Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Korrespondent] 22.55 Successful strikes by Ukraine on Russia’s military and strategic targets may become a major factor in the Kremlin’s willingness to participate in future peace negotiations. European Commissioner for Defense Andrius Kubilius stated this.
The European Commissioner highly appreciated the results of the deep strikes of the ZSU on the territory of the Russian Federation, noting that they had completely changed the situation. “We are attacking those whom Ukraine has had to achieve through the last few deep blows,” Kubilius said.
In my opinion, such actions may demonstrate the seriousness of Russia, so that the goals set at the beginning of the war will no longer be achieved.
“Such a development may be a clear argument for Putin that he will not be able to achieve the desired significant progress in his military goals, and thus proper negotiations about a just world may be in jeopardy,” he said. Kubilus.
The European Commissioner also appreciated that the remaining Ukrainian operations against the Russian fleet and energy infrastructure significantly strengthened Kiev’s negotiating position.
21.14 NATO will not see any significant changes in Kiev’s strategy in the fight against Russia after the change of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated this.
Rutte noted that he is “offensive” in the Ukrainian defense policy. Ukraine’s reliance on the front line is increasingly effective, but at the beginning of fate - the Russian army is already fully exposed, and the ZSU has begun to counterattack in surrounding areas. In addition, Ukraine is launching attacks deep on the territory of Russia, including on the energy infrastructure and industrial base.
“I had good working hours with Mikhail Fedorov,” said the NATO Secretary General. Rutte, wishing Fedorov success and noting that his attacker, “will undoubtedly continue the course.”
20.18 Russian troops launched airstrikes on Zaporizhzhya. First, three people died, two more, one of them a child, were wounded. They hope for all the help they need.
DSNS psychologists provided additional help to 16 residents, including four children.
According to the data of the warriors, the result of the strikes in one location resulted in damage to the double-top private living quarters. Vibukhova's sickness affected the daily life. In other locations, there were fires in exposed areas.
19.34 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called Russia’s accusations unproven because Ukraine’s responsibility was destroyed until the death of the head engineer of the immediately occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, Oleksandr Yakovlev.
“No independent confirmation of the Russian version or evidence of the accountability of Ukraine has been presented, and the information of the Russian occupation structures cannot be considered reliable.
It is important to take into account the broader context of the Russian calls, and the most direct and direct escalation of the Russian situation around the ZaES and the Energodar area, Russian attacks on the workers of the station, and objects and the civil infrastructure of the place, the contamination of international cooperation with the threat of a nuclear incident and the failure of Ukraine’s representation as a source of insecurity,” the Ministry of Health stated.
The ministry has learned that the Russian side is increasing political pressure on the director general of the IAEA, trying to transfer responsibility for the legacy of the Russian occupation to Ukraine.
19.00 Hourly, the head of the SBU, Evgeniy Khmara, will be finishing the bindings of the Minister of Defense. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced this on Telegram.
“Having entrusted Yevgeniy Khmara with dismissing the minister’s duties, continuing the reform of the defense sector and ensuring Ukraine all the results we were talking about. After that, the necessary legal procedures will be completed, I will rush to the parliamentarians with the support of Yevgeny Khmari to impeach the Minister of Defense of Ukraine,” said the head of state.
18.16 The next plenary meeting of the Supreme Council will take place on the 18th of September. Until then, the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Foreign Affairs will be left vacant. People's Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak spoke about this on Telegram.
17.53 Special missions of the TsSP Omega acquired the Russian Su-24M bomber at the military airfield of Saki near the time-occupied Crimea. Commander of the National Guard Oleksandr Pivnenko reported this on Facebook.
17.07 At the beginning of the massacre, the Russian aggressors attacked the positions of the Ukrainian army 54 times, which is significantly less than yesterday’s figure. About this, having informed the General Staff of the ZSU in the operational formation at 16:00 on Thursday.
16.51 Russian troops were hit by drones in the agricultural lands of the Kharkiv region, the legacy of which was lost in the fields of the Lozivsky region. The press service of the DSNS informed about this at four, 16 linya.
Thus, in the Oleksiyiv community, a wheat field covering an area of 0.7 hectares and dry grass were burning. Just like in the Loziv community, a field of grain crops was burning on an area of 200 sq.m.
16.33 The Ukrainian people and authorities must concentrate on the war and an effective strategy to ensure victory over Russia. ZSU Chief Commander Oleksandr Sirsky wrote about this on Telegram and commented on the statement of the newly appointed Minister of Defense Mikhail Fedorov.
