Dispatch for August 8

A video with the damage to the Antonivskyi road bridge has been published. An impact point similar to a HIMARS strike, signatures of smaller caliber artillery strikes (for example, Excalibur), construction equipment and a generator punctured by shrapnel can be seen. The damage appears much more serious and dangerous than the prior ones. Contrary to our opinion, the occupying authorities keep announcing the imminent opening of the Antonivskyi bridge, although it’s logical to assume that they are going to use a pontoon (or ferry) crossing.

There haven’t been any significant changes on the front line, since the main forces have shifted to the south, where the offensive has not yet been launched.

A very slow tactical advance has begun on the Donetsk front and on the Bakhmut-Soledar-Siversk defense line. Over the past weeks, the situation around Siversk has not changed much. The settlements of Spirne and Verkhn'okam'yans'ke are still under Ukrainian control, despite multiple claims of seizing Siversk made by the pro-Russian forces after they had captured the city of Lysychansk.

Evidence of a fire in a warehouse in the city of Donetsk has surfaced. The cause of the fire is still unknown. There have been no reports of secondary detonations.

During the night of August 8 explosions were heard in Melitopol. The Ukrainian mayor of occupied Melitopol Ivan Fedorov reported that HIMARS strikes destroyed a large quantity of Russian equipment and killed more than 100 soldiers. As of yet there is no confirmation of this from other sources.

Video footage has been published showing the explosion of an ammunition depot in the occupied town of Chaplynka in the Kherson region (presumably Ukrainian forces carried out the attack).

Russian troops shelled the Ukrainian-controlled town of Krasnohorivka in the Donetsk region. A multi-storey apartment building was hit.

Russian forces shelled two districts in the Dnipropetrovsk region (the Nikopol and Kryvyi Rih districts) with Grad MLRS rockets and missiles. Four villages in two territorial communities came under fire. Marhanets was fired upon with 20 Grad MLRS rockets.   

The Ukrainian Air Force command informs that military infrastructure in the Vinnytsia Region was struck with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles (Iskander missiles modified for launching from an aircraft). Due to the extremely high velocity of these missiles, the air raid alarm activated only several minutes after the explosion.   

The Interfax news agency reports that Russian forces destroyed 45 thousand tons of ammunition near Mykolaiv. The destruction of such a large warehouse could not go unnoticed, yet the Ukrainian side did not report any strikes on ammunition depots. 

According to the Governor of the Mykolaiv Region Vitaly Kim, the city's closure for a curfew last  weekend went smoothly, several enemy spotters and informants were detained. 

According to the news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS, the head of the Russian-appointed administration of the Zaporizhzhia Region, Yevhen Balytskyi, signed an order to hold a referendum on joining Russia.

The Defence Express publication reports, citing its own sources, that the Russians are moving their warehouses deeper into the rear, even within Russia. In the Belgorod Region, a field camp of two divisions of the 6th Army of the Western Military District was transferred from the village of Komsomolsky (22-23 km from the border with Ukraine) to the village of Khokhlovo (50-51 km from the border).

As we see, Ukraine doesn't use HIMARS systems for hitting Russian territory, but strikes with Ukrainian «Tochka-U» missiles impose a real threat; we have already registered multiple hits on Belgorod and other objects within Russian territory. We again emphasize the necessity of evacuating civilians from the territory near the Ukraine - Russia border. 

US Deputy Minister of Defense Colin Kahl announced the delivery of AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles launched from Ukrainian MiG-29s. The missiles are set in advance with a program for a particular target, an aircraft assumes the required altitude, gains necessary speed and launches a missile, which is led afterwards by coordinates to home in a Russian air defense radar. 

According to Vasyl Bondar, the Ukrainian ambassador in Turkey, the Turkish company Baykar (the producer of Bayraktar combat drones) is going to build a plant for manufacturing of UAVs in Ukraine by the end of this year (a joint venture has already been established, a land plot acquired and the design accomplished).

Operations Command «South» reports that first three German Gepard anti-aircraft armored fighting vehicles have arrived in Ukraine. These vehicles will cover important infrastructure facilities fromattacks by helicopters, fighter aircraft attacking from low or ultra-low altitudes, drones and some missiles. 

A video from Romania has been published, showing the movement of a large column of M142 HIMARS. These are Romanian systems being moved due to their own internal affairs, and not to Ukraine.

Ukrainian troops came up with a new DIY MLRS: two pickup trucks with unguided rocket pods mounted on them. Now the compact MLRS of such kind can strike over large areas.

Iran denies that it will provide Russia the use of their satellite to spy on Ukraine, to avoid further sanctions. Earlier, Iran denied the possibility of supplying attack drones to Russia. But, since the satellite was built and launched by Russia, there will be a period of launching, testing and orbit adjustment prior to its transfer to Iran. Any kind of spying may be disguised as this stage.

Kommersant (TN: a Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov-owned daily newspaper) reports that more than 40 volunteer units have been created in Russia; those who join them are promised to be paid 130 to 300 thousand rubles (depending on the region). Volunteers are being recruited by regional authorities and the payment burden lays on regional budgets. 

A number of Western researchers have detected that Russia continues bringing in heavy armored vehicles from storage. Tanks have disappeared from an open storage area at the 22th Central Tank Reserve Base in Bui, Kostroma region (between June and 4th of August as satellite photos show). They are apparently now being prepared for further use at the front line.

A screenshot of a post allegedly published in Zaporizhzhia News public page has appeared in Internet. The post says that the Chief of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Major General Valerii Vasilev supposedly said speaking to soldiers: " It will be Russian territory here or scorched desert". There was no such a post in Zaporizhzhia News and, as we know, the Chief of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops is Lieutenant General Igor Anatolyevich Kirillov.

10 members of Russian OMON [special purpose/riot police] were buried at once recently in Komsomolsk on Amur. They were killed by a rocket strike (supposedly from HIMARS) that hit their barracks on the 22th of July. Besides, there are planned funerals of 12 OMON servicemen in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, who were supposedly killed in the same attack.