Maj. Gen. Vladimir Seliverstov (L), the commander of Russia’s 106th Guards Airborne Division
Saturday’s Coverage: Has Putin Agreed to Extension of Black Sea Grain Deal?
Map: Institute for Study of War
UPDATE 1505 GMT:
Ukraine forces reportedly destroyed a Russian missile armament warehouse in the Yuvileyne district of Luhansk city in eastern Ukraine on Saturday morning.
Local residents and Russian propagandists have reported series of explosions in the city of Luhansk on 16 July
Russian sources has claimed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have attacked Luhansk https://t.co/KJ9udSAjRS pic.twitter.com/GSqJTi7m1N
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) July 16, 2023
UPDATE 1156 GMT:
Russian officials says Ukrainian forces have fired at least 10 drones since Saturday night near Sevastopol — the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet — in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The Russian Defense Ministry and proxy governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, claim air defenses downed four drones and electronically disabled six.
UPDATE 0901 GMT:
Following South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol’s visit to Kyiv on Saturday, Seoul is providing more de-mining equipment and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
Deputy National Security Advisor, Kim Tae-hyo noted that, amid Ukraine’s counter-offensive (see 0731 GMT), Kyiv’s “demand” for the equipment, including mine detectors, was “assessed to be desperately huge”.
UPDATE 0856 GMT:
Russian shelling of residential buildings in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine has killed a 33-year-old man and wounded another man.
Governor Oleh Sinehubov said the Russians also fired 4 S-300 missiles on Kharkiv city, slightly damaging a residential building.
Three women and fourmen were injured in rocket fire on the village of Stepnohirske in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine.
UPDATE 0752 GMT:
Less than a month after their rebellion and advance on Moscow, Wagner Group mercenaries have arrived in Belarus from Russia, according to Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Polish officials.
Minsk said the mercenaries will be training Belarusian soldiers southeast of the capital.
The independent Belarusian monitoring group The Hajun Project said on Friday that Belarusian traffic police had escorted a convoy consisting of at least 60 Wagner vehicles.
The Ukrainian Resistance Center, citing Belarusian partisans, said 240 Wagner personnel, 40 trucks, and a large number of weapons have arrived in the town of Aspovichy.
Polish minister Stanislaw Zaryn said Warsaw has confirmation of Wagner’s presence in Belarus: “There may be several hundred of them at the moment.”
UPDATE 0731 GMT:
Ukraine’s forces have adjusted the tactics of their counter-offensive to minimize losses while continuing to wear down Russian defenses.
In the first two weeks of the month-long counteroffensive, up to 20% of weapons and armor on the battlefield was damaged or destroyed, according to US and European officials.
The officials said the rate of losses has dropped to about 10% as Ukraine makes gradual but slower-than-desired advances.
Ukrainian units are now focused more on wearing down the Russians with artillery strikes and long-range missiles, rather than moving rapidly into enemy minefields — which are three to 10 miles deep — and then facing Russian artillery and airstrikes.
Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said in a recent interview, “You can no longer do anything with just a tank with some armor, because the minefield is too deep, and sooner or later, it will stop and then it will be destroyed by concentrated fire.”
He added, “We need special equipment, we need special remote mine-clearance equipment.”
A “senior Ukrainian official” said Kyiv has received less than 15% of the quantity of de-mining and engineering materiel, including MICLICs, that it sought from partners before the counter-offensive. Some arrived only last week.
US officials said that they are providing more of the materiel, and that the recent decision to supply cluster munitions will give Kyiv fire superiority for the first time in Vladimir Putin’s 17-month invasion.
On the southern front, Ukraine’s forces have advanced about 5 of the 60 miles needed to capture the port cities of Melitopol and Berdyansk, splitting the Russian defenses from those in the east and isolating the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula.
On the eastern front, the counter-offensive has gradually regained territory around Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the nation on Friday:
We must all understand very clearly — as clearly as possible — that the Russian forces on our southern and eastern lands are investing everything they can to stop our warriors.
And every thousand meters of advance, every success of each of our combat brigades deserves gratitude.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia’s military has reportedly fired another commander for speaking out about the security of his troops.
Russian sources said Maj. Gen. Vladimir Seliverstov, the commander of the 106th Guards Airborne Division, is the latest dismissal. They noted Seliverstov’s reputation for reports to superiors on behalf of his soldiers.
See also Ukraine War, Day 492: A Purge of Russia’s Generals?
The 106th VDV Division has been operating in the Bakhmut area in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine since January. Russian forces, including Wagner Group mercenaries, seized Bakhmut in May after a year-long assault.
However, the forces now face a month-long Ukrainian counter-offensive which has liberated territory to the north and south of the city. The 137th Regiment of the 106th Division has been defending Bakhmut’s northern flank, and elements are also supporting Russian defensive operations to the south.
Relatives of mobilized personnel in the 137th Regiment appealed in April to Vladimir Putin, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, and the Governor of the Tula Region about poor conditions and lack of supplies.
Seliverstov’s dismissal comes days after the firing of Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, the commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army, after he told superiors of the mass casualties among his frontline troops from Ukraine’s artillery.
The 58th Army is trying to hold back the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine.
Battalion commander Alexander Khodakovsky, who leads forces facing the Ukrainian counter-offensives in the western Donetsk region on the southern front, extended Popov’s challenge on Saturday. He complained about the lack of Russian counter-battery capabilities.
“An Increasing Problem” for the Kremlin
UK military intelligence assessed on Saturday that “direct criticism from subordinates is likely to become an increasing problem” for Defense Minister Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Maj. Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the overall commander of the Russian invasion.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War explains further:
Endemic problems within the Russian war effort in Ukraine, exacerbated by poor decisions made by senior political and military leaders, are likely prompting strong-willed commanders to challenge their senior commanders in efforts to preserve their forces and lead combat effective units….
Seliverstov’s dismissal suggests that there is a deep concern within the Russian military leadership about the chain of command in Ukraine.
The analysts note that the 58th Combined Arms Army‘s and the 106th Airborne Division are “some of the most combat effective formations committed to the frontline”.