Victory Chronicles-DAY 915

A dam in Kyiv, part of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant, was damaged during a Russian attack on Ukraine. The attack involved at least 100 missiles and 100 drones and resulted in four deaths and eight injuries. 

Tymofiy Mylovanov, an adviser to the Presidential Office, stated that the plant was damaged while the dam was holding up. If the dam had collapsed, much of Kyiv would have been flooded. Contradictory information has been provided regarding the shelling of the plant and the damage caused. Forbes Ukraine reported that the plant was targeted by shelling. At the same time, Andriy Kovalenko, head of the National Security and Defense Council’s anti-disinformation department, claimed the dam was not under any threat and that the Russians were using imaginary threats to incite panic. In July, Russia accused Kyiv of planning to destroy the dams of the Kyiv HPP and the Kaniv Reservoir, a claim the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed as absurd. This incident follows the previous year’s destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and dam in southern Ukraine by Russian forces, resulting in a humanitarian and environmental disaster.

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According to an analytical study by the OSINT agency Molfar, there have been 35 attacks on Russian airbases and five attacks on military airfields in Crimea since March. Various Ukrainian agencies, including the GUR, SBU, and Defense Forces, carried out the attacks. An infographic by Molfar shows that the attacks occurred consistently throughout the months, with the highest number recorded in July. The study also reveals that the % of the attacks, 32.8%, were conducted by GRU drones, 15.5% by the SBU, and 20.7% of unknown origin. The Ukrainian Defense Forces, Air Force, Special Operations Forces, Navy, Unmanned Systems Forces, and the Freedom of Russia Legion were also contributors to the attacks. One notable attack occurred on August 22, when the Security Service of Ukraine targeted warehouses at the Marynivka airfield in Russia.

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Rescuers in the Mykolaiv Oblast worked to eliminate the effects of an enemy shelling that targeted critical infrastructure. While there were casualties, the situation is now stable. The shelling caused fires in the Pervomaisk and Mykolaiv districts, primarily burning dead wood in open areas. Firefighters and local fire brigades acted quickly to extinguish the fires, successfully putting them out.

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The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine released a video of the destruction of 4 ammunition depots and 3 enemy vehicles. This is the work of border guards of the “Revenge” brigade near Kreminna.

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The Russian military likely continues to redeploy forces from lower priority sectors of the frontline in Ukraine to the frontline in Kursk Oblast. Commanders of the Russian 810th Naval Infantry Brigade, 155th Naval Infantry Brigade (Pacific Fleet, Eastern Military District [EMD], 11th Airborne (VDV) Brigade, 56th VDV Regiment (7th VDV Division), and 51st VDV Regiment (106th VDV Division) briefed Russian President Vladimir Putin on combat missions in Russian territories bordering Ukraine (likely referring to Kursk Oblast) on August 24.

Earlier in the day, Putin met with Russian Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov and Chief of the General Staff’s Main Operations Directorate Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy to discuss the Russian response to the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast.

ISW has observed elements of the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade, 155th Naval Infantry Brigade, and 11th VDV Brigade fighting in Kursk Oblast and has observed evidence that the Russian military command recently redeployed elements of the 56th VDV Regiment from the Robotyne area in western Zaporizhia Oblast to Kursk Oblast.

ISW has not yet observed reports of elements of the 51st VDV Regiment fighting in Kursk Oblast, but the fact that the 51st VDV Regiment commander briefed Putin alongside the commanders of other units that have recently redeployed elements to Kursk Oblast suggests that the elements of the 51st VDV Regiment have also likely redeployed to the area. Elements of the 51st VDV Regiment have been fighting in the Siversk direction in recent months alongside other units of the 106th VDV Division.

Russia appears to have redeployed elements of the 810th and 155th naval infantry brigades from the frontline in northern Kharkiv Oblast and likely redeployed elements of the 11th VDV Brigade from the wider Chasiv Yar area.

The Russian military command is resisting operational pressures to redeploy forces away from its high priority offensive effort to seize Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast and will likely continue to draw forces from lower priority offensive operations elsewhere throughout the theater to defend in Kursk Oblast.

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29-year-old stormtrooper Danylo Buriak, with the call sign Hollywood, was killed in the battle for Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, on July 24, 2023. The defender received a fatal gunshot wound to the head.

Danylo was from the city of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. He graduated from the Melitopol Higher Vocational School, where he mastered the profession of turner. Later, he entered the Melitopol Bohdan Khmelnytsky State Pedagogical University. He studied at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Geography. From 2014 to 2018, he served under contract in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and participated in the anti-terrorist and Joint Forces operations. Then he moved to Kyiv. He worked as a security guard. In his leisure time, he went in for sports and won the Ukrainian Kickboxing Championship.

During the full-scale war, the man joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine and went to the front. He fought in the 3rd separate assault brigade. He was a senior rifleman-operator of an assault squad.

Danylo received the following awards: “War Veteran,” “ATO Participant,” “Military Intelligence of Ukraine,” “For Assistance to the Defense of Kyiv,” and “Golden Cross” (posthumously).

“Hollywood lost his parents when he was a teenager. Danylo was from Melitopol, and the war took away his home. He saw the beginning of a full-scale invasion in Kyiv and went to defend the city, after which he flew to Mariupol as a volunteer, where he was wounded and miraculously survived. His documents were burned with his belongings in Mariupol, and he received no payment for this, but he continued to fight for his country. After recovering from a plate in his arm, he volunteered at Bakhmut as an assault rifleman and the commander’s right hand. He conducted many successful operations with his Myron platoon. This is the story of a courageous man who lost everything and risked losing his country, so he was ready to give his life for it,” said Veronika, the fiancée of the fallen fighter.

The Hero was buried in Kyiv at Lukyanivske Cemetery. Danylo is survived by his fiancée, aunt and grandmother.

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

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