Victory Chronicles
-DAY 505

Russian soldiers’ bodies taken out of destroyed hotel in Berdiansk all night

General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has reported that the bodies of Russian soldiers were taken out by trucks from the destroyed Duna Hotel in temporarily occupied Berdiansk during the night. Andrii Kovalov, Spokesperson for the Armed Forces General Staff, reported this. “As a result of the strike on Duna Hotel in the temporarily occupied Berdiansk, the active removal of bodies of Russian servicemen by trucks to the local morgue was observed during the night.”

The occupiers also intensified counter-intelligence measures in occupied Mariupol. They have been raiding the residents’ houses, checking documents and phones. By such measures, Russian forces are trying to intimidate the local population and identify those who help the Ukrainian defenders.

Latest news

• Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine: Ukraine to receive F-16s on schedule, and Russia will swallow it
• Drone attack on the capital: Kyiv reports shooting down all Russian drones in latest attack on the capital, but debris causes casualties, damage
• Russian air strikes:Russia launches Shahed drones, Kalibr, and ballistic missiles, and Ukraine’s air defense destroys 22 targets
• Russia’s losses: Ukrainian defense forces have killed 510 invaders and destroyed 9 armored combat vehicles and 23 artillery systems over the past day
• Wagner’s mutiny: Russia says Wagner has returned tanks, missile systems, weapons, ammo
• Attack on Zaporizhzhia: Number of casualties rises to 20, including 8 children

Symbolic number of the Day - 487

Russian troops fired 487 shells at Kherson Oblast overnight: two people were killed and three wounded. The head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, reported this. The enemy fired 33 shells at the city of Kherson. The Russian military hit residential areas of the Oblast’s settlements. As a result of Russian aggression, 2 people were killed and 3 others were wounded.

War in Pictures

Ukrainian forces shoot down Shahed attack UAV with small arms in Sumy Oblast. The Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported this. It is reported that on the night of July 13, a mobile group of volunteers spotted an enemy UAV in the Romny district. The defenders opened fire with small arms and destroyed the enemy drone. The wreckage of the UAV fell at a safe distance from populated areas in a deserted area.

Video of the Day

The Ukrainian military published a video showing the destruction of an enemy ammunition depot by the artillery of the Third Separate Mechanized Brigade in the Bakhmut sector. The video shows how the 1st SAB of the 2nd self-propelled artillery battalion works.

ISW report

The muted Russian response belies the reality that the summit demonstrated the degree to which the 2022 Russian invasion has set back the goals for which the Kremlin claims it launched the war.  The aim of preventing NATO expansion and, indeed, rolling back earlier rounds of NATO expansion and pushing NATO back from Russia’s borders was one of the Kremlin’s stated demands before the invasion.

The Kremlin has repeated this aim continually throughout the war. The lack of general outcry within the Russian information space regarding developments at the NATO summit, as well as Finland’s NATO accession and Turkey’s agreement to forward Sweden’s accession protocol, likely indicates that the Kremlin has internalized these defeats and desires to avoid dwelling on them. Many Russian sources are reporting on the NATO summit in a dispassionate and muted manner that is not commensurate with the wider defeat that the summit actually represents for Russia’s pre-war aims.

War Heroes

Occupants killed a married couple of railroad workers during a strike on Orikhiv. As a result of a Russian strike on Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, on July 9, a married couple of railway workers, Vitaliy Yushko and Olga Ochkas, were killed. Their 8-year-old son Artem was left an orphan. According to the press service of Ukrzaliznytsia, on July 10, Olga and Vitaliy came under enemy fire while volunteering. 

The company promised they would take care of the victims’ child; he will be provided with an annual financial allowance and the opportunity for rehabilitation until his maturity. “The victims of the Russian inhumans were railway workers who, despite their day off, continued to help people despite the danger. This is yet another proof that Ukrainian railroaders have a big heart and great courage. Unfortunately, we cannot return parents to their children, but it is our duty to help and support every child and family of railroad workers who died as a result of the war,” said Yevhen Liashchenko, Chairman of the Board of Ukrzaliznytsia.