16.02 Ukrainians have the right to clarify their thoughts and troubles with the decisions of the government. President Volodymyr Zelensky said this at a press conference with Prime Minister of Great Britain Keir Starmer in Kiev, commenting on the protest against the resignation of Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov.
15.41 The bodies of 501 dead were returned to Ukraine, which, according to the assertions of the Russian side, may belong to the Ukrainian military services. About this, having informed the Coordination Headquarters for the supply of military forces (KSHPPV).
15.25 The reason for the dismissal of Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov was the lack of effective communication between the Ministry of Defense and the ZSU staff. President Volodymyr Zelensky said this during a sleepy press conference with Prime Minister of Great Britain Keir Starmer in Kiev.
14.33 Seven people were injured due to the Russian attack on Kramatorsk. Vadim Filashkin, a staff member of the Donetsk Regional Administration, told Telegram about this. And in the village of Nadiya, Oleksandrivskaya community, Russians killed a 47-year-old man and damaged a car.
14.28 Chergova Russian attack on Odessa resulted in the death of one person and the injury of three others. Civil infrastructure was damaged. The head of the OVA, Oleg Kiper, noted that the civilian infrastructure of the place was damaged as a result of the attack. Recently, one person died, and three more people were injured.
The head of the Odeska MBA, Sergiy Lisak, also confirmed information about the death. He respected that the Russians hit Odessa with a missile. The work to eliminate the legacy of the attack is urgent, information about the victims, those affected and the legacy of the attack is being clarified.
14.03 Ekskerivnik of the Ministry of Defense Mikhailo Fedorov confirmed the conflict with the head commander of the ZSU Oleksandr Sirsky. I spoke about this at a briefing in Kiev. The new team in the Ministry of Defense was shocked by the fact that all the initiatives they had started to block, having appointed Fedorov.
13.59 The Turkish region is ready to sanction the maritime component of the upcoming international security guarantees for Ukraine. The plan has already begun in earnest. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Hakan Fidan during a late press conference with the head of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine Andriy Sibiga in Kiev, reports Ukrinform.
13.07 The legacy of the attack of the Russian troops in Kramatorsk on the 16th of June was blocked by civilian houses. This was reported to the DSNS, which revealed the legacy of the enemy’s attack.
The Russian occupiers struck at the vital oblivion of the Donetsk region, as a result of which two built private buildings caught fire.
The guards, who arrived at the scene of the shelling, opened the entrance doors of the apartments, where there were three blocked ones, and also helped another burglar leave the private booth.
Firefighters liquidated the fires on a fire area of 200 sq.m.
12.51 Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sibiga spoke about supporting the idea of a possible alliance between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Volodymyr Putin in Turechchyna. This statement was made during a late press conference with the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan.
12.25 The legacy of the Russian attack on Odessa in France on the 16th of July was damaged, awakening the vocational college of maritime and transport transport. The window of the original building was broken, the covering and the frame were damaged. According to the words of the head teacher of the college, Victoria Lisnyk, the attack began very early, and there was no one there. Vaughn also began to sing that, despite the damage, the initial process at the college will follow the plan.
12.24 In Ukraine, two new facts of the Russians' storage of ammunition containing elements from depleted uranium were documented. Unsafe warehouses were revealed in attack UAVs of the Geran-2 type, which were the enemy of the two attacked Sumy region near Kvitna. The SBU press service informs about this.
Mova about the coated R-60M missiles of the “repeat-repeat” class, which the Russian Federation is vikorist as a warhead for drones under the hour of massive shelling.
Based on the results of the examination, it was established that the warheads of Russian missiles contain elements of the enriched uranium with a carbon mass of 2810 grams. The river was identified as Uran-234, Uran-235 and Uran-238.
12.09 In the Dnipropetrovsk region, another Russian informant was monitored, which tracked the air-missile and drone attacks of the Russian Federation on the front-line Pavlograd and its outskirts. The SBU press service reported this.
12.06 The prospect of a deficit in the federal budget of Russia is likely to shift the official plans to over 1 trillion rubles, which will become approximately 12.85 billion dollars. These are the data provided by Reuters.
The government budget portal of the Russian Federation does not indicate the reason for such growth. However, the agency admits that this is due to increased costs for military operations against Ukraine.
The Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Anton Siluanov stated that the deficit is “dead” to exceed the official forecast, saying that it will not lead to the daily growth of domestic reserves.
