A Ukrainian soldier in a tank on the eastern front of the counter-offensive near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu/Getty)

Sunday’s Coverage: Drone Strikes on Moscow

Map: Institute for Study of War

UPDATE 1532 GMT:

Russian State media says opposition politician and dual British-Russian national Vladimir Kara-Murza has lost an appeal against his 25-year sentence.

Kara-Murza was condemned in April for treason and spreading “false information” about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

See also Ukraine War, Day 412: Russia’s “Stalinist Show Trial” of Vladimir Kara-Murza

UPDATE 1527 GMT:

The death toll from this morning’s Russian missile attack on Kryvyi Rih in south-central Ukraine is now six, including a child and her mother. At least 75 others, including five children, are injured. Twenty remain in hospital.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhiy Lysak added that almost 150 residents of a nine-story apartment block left by themselves and 30 were helped out by rescuers.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted that more than 350 people are still working on the rescue mission after the partial destruction of the apartment block and a strike on a university building.

UPDATE 1141 GMT:

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar says Ukraine’s counter-offensive has liberated 14.6 square km (5.64 miles) in the past week.

In the south, advances have regained 12.6 sq km towards the port city of Melitopol, bringing the total to 204.7 sq km since early June.

In the east, another 2 sq km has been retaken on the Bakhmut front, with a total of 37 sq km since the counteroffensive began.

UPDATE 1006 GMT:

The Kremlin is on the political defensive after confirmation that Saudi Arabia is convening an international summit — without Russia — to discuss Ukraine’s “Peace Formula” to end Moscow’s invasion (see 0720 GMT).

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, asked about the development during his daily briefing, said Russia needs to understand the aims of the planned talks and will be discussed.

UPDATE 0948 GMT:

The Russian missile strikes on an apartment block and an educational building in Kryvyi Rih this morning have killed four people, including a child, and injured at least 43.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor announced the latest casualties. Emergency service have rescued four civilians, including a child, but others may still be under rubble.

Oleksiy Kuleba, the deputy head of Ukraine President Voldoymyr Zelenskiy’s office, commented:

The enemy is hitting settlements and cities. This is terror due to the despair and defeat of the Russian Federation at the front. This is terror to intimidate and break Ukrainians.

Let’s take revenge for each and every one. We work and save our people.

UPDATE 0903 GMT:

A Russian outlet has confirmed that Ministry premises were among those damaged by drone strikes on two office buildings in Moscow on Sunday.

UPDATE 0850 GMT:

The toll from this morning’s Russian missile attack on Kryvyi Rih in south-central Ukraine has risen to two killed and at least 31 injured, including four children.

Two of the wounded are in serious condition. Between five and seven people are trapped under rubble.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has commented:

First Lady Olena Zelenska added about the attack on the native city of both her and her husband:

UPDATE 0845 GMT:

Images indicate that a Ukrainian shell has hit traffic in occupied Donetsk city in the east of the country.

Denis Pushilin, the Russian proxy governor, claimed two people were killed and six injured when a bus was hit.

He said a water facility was damaged by a drone.

UPDATE 0739 GMT:

Russia has hit another high-rise apartment block, killing one civilian and injuring 10 in Kryvyi Rih in south-central Ukraine.

The Russian missile destroyed the 4th to 9th floors of the block. A four-story building of an educational institution was struck by another missile.

Emergency services are searching for people under rubble.

In the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, Russian shelling killed a 60-year-old employee of a utility company and wounded four other people.

UPDATE 0728 GMT:

UK military intelligence complements Ukraine President Zelenskiy’s assessment that “war is returning to the territory of Russia”.

The analysts note legislation raising the maximum age for military service from 27 to 30, while — breaking a pledge to lift the minimum age to 21 — maintaining the lower limit at 18.

The increased chance of being compelled to fight, drone attacks on Moscow, exceptional level of domestic repression, and the recent Wagner mutiny combine to highlight the Russian state’s failure to insulate the population from the war.

UPDATE 0720 GMT:

Ukraine Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak has confirmed that Saudi Arabia is hosting an international meeting to discuss Kyiv’s “peace plan” to end the Russian invasion.

Yermak noted, “The Ukrainian Peace Formula contains 10 fundamental points, the implementation of which will not only ensure peace for Ukraine but also create mechanisms to counter future conflicts in the world.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that talks will be held in Jeddah on August 5-6.

Representatives of 30 countries will be invited to Jeddah, including officials from Ukraine, the European Union, the UK, Poland, South Africa, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Egypt, Mexico, Chile, and Zambia. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is expected to attend.

No invitation has been extended to Russia.

Yermak said the Peace Formula is being discussed bilaterally and in groups with representatives of more than 50 countries.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has welcomed “a good day, a powerful day” for Ukraine’s eight-week counter-offensive to liberate territory in the east and south from Russia’s invasion.

Zelenskiy said after visits this weekend to the eastern frontline near Bakhmut, and to Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine:

Thank you all for this day at the front — a good day, a powerful day. Bakhmut direction, other very hot and painful areas in Donbas: Avdiivka, Maryinka, and, of course, the southern directions.

In the past week, the Ukrainians have broken through the initial line of Russian defenses in the south, taking territory to the west and south of Orikhiv near the border of the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.

See also Ukraine War, Day 520: Counter-Offensive Breaks Russian Defense, Captures Village on Southern Front

The edge of the counter-offensive is now close to Tokmak, about 60 km (37 miles) from the port of Melitopol on the Sea of Azov.

In the east, Ukraine’s troops have gradually advanced to the north and south of Bakhmut.

Trying to divert Ukrainian forces, Russia has attacked further to the north, towards the city of Kupyansk which was liberated by Ukraine last autumn.

While the Russians gained about 6.45 sq km (2.5 sq miles) from July 21 to 28, George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War notes:

The squares captured by the Russians are tactically insignificant, agricultural territories far from the main roads. They are not threatening to reduce Ukraine’s defense capabilities in the east.

It looks like the Russians are simply forcing the Ukrainians to react incorrectly and withdraw their forces from more important directions, for example, from Bakhmut or from the south.

“War Is Returning to Russia”

During meetings with officials and a visit to a rehabilitation center in Ivano-Frankivsk on Sunday, Zelenskiy noted the recent series of attacks on Russian-occupied territory such as Crimea and inside Russia, including on Moscow.

Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia — to its symbolic centers and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural, and absolutely fair process.

Ukraine is getting stronger.

Moscow and its suburbs have been targeted in several sets of strikes since two drones approached the Kremlin on May 3. Last Monday, two drones crashed into office buildings, one near the Defense Ministry. On Sunday, UAVs struck the facades of two more high-rises.

Ukraine’s Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on Sunday:

All of the people who think the war “doesn’t concern them” – it’s already touching them.

There’s already a certain mood in Russia: that something is flying in, and loudly. There’s no discussion of peace or calm in the Russian interior any more. They got what they wanted.

Zelenskiy added the caution, “We must be aware that, just as last year, Russian terrorists can still attack our energy sector and critical facilities this winter.”