural infrastructure such as libraries or other institutions located in modern buildings. This was stated by Kateryna Chueva, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy.

This data also includes a very small number of archaeological heritage sites, most of which are currently poorly accessible for surveys. To date, 84 monuments of national significance, 514 monuments of local importance, and 66 newly discovered cultural heritage sites are known to have been damaged or destroyed.

Photo: expedicia.org

Consequences of the night shelling in Odesa – a four-story building was partially destroyed. Four people were injured, including a child. A rescue worker suffered a heat stroke while extinguishing the fire.

Photo: MNS.GOV.UA

The Patriot surface-to-air missile system has become a critical piece in Ukraine’s arsenal in fending off aerial threats from Russia. The weapons system is defending Ukrainian ground troops, cities and critical infrastructure throughout the country. The Patriot has even been successful in destroying one of Russia’s most advanced weapons, the Kh-47 hypersonic missile. But what goes behind operating the complex Patriot system? WSJ takes an in-depth look at how the U.S.-made system works to keep Ukraine’s skies safe and looks at some of the disadvantages for the Ukrainian military that come with the Patriot.

Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations on at least three sectors of the front on July 19 and made gains in these areas. Geolocated footage published on July 19 indicates that Ukrainian forces made gains near Andriivka (10km southwest of Bakhmut). The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces continued offensive operations north and south of Bakhmut City and forced Russian forces to retreat from positions northeast of Orikhovo-Vasylivka (11km northwest of Bakhmut).

The Ukrainian General Staff also reported that Ukrainian forces continued offensive operations in the Berdyansk (Zaporizhia-Donetsk Oblast border area) and Melitopol (western Zaporizhia Oblast) directions. Ukrainian Tavriisk Group of Forces Spokesperson Major Valerii Shershen stated that Ukrainian forces advanced more than a kilometer in an unspecified area of the Melitopol direction. A prominent Russian milblogger claimed that Russian forces lack rotations and reinforcements on the Zaporizhia front and south of Bakhmut, which is preventing Russian forces from recapturing lost positions.

The milblogger forecasted that continued delays in resolving these rotation and reinforcement issues south of Bakhmut threaten serious consequences for the Russian grouping in the area.

“Fighting near Kreminna means burning alive in hell”: the story of a National Guardsman with the call sign “Lom.” 

Lom is a tall man in his 40s, with an athletic build, prudent in communication. We find a place not to disturb the resting fighters and start a conversation. “I was given this call sign because I did wrestling; I know many techniques…,” begins First Lieutenant Lom, who, in his youth, won the bronze medal of the USSR championship, anticipating our first question.

And, continuing, he jokes that he has yet to forget everything; his hands remember. At this moment, we catch the unexpected feeling that this giant is a kind and sensitive person at heart. A battalion cat flies to his lap, and Lom “melts” and plays with a favorite of his brothers-in-arms with a smile. For some time, he returned to a peaceful life in his thoughts.

“I was born and lived in Pervomaisk. I graduated from the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Ecology because there were several enterprises in the chemical industry in the area. I never worked as an ecologist for a day. I changed many professions: I was a baker, a security guard in a supermarket, I even worked in a mill. I did not serve in the military. But in the first days of the war, I came as a volunteer. They took me only on the third attempt because I was of limited health, and my three children were still minors. I applied to the National Guard,” says Lom thoughtfully and continues. – “I fought near Balakliia, held the defense, liberated Kupiansk, but I will tell my grandchildren more about Kreminna. It was difficult to fight near Kreminna – it was to burn alive in hell.”

– Please, tell us about your impressions of the first battle and how you became an officer from an ordinary fighter in less than a year. Lom slyly squints and begins a conversation with pauses. “The first battle was incomprehensible; they shoot at you, you shoot – some kind of chaos. And then you get involved; you start to see meanings you didn’t see before, even some courage comes, you understand that you are fighting for your country. At first, I was a private; in two months, I was already a junior sergeant and commanded a unit, and on February 23rd, I was promoted to a First Lieutenant ahead of schedule; now I command a platoon,” says Lom.

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Photos: ngu.gov.ua