10.40 As of early 16, as a result of Russian strikes, residents in six regions lost power without electricity, and the level of electricity supply in Ukraine began to decline. NEK Ukrenergo informs about this. Through drone attacks and artillery shelling of front-line regions, new power outages were recorded in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizkaya, Chernihivsk, Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
09.08 During the past battle, the city of Kharkiv and 23 settlements of the Kharkiv region were hit. As a result of the shelling, 18 people were injured, among them a child. The head of the OVA, Oleg Sinegubov, told us about this.
As reported by the DSNS, near Kharkiv, a Russian attack by drones caused fire in a residential area, damage to the central park and civil infrastructure. According to the data of the warriors, in the Nemyshlyansky district of the city, an attack drone struck a private home, which led to the occupation of the government dispute. The burning has already been liquidated. There were also deteriorations in the central park, as well as the infrastructure in other areas. Indicated as exposure to the open fields of Kharkov and its outskirts.
08.25 The occupation forces continued to carry out 974 attacks on 56 settlements near the Zaporizhzhya region. As a result of the strikes in Zaporizhzhye, Zaporizhzhya and Pologivskyi regions, seven people died and another 20 were injured. There were 147 notifications about the damage to infrastructure, housing, cars, government buildings. The head of the Zaporizhzhya Regional Military Administration, Ivan Fedorov, reported this.
07.59 France On the 16th century, Russian troops again attacked Odessa, as a result of which one of the initial deposits was damaged. The head of the Odessa Military Administration, Sergiy Lisak, reported this. The details of the fortune teller will be cleared up. Lisak also noted that in the city there was a deafening Day of Complaint for the three who died during the attack, which became 15 days ago.
07.14 As a result of the overnight Russian attack on Kiev on the 16th, two people died and six more were injured. As soon as the lord Vitaliy Klitschko knew, the 16-year-old lad was among the wounded. At the DSNS camp on the 7th morning they informed that everything that had been burned had been localized.
According to the data of the guards, in the Darnytskyi district there was a fire in the administrative and warehouse buildings, in the direction of parked vans and in the warehouse buildings. The fire has been liquidated.
Two individuals died. Two people were injured, one of them was a child. In the Svyatoshinsky district, the fire began to burn in the single-surface storage area. Three people were injured. I will burn localized.
Near Kiev, after the overnight Russian attack, the flow of transport on part of Akademika Korolyov Avenue was immediately blocked by eliminating the aftermath of the shelling.
5.24 Vibukhas, following the influx of drones, lulled in the Russian cities of Saratov and Engels on the night of 16 pm. This is reported by the Russian independent Astra on its Telegram channel, as well as the monitoring Telegram channel Supernova+.
2.45 The Russians launched a massive drone attack on Kharkiv just before the 16th. In the area, there were problems in several areas. The head of Kharkov, Igor Terekhov, told us about this on Telegram.
1.51 The mayor of Kiev, Vitaliy Klitschko, wrote on Telegram about the legacy of the enemy’s attack on the capital.
According to his words, in the Svyatoshinsky district of Kiev, accidents in warehouse premises are recorded, and in Darnytskyi, rockets fell into the territory of non-living oblivion.
00.58 A series of vibrations occurred almost in Kiev on the night before the 16th. The stench began to grow just in time for the global alarm. Vlaskor Korrespondent.net reports this.
At about 0:46, before the surge of the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces, the ZSU reported that ballistic missiles were flying towards the capital.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Korrespondent] The Russian occupation army is concentrating its main efforts in the areas of the cities of Pokrovsk and Slavyansk.
Since the beginning of the current day, Russian aggressors have attacked Ukrainian army positions 54 times, which is significantly less than yesterday's figure. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an operational summary as of 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 16.
Thus, in the South Slobozhansk direction, the Russians tried to break through the defenses six times towards Izbitsky, Kutkivka, and Khatny. One clash is ongoing.
In the Lyman direction, our soldiers repelled six attempts by the invaders to advance in the areas of Novoselivka, Drobysheve, and Novomykhailivka. Two attacks are ongoing.
In the Slavyansk direction, 13 attacks were stopped towards the settlements of Kryva Luka, Rai-Oleksandrivka, and in the Riznykivka and Zakytne districts.
In the Kramatorsk direction, the invaders carried out one attack towards Tikhonivka.
In the Kostyantynivka direction, our defenders repelled nine attacks in the areas of the settlements of Kostyantynivka, Illinivka, and Stepanivka. One battle is ongoing.
