Victory Chronicles
-DAY 523

Kryvyi Rih: Russian missile hit 9-storey building and educational institution, killing 5 including a ten-year-old girl, wounding 53

This was reported by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets in Telegram, Ukrinform reports. “Because of the Russian terrorist attack in Kryvyi Rih, we already know about 5 dead, including a ten-year-old girl. She and her mother lived on the eighth floor, where a missile hit in the morning. We also know about 53 wounded, including 5 children. Three of the victims are in serious condition. The killer country will be held accountable in court for its actions,” the ombudsman wrote.

Russian forces have attacked Kryvyi Rih using two ballistic missiles: one hit a residential high-rise building, and the other hit an educational institution. Ihor Klymenko, the Minister of Internal Affairs, wrote: “Kryvyi Rih. The Russians attacked the city with two missiles. One missile hit the four-story building of the educational institution. There are probably people under the rubble. Emergency workers and police are working at the scene. The second missile destroyed the section from the residential building’s fourth to ninth floors.”

Latest news

• Ukrainska Pravda: The Russian propaganda news outlet TASS has reported an explosion in a 50-story building in Moscow City.
• Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine: Defenders liberate 12.6 square km in the south and 2 square km on the Bakhmut front over past week
• Sunday Express: Ukrainian special forces training in UK prepare to liberate Crimea this year
• The NYT: Pentagon will buy Starlink terminals for Ukraine that Elon Musk won’t be able to disconnect
• General Staff: Ukraine’s defenders kill another 490 Russian invaders, destroy 6 tanks and 21 artillery systems
• UK Intelligence: Russian government is no longer capable of protecting its population from war

Symbolic number of the Day - 1,579 

Russian armed aggression affects over 1,579 children in Ukraine. 498 children have been killed and over 1,081 injured in Ukraine since the Russian invasion started. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office made the relevant statement. “As of July 31, 2023, according to the data from juvenile prosecutors, a total of 498 children were killed and over 1,081 received injuries of various severity levels,” the report states.

War in Pictures

The debris removal at the site of the Russian missile strike in the city of Sumy was completed on Saturday, stated the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “The debris removal in Sumy at the site of a Russian missile strike was completed just before evening. Terrorists hit one of the city’s educational institutions. Two people died… My condolences to the relatives and friends. Twenty people were injured in this attack.

The educational building of the school was completely destroyed: four floors were simply blown away by a rocket. Dormitories, houses, even a church and Sunday school buildings were damaged. Russian inhumans add arguments to the world every day that only the defeat of Russia and clear security guarantees for Ukraine can protect life from this terror,” said Zelenskyy.

Video of the Day

The units of the A1108 military unit discovered Buk systems that were supposed to cover the occupiers’ skies. “In just 5 minutes, having destroyed multimillion-dollar equipment, we opened the whole area for free “work” of our artillery friends. Now, they can freely work on enemy warehouses, infantry and equipment,” the military unit said in a statement.

ISW report

The lack of Russian milblogger reaction to a Ukrainian strike on the Chonhar bridge represents a notable inflection in Russian reporting on the war in Ukraine and may suggest that the Kremlin has directed Russian milbloggers to refrain from covering certain topics. The Ukrainian Armed Forces announced on July 29 that Ukrainian forces successfully struck the Chonhar bridge on the M-18 (Dzhankoi-Melitopol) highway between occupied Crimea and occupied Kherson Oblast.

ISW has not observed any Russian milblogger discussion about the Ukrainian strike or Russian milbloggers promoting Kherson Oblast occupation administration head Vladimir Saldo’s claim that Russian forces intercepted 12 Ukrainian Strom Shadow cruise missiles targeting the bridge. The only other Russian source to comment on the strikes was a local Russian news Telegram channel, which amplified alleged claims from Russian tourists in the area about the bridge being closed to traffic.

Russian milbloggers responded to a Ukrainian strike on the Chonhar bridge on June 22 with widespread outrage and concern, and Russian milbloggers routinely comment on both successful and allegedly unsuccessful Ukrainian strikes on Russian logistics. The Chonhar bridge is a notable bottleneck along a critical Russian ground line of communication (GLOC), and it is highly unlikely that Russian milbloggers would voluntarily ignore a successful or unsuccessful Ukrainian strike on the bridge.

War Heroes

Actor Yevhen Svitlychnyi was killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine. This was reported by the Commander of the company “Honor” of the 1st separate mechanized battalion “Vovky Da Vinchi” (Da Vinci Wolves) Serhiy Filimonov. “Our brother Yevhen ‘Zheka’ Svitlychnyi was killed in a firefight while performing a combat mission. To be a warrior is to live forever. We will take revenge,” said Filimonov.

The “Vovky Da Vinchi” (Da Vinci Wolves) page clarified that Yevhen was killed while performing a combat mission in the Kharkiv sector. Svitlychnyi was known primarily for his role in the Ukrainian film Rhino. “Zheka Svitlychnyi. An athlete, an actor, a warrior. Died like a Hero, defending our Motherland,” wrote “Rhino” director Oleg Sentsov on Facebook.