#Odesa, #Kharkiv & #Mykolaiv among 🇺🇦 cities hit again overnight but not always with missiles designed for the job. The Kremlin orders more weapons out of "deep storage" and prepares for a #Ukraine counter attack in the south
Here's the🧵
1/2 First to those weapons on the move in #Russia.
It started with this video capturing what's believed to be
2S7 Pion heavy artillery being transported west.
They are Soviet machines, at the time state of the art high powered guns with a range of almost 50km,
2/2 Some excellent sleuthing on the internet found the source - a diminishing supply of stock.
Google Earth images show there were 170 of the Pions stored at this location in #Russia early April, down to 135 at the start of June; last week only 110 remaining.
In #Odesa region the village of #Zatoka has been hit.
This is right on the coast where the bridge was previously targeted by #Russia.
President @ZelenskyyUa released this video this morning of the damage to the market
Meanwhile in #Mykolaiv/#Nikolaev air defence missiles were used on the city early this morning. These were 9 in total fired from occupied #Kherson region.
Again #Ukraine's at pains to point out there are zero military facilities in the area. They say an enterprise, a multi-storey building and a car dealership were damaged. No injuries reported - even the cat survived!
Not so good news in the #Kharkiv region (as opposed to the city)
A woman's body was found under the rubble of a recreation centre in #Chuhuiv (#Chuguev), which was destroyed by a missile attack.
The search for two more people continues, four were rescued.
Puppet Donetsk government says the whole of #Donetsk will be taken before the end of August. That smacks of a desperate message for their own army and people becoming demoralised/fearing defeat.
Meanwhile, less far fetched is #Ukraine's hope to liberate #Kherson by September.
Russians in #Donetsk have released this video which they say is a successful attack on #Ukraine's "Foreign Legion". They claim many fighters, mainly Poles, were killed.
No location or time given. Not possible to verify.
A media darling of the west in the war has been @kiraincongress
The leader of the "Golos" party, Kira's the latest to be caught up in political trouble. It seems she may have had a passport problem at the border. She denies her citizenship was revoked
The travel bans and asset freezes are on many regional governors, but also on the list is former director of @Everton Sarvor Ismailov, nephew of Alisher Usmanov, and Sarvor's brother Sanjar - both of whom have "significant" UK interests
No real surprise, but #Russia has just announced it is withdrawing cooperation with the International Space Station, from 2024.
The country's Cosmology department says it will build its own orbital outpost.
The EU has agreed dramatic cut its use of gas if #Russia halts its stream. However it's a voluntary deal, not obligatory which the Union hoped for.
Not sure if you saw this a little earlier, but in one of his parting measures, Boris Johnson gave the "Churchill" award to #Ukraine's President Zelenskyy.
A petition has been started in #Ukraine to give @BorisJohnson Ukrainian citizenship and also submit his candidacy to become Prime Minister of the country!
The first news from #Kherson is not overly good for #Ukraine. Although the Antonivskyi bridge was hit, the structure still stands and is still passable.
#Russia's state new agency TASS says there is "no damage" which is highly unlikely.
Mayor of #Mykolaiv Oleksandr Sienkovych has not released further details yet about this morning's damage or any casualties. Rescue services are on site.
A bit of a landmark day as #PutinsWar reaches Day 150.
That's 146 days behind schedule (and counting) for the capture of #Kyiv 😂😂😂
This is the start of my daily thread with all the news about #Ukraine's defence and #Russia's aggression.
DMs open for tip-offs (100% anonymity)
1/2
Quite a lot of Russian rocket attacks to report in #Ukraine already
Starting in #Kharkiv where war crimes investigators are on the scene after purely civilian infrastructure was hit this morning.
Apartments & a university in the centre of the city were struck.
#Russia continues to make no progress in #Donetsk region and still has not "cleaned up" the whole of #Luhansk yet.
Various attempts to move forward on the frontline were repelled by #Ukraine
Russian sources are still claiming they are rotating troops to cover for lack of success
#PutinsWar enters Day 148.
21 July: anniversary of man first walking on the moon and in exactly four months the opening match of the World Cup in Qatar will be about to kick off.
But this is the daily thread on #Russia's war in #Ukraine, updated real time so please read & share.
* Graphic photos *
It's a depressing start to the day, with many attacks, shelling and deaths in #Ukraine.
Among the places worst hit - again - is #Kharkiv. The reign of terror continues by the invaders. Two died and 19 injured so far after attacks on residents.
Officials in #Kharkiv are still concealing the exact location of #Russia's strikes. However, one of the most populated areas was hit with #Ukraine alleging The Kremlin targeted transport stops and residential streets.
They also say they found evidence of cluster bombs: