Ukrainian soldiers battled to clear the Kharkiv region of Russian forces, as these images show.
The footage was obtained from the State Border Service of Ukraine on Friday, July 8, along with a statement saying: “Ukrainian border guards push units of the Russian army further from Kharkiv. Some of the occupiers were liquidated, some were captured.”
One of the soldiers, unnamed but seen in the footage, reportedly said: “We entered from the side of the forest in three groups, about 20 people in a group. Each group was assigned a Cougar, on which stands a DShK 12.7 and a German MG 42 machine gun.”
The Cougar (MRAP) is an American infantry mobility vehicle built to withstand landmine explosions and IEDs (improvised explosive devices). The DShK 1938 is a Soviet heavy machine gun, while the German MG 42 machine gun was first built in 1942 and is still in use today.
The soldier added: “The armored vehicles move, the fighters follow them, and this method clears the streets. During our movement there were combat clashes with the enemy. They had dugouts and fortified areas, they had their own headquarters there, when we were advancing.
“It was hard to force them out, because when people were underground, it was hard to knock them out of there. They hid in houses, a sniper worked on us. When we squeezed them out, mortar shelling began. A tank with infantry came to their aid, we decided to retreat to the forest for the night. They started shelling the forest. They didn’t come back the next day.”
We contacted the State Border Service of Ukraine for further comment, as well as the Russian Ministry of Defense, but haven’t received a reply at the time of writing.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is calling a “special military operation”. July 8 marks the 135th day of the invasion.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between February 24 and July 8, Russia had lost about 36,900 personnel, 1,637 tanks, 3,811 armored combat vehicles, 828 artillery units, 247 multiple launch rocket systems, 107 air defense systems, 217 warplanes, 187 helicopters, 669 drones, 155 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 2,685 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 66 units of special equipment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia has only just begun its campaign in Ukraine and has dared the West to attempt to defeat it on the battlefield. Putin told parliamentary leaders: “Everyone should know that, by and large, we haven’t started anything yet in earnest.” He added: “The further it goes, the harder it will be for them to negotiate with us.”
Three people have been killed and another five have been injured after Russian forces fired rockets at Kharkiv, according to Ukrainian officials.
Russia’s defense ministry has claimed that it killed Ukrainian servicemen who were trying to raise Ukraine’s flag on the recently retaken Snake Island but Ukraine has denied that any of its servicemen on the island were killed.
The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank, has said that Russia may be temporarily easing its offensive in eastern Ukraine in an “operational pause” as its forces rest before they attempt to reassemble for a new offensive.
Russian forces made no territorial gains in Ukraine on Wednesday, July 6, “for the first time in 133 days of war”, according to the Institute.
Ukraine has summoned the ambassador of Turkey, claiming that Turkey has allowed a Russian ship carrying thousands of tons of grain allegedly stolen from Ukraine to leave one of its ports. Kyiv alleges that the vessel is transporting stolen cargo amounting to 7,000 tons of grain.
The United Nations has warned of a “looming hunger catastrophe” due to Russia’s blockade on Ukrainian grain exports.
The resignation of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been met with sadness in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, most notably by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said that Johnson has been a “true friend of Ukraine.”
But Moscow reacted with delight at the demise of the British Prime Minister, with a Kremlin spokesperson saying: “He doesn’t like us. We don’t like him either.”
The Russian parliament is rushing through two new bills to impose strict controls on the country’s economy and require that businesses supply the armed forces.
The United Nations has said that nearly 9 million people have now left Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s invasion. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has said that the country is investigating over 21,000 Russian war crimes committed since the beginning of the invasion.
Kazakhstan’s President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has called for a diversification of the country’s oil routes, a day after a court in Russia suspended operations on a major export pipeline.
The Russian court ordered the suspension of Kazakh oil exports to the West for a month. Russia controls the Novorossiisk Black Sea oil terminal where tankers are loaded with oil that transits, via a pipeline, from Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oilfield. Western sanctions have restricted Russia’s oil and gas exports, increasing demand for producers like Kazakhstan.
But the President of Kazakhstan has refused to recognize the separatist, pro-Russian, so-called People’s Republic of Donetsk and the People’s Republic of Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine, and has also indicated that Kazakhstan could increase its oil exports to the European Union.
