Russia-Ukraine War Newsletter – AUGUST 4-7, 2022

The situation as of 8:00 a.m. on August 8, 2022

OPERATIONAL SITUATION

The Armed Forces of Ukraine keep launching counterattacks in the south. In recent weeks, the Russian Federation has moved several thousand troops to this direction from other sectors, primarily from Donbas. It is in the south that both the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian Federation troops are concentrating their main powers. In the Donetsk region, the main battles continue in the Avdiivka and Bakhmut directions, where Russian troops use the tactic of massive artillery shelling, destroying Ukrainian strongholds.

Battle for Donbas

Russian troops are seeking to move the Ukrainian Armed Forces from their positions near the western outskirts of Donetsk. In order to encircle the Ukrainian military in the area, they are launching an offensive to the south and east of the city near Avdiivka. Also near Donetsk, they continue attacks on Marinka.

In the north of the Donetsk region, Russian forces are trying to create conditions for the capture of Bakhmut. Local offensives also take place north of Sloviansk, in the Sviatogorsk area.

Intense shelling of civilian infrastructure by Russian troops continues. As a result of the shelling of a public transport stop in Toretsk on August 4, 7 civilians were killed and 5 were wounded. Besides, 15 people were killed and 43 were wounded in Donetsk region in recent days.

On August 4, in the temporarily occupied territory, the central part of Donetsk was shelled, killing 5 people and wounding 6. On August 5, the Donetsk train station building was hit.

Kharkiv direction

In the Kharkiv direction, Russian troops are defending their occupied positions. They carry out massive shelling of Kharkiv and Chuhuiv. On the territory of Kharkiv region, they shelled Izium, Kharkiv, Bohodukhiv and Chuhuiv districts. At least 7 civilians were wounded as a result of the hostilities.

Zaporizhzhia direction

On the territory of Zaporizhzhia region, the front line remains stable. Shelling that threatens civilian infrastructure and strategic facilities (in particular, the Zaporizhzhia NPP) persists.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine carry out targeted strikes against Russian military positions and temporary deployment sites. On the night of August 8, a missile strike struck a Russian military location in temporarily occupied Melitopol.

Southern direction

The Ukrainian and Russian Armed Forces continue to amass troops in the Kherson direction. There is intensive shelling near Kherson and along the administrative border of Kherson region with Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are destroying Russian ammunition depots in the temporarily occupied territories with high-precision weapons. An increase in the number of defeated air defense systems of Russian troops was recorded.

Russian troops responded by indiscriminate shelling of Mykolaiv with MLRS and heavy artillery. During August 4, 3 civilians were wounded in the Mykolaiv region. The next day, shelling in Mykolaiv killed 1 person and injured at least 22 others. On August 6, 1 person was killed and 5 were injured on the territory of the region.

Shelling of Ukrainian territory

On the night of August 5, Russian troops launched a missile attack on an infrastructure facility on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia. The following night, they struck the city itself, though there was no significant damage.

On the evening of August 7, a missile strike was launched against military facilities in Vinnytsia region.

The town of Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk region is being systematically shelled, presumably from the territory of the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP.

The shelling of the border areas of Sumy and Chernihiv regions by cannon and rocket artillery continues.

Information confrontation

The international human rights organization Amnesty International made several statements aimed at undermining Ukraine’s reputation in the international arena. A representative of the organization made provocative comments on weapon supply to Ukraine in the CBS channel video, drawing parallels with the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. The organization also published a report in which it accused the Ukrainian Armed Forces of using civilian infrastructure that endangered civilians. The publication, which provides no evidence and lacks the context of the conflict, has already been condemned by the British ambassador to Ukraine and the Polish office of Amnesty International. Employees of the organization’s Ukrainian office first protested its position and then started to resign from their jobs.

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, as of the morning of August 7, more than 1,064 children had been affected by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine (361 children dead, 703 wounded).

According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 6.3 million Ukrainians have left for Europe since February 24, with nearly 3.8 million registered for temporary protection.

Russia continues to pose a threat to nuclear safety with its actions at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The UK Ministry of Defense confirmed that Russian troops were shelling Ukrainian territories from the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP, effectively turning the nuclear power plant into a military base. According to statements by Ukraine’s State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation and Enerhoatom, Russian military forces shelled the ZNPP on August 56, damaging the nitrogen-oxygen plant. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine claims Russian provocations threaten the safety of the facility and pose a global threat. Enerhoatom reported that representatives of Rosatom were on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to coordinate a program to destroy the plant’s infrastructure and disconnect it from Ukraine’s energy system. UN Secretary General António Guterres called for access to the plant for international IAEA experts, stressing the unacceptability of any attack against such facilities.