In the Pokrovsky direction, the invaders tried 12 times to push our soldiers out of the occupied positions in the areas of the settlements of Dorozhne, Rodynske, Hryshyne, Novopidhorodne and towards the settlements of Vilne, Novy Donbas, Myrne, Serhiivka.
On the Oleksandrivka direction, the enemy once tried to advance towards Voronoi.
In the Hulyaipil direction, six attacks were stopped towards the settlements of Kosivtsevo, Verkhnia Tersa, and Tsvitkove.
In the Orikhiv direction, the enemy stormed twice in the area of Maly Shcherbaky and towards Novoandriyevka.
No enemy offensive actions have yet been recorded in the North-Slobozhansky, Kursk, Kupyansky, and Dnieper directions.
Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Oleksandr Syrsky, announced the failure of Russia's offensive in the first half of 2026. If earlier the Russian army conducted active offensive operations in 13 operational directions, now there are a maximum of six or seven such directions left.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[NewsFront] 21:31 During the day, in the period from 8:00 Moscow time to 20:00 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 117 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the aircraft type over the territories of the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Oryol, Rostov, Smolensk, Tver, Yaroslavl regions, Krasnodar Krai, the Republic of Crimea and over the waters of the Azov and Black Seas. 21:03 A unit of unmanned aerial systems troops and artillerymen of the 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the "Southern" group of forces destroyed Ukrainian Armed Forces drone control center (Alekseevo-Druzhkovka).
19:13 Geranium UAV crews inflicted precise strikes on railway locomotives used to deliver military supplies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
18:43 Kramatorsk direction. Assault units entered Vasyutinskoye and took up positions in the center of the town. MAP.
16:23 Deputy Commander of the 9th Engineer Regiment of the 25th Combined Arms Army of the West Group, call sign "Gagarin", told about the work of drone operators of his unit in the Krasny Liman area.
"Thanks to successful enemy movement analysis and skillful crew operations, we are already entering the enemy's rear areas. The enemy has retreated from Krasny Liman. We control this territory. Moreover, we are not limited to Krasny Liman. The Seversky Donets is under our control, and all cable crossings are mined daily," he said.
15:51 In the Zaporizhzhia region, attack drone crews of the Vostok group caught rotation and delivery of material resources of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and operators of the Ulyanovsk paratroopers destroyed the enemy's equipment and manpower.
In the Kramatorsk district, drone operators of the Southern Group of Forces' unmanned aerial vehicles destroyed enemy vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles, disrupting supplies to Ukrainian Armed Forces units.
14:18 Commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Southern Group of Forces, call sign "Rome", told that the enemy is preventing the withdrawal of civilians from Konstantinovka.
"He's targeting them with FPV, mining roads and trails, preventing them from leaving. Because he understands: this is some kind of protection for them—only for the civilian population."
12:30 Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the Special Military Operation as of July 16, 2026
Units of the North group of forces have improved their tactical position.
The manpower and equipment of the mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the territorial defense brigade were damaged in the areas of the settlements of Mogritsa, Novaya Sich, Ryzhevka, Sadki and Ulanovo in the Sumy region.
In the Khar'kov region, units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' motorized infantry brigade and the National Guard brigade were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Zakharovka, Kazachya Lopan, and Yurchenkovo in the Khar'kov region.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 195 servicemen, three armored combat vehicles, 13 vehicles, five field artillery pieces, an electronic warfare station, and an electronic reconnaissance station.
Units of the Western group of forces have taken up more advantageous positions and lines.
The manpower and equipment of two mechanized brigades, an assault brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a territorial defense brigade and a border detachment of the Ukrainian Border Service were damaged in the areas of the settlements of Peski-Radkovsky, Podliman, Studenok in the Khar'kov region, Vovchiy Yar, Mayaki, Svyatogorsk and Shchurovo in the Donetsk People's Republic.
The enemy's losses amounted to over 215 military personnel, two armored combat vehicles, 20 cars and four artillery pieces.
Units of the Southern Group of Forces have improved their position along the front line.
Formations of two mechanized brigades, a mountain assault brigade, an airmobile brigade, a security brigade of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a territorial defense brigade were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Vasyutinskoye, Verolyubovka, Druzhkovka, Izhevka, Kramatorsk, Nikanorovka, Nikolaevka and Slavyansk of the Donetsk People's Republic.
In one day, the enemy lost more than 165 servicemen, a US-made M-113 armored personnel carrier, an armored combat vehicle, 25 vehicles, two field artillery pieces, and two electronic warfare stations.
Units of the Center group of forces have improved their tactical position.
