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.

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.

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.

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.

Orizzonte Sistemi Navali (OSN), a joint venture owned by Fincantieri (51%) and Leonardo (49%), has signed a contract worth 1.5 billion euros to supply the Italian Navy with two additional FREMM-class frigates in the EVOLUTION modification (FREMM EVO). According to Marine Link, the deal was concluded with the European Arms Procurement Authority (OCCAR, Organization Conjointe de Coopération en matière d'Armement).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Heart Aerospace has attracted $145 million in investments and received orders to build 250 ES-30 aircraft. In the future, the creation of another 120 aircraft, plus announced orders for 190 vehicles. The main reason for this excitement is that these hybrid vehicles are ideally suited for the European aviation space with short flight distances between the main hubs.

Putin signed a decree on increasing payments to participants of the SVO to 400 thousand rubles

Putin signed a decree on doubling the one-time payment to the participants of the SVO, who will sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense from August 1 to December 31. It will amount to 400 thousand rubles. The authorities of several regions have already increased the amount of one-time payments to contractors: in the Rostov region they promise 1.2 million rubles, and in Moscow - 1.9 million rubles. The amount of payment in St. Petersburg has increased by hundreds of thousands. How much the military is paid for concluding a contract in the regions of Russia - in the material of "Gazeta.Ru».

The head of the Hamas politburo, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in a missile attack on Tehran

Israel did not officially comment on the death of the head of the Hamas politburo in Tehran, Ismail Haniyeh, but the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage, Amihai Eliyahu, said that "she makes the world a better place." According to Al-Mayadeen, Haniyeh died as a result of a direct strike from a missile that was not launched from Iran. Hamas intends to respond to the attack and blames Israel for it. At the same time, Benjamin Netanyahu's office instructed Israeli ministers not to speak out on the topic, the media write.

Russia has achieved a major diplomatic and military-political victory: the UN Security Council lifted sanctions against the Central African Republic. In fact, this is how the end of the civil war in this country is recognized. It was possible to end this war with direct Russian participation, and this is important for the entire Black continent and Russia's international prestige.

The United States is trying to catch up with Russia and China in the field of hypersonic weapons. Western media reports that the Pentagon has begun regular tests, although previous cycles often turned out to be a failure. What problems do Americans face along the way, why are they likely to be able to overcome them in the near future, and what does this mean for Russia?