[Korrespondent] 22:17 The Russians hit Zmievka, Kherson region, with guided bombs, one person died, said the head of the OVA, Alexander Prokudin.
21:59 The Office of the Prosecutor General clarified that at about 18:50 the Russians launched a missile attack on the territory of an industrial enterprise in the Osnovyansky district of Kharkov - previously, with two S-300 missiles fired from the territory of the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation. Currently, it is known about one dead and three injured - all employees of an industrial enterprise.
21:23 Azov commander Denis Prokopenko met with the personnel upon his return from Turkey, he is now undergoing rehabilitation and will soon begin his duties, the press service of Azov said. "I am a soldier. I am not interested in any other areas of activity, except for military affairs. My heart, my soul, my body belong to Azov," Radis said.
21:15 After the liberation of Crimea, Ukraine can expel 500-800 thousand Russians who arrived on the peninsula after the annexation. Also, about 10,000 Ukrainians who collaborated with the Russian authorities may be included in the "black list", Tamila Tasheva, Zelensky's spokesman for Crimea, told Newsweek.
20:03 Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that Ukraine will become a member of NATO: "Yes, we said very simply in NATO: the future of Ukraine is in NATO. This is serious. This is not negotiable. This is what 31 members are talking about NATO made a commitment."
19:29 The Russians hit the Osnovyansky district of Kharkov - according to preliminary data, four people were injured, a fire broke out at the site of the hit, Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA, said.
17:26 A week later, the Defense Forces in the south destroyed more than ten boats with sabotage and reconnaissance groups of Russians, spokesman for the South Defense Forces Natalya Gumenyuk said. She also noted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine "with great difficulty, but are moving forward." In addition, the Ukrainian troops managed to destroy large-caliber guns Msta-B, Hyacinth, from which the enemy is trying to shell the right bank of the Kherson region, as well as a large number of electronic warfare stations and drones.
16:55 US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen advocates doubling support for Ukraine. According to her, "the best thing for the world economy" would be to help Ukraine stop the war against Russia. She said this ahead of the G20 finance ministers' meeting, which will begin in India on July 17.
16:21 In the village of Yubileyny near Lugansk, where explosions were heard today, a missile weapons depot was hit, the StratCom of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported.
15:42 In the Berdyansk direction, the Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced more than 1 km deep into the defense of the Russian troops "along a certain front line," said Valery Shershen, spokesman for the Defense Forces of the Tauride direction. In the Melitopol direction, according to him, the situation is unchanged, and intense battles are going on in the direction of Berdyansk.
15:19 In the East, the situation has escalated somewhat: the enemy has been actively advancing in the Kupyansk direction for two days in a row, Ukrainian troops are on the defensive. There are heavy battles, the positions of the parties change dynamically several times a day, said Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar.
In the Bakhmut direction, the Defense Forces are gradually moving forward, on the southern flank around Bakhmut there is an advance every day. On the northern flank of the Armed Forces of Ukraine they are trying to hold their positions, the enemy is attacking. In Bakhmut itself, "we are shelling the enemy, the enemy is shelling us," Maliar said. In the Avdeevka and Maryinsky directions, the Russian Federation continues offensive operations, the Defense Forces continue to effectively deter them. Hot fights are going on without changing the positions.
13:36 Wagner PMC mercenaries who have arrived in Belarus do not yet pose a threat to Ukraine, State Border Service spokesman Andrei Demchenko says: “Now our intelligence monitors that separate groups of mercenaries have been brought to the territory of Belarus, but we are talking about some kind of mass or large-scale establishment of PMC representatives We are talking about several hundred, which are subsequently deployed in those places that were prepared ... Such a number does not pose any threat to Ukraine in order to create some kind of strike force."
At the same time, Demchenko did not rule out that Belarus could attract Wagnerites, for example, to destabilize the situation on the border with Ukraine or other countries with which Belarus borders.
12:40 Ukrainian air defense cannot shoot down Russian drones and missiles far from cities, Air Force speaker Yuri Ignat said. According to him, if the air defense systems are relocated further from the cities, it will be easier for the Russians to detect gaps in the defense. "Now there is no other way how to deploy air defense systems closer to populated areas," Ignat said.
10:54 Putin said that Russia supposedly "did not yet have a need" to use cluster munitions, "but if they are used against us, we have the right to mirror actions." He assured that Russia has a "sufficient stock" of various kinds of cluster munitions. At the same time, he believes that the use of cluster munitions is a crime, as the United States has previously stated.
09:27 At night, the Russians fired at Kramatorsk - they struck an industrial enterprise, industrial premises and cars were damaged, people were not injured, said the head of the GVA, Alexander Goncharenko.
09:22 In the Donetsk region over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, two people were killed (in Chasovoy Yar and Aleksandro-Shultino), in the Kherson region - one, according to the OVA.
09:08 On the eve of the counteroffensive, Ukraine received less than 15% of all sapper and engineering equipment that it asked for from Western partners, writes The Washington Post. The publication notes that the minefields on the Zaporozhye front revealed the vulnerabilities of armored personnel carriers and tanks supplied to Ukraine. The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) notes that the Ukrainian military has adjusted its counteroffensive strategy to minimize losses and continue to strike Russian forces.
09:05 At night, Russians from the territory of the Belgorod region launched four S-300 air defense missiles in Kharkov. Two rockets exploded in the air, two more hit the ground at the stadium and the road surface, people were not injured, Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA, said. Also, over the past day, the enemy fired mortars and artillery at border and front-line settlements. As a result of the shelling Kolodeznoye, Kupyansky district, one person was killed, one was injured.
08:51 At night, the Russians attacked Zaporozhye, one person was injured, an infrastructure facility was damaged, said Anatoly Kurtev, secretary of the City Council. In addition, during the past 24 hours, the enemy again shelled front-line villages, seven people were injured in Stepnogorsk, said Yury Malashko, head of the UVA.
08:46 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of July 16:
- personnel - about 237,680 (+500) people liquidated,
- tanks - 4107 (+5),
- armored combat vehicles - 8026 (+7),
- artillery systems - 4481 (+18),
- MLRS - 681 (+1),
- air defense systems - 425 (+0),
- aircraft - 315 (+0),
- helicopters - 310 (+0),
- UAV operational-tactical level - 3820 (+13),
- cruise missiles - 1273 (+0),
- ships/boats - 18 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tankers - 7044 (+8),
- special equipment - 666 (+2).
08:24 The Russian army is concentrating its main efforts on the Kupyansky, Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions - 39 military clashes occurred in a day, the General Staff said in the morning summary . In the meantime, the Defense Forces continue the offensive operation in the Melitopol and Berdyansk directions, and consolidate on the achieved lines.
07:27 Night explosions in Sevastopol could be a provocation from the Russians, said the speaker of the Defense Forces of the South Natalia Gumenyuk. In her opinion, in this way they could try to convince the population of providing protection.
06:03 "Governor" of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev said that at night the Russian military allegedly repelled the attack of drones: one of them was shot down over the sea, five were suppressed by electronic warfare forces, two surface UAVs were destroyed in the outer roadstead. According to him, the attack was "massive and prolonged", no objects either in the city or in the water area were damaged.
00:30 Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, known for his pro-Russian views, said that Ukraine allegedly "wants to continue the war," and Europe pays for it. In turn, Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov called on the president "not to engage in provocations" and not to play along with Russian propaganda. The Ukrainian embassy in Bulgaria said that Ukraine is making every possible effort to restore peace, and the attempt to shift the blame for the outbreak of war to Ukraine "is one of the most common foundations of Russian propaganda and hybrid warfare in Europe."