Ukrainian Troops Show Off Mastery At Blowing Up Russian Ammo Depots Near Kharkiv
Ukrainian forces have once again shown off their mastery at blowing up Russian ammunition depots, with this latest one in the Kharkiv region going up in smoke, as can be seen in these images. The images were obtained from the Office of Strategic Communications (StratCom) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Tuesday, 26th of July, along with a short statement saying: "In the Kharkiv region, another field ammunition store and personnel were destroyed." Ukrainian forces have had considerable success in recent weeks blowing up Russian ammunition depots in a strategy that is geared towards hobbling the invader's ammunition supply chains. Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is calling a "special military operation". Today marks the 153rd day of the invasion. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 26th July, Russia had lost about 39,870 personnel, 1,737 tanks, 3,959 armoured combat vehicles, 880 artillery units, 258 multiple launch rocket systems, 117 air defence systems, 222 warplanes, 189 helicopters, 722 drones, 174 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 2,835 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 75 units of special equipment. Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures. Ukraine has said that it hopes to begin exporting grain again via its ports in the coming days. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of "barbarism" after the port of Odesa, on the Black Sea, was hit by a missile. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that he expects both Ukraine and Russia to uphold the recently signed grain export agreement. Russian energy company Gazprom has said that it will once again cut gas supplies to the EU through its main pipeline from Wednesday. It has attributed the move to maintenance work. President Zelensky has called on Europe to hit back against Russia’s “gas war”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that his country’s primary goal is to topple the Ukrainian government. Ukraine has said that it destroyed 50 Russian ammunition depots using US-supplied HIMARS light multiple rocket launchers on Monday. The Ukrainian authorities have credited the systems, which were delivered in late June, with having helped them turn the war in their favour by helping them to undermine Russian logistics and slow down the invader’s offensive ability. Two American citizens who were killed in Ukraine in early July have been named as Luke Lucyszyn and Bryan Young. They were killed when they were ambushed by a Russian tank on 18th July, according to their Ukrainian commander, Ruslan Miroshnichenko.
