- The villages of Vovche and Prohres in Ukraine’s Donetsk region have been captured by Russian forces, as reported by Ukraine’s military.
- After Russia announced the interception of a drone attack, the Ukrainian Security Service carried out strikes on substations in the Kursk region, resulting in power outages.
- These villages are located approximately 20 miles northwest of Avdiivka, which was seized by Russia in February.
On Monday, a sergeant from the Ukrainian army confirmed that Russian forces had taken control of two frontline villages in the eastern Donetsk region, following a series of relentless assaults as part of a Kremlin summer strategy to break through battlefield defenses.
In a separate incident, the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, targeted multiple substations in Russia’s Kursk region, causing power outages, following Russia’s claim that it thwarted a nighttime drone attack from Ukraine.
“They pressed on continuously” to secure Vovche and Prohres, stated Oleh Chaus, chief sergeant of Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, in an interview with Radio Svaboda. “They deployed a significant number of troops, which had not been utilized before.”
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Recently, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced it had secured control over the villages, but the Ukrainian General Staff has not officially commented on the situation.
In this image taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on July 10, 2024, a Russian T-80 tank is seen firing towards Avdiivka from an undisclosed position. (Photo by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
The two villages are located roughly 20 miles northwest of Avdiivka, a city in Donetsk that was captured by the Russian military in February following an extended conflict. This victory marked the Kremlin’s last significant success in a war that has now persisted for three years.
Russia’s ongoing offensive, bolstered by a notable superiority in both personnel and armaments, has consistently compelled Ukrainian forces to withdraw from their defensive lines to prevent encirclement or fatalities.
Oleksandr Shyrshyn, the deputy battalion commander of the 47th brigade, confirmed to local news outlets that the villages had fallen. He attributed the setbacks to inadequate training of troops, lack of capable officers, low morale, and insufficient weaponry.
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On Sunday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterized the situation in the Donetsk region as “extremely difficult.”
Russia’s strategy of war based on attrition, involving powerful glide bombs dismantling Ukrainian defenses prior to infantry advances, has yielded gradual gains for the Kremlin as it aims for another substantial breakthrough.
A member of Ukraine’s National Guard 15th Brigade operates a reconnaissance drone, Leleka, to assess Russian positions near the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region on July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)
The Ukrainian forces are significantly outgunned along the approximately 600-mile front line by Russia’s larger military.
Additionally, Russian troops are intensifying their efforts to penetrate Ukrainian defenses in and around Pokrovsk, a town with a pre-war population of about 60,000, as noted by the Ukrainian General Staff on Monday.
In the previous 24 hours, Russia conducted 52 assaults in that area—nearly double the average daily count seen in recent weeks.
On another front, Russian air defenses successfully intercepted a nighttime wave of 39 Ukrainian drones across five regions in Russia, according to authorities on Monday. Ukraine, however, asserted that its forces executed strikes in the Kursk region.
Russian air defenses were active, with reports of explosions occurring near at least four substations. Following the attacks, power outages were noted in the Ponyrovsky, Solntsevsky, and Kursky districts of the Kursk region, per the General Staff’s announcement.
A Ukrainian soldier from the National Guard 15th Brigade works with a reconnaissance drone, Leleka, in a wheat field near the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on July 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)
The attacks were executed by the Special Operations Center of the Security Service of Ukraine, along with other branches of the Defense Forces.
“These facilities play a crucial role, among other things, in the operation of the Russian railway, which is essential for transporting weaponry and military gear to bolster its occupying forces,” the statement detailed.
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Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that the drones were “intercepted and eliminated” in regions bordering Ukraine, as well as in the Leningrad region, about 430 miles north of the Ukrainian border. Damage was incurred to a power station, a bridge, and a power line due to drone fragments, they noted.
In its efforts to make the conflict more costly for Russia and disrupt its military operations, Ukraine has increasingly deployed advanced drone technology for strikes deep within Russian territory, targeting critical infrastructure.
