President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has mentioned Ukraine is now able to inflicting “important losses” on the Russian invaders because of an inflow of recent Western weapons that’s slowly shifting the battlefield stability, as officers reported missile strikes on the port metropolis of Odesa wounded plenty of civilians.
Zelenskiy introduced in his nightly video message late on July 18 that 1,028 settlements in Ukraine had been liberated from Russian forces, and one other 2,621 had been nonetheless beneath Russian management.
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Zelenskiy mentioned Ukrainian forces “have been capable of inflict important logistical losses on the occupiers,” making it more and more troublesome for the Russian Military to carry positions on captured territory.
“Step-by-step, we advance, disrupt provides for the occupiers, establish and neutralize collaborators. The prospect is clear: the Ukrainian flag might be in all our cities and villages. The one query is time,” he mentioned.
Valeriy Zaluzhniy, the Ukrainian army’s high commander, mentioned the “well timed arrival” of longer-range artillery such because the U.S.-made HIMARS system was serving to to alter the scenario on the battlefield.
“We managed to stabilize the scenario. It’s advanced, intense, however utterly managed,” Zaluzhniy mentioned.
“An essential issue contributing to our retention of defensive traces and positions is the well timed arrival of M142 HIMARS, which ship surgical strikes on enemy management posts, ammunition and fuel-storage depots,” CNN quoted Zaluzhniy as saying.
Oleksiy Danilov, the pinnacle of Ukraine’s Nationwide Safety and Protection Council, mentioned on TV that “immediately, we actually have a totally completely different scenario than it was a month in the past. Now, because of the truth that we obtain sufficient weapons from our companions, we’ve got established a sure parity in sure positions.”
Serhiy Hayday, the pinnacle of the Luhansk regional army administration, mentioned on July 19 that “Western weapons work not at 100% however at 200 p.c as a result of [Russian] warehouses are blown up. Command posts are additionally blown up.”
Russian missiles, in the meantime, struck the port metropolis of Odesa in southern Ukraine, wounding a minimum of six individuals, together with a baby, Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman of the Odesa army administration, mentioned in a Telegram submit on July 19.
Bratchuk mentioned Odesa was focused by seven Kalibr cruise missiles fired from the Black Sea, and 6 of them evaded Ukrainian air defenses and hit areas with a “civilian inhabitants.”
Russian missile strikes additionally hit the middle of Kramatorsk, one of many final Ukrainian-controlled cities within the jap area of Donbas.
Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko wrote on Telegram on July 19 that “there are victims” from the assault, although he gave no additional particulars.
“Explosion consultants, rescue groups are working on the web site,” he wrote.
Earlier, Russian shelling of the jap Ukrainian metropolis of Toretsk on July 18 killed six individuals, based on emergency companies within the city. Toretsk, a city with an estimated inhabitants of 30,000 individuals, is situated some 50 kilometers south of Kramatorsk, one of many final Ukrainian-controlled cities within the industrial east.
Ukrainian and U.S. protection officers mentioned the scenario on the bottom on July 18 forward of a gathering of the Ukraine Protection Contact Group scheduled to happen later this week.
Ukrainian Protection Minister Oleksiy Reznikov mentioned on Twitter that he had a phone name with U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin to debate the framework of the upcoming assembly.
“We agreed on the agenda, shared info on the management of arms arriving to Ukraine and many others. Additionally, @SecDef (Austin) has some excellent information, however particulars will come somewhat later,” Reznikov mentioned.
The following assembly of the Ukraine Protection Contact Group will happen on July 20. On the group’s final assembly in Might, a complete of 47 nations took half and 20 of them introduced safety help packages for Ukraine.
The British Ministry of Protection mentioned on July 19 in its each day intelligence bulletin that Russia’s “said” instant aim is to completely seize the jap area of Donetsk.
The Ukrainian army additionally mentioned that Moscow was getting ready for the following stage of its offensive with the aim of totally capturing the Donetsk and Luhansk areas.
Nonetheless, British intelligence mentioned that whereas Russians should occupy extra territory, “their operational tempo and charge of advance is more likely to be very gradual with out a important operational pause for reorganization and refit.”
Kyiv has mentioned in current days that its forces are themselves getting ready for an enormous counteroffensive to reclaim land beforehand misplaced, particularly within the south.
With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and TASS
