Victory Chronicles-DAY 865

On July 8, Russia launched a large-scale missile attack on Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipro Oblast, resulting in the death of eleven people and injuring 59 others. 

The attack targeted various locations, including an industrial facility’s administrative building. Emergency, municipal, and medical services are actively involved in response efforts. 

The head of the Dnipro Oblast military administration confirmed the information, stating that the attack also affected the city of Dnipro, causing casualties and damaging a residential building, an enterprise, and a car service station.

The prosecutor’s office reported that a local resident in Dnipro was injured, initiating a pre-trial criminal investigation. 

Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of the Air Force of Ukraine, reports that Ukraine’s air defense successfully intercepted 30 out of 38 Russian missiles launched in a combined missile strike on July 8. 

The Russian missiles consisted of various types, including aerial ballistic, cruise, and guided missiles. Ukraine’s air defense managed to destroy 1 X-47M2 “Kinzhal” aerial ballistic missile, 3 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, 11 X-101 cruise missiles, 12 Kalibr cruise missiles, and 3 X-59/X-69 guided missiles.

As of 16:30 Kyiv time, the consequences of today’s Russian attack are being dealt with in three districts of Kyiv – Dniprovskyi, Shevchenkivskyi and Solomianskyi. As a result of the enemy attack in the capital, 21 people were killed, 65 were wounded, and 7 were rescued. In total, 372 rescuers and 69 units of basic and special fire and rescue equipment are working at the scene.

The Ukrinform news agency has published a video showing rescuers and civilians clearing the rubble of the Okhmatdyt Children’s Clinical Specialized Hospital in Kyiv. This morning, Russians launched a missile attack on the hospital. One of the buildings of the hospital, where seriously ill children undergoing dialysis were treated, was almost completely destroyed. 

Satellite imagery confirms that the Ukrainian Air Force conducted a successful strike against a reported Russian regimental command post in Belgorod Oblast in late June 2024, likely with Western-provided weapons – further demonstrating how Ukraine could disrupt Russian offensive operations should the West continue to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-provided weapons to strike military targets in Russia. 

The Ukrainian General Staff reported on June 23 that the Ukrainian Air Force struck the command post of an unspecified Russian motorized rifle regiment in Nekhoteevka, Belgorod Oblast on an unspecified date.[5] Geolocated footage of the strike shows that the command post was less than one kilometer from the Russian-Ukrainian border. 

Satellite imagery collected on April 1 and June 28 shows significant damage to the building that reportedly housed the command post in Nekhoteevka. Ukrainian forces likely used a French-made Armement Air-Sol Modulaire Hammer precision-guided bomb. The command post’s location close to the frontline in northern Kharkiv Oblast suggests that it was involved with ongoing Russian offensive operations north of Kharkiv City. 

The Nekhoteevka strike demonstrates Ukraine’s ability to conduct successful strikes on Russian military targets within Russia using Western-provided weapons to degrade Russian forces’ ability to conduct offensive operations in Ukraine. ISW continues to assess that Ukraine should be able to use Western-provided weapons, including ATACMS missiles, to strike Russian military targets within Russia’s operational rear and deep rear areas to substantially disrupt Russian operations at scale.

Defender Hryhoriy Krychun, with the call sign Smalits, was killed on March 1, 2024, near the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast. He received a shrapnel wound incompatible with life.

Hryhoriy Ivanovych was 46 years old. He was born and lived in Chernivtsi. In civilian life, he worked as a builder in private construction projects. He loved motorcycles and bicycles, both riding them and repairing them. He could do everything himself.

In October 2023, he came to Ukraine’s defense. He joined the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade, where he was a machine gunner. He was awarded the “War Veteran” badge.

“My father was a very kind man. Always cheerful, responsive. He had golden hands,” wrote daughter Alina. The fighter was buried on the Walk of Fame at the central cemetery in Chernivtsi. Hryhoriy is survived by his mother, wife, daughter and son.

*Hryhoriy’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

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