Victory Chronicles-DAY 897

Russian troops targeted a school in Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast with guided bombs, resulting in the deaths of a 22-year-old man and a 6-year-old boy The attack occurred in the village of Mohrytsia on August 8. Volodymyr Artyukh, the head of the Sumy Oblast military administration, confirmed the casualties and stated that the victims were brothers who were in the schoolyard at the time of the strike. Additionally, Artyukh reported that Russians had launched 56 shells on settlements in four border districts of the Sumy Oblast in the past day. Two more civilians were injured, although their specific locations were not provided.

During the first three days of the evacuation in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine successfully evacuated 1,010 children from 756 families in 28 settlements. The evacuation efforts involved independent efforts by families and assistance from operational groups. These children are now safe and receiving the necessary support. However, there are still 3,723 children remaining who need to be evacuated from the dangerous areas. The forced evacuation of civilians from the most dangerous settlements in Donetsk Oblast has been ongoing since August 5. The evacuation of children is being carried out by 20 teams consisting of White Angel crews, police medics, employees of the State Emergency Service, patrol police, and representatives of civil-military administrations.

Russian troops launched an attack on the Ukrainian city of Kherson on August 8, hitting a high-rise building in the city center. The attack reportedly caused significant damage to the building, specifically one of the apartments. Fortunately, the building was unoccupied then, so no casualties were reported. The Russian army has been targeting Kherson since the morning, and several other settlements in the Oblast have also been affected by shelling and air strikes. 

The scouts of the 53rd separate mechanized brigade named after Prince Volodymyr Monomakh have destroyed a flag put up by occupiers in the town of New York with one precise strike from an FPV drone. 

Ukrainian forces have made confirmed advances up to 10 kilometers into Russia’s Kursk Oblast amid continued mechanized offensive operations on Russian territory on August 7. Geolocated footage published on August 6 and 7 shows that Ukrainian armored vehicles have advanced to positions along the 38K-030 route about 10 kilometers from the international border. The current confirmed extent and location of Ukrainian advances in Kursk Oblast indicate that Ukrainian forces have penetrated at least two Russian defensive lines and a stronghold.

A Russian insider source claimed that Ukrainian forces have seized 45 square kilometers of territory within Kursk Oblast since they launched the operation on August 6, and other Russian sources reported that Ukrainian forces have captured 11 total settlements, including Nikolaevo-Daryino (1.5 kilometers north of the Sumy Oblast border), Darino (three kilometers north of the Sumy Oblast border), and Sverdlikovo (east of the Nikolaevo-Darino-Darino area), and are operating within Lyubimovka (eight kilometers north of the Sumy Oblast border). 

Russian sources indicated that Ukrainian forces are trying to advance along the 38K-030 Sudzha-Korenovo highway, and a prominent Kremlin-affiliated milblogger claimed that by 1800 local time on August 7 Ukrainian forces had advanced both northwest and southeast along the highway and are now fighting on the outskirts of Korenovo (in the northwest direction) and Sudzha (in the southeast direction). 

The Russian insider source and several other Russian sources reported that Ukrainian forces fought for and seized the Sudzha checkpoint and the Sudzha gas distribution station (southwest of Sudzha along the 38K-004 highway, 500 meters from the Sumy-Kursk Oblast border). Geolocated imagery posted on August 7 shows that Ukrainian forces captured over 40 Russian prisoners of war (POWs) at the Sudzha checkpoint, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Russia service posted satellite imagery that shows heavy damage to buildings at the Sudzha checkpoint.

Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets reported on August 7 that an unspecified unit of the Chechyna-based 71st Motorized Rifle Regiment (58th Combined Arms Army [CAA], Southern Military District [SMD]) has deployed directly to the Sudzhenskyi Raion—generally consistent with some reports from Ukrainian and Russian sources that social media footage shows Chechen “Akhmat” units in the Sudzha area since over a week ago. Chechen units reportedly suffered very heavy losses in Ukrainian attacks in the Korenovo Raion on August 7.

Defender Volodymyr Vitoshkin, with the call sign “Vitokha”, died on March 31, 2024, in a battle for Ukraine near the town of Krasnohorivka in Donetsk Oblast. On April 12, the defender would have turned 30 years old.

Volodymyr was born in the village of Nadezhdivka, Kherson Oblast. He graduated from Bilozerka Vocational School No. 6, where he became a tractor driver in agricultural production, a mechanic for car repairs, and a driver. He also mastered the specialty of a chemical and bacterial analysis laboratory assistant at the Kryzhopil Professional Construction Lyceum. He worked at the Vinnytsia Poultry Farm as a poultry farmer at the poultry production site. He was fond of driving cars and motorcycles.

During the full-scale war, Volodymyr became a fighter in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 80th separate airborne assault brigade. He held the position of senior driver.

“Volodymyr was the best son, a cheerful and kind person, a good husband and father,” his mother said. The paratrooper was buried at the Krupske cemetery in the village of Horodkivka, Vinnytsia Oblast. Volodymyr is survived by his parents, Maryna Oleksandrivna and Oleksandr Oleksandrovych, sisters Iryna and Viktoriia, wife Iryna, son Dmytro, and daughter Yevheniia.

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

• Ukraine asks Mexico to arrest Putin if he attends inauguration
• White House: We should remember that Russia attacks Ukraine from Kursk Oblast
• Bulgaria allows its service members to train Ukrainian military on NATO territory
• Russians close three railway stations in Kursk Oblast due to the situation 
• Ukraine’s foreign minister and his Norwegian counterpart discuss expanding F-16 initiative and Peace Formula
• US Department of State: Ukraine did not warn about actions in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, it doesn’t violate US policy