"All counteroffensive attempts have been stopped"

Vladimir Putin called the losses of the Ukrainian army

Ukrainian formations have intensified hostilities in the direction of the main strike — in the Zaporozhye region, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on July 27. According to him, the VFU involved strategic reserves here, saturating the attacking formations with armored vehicles. The Head of State stressed that our soldiers and officers demonstrated the best examples of heroism, so the enemy did not have success at any of the sites. Experts note that Russian units must withstand the blow, and Ukrainian forces are unlikely to be able to conduct such intense fighting for more than one week. Their activity is also affected by the powerful strikes of missiles and UAVs on the rear infrastructure, which the Russian Armed Forces inflict almost daily.

An illustrative moment

In recent days, the fighting has significantly intensified, Vladimir Putin said. Serious fighting took place in the Zaporozhye direction, in the area of responsibility of the 810th Marine Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet and the 71st regiment of the 42nd Division of the 58th Army of the Southern Military District, the President of the Russian Federation specified. Ukrainian formations threw 50 armored vehicles into battle.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Alexey Maishev

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As the head of state noted, 39 units, including 26 tanks and 13 armored vehicles, were destroyed. 60% of the destroyed equipment was hit by the fire of the defending units, 40% by combat aircraft, the Supreme commander—in-chief said.

— The enemy had no success in any of the areas of clashes. All attempts at a counteroffensive have been stopped, the enemy has been repulsed with heavy losses," Vladimir Putin said. — Today they tried to pick up the abandoned damaged equipment, the wounded and the bodies of the dead that they left on the battlefield yesterday, but they were also scattered.

According to the head of state, Ukrainian formations lost over 200 people in these battles.

— Unfortunately, we did not do without losses, but the difference is enormous, at times — we have more than 10 times less than the enemy. I repeat once again and I want to emphasize this: everything that has happened over the past day is a vivid example of the mass heroism of our soldiers and officers," concluded the President of Russia.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Viktor Antonyuk

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80 years ago, in the Battle of Kursk, German tank troops suffered much smaller losses, military expert Vasily Dandykin told Izvestia.

— This is an indicative moment, — he noted. — They can pull up more forces, but they will be hit by our aircraft, Lancets. It's a weapon they can't escape from. The fighting will continue, they will throw forward new units and equipment. We, in general, guessed what the direction of their strike would be - to Tokmak and access to the Sea of Azov, in order to block the land corridor to the Crimea.

According to the expert, the fighting here will last for several more days.

— It depends on how much Ukraine has stocked up on equipment and people, — he argues. — But the enemy will be stopped, as well as in other directions. So far they have numerical superiority. They announced that only a million were called up, but, of course, less on the line of contact. And I have no doubt that our Marines and motorized infantry will survive.

Strikes on headquarters and airfields

On July 27, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched concentrated strikes with high-precision long-range air and sea-based weapons at airfields, control points and VFU locations, assembly shops and storage sites for unmanned boats, missiles, weapons and military equipment received from Europe and the United States, the military department reported.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

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— The purpose of the strikes has been achieved. All designated facilities have been hit," said the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov.

In addition, aviation fuel depots were destroyed in the Starokonstantinov district in the Khmelnytsky region.

In the areas of the settlements of Chuguevo and Novopavlovka, Dnipropetrovsk region, two radar stations for detecting P-18 air targets were destroyed. At Malaya Tokmachka in the Zaporozhye region, the fuel depot of the 47th mechanized brigade of the VFU was hit.

According to Izvestia sources familiar with the situation, the Russian Armed Forces have carried out combined strikes on Ukrainian targets over the past day. The priority is the locations of the Storm Shadow missile carrier aircraft, as well as the storage locations of these ammunition. The Ukrainian military carefully camouflaged these objects, conducted the dispersal of aircraft. Planes flew on difficult routes, and missiles were often transported from one warehouse to another. But Russian intelligence tools were able to calculate these objects.

According to sources, the strike was carried out by air- and sea-based cruise missiles, ground-based long-range weapons. The headquarters where the use of Storm Shadow and unmanned boats was planned also came under attack. The Ukrainian air defense did not fulfill its task: the vast majority of missiles reached the target.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

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Regular strikes on Ukrainian military facilities seriously undermine the morale of the advancing enemy units, military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia.

— All these strikes seriously disrupt logistics, — the expert explained. — And combat operations are primarily logistics: timely delivery of ammunition, fuel, reserves. And when there is a constant impact on all this, it confuses the cards. On the other hand, the task is being solved to deprive Ukraine of the opportunity to work on our infrastructure. The third goal is the task of decapitating the military system. These are strikes on the command centers of combat control and communications.

