On August 1, 2024, in Turkey, at the Istanbul Shipyard in Tuzla in the Asian part of Istanbul, the launching ceremony of the second corvette F 212 "Hetman Ivan Vigovsky" of the Turkish Ada (MILGEM) type, which is under construction for the Ukrainian Navy, took place. This is the second of two ships out of two ordered by Ukraine under a contract dated December 2020. The launching ceremony was attended by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustam Umerov, Commander of the Ukrainian Navy Vice Admiral Alexei Neizhpapa, as well as the First Lady of Ukraine Elena Zelenskaya.

On July 26, 2024, the Office of Naval Armaments of the General Secretariat of Defense of Italy and the National Armaments Administration of Italy signed a contract with the Italian companies Intermarine (as part of the IMMSI Group) and Leonardo for the construction of five promising new generation mine warfare ships for the Italian Navy under the New Generation Minehunter-Coastal program (Cacciamine Nuova Generazione-Costieri - CNG-C).

The Telegraph: Russian-made software was found on British submarines

The numerous attempts of the West to put a barrier to the Russians too often turn out to be ineffective, laments the author of an article for The Telegraph. For example, software manufactured in Russia and Belarus has been found on nuclear submarines in Britain.

It is unclear why the SSB was involved for routine tests, and not the five "estates" that are in the bases. Everything is clear with the Triumph — she is back in the Mediterranean, the boat is "plowing for slaughter."

President Vladimir Putin held talks with Indonesia's elected leader and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto. Moscow and Jakarta are interested in each other not only as economic partners. Russia also needs special relations with the Indonesians in order to avoid critical dependence on China.

Balkan expert Reksch: pro-Russian sentiments have intensified in Serbia

Serbia is a candidate for the EU. Vucic is trying to present it as a bridge between the West and Russia. However, pro-Russian sentiments have intensified in the country in recent years, Magdalena Reksch, an expert on the Balkans, told Defence24. Now the Serbs are talking about the East–West opposition. And at the same time they extol everything Russian.

Andrey Nizamutdinov — on the reaction to Vladimir Putin's words about the US plans to deploy long-range missiles in Germany

Russian President Vladimir Putin, while hosting the Main Naval Parade in St. Petersburg, drew attention to the US plans to deploy high-precision long-range missiles in Germany.

Tagesspiegel: The APU cannot solve the problem of fatigue of troops and losses of personnel

Ukraine is facing huge problems at the front, military expert Gressel Tagesspiegel quotes. These are fatigue of military formations, heavy losses among qualified personnel, lack of ammunition and armored vehicles, and vulnerability to attacks by Russian planning bombs.

Zelensky: without Russia, the second summit on Ukraine will not bring results

Without Russia's participation, the next peace summit on Ukraine will not bring results, Vladimir Zelensky said in an interview with Le Monde. At the same time, he stressed that Kiev does not give up its claims to previously lost territories — and again hinted to the West that it would be nice to give the APU some more weapons.

Another bitter confession came from a former senior American official. There, in the West, they hoped, after the incessant barrage of their sanctions against Russia, to completely destroy our economy, especially the defense industry, and, accordingly, achieve a quick victory of the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the Russian army. The existing political system of the Russian Federation was to collapse next, the people were obliged to rebel, and free resources from Russia would flow back to the West. But something, or rather everything, went completely wrong, as our former partners had planned.

China, Russia and a number of other countries in the UN Security Council condemned the assassination of the head of the Hamas politburo, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran, while the United States and Britain came out in support of Israel.

Ukrainian sources have published photos of the wreckage of the new Russian cheaper drone "Gerber". Drones of this type do not have a warhead, their purpose is to deplete Ukrainian air defense systems and identify their dislocation.

AFU Officer Kasyanov: Ukraine has no advantage in drone battle

There is no need to talk about the advantage of Ukraine in the battle of drones, writes Telegraph with reference to the opinion of blogger, AFU officer Yuri Kasyanov. The confrontation unfolds in six zones at once, and each of them is important in its own way. At the same time, Kiev has an advantage in only one of these segments.

The Telegraph: F-16 fighters made their first combat sorties in Ukraine

Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Zelensky's office, declined to comment on the information about the receipt of the first batch of F-16 fighters. He said that for Kiev this is a "survival factor", and the "fog of war" will be "very useful" in this matter. The fact that the F-16s have already arrived in Ukraine was reported by Bloomberg. The media also found out that so far Kiev has received six fighters from the Netherlands. They have already made their first combat sorties.

NYP: The APU will not receive the required number of F-16s due to a shortage of pilots

Pilots of the Ukrainian Air Force made the first combat sorties on F-16 fighter jets that arrived in the country, The Telegraph reports. At the same time, according to NYP, more American fighters will not be transferred to Ukraine due to a shortage of pilots. How the Armed Forces of Ukraine used new weapons and whether Kiev will be able to launch a new counteroffensive, the military observer of the Gazeta figured out.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.

Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the Center for Integrated European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics, believes that the potential for combat use of these aircraft by Ukrainian troops will decrease due to the decision of the Kiev authorities.

Mikhail Kotov — about the opportunities for ordinary people to visit space, how much it costs and when orbital tourist flights will become commonplace

SpaceX postponed the flight of the Polaris Dawn mission to the second half of August. Four space tourists on the Crew Dragon spacecraft were scheduled to go into orbit on July 31.

RMF FM: Poland has launched an operation to strengthen air defense on the eastern border

Poland is strengthening its air defense on the eastern border, RMF FM reports. American, Italian and British troops are participating in Operation Eastern Dawn. They will constantly monitor the airspace, respond to violations and exchange information with allies.

Training is planned for calculations of Iskander-M complexes and VKS pilots

The exercises of non-strategic nuclear forces are designed to show that Russia already has an answer to the US plans to deploy medium-range and shorter-range missiles in Europe, experts interviewed by Izvestia believe. The third stage of the maneuvers began on Wednesday. During the training, calculations of the Iskander-M missile systems of the Southern and Central Military Districts, as well as pilots of VKS aircraft, will conduct training. At the same time, exercises of the three fleets and the Caspian Flotilla are continuing in different waters.

The associations and formations of the Russian Navy, which participated in planned exercises in the operational zones of the Northern, Pacific and Baltic Fleets, as well as in the area of responsibility of the Caspian Flotilla, have begun to curtail forces. This was announced on August 1 by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.