The humanitarian situation due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine remains highly complicated. According to preliminary information, more than 50% of the housing stock has been destroyed in some cities where active hostilities took place. As a result, more than 3.5 million Ukrainians are left without housing. The Kherson Regional Military Administration reported that there was no communication from Ukrainian mobile operators and a number of social networks and services were blocked. In the temporarily occupied territories, the Russian military continues to kidnap local residents who hold an active civic position; they try to bribe others with “material assistance” for voting in a “referendum” on joining Russia, which is planned to be held in the future. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the Russian military have mined important communication lines that supply water, gas, and electricity to Kherson. They are preparing to blow them up in case of a counterattack by the AFU. In temporarily occupied Enerhodar, Russian troops bombed a power substation and damaged a water intake station, leaving the city without light and water.

The Russian Federation does not stop attacking Ukraine’s agricultural sector. In the Kharkov region, Russian troops damaged more than 100 agricultural enterprises and destroyed more than 220 hectares of wheat. As a result of Russian shelling in Zaporizhzhia region, more than 70 hectares of burnt-out wheat crops were recorded in addition to damaged civilian infrastructure.

Resistance

In the Luhansk region, partisans in the town of Bilovodsk fired on a car with representatives of the occupation administration. As a result, 2 people were wounded.

In Nova Kakhovka in Kherson region, the deputy head of the city’s occupation administration, Vitalii Gura, was shot dead.

Volodymyr Saldo, head of the occupation administration of the Kherson region, was hospitalized. Russian sources report a possible attempt to poison him.

ECONOMIC SITUATION

The Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts a worsening of GDP indicators for the 15 member countries of the G20. The world economy will lose $1 trillion this year as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure reported that two caravans with grain left Odesa ports on August 5 and 7. The total tonnage of the exported grain amounted to about 227 thousand tons of agricultural products. In addition, for the first time since February a vessel arrived in Chornomorsk to load Ukrainian agricultural products. According to Minister of Infrastructure Oleksii Kubrakov, it is planned to reach the level of loading of 3-5 vessels per day in two weeks, as well as to add the largest Ukrainian port “Pivdennyi” to the “grain initiative”.

As of August 6, Ukraine has already confiscated UAH 28 billion worth of Russian assets. In addition, at a government meeting on August 5, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced that another 903 objects, the vast majority of which are Russian-owned property, are to be confiscated for the benefit of Ukraine.

POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC EVENTS

On August 6, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi of Ukraine held a meeting on compensating the state for the damage caused by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. The participants of the meeting discussed the negotiation process for the compulsory seizure of Russian assets in favor of Ukraine and coordinated steps in this direction. It is reported that work is underway to establish a special compensation commission by concluding a multilateral international treaty with Ukraine’s partners.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi held a telephone conversation with European Council President Charles Michel. He called for additional sanctions against Russia on its nuclear industry because of the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. In addition, the officials coordinated preparations for the Crimean Platform summit and other measures. Among other things, Zelenskyi noted the importance of unblocking the macrofinancial aid package for Ukraine as soon as possible.

In order to strengthen support for Ukraine among African countries, Volodymyr Zelenskyi spoke with the President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, as well as with the President of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera. Zelensky also gave an interview to the African media in which he stressed that the Russian Federation is waging a colonial war against Ukraine.

Defense and technical support from Ukraine’s international partners is steadily increasing. The Japanese government has announced another aid package for Ukraine, which includes consumer vehicles (vans) and small drones. North Macedonia transferred four Su-25 aircraft to Ukraine. Canada resumes UNIFIER military training mission, discontinued at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, and will send its instructors to train Ukrainian servicemen in the United Kingdom. Sweden is also sending military instructors to the UK to support the mission.

The European Union adopted a new crisis package of €16 million to support Ukrainians’ access to education and help victims of sexual violence in Ukraine. Canada announced $6 million for a number of projects to help strengthen Ukraine’s nuclear security.

The information in the digest is collected from official sources — reports of state authorities of Ukraine, Ukrainian and international news agencies. The accuracy of the data is carefully checked by the project team and corrected in case of fake news.