The Ukrainian military continued counteroffensive actions in at least three areas of the front and advanced, and also achieved tactically important successes in the Bakhmut area. At the same time, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation significantly exhaust the forces of the Russian occupiers during their operations.
These are the conclusions reached by the analysts of the Institute for the Study of War, which were distributed in their report.
Experts note that geo-located footage published on July 25 shows that the Defense Forces of Ukraine achieved tactically important successes south of Klishchiivka (7 km southwest of Bakhmut).
The General Staff of the Armed Forces reported that the fighters were conducting offensive operations on:
Bakhmutsky,
Melitopolskyi (west of Zaporizhzhya region)
and Berdyansk (border area of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions) directions.
Ukrainian sources reported that our military advanced 750 meters in the direction of Staromayorskyi (9 km south of Velika Novosilka), and Russian sources claimed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced a little west of Orichov.
According to the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Hanna Malyar, Russian troops suffer losses in personnel 8 times more than Ukrainian ones in the Bakhmut area, and 5.3 times more in the Berdyansk and Melitopol directions.
The ISW draws attention to its assessments that Ukrainian counteroffensive operations "are aimed at creating an asymmetric gradient of attrition that preserves Ukrainian combat power" due to the slower pace of territorial advances and liberation of land while gradually depleting the Russian Army's manpower and equipment.
Key findings:
- Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, as before, expressed concern about the potential threats posed by PMK "Wagner" and its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin during the impromptu two-day extension of the visit of the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, to St. Petersburg. Lukashenko is probably trying to use his power over the Wagnerites to get concessions from Putin.
- The leadership of the Russian Federation is trying to mitigate the security vacuum that was formed after the departure of the "Wagner" PMC by creating formalized, but decentralized military "enterprises" based on the subjects of the federation (regions).
- On the night of July 25, the Russian Federation carried out another series of strikes by "Shakhed" drones on rear areas in Ukraine.
- The "Club of Angry Patriots" continues to try to portray war criminal and former Russian officer Igor Girkin (Strelkov) as an "oppositionist" and may be trying to appeal to Putin with rhetoric about the illegality of Girkin's arrest.
- According to reports, Putin and the Kremlin failed to respond promptly to the June 24 mutiny by the Wagnerites, leaving local Russian officials to make decisions about the mercenaries' advance on Moscow.
- RF troops conducted offensive operations in the Svatove, Kreminna, Bakhmut region, Avdiyivka - Donetsk region, near the border of Zaporizhzhya and Donetsk regions, and also announced an offensive in the Svatove, Kreminna and Bakhmut regions.
- The Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out offensive actions in the Kreminnaya region, Bakhmut region, Avdiivka - Donetsk region, along the administrative border between Zaporizhia and Donetsk regions, in the west of Zaporizhia region, and advanced in the Bakhmut region, in separate areas along the administrative border between Zaporizhia and Donetsk regions, to the west from Orikhov.
- US intelligence officials warned on July 25 that Russian deliveries of drones will increase sharply as a result of ongoing bilateral Russian-Iranian cooperation.
- Russian officials continue efforts to eliminate legal inconsistencies in the framework of the "accession" of the occupied territories of Ukraine.
- The situation on the fronts and counteroffensive actions of the Armed Forces
In the morning briefing for July 25, the General Staff of the Armed Forces informed that our fighters continue to advance in the direction of Bakhmut. In this connection, the Russian occupiers withdrew from their positions in the Andriivka district of the Donetsk region.
In addition, the military forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were successful in the Staromayorsky region of the Donetsk region, advancing 500 meters along the front line. Defense forces are anchored at the achieved boundaries.
