“Ukraine – Russia”

In every big-city cemetery, the ‘Heroes Alley’ of fallen soldiers now holds several hundred graves

At a small army field clinic outside Bakhmut, I watched as the body of a dead soldier was carried in. Two more soldiers followed, this time seriously injured — and this was what troops described as a “quiet day.” Ukraine doesn’t talk about its military deaths much and refuses to reveal any figures. There’s little in the way of victim culture here; the emphasis is on how brave its troops are, not how many have perished. Most people know someone who’s died in action, but treat the collective trauma as something to worry about when the war is over. In the meantime, there’s vodka.

In the first two weeks of Ukraine’s grueling counteroffensive, as much as 20 percent of the weaponry it sent to the battlefield was damaged or destroyed, according to American and European officials. The toll includes some of the formidable Western fighting machines — tanks and armored personnel carriers — the Ukrainians were counting on to beat back the Russians.

The startling rate of losses dropped to about 10 percent in the ensuing weeks, the officials said, preserving more of the troops and machines needed for the major offensive push that the Ukrainians say is still to come.

#Ukraine: A Russian Uragan 9P140 220mm and a 9P138 Grad-1 122mm multiple rocket launcher were destroyed by Ukrainian GMRLS strikes in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast. pic.twitter.com/vq7POs0n9f

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 13, 2023

The war for Ukraine is now more than 500 days old. To some Canadian volunteers who have been on the ground delivering aid for most of that time, Western fatigue with the conflict is becoming almost as dangerous an enemy as the invading Russian army.

Sunday marked Paul Hughes’ 500th day in Ukraine, a stretch that began when the Canadian military veteran arrived on the ninth day of the invasion. He planned to fight the Russians with a gun in his hand. His role quickly morphed into what he calls an “underground” humanitarian operation. He now delivers food, medicines and other goods to cities on and near the front line, using minivans that display large Canadian flags on their hoods.

A Russian soldier convicted of insubordination was among a group of conscripts who accused their superiors of locking them up in a cellar in eastern Ukraine after they refused to fight, subjecting them to unsanitary living conditions and an insufficient diet, according to a report by an independent Russian news outlet.

The conviction of soldier Yevgeny Frolov in the far-eastern city of Spassk-Dalny on July 13 came days after new video footage emerged purporting to show Russian soldiers in Ukraine placed in captivity for refusing to go to the front line with insufficient equipment and support.

#Ukraine: A Russian 2S4 Tyulpan 240mm self-propelled mortar was destroyed by a GMLRS strike of the Ukrainian army near Zaitseve, #Donetsk Oblast – filmed by a 🇵🇱 WB FlyEye recon UAV. pic.twitter.com/iICkJrZPa1

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 16, 2023

Sitting in his clunky, Soviet-designed helicopter, Major Maksym of the Ukrainian air force could offer only one explanation for why he and his colleagues keep flying despite being outgunned and outnumbered by their Russian adversaries: “We have iron arses.”

A field of sunflowers swayed in the breeze outside the cabin door as he elaborated: “We have only courage, morale and experience to help us, but that’s it.”

#Ukraine: A Ukrainian M2A2 Bradley ODS-SA infantry fighting vehicle driving after suffering significant damage – it was allegedly hit by a tank projectile tearing off a side armor panel and breaking a hole into the hull. pic.twitter.com/YuAJz8Flww

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 14, 2023

For decades, it has been goading Russia into a conflict it never intended to fight.

At the Vilnius summit this week, NATO leaders have been telling anyone who will listen that Ukraine’s future lies within NATO. As US president Joe Biden put it to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine is going to become a NATO member.

Are we going to war? Because Joe Biden just mobilized several thousand more U.S. armed forces reserves to defend NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). As the Biden administration has consistently escalated the tragic situation in Ukraine, it’s an ominous move.

Standing on a steep grassy hill, a figure in uniform took aim with a rifle. Several shots pinged into a pile of tyres. Nearby, police officers took turns firing from a DShK, or “Dushka”, heavy machine gun, mounted on a green-painted military vehicle. The rounds echoed across the rustic shooting range, scattering swallows. Down a track was a farmstead with cows.

The sniper was not a Ukrainian soldier but a 58-year-old British former marine called Alan. From Plymouth, in south-west England, Alan is one of a small group of foreign volunteers fighting in Ukraine, more than 16 months after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Alan, who declined to give his second name, arrived last September. Soon he will go back to the frontline.

#Ukraine: A Russian 9A331M TLAR of the 9K332 Tor-M2 air defense system was destroyed by Ukrainian high-precision strikes in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast. pic.twitter.com/IFNoCaKadT

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 14, 2023

For the first time, Ukraine is significantly at odds with its backers in its war with Russia. Up to now, Kyiv could always be counted on to follow the NATO line.

Since Ukraine was dependent on Western arms, this made sense. Why would Ukraine bite the hand that fed it?

But now, the hand is being bitten. Kyiv wants to be a full-fledged part of NATO. But NATO is reluctant to give it full member status.

Russia will view the Western supply of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine as “a threat in the nuclear sphere” due to the aircraft’s ability to carry nuclear weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian daily Lenta.ru, published on Wednesday, July 12th.

Among other topics, the foreign minister discussed the plans of the so-called ‘Fighter Jet Coalition,’—which includes Denmark, the Netherlands, the U.S., the UK, Norway, Portugal, and Belgium—to supply Ukraine with as many as 50 of the U.S.-made F-16s in the coming months.

Drone warfare has changed the rules of engagement

Down in a bunker a little way back from the Ukraine frontline, I am watching a key event in modern warfare: a drone attack in real time.

The command centre is a small room with three TV monitors, two of which are divided into four screens. All are showing drone footage from different parts of the front’s 20 kilometres of trenches. Four men sit in front of the screens. Two men sit off at the side — one on a laptop, one manning a two-way radio. In the centre of the room stands Bereza, the Brigade commander, barking into his phone.

#Ukraine: In the vicinity of Kurdyumivka, #Donetsk Oblast, a Russian T-90M tank was damaged and abandoned after being hit by a loitering munition and then a drone-dropped RGT-27S2 thermobaric grenade of the Ukrainian 28th Mechanised Brigade. pic.twitter.com/Glit8ocuYi

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 12, 2023

“We can state that the results of the summit are good,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday at the close of the NATO gathering in Vilnius this week, “but if there was an invitation, they would be ideal.”

Germany has found traces of explosives in samples taken from a yacht that it suspects “may have been used to transport the explosives” to blow up the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, according to a letter written with Sweden and Denmark updating the UN Security Council on the probe.

The three representatives highlighted to the UN’s most powerful body that the investigation was ongoing.

According to Reuters news agency, the three representatives are conducting separate investigations and sent an update ahead of a meeting of the 15-member Security Council called by Russia on Tuesday. Russia has complained about not being informed about the probes.