Russia shelled Kharkiv a half dozen times today, including hitting the Shevchenkivskyi district three times. Russia is firing rockets into the city tonight. There is also heavy shelling along the line of contact, where Ukrainian artillery engage in successful counter-battery fire
Izyum and Siversk areas:
There is heavy fighting in the Bakhmut and Donetsk areas.
Russia attacked Yakovlivka (1), Soledar (2), Bakhmutske (3), and Bakhmut (4).
In Soledar, the fighting is between the quarry and the Belokamenske plant (marked in gray).
In Bakhmut, I reported a while back that Russia withdrew around one kilometer from their positions, and today I learned they fought their way back forward. I noted this on the map (the area with the outline).
I could not find updates on Yakovlivka or Bakhmutske.
South of Bakhmut, Russia is trying to reach Zaitseve (5,6). Ukrainian defenders have resisted these attempts and destroyed Russian recon teams (7).
Russia is attacking Kodema from multiple angles (8,9) without success.
Russia is trying to push through the well-defended rough ground in hopes of one day reaching Kurdyumivka (10). They have made little if any, progress.
Russia is pushing towards Mayorsk, a fortified train station, to flank the defenders (11). They have to move through multiple fortified tree lines to reach the station.
Around Donetsk, Russia attacked Krasnohorivka. I found a video of Russians fighting near train tracks, so I assume they are attacking from the north, where they have a foothold near the train tracks (12).
Russians are attacking the Ukrainian defensive positions around the airport (13). This area is dangerous to assault, and Russia will likely take many casualties. Ukraine built fortified positions out of mounds of dirt called anthills, which Russia must fight through on foot.
Russia is attacking Pervomaiske (14) and in the direction of Nevelske (15). I could not find evidence of progress. I received confirmation that Ukraine still controls areas of Pisky, contrary to Russian propaganda.
Russia is trying to drive Ukrainian defenders away from their stronghold north of Lozove by attacking from the west of Staromykhailivke (16).
There is ongoing fighting in Marinka (17) and Novomykhailivka (18). In Marinka, Russians claim to control over 75% of the town. Maybe this is true. I think my map is roughly accurate, so you can gauge on your own what percent you think they control. I would say maybe two-thirds.
South of Donetsk, Russia is keen on pushing Ukrainian defenders out of their strongholds along the Kashlahach River, and today they attacked Zolota Nyva (19). The attack failed.
Russia fired multiple rockets into Zaporizhzhia city tonight. People report seeing signal flares south of the city shortly before the rockets were fired. Which is odd.
In the Kherson/Mykolaiv area, Russian sources claim Ukraine attacked and tried to capture Vysokopillya (20). Whether this is true or not, I don’t know. I assume the town is a gray area.
Russians claimed to have pushed Ukrainian forces out of Blahodatrivka (21) and Andriivka (22). I reported that Ukraine attacked Blahodativka this weekend, but I did not know they took control of the town, even in part. However, this Russian claim seems to imply that they did.
I do not see any confirmation that Ukraine withdrew from Andriivka.
Russia captured Blahodatne and is now pushing north to attack Partyzanske (23). Ukraine has a strong natural defensive position along the… canal? I think it is a canal.
Russians attacked north of Oleksandrivka, with unknown results (24).
Beyond this, Ukrainian forces destroyed several Russian ammo depots today, and several command posts. Tonight and tomorrow we expect large missile and rocket strikes all over Ukraine, as Russia opts to lean on terrorism rather than well trained soldiers.
There is little news today, so I will only highlight the interesting parts.
As an experiment, I am asking @threadreaderapp to unroll at the beginning to see what happens.
In the Kharkiv area, Russia attacked Petrivka today (1). Male Vesele is considered a gray area, and Ukraine has pushed troops through there in the recent past. The attack on Petrivka failed.
Even though Russia withdrew most of its forces in the Izyum area, they are still strong enough to perform minor offensive operations. Today they attacked Dmytrivka (2) and Dolyna (3).
I do not have news about the Kharkiv area, only the standard shelling, and air strikes.
In the Izyum area, Russia tried to advance south towards Nova Dmytrivka, but Ukrainian defenders halted and repelled their advance (1). Ukrainians pounded Russian recon with artillery, driving them away from Bohorodychne (2).
In the Izyum area, Russia is still trying to push south from Brazhkivka toward Nova Dmytrivka (1). I saw videos of Russian artillery strikes around Sulyhivka that reinforced my hesitation to mark Sulyhivka and Brazhkivka as Russian controlled. I believe both are gray areas.
It appears that Russia pushed Ukraine out of the quarry in Soledar (2), but it is unclear if Russia controls the quarry yet.
Kharkiv didn’t get shelled last night, an uncommon luxury in recent weeks. However, rescuers found three more bodies in the rubble of the hostel Russia bombed on August 18th, which brought the death toll to 18.
Generally speaking, Russia is performing recon-in-force throughout the Kharkiv area to find weaknesses in the Ukrainian defenses, but Russians are suffering high casualties in these actions.
Igor wants russia to put him in charge of defending Sevastopol.
btw this is his improvised weapon he says a smart person would use. I’m not joking.
“I cant believe you idiots arent doing anything to defend the city. okay so first you take like 30 machine guns and then you weld them together and then attach a handle and then put that on a ball mount. simple. i cant believe you IDIOTS didnt think of this. hire me pls.