The manpower and equipment of the mechanized and assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a naval infantry brigade, and two National Guard brigades were damaged in the areas of the settlements of Gruzskoye, Dobropolye, Novovodanoye, Petrovskoye, Rubezhnoye, Svetloye, Sergeyevka in the Donetsk People's Republic and Novopavlovka in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Ukrainian armed forces lost up to 330 servicemen, three armored combat vehicles, four cars, an artillery piece, and three electronic warfare stations.
Units of the "East" force group advanced deep into the enemy's defenses.
The manpower and equipment of two airborne assault brigades, two assault regiments of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a naval infantry brigade were damaged in the areas of the settlements of Volnoye, Kolomiytsy, Malomykhaylovka, Podgavrilovka, Prosyana in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Dolinka, Lyubitske, Nikolskoye and Novosoloshino in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The enemy lost over 490 servicemen, an armored combat vehicle, seven cars, a field artillery gun and an electronic warfare station.
Units of the Dnepr group of forces defeated formations of the mechanized and mountain assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the areas of the settlements of Malokaterynivka, Orekhov in the Zaporizhzhia region and Ingulets in the Kherson region.
More than 55 military personnel, seven vehicles and an electronic warfare station were destroyed.
10:59 Severyan scouts in the area of the village of Khomino opened the location of an enemy air defense crew was located. Operators of attack UAVs from the 83rd Separate Air Assault Brigade of the Guards "Sever" group engaged the target.
10:16 UAV crew of the Southern Group of Forces destroyed self-propelled gun M109 Paladin of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
09:07 Tonight, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation inflicted group strikes:
high-precision long-range ground-based weapons to Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises in the city of Kyiv involved in the production and storage of long- and medium-range unmanned aerial vehicles;
High-precision air-launched weapons and attack unmanned aerial vehicles were used against infrastructure facilities in the Odessa and Yuzhny ports of the Odessa region, used for the delivery and storage of military cargo, as well as fuel and lubricants intended for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Affected in the city of Kyiv:
an industrial enterprise of the logistics company PJSC Rapid, which assembles and stores long- and medium-range unmanned aerial vehicles of the aircraft type, as well as stores foreign components (units) for their production;
UAV storage warehouse of the Kyiv-1 electronic industry enterprise, which assembles and stores long-range attack UAVs of the AN-196 Lyuty type and reconnaissance UAVs Leleka-100, as well as storage of components for UAVs of various modifications.
Affected in Odessa region:
Infrastructure facilities in the Odessa and Yuzhny ports of the Odessa region, used for unloading and storing military cargo, fuels and lubricants, were damaged. Five fuel storage tanks intended for the Ukrainian Armed Forces were also damaged in the Odessa port.
In addition, a dry cargo ship en route to the port of Chornomorsk, which was delivering cargo for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and a high-speed boat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' special operations forces in the area of Zmeiny Island were damaged.
08:41 During the night, from 21:00 Moscow time on July 15 to 8:00 Moscow time on July 16, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 375 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the fixed-wing type flew over the territories of the Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol, Rostov, Ryazan, Saratov, Smolensk, Tver, Tula, Yaroslavl regions, the Moscow region, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, the Republic of Crimea and over the waters of the Azov and Black Seas.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] Air defense systems destroyed 375 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over Russian regions last night. The Russian Defense Ministry press service reported this on July 16.
The department clarified that between 9:00 PM Moscow time on July 15 and 8:00 AM Moscow time on July 16, air defense forces shot down enemy UAVs over the territories of the Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgograd, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol, Rostov, Ryazan, Saratov, Smolensk, Tver, Tula, and Yaroslavl regions, the Moscow region, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, the Republic of Crimea, and over the waters of the Azov and Black Seas.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have recently stepped up attacks on civilian targets in Russia. On July 16, Ukrainian troops used drones to attack Horlivka, part of the Donetsk People's Republic. Three emergency medical personnel were injured as a result of the Kyiv regime's aggression.
Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that Ukrainian troops are deliberately targeting civilians and civilian objects in the Russian Federation. The head of state described the methods used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Kyiv regime's foreign mercenaries as terrorist. In response to these terrorist attacks, Russian troops are striking military installations in Ukraine and facilities used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Text taken from a series of Telegram pages from lost_armour
[ColonelCassad] ANATOMY OF COLLAPSE: "WAR ON FAKE NEWS" AND LOSTARMOUR (@lost_armour)
Since late 2025, Russian forces have changed their tactics in attacking Ukraine's railways. Previously, they targeted traction substations and energy infrastructure, but now they are deliberately destroying locomotives—the most difficult element of the infrastructure to restore. The Scale of Losses: According to open sources (in particular, the Lostarmour monitoring database, there are 9,135 units of rolling stock in Ukraine. However, this figure is misleading. It includes all possible units of equipment: from mainline electric locomotives to service railcars, commuter trains, and even museum exhibits or locomotives from children's railways.
