By Saker Staff for the Saker Blog

Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine

▫️The enemy is suffering considerable losses of armament delivered by Western countries.

▫️From July 5 to 20, 4 launching ramps and 1 reloading vehicle for the U.S.-manufactured HIMARS MRLS delivered to Ukraine were eliminated by high-precision ground- and air-based armament.

▫️Among them, 2 launching ramps were destroyed near Malotaranovka, 1 HIMARS and 1 reloading vehicle was destroyed near Krasnoarmeysk, as well as 4th launching ramp at the eastern suburb of Konstantinovka (Donetsk People’s Republic).

Battery and counter-battery is the order of the day, with the Ukrops holding out for a unicorn promise of more weapons at some date in the future.

💥 Attacks by high-precision ground-based armament have resulted in the elimination of a provisional base of Black Hundred nationalist group deployed in the school №23 in Kramatorsk (Donetsk People’s Republic). Up to 300 nationalists and over 40 units of special equipment have been eliminated.

💥 Attacks launched by high-precision armament of Russian Aerospace Forces have resulted in the elimination of a missile and artillery armament depot of 59th Mechanised Infantry Brigade of the AFU deployed at an industrial area in the eastern part of Nikolayev. The enemy has lost up to 30 servicemen, 6 armoured and motor vehicles, over 2,000 projectiles for Grad MRLS, about 1,000 projectiles for Akatsiya self-propelled howitzers.

✈️💥 Operational-tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery continue launching attacks at the military facilities in Ukraine.
The list of neutralised targets includes: 6 command posts, including one of 92nd Mechanised Brigade near Rogan (Kharkov region), 1 command and observation post of 72nd Mechanised Brigade of the AFU near Serebryanka (Donetsk People’s Republic), as well as 5 missile and artillery armament and munitions depots near Zaytsevo (Donetsk People’s Republic), Vishevoye and Uspenovka (Zaporozhye region).

You can pick up the rest of this morning’s report here: https://t.me/mod_russia_en/2871

From Military Summary, the understanding is the same.  We will have to wait to see how the front changes after these heavy artillery battles.   It is worth taking a look at this one, as he has the imaging of a town (difficult to catch the name) fully within entrenchment.  It would be interesting to hear from the armchair generals how they could attack that town, without a major civilian death toll.

Although we are unable to put our arms around LOC or front-line changes, there are no reports of shelling the Donbass in the last number of hours.  The reason probably is this quite comical statement from https://t.me/levigodman/4224 

The Russian Ministry of Defense reports that from July 5 to July 20, 4 HIMARS launchers and one transport-loading vehicle were destroyed in Ukraine.  The Pentagon denies this 🌝  Lockheed Martin stock is back to pre 24th February levels so I‘d be denying it too. 😄

Progress is reported in terms of neutralizing terrorist activity.

The activities of the special services in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions are in fact similar to what they did in the North Caucasus during and after the 2nd Chechen war, catching and shooting cells of local and international terrorists. The work is complex and lengthy, the success of which is systematic and methodical.  Partisanen kaput! https://t.me/russianhead/5452

Douglas McGregor stated that Russia is preparing for a massive offensive to end this war once and for all, they will do it in the next 30 days – military observer, retired US Army Colonel Douglas McGregor.

And President Putin will be holding a meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation today.

Regarding the wider scope of this war, there is a lot of news.  This one defies imagination.   US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley said at a joint press conference that sending Iranian-made drones to Russia for use in Ukraine would prolong this conflict.  So, they may do it, but if Iran does it (bear in mind this is mainly western reporting), it will prolong the conflict.  One rule for thee, and another for me.

Important is that reportedly Ukraine agreed to partially clear its ports in the Black Sea (which is demining of course), according to export the little bit of Ukrainian grain.  Today is the day that we will hear if the agreement is a go or a no-go.  Sergey Shoigu has arrived in Istanbul to sign the grain agreement as the issue is weapons movement really, and not the paltry amount of grain.

Mercosur, the trading bloc of South America declined a request by Zelensky to address its upcoming summit.

Gas has begun to flow to Germany again via NS1 after the completion of maintenance work. It is unclear what the flow rate is and its long-term stability.

Everyone is trying to stagger backward from their own sanctions.  The EU has blocked a proposal to impose sanctions against the Russian company VSMPO-Avisma which is the world’s largest titanium producer.  (We hate you, but please sell us your titanium!).  The Russian government has expanded the list of “unfriendly” foreign states to include Greece, Denmark, Slovenia, Croatia, and Slovakia.

And from China, it is so far a China win.  The US announced the 5th tranche of weapons to Taiwan since Joe Biden took office.  Pelosi also announced a visit to Taiwan in August.  China exploded and made strong demarch to cancel the sale and keep Pelosi home.  Pelosi will not be going as China threatened both diplomatic as well as possible military action.

There also is movement in Syria.  https://t.me/IntelRepublic/2149

Finally, the US is not paying its UN dues and their UN Ambassador is crying about it!

US Losing Influence at UN – Envoy

The US being billions of dollars behind on its UN commitments is hurting Washington’s ability to influence the world organization, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.

While the American delegation has resisted attempts at shaming over the issue, it has created an opening for China, she told lawmakers.

“That is really the crux of the challenge that I face in New York every single day, as we are put in a position of having to compete with our adversaries on being able to influence the UN actions,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

“Every gap that we leave is an opening for the Chinese. They flow into every open space that we leave,” she added.

Kick ’em out!  As they also do not follow international law agreed upon and documented at the UN.