A photo from the Ukrainian military of the damaged Russian ferry Slavyanin in occupied Crimea, July 23, 2024

Tuesday’s Coverage: Russia Condemns US-Russian Journalist Kurmasheva to 6 1/2 Years in Prison

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1118 GMT:

An official in Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency has been seriously injured by a car bomb in Moscow.

The man’s feet were blown off in the attack that destroyed a Toyota Land Cruiser. His wife was injured, and five other cars were damaged.

Ukraine denied involvement in the attack. Presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told independent Russian media that he believed there was “a malfunction with the gas equipment in the car”.

UPDATE 1010 GMT:

Four civilians were killed and 17 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine in the past 24 hours.

In the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, three people were killed and three injured during a Russian attack against Lyman. Three others were wounded in Marynivka.

The body of a 77-year-old woman was found in rubble and two people injured in Kherson city in southern Ukraine.

Casualties were also reported in the Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

The office of a Swiss NGO in Kharkiv city in northeast Ukraine was struck by a Russian missile at 5 a.m.

Governor Oleh Syniehubov announced the strike on the Swiss Foundation) for Mine Action.

The attack by an Iskander-M and another missile also damaged an industrial building, five cars, and a house.

UPDATE 0853 GMT:

An official says Ukraine’s military intelligence is behind cyberattack that affected several Russian banks.

Russian media reports interrupted service by banks such as Raiffeisen, Gazprombank, Rosselkhozbank, and Rosbank. The outages also affected social networks, payment systems on public transport, and some airlines.

The press service of Rosselkhozbank confirmed a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack interrupting online services.

The Ukrainian military official said attacks are “ongoing and far from being completed”.

UPDATE 0845 GMT:

Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a long-term ally of Vladimir Putin, says it will block European Peace Facility funding for Ukraine until Kyiv allows the resumption of the flow of Russian oil through its territory.

Slovakia and Hungary said this month that the supply from Lukoil through the Druzhba pipeline had been halted. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow is working to ensure the continuation of oil supplies through Ukraine but did not comment on supply interruptions.

UPDATE 0835 GMT:

Russian authorities have condemned another journalist to a long prison sentence.

A court in Moscow found Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar guilty in absentia of knowingly distributing false information. It issued an 8 1/2-year sentence.

Zygar has written about war crimes committed by Russian forces during their mass killing of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, near Kyiv, in March 2022.

UPDATE 0825 GMT:

Ukraine has repeated its request for the US to lift restrictions on the use of American weapons inside Russia.

Ukraine Defense Minister Rustem Umerov spoke with US counterpart Lloyd Austin on Tuesday and later issued a statement: “I once again highlighted the importance and urgency of lifting the bans on long-range fires.”

The Pentagon said, “During the call, the Secretary reaffirmed the unwavering support of the United States for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.”

In April, the US authorized the delivery of ATACMS missiles, with a range of up to 300 miles, to Kyiv. However, the Biden Administration maintained the ban on strikes on any targets, including military positions, in Russia.

The restriction was loosened in late May to allow strikes on positions supporting Russia’s cross-border offensive into the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine. But US officials restated that any attacks beyond that were still forbidden.

UPDATE 0613 GMT:

The Ukraine military’s commander-in-chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi has said the battlefield is “very difficult”, but pledged that Kyiv will prevail.

In an interview with The Guardian, Syrskyi said, “The Russian aggressor attacks our positions in many directions.”

He emphasized that Russia has a 2:1 or even 3:1 advantage in weapons and equipment, with a doubling of their tanks on the battlefield from 1,700 to 3,500 since 2022; a tripling of artillery systems; and an increase in armored personnel carriers from 4,500 to 8,900.

“The enemy has a significant advantage in force and resources,” Syrskyi summarized. So it was imperative that Ukraine’s partners step up military support: “For us, the issue of supply, the issue of quality, is really at the forefront.”

If that occurred, Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine can be halted, he assured, with a resistance which “depends on our brave soldiers, our officers” in “resilient and heroic” Ukrainian units defeating larger enemy groups.

Skyrskyi cited the failure of Russia’s cross-border offensive to seize territory in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine in May. And if Russia launched an assault in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south, “we can give them a good response”.

The general added context for “active hostilities” along 977 km — “twice the length of the border between Germany and France” — of a 3,700 km-long frontline.

Russia’s creeping victories were “tactical” local gains rather than an “operational” breakthrough and the capture of a major city: “In principle, the enemy has not made any significant progress.”

Russia’s casualties were “three times” higher than Ukraine’s, and “even more” in certain directions.

Syrskyi noted that Russian commanders, who are known for sacrificing huge numbers of infantry troops to gain “100 to 200 meters”. In contrast, “it’s very important for us to save the lives of our soldiers. We don’t defend ruins to the death.”

Syrskyi observed that Russia had been forced by Ukrainian drone and missile strikes to “completely pull out” from the port of Sevastopol in Crimea. He said Kyiv has a plan to regain the peninsula.

It’s realistic. Of course, it’s a big military secret. We will do everything we can to reach the internationally recognized borders of 1991. We have to win…to liberate our citizens who are in the occupied territories, who are suffering.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine has struck another Russian ship involved in Vladimir Putin’s 29-month invasion, hitting a ferry laden with military cargo.

The Ukrainian military confirmed that an overnight attack on occupied Crimea “seriously damaged” the Slavyanin:

The occupiers used this ferry to transport railway wagons, motor vehicles and containers for military purposes.

Slavyanin is the third and last railway ferry that the Russian Federation had in the specified region.

The General Staff did not identify the munition used in the attack, but Russia claimed its forces downed 21 Ukrainian drones over Crimea and the Black Sea early Tuesday. Telegram channels reported explosions in Crimea, seized by the Russians in 2014.

The Russian proxy governor, Veniamin Kondratyev, said drones attacked the ferry at the Port of Kavkaz, in the Kerch Strait connecting Crimea with the Krasnodar region in southwest Russia.

Kondratyev said one person was killed and others were injured in the attack.

Traffic was reportedly halted on the Kerch Bridge.

The bridge has been seriously damaged on two occasions by Ukrainian attacks. The ferry crossing was struck several times in late May by drones and missiles.

Ukraine has damaged or destroyed around 1/3 of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, breaking Moscow’s hold on the waterway and enabling shipments of grain and other essentials from Ukrainian ports.