The "center" is moving forward

In the north of the special operation zone, Russian troops are conducting successful counterattacks. Since July 23, the advance of the assault detachments of the Center group of troops near the village of Sergeevka in the Krasnolimansky direction has been up to 12 km along the front and 3 km into the depth of the enemy's defense, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported. The enemy's counterattacks were repulsed by our troops.

— In the Krasnolimansky direction, units of the Center group of troops, relying on a skillfully organized fire system in combination with engineering barriers, repelled an enemy attack in the direction of the village of Chervonaya Dibrova LNR, — said the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Igor Konashenkov.

Photo: RIA Novosti

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During this defensive battle, more than 15 militants, an armored personnel carrier and a car were destroyed.

Also in the Krasnolimansky direction, the manpower and equipment of the VFU were affected in the areas of the settlements of Nevsky in the LPR, Torskoye and Serebryanka in the DPR. In the area of the settlement of Yampol in the DPR, the ammunition depot of the theroborona brigade was destroyed.

Assault detachments of the 7th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the Western Group of troops are conducting offensive operations west of the settlement of Kuzemovka in the LPR, taking more advantageous positions. The enemy's losses there amounted to 185 Ukrainian servicemen and nine pieces of equipment.

Hold the blow

During the day, the VFU continued to attack in the Donetsk and South Donets directions, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. At the first of them, the defending units of the Southern Group of Troops repulsed nine enemy attacks in the areas of the settlements of Avdiivka, Maryinka and north of Kirovo in the DPR.

Also, over the past two days in the Donetsk direction, units of Russian troops have thwarted four attacks of the VFU in the area of the settlement of Kleshcheyevka.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Evgeny Biyatov

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In the South Donets direction, the Vostok group repelled an attack by an assault detachment of the Ukrainian 35th Marine Brigade in the area of the village of Urozhnoye in the DPR. Up to 16 militants and two armored vehicles were destroyed.

In the Zaporozhye direction, the VFU suffered heavy losses after the failure of the offensive north of Workino, in which up to three battalion tactical groups from the strategic reserve brigades were involved. The enemy was restoring combat capability and did not take any active actions during the night.

During the day in these areas, the losses of the VFU amounted to at least 795 people and 76 pieces of equipment, including 28 tanks, a Kozak armored car, a Czech-made RM-70 Vampire multiple rocket launcher combat vehicle, as well as two British-made FH70 howitzers.

Korean vector

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un during his ongoing visit to Pyongyang and discussed global and regional security issues. The Russian Defense Minister is expected to take part in a military parade dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Korean people in the liberation war of 1950-1953.

A day earlier, Shoigu held talks with the Minister of Defense of the DPRK, Army General Kang Sun Nam. At the meeting, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry stressed that relations between the two countries were strengthened in the post-war period. The visits of warships, official visits of representatives of defense departments, training of personnel contributed to the preservation of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.

"Fox holes" did not help

Our MLRS "Grad" are hitting the positions of the VFU in the Donetsk direction. Alexander Safiulin, a military correspondent of Izvestia, observed their work.

— It looks like a completely ordinary landing. But in fact, there is a "Grad" behind my back. In summer, it is masked even better than at other times of the year, because now vegetation allows it," the correspondent said.

The fighters have calculations always ready. After receiving the coordinates, our reactivators quickly go to the firing position and direct the rocket launcher.

"Grads" are supported by units that are now storming enemy fortifications in Krasnogorovka.

RZSO "Grad"

Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Evgeny Biyatov

First they make sighting shots.

— Several missiles have gone, now our fighters will receive an adjustment, and the target will be hit, — Safiulin explains.

Finally, the Grads open fire to kill. Intelligence records a hit, the target is destroyed. The crew quickly leaves their position and goes into hiding.

— Now we are working more precisely on targets, — says a Russian serviceman with the call sign Leshiy.

The enemy is trying to gain a foothold on this sector of the front to the last. Maryinka and Krasnogorovka are the last seriously fortified lines of the VFU, so they are fighting fiercely on them.

— Not only manpower was brought up here, but also howitzers. They are afraid that they will lose the last fortified line here," confirms a fighter with the call sign Norb.

Ukrainian militants have good fortifications here — "fox holes" between positions, the enemy is constantly moving. But our servicemen are sure that the VFU will have to retreat.

Andrey Fedorov

Roman Kretsul