The actual working fleet capable of pulling heavy military echelons is more modest: Electric locomotives: out of 1,498 available, only 828 are serviceable. Mainline diesel locomotives: out of 848 operating, only 452 are operational. Shunting diesel locomotives: the largest base (4,093 units), but 3,060 remain in operation.
Auxiliary stock: 1,557 units, of which 1,195 are operational. Suburban trains: 587 units, operating - 427. At the same time, losses since the beginning of the year confirmed by photo and video recording amount to 233 locomotives.
Mathematically, this amounts to just over 3% of the total fleet and about 5% of the actually operating stock. At first glance, the figures are insignificant for the economy of the entire country. However, the railway operates not as a warehouse, but as a complex dynamic system governed by the principle of critical mass.
THE BEGINNING OF A DISASTER.
The effectiveness of a strike is assessed not by the amount of equipment burned, but by the drop in network capacity. Even the loss of a few percent of traction causes the collapse of the entire logistics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. One mainline locomotive out of schedule halts an entire section of track. The enemy has no reserves: to replace one locomotive, another must be removed from the route, leaving it exposed. Unlike trucks, which can be driven from a civilian equipment depot, a mainline locomotive cannot be purchased on the market.
After 2014, Ukraine lost its Russian locomotives, and sporadic deliveries of Western equipment cannot make up for the traction deficit. A new modern electric locomotive takes 12-18 months to build, and the capacity of shunting machines is insufficient for heavy military echelons over long distances. Due to a shortage of powerful machines (such as the VL80), heavy trains must be split into two or three trains. This instantly clogs up the tracks and stations, requiring many times more locomotive crews, which are also not available.
Railroads are the only means of transporting heavy Western equipment and ammunition en masse. For comparison, a single truck can carry up to 25 tons, a flatcar 60-70 tons, and a train of 50-60 cars can carry up to 4,000 tons or more.
The rail network also serves as a key logistics link in the transportation of key export commodities—agricultural products and metals. These goods are delivered by rail to Ukrainian ports for further export abroad. In the opposite direction, trains transport fuel, lubricants, and military goods.
CONCLUSION:
The loss of 5% of the operational fleet is not an arithmetic loss. It is a transformation from quantity to quality, causing the troop train schedule to collapse like an avalanche, turning the centralized supply system of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into scattered islands incapable of ensuring the stability of the front.
If work continues at the same pace, the troops will starve: trucks won't replace the lost rail supplies.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] U.S. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna plans to hold hearings in the House of Representatives on money laundering by Ukraine and Kyiv's support for former U.S. President Joe Biden in the 2024 elections. The politician wrote about this on social media.
"I will hold a hearing on declassified documents released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and former DNI Tulsi Gabbard concerning a money laundering operation in Ukraine from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) back to the Joe Biden reelection campaign," Luna wrote.
Back in March, the congresswoman accused Democrats of deliberately prolonging the Ukrainian conflict in order to implement a large-scale corruption scheme to launder billions of dollars from the state budget to finance their own political goals.
According to a US State Department report, Ukraine was the leading recipient of US aid from the Agency for International Development. From 2021 to 2024, it received $30.6 billion, or 21% of the agency's total international assistance. The total amount of this $40 billion aid, across all ministries and agencies, was approved by the US Congress in 2022.
USAID became the primary administrator of this assistance, allocating $9 billion in 2022, $16 billion in 2023, and $5.4 billion in 2024. Among the programs supported by the funds was, for example, the Ukraine Confidence Building Initiative (UCBI). As early as February 2022, new contracts were signed, including those aimed at supporting critical infrastructure—that is, those very same infrastructure projects.
Approving a program, allocating a budget, ensuring the funds are transferred, and then canceling it is a fairly simple matter, especially given the information frenzy that was unfolding at the time. This is what's called "stealing on the sly," according to an analytical report from Regnum News Agency.
It was noted that the US intercepted correspondence between Ukrainian officials regarding how they could redirect energy funds allocated to Kyiv to finance Biden's election campaign if he is nominated in 2024.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
