The air force of the Russian "South" force group hit the deployment point of the 5th assault brigade and the assembly area of the 24th mechanised brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) with guided munitions in the Donetsk People's Republic.
In the Pentapostagma in our article we reported that, Russians are burning Ukrainians with thermobaric weapons - Merciless shelling of Ukrainian brigades - Kiev formation in Olshan was destroyed.
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However, the Ukrainians also have reason to celebrate, as in a recorded speech on Russia's Airborne Forces Day, the VDV General Commander, General Mikhail Teplinsky, said that 8500 paratroopers had been wounded and later returned to duty or were forced to leave the front line.
According to British intelligence, the annual Russian Airborne Forces Day (VDV) celebrations on 2 August 2023 were overshadowed by a seemingly unauthorised disclosure of the scale of losses suffered by elite forces in Ukraine.
It was quickly deleted from the official channels of the Russian Foreign Ministry. It did not comment on how many soldiers were killed or too seriously injured to be able to return to duty.
However, Teplinsky's figures confirm the estimate that at least 50 percent of the 30,000 paratroopers deployed to Ukraine in 2022 have been killed or wounded.
A combined missile attack
The Russian Federation launched a two-stage missile attack with a whole range of weapons: ballistic missiles Kh-47 Kinzhal, cruise missiles Kh-101 and Kh-555, sea-launched Kalibr missiles and Shahed-136/131.
According to Yuri Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, 5/6 Kalibr, 13/20 Kh-101/Kh-555 and 27 Shahed-136/131 suicide drones were intercepted.
It should be noted that, the Russians are actively using various means of deception and imitating the missile threat.
"This time, they used the territory of Belarus for this purpose. What the Russian rocket artillery units did was most likely a so-called electronic launch," explained the spokesman for Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Service, Andrei Yusov.
"Electronic launch" is a method of training military personnel. During this exercise, artillery teams make all the necessary preparations for a launch: soldiers move to the launch site, carry out all the relevant radio communications and maintenance before the launch, etc. in other words, they do everything except "pull the trigger".
At the same time, the Russian side launches targeted electronic warfare activity, targeting Ukrainian air defense systems that makes the radars see a certain type of target.
These activities raised suspicions that Belarus may have taken part in this attack, contrary to its previous policy of passive non-intervention in the war by providing Russian forces with airfields, training, equipment and repair services.
Taurus long-range cruise missiles in Ukraine
For the first time, Germany is considering the transfer of Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine. This is reported by the well-known German publication Der Spiegel, citing representatives of the ruling party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Earlier, representatives of this party asked for the first time to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles, which became a turning point in the discussion about military aid to Kiev.
Up to that point, the Defence Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany had opposed such a move, considering it too risky and capable of causing an escalation in the region. It is noteworthy that, the last time Kiev was denied the supply of such weapons was last week, however, the supply of "SCALP" missiles from Paris could change the situation.
Taurus missiles are designed to engage highly protected targets at long range and are capable of reaching speeds of over 1100 km/h. At their core, they are analogous to the British and French Storm Shadow and SCALP tactical cruise missiles.
"Taking into account that, the West continues to supply Kiev with such weapons, there can be no talk of peace talks yet," Russian media reports.
