Ukraine-Russia war: Putin’s army ‘feeling fatigue’ as second drone strike hits Moscow

With most of Ukraine‘s Black Sea Coast either occupied by Russian troops or in their line of fire, families seeking respite from life in a war zone are flocking to the inland shores of the Tylihul, a river that widens into a broad estuary bordered by grassland.

In the summer sunshine, you could almost forget that the front line is a few hours drive away. Visitors say the respite is a desperately needed relief. But authorities and some residents worry that the crowds could damage an important and delicate natural habitat.

“There are two sides of a coin. On one hand, we understand that there is no access to the sea and people still want to relax somewhere. On the other hand, we know that estuary will not survive such amount of people,” said Petro Kalinchuk, on a sandy spit dotted with beach umbrellas and tents.

Inna Tymchenko, deputy head of the Mykolaiv regional department of the National Institute of Ecology, said the problem was not so much the people as their tents and cars.

“They are placed in chaotic order, tourists don’t know where it is alright to leave a car and where it is not, so they park wherever they want. That’s how vegetation cover is being destroyed,” she said. “Noise affects the birds. They partially got used to the noise, but loud noises are unusual for them this year. It will lead to grave consequences in this area.”

There was hope that birds could find refuge here from the Kinburn Spit, a vast Black Sea nature preserve destroyed by flooding after the Kakhovska Dam on the Dnipro River was blown up nearly two months ago. More birds could die if there is no hospitable sanctuary for them here.

Kalinchuk said his family had been coming to the river for nearly 50 years. They used to see birds nesting and brooding eggs on the beach. Now, with the larger crowds, all the birds were gone and there were fewer fish, too.

But as long as the war goes on and there are few other places to rest, families say they will keep coming.

“Access to the rivers and the sea is closed. So this is the only place where we can relax after two years of war against Russia,” said resident Viacheslav Natalenko.

Ukrainian political adviser Anton Gerashchenko on Tuesday said the drone attacks in Moscow City showed that the Kremlin is “incapable of” protecting Russia’s most privileged class.

“The Moskva-City high-rises were a symbol of Russian economic flourishing and success, as well as Russia’s integration into global economy,” he wrote on Twitter. “After the second drone attack they will symbolise failure of the ‘special military operation’ and lies of the Kremlin regime that promised and keeps promising Moscow residents complete protection.

“Those who work in Moskva-City towers are the privileged class of government officials and business people. They saw with their own eyes that Russian authorities are incapable of and cannot protect even their social group. There is no air defense, air raid alerts, bomb shelters for them.”

An adviser to Russia’s economy minister said on Tuesday the ministry’s employees were continuing to work remotely after drone strikes at the heart of Moscow’s financial district, with experts assessing the damage to infrastructure there.

The Russian military said its anti-aircraft units downed drones targeting Moscow on Tuesday, but one drone, sent out of control by its units, struck the same high-rise tower hit earlier in the week.

Officials in Kharkiv, Ukraine‘s second-largest city, said on Tuesday that drones hit populated areas of the city and one drone destroyed two floors of a college dormitory.

The chief of police in Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, Volodymyr Tymoshko, said there were two night-time strikes – one on the college and one on the city centre.

“One of the drones destroyed two floors of a dormitory,” mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “A fire broke out and emergency services are attending,” he added.

“Very difficult night in Kharkiv. Indeed, there were three hits,” he told Ukrainian television, adding that the dormitory was not being used.

Regional governor Oleh Synehubov said a sports complex in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district was hit, damaging a two-storey building. A 63-year-old security guard had been injured and was in hospital.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram that Russia attacked the city with five Shahed drones.

A video posted on social media showed the top of a building ablaze and smoke billowing upwards. The Independent could not immediately confirm the attack or determine the location of the site in the video.

Ukraine has thwarted an overnight attempt by a Russian saboteur group to cross its northern border, interior minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“Last night, in the Chernihiv region, border guards stopped an attempt by an enemy saboteur-reconnaissance group to cross the state border of Ukraine within the Semenivka community,” he said.

Serhiy Naev, commander of the joint forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that four armed people attempted to cross the border but were repelled by Ukrainian fire.

Klymenko said the four people were detected moving from Russian territory. He added that reserves of the State Border Guard Service and Ukraine’s armed forces were deployed to strengthen the area.

Ukraine has strengthened its northern military sector following the arrival of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in Belarus.

We have photographs of the reported drone attack in Moscow’s business district this morning, as the same skyscraper was targeted twice in two days.

Members of security services investigate a damaged office building in the Moscow City following a reported Ukrainian drone attack.

Investigators examine an area next to damaged building early Tuesday.

A view of the damaged building is seen here.

Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of Russia‘s armed forces, has visited Russian troops in Ukraine‘s Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday.

It said Gerasimov inspected a command centre and underscored the importance of preemptive strikes against Ukrainian forces. An accompanying video showed him poring over a map, receiving briefings and climbing into a helicopter.

Gerasimov was for many months the target of savage criticism from Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and some Russian military bloggers over Russia‘s failings in the war.

After Wagner staged a brief mutiny against the defence establishment on June 24, there were questions as to whether Gerasimov would keep his job. More than two weeks elapsed before he was first seen again in public, on July 10.

Tuesday’s statement and video seemed designed to show that he not only remains in his post but is actively engaged with troops on the front line. The Zaporizhzhia region has seen some of the fiercest fighting of recent weeks, since Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in early June.

Russia’s 58th Combined Arms Army (58 CAA), deployed in southern Ukraine where intense fighting is taking place, is up against Ukrainian troops but also facing fatigue and attrition, the British Ministry of Defence said today.

The ministry said intense fighting continues to be focused in two sectors in southern Ukraine, of which South of Orikhiv, the focus of Ukrainian assaults have been against Russia’s 58th CAA.

“58 CAA is highly likely struggling with battle fatigue and attrition in forward deployed regiments which have been in intense combat for over eight weeks. Further east, south of Velyka Novosilka, the defending Russian force is drawn from both the Eastern and Southern military districts, likely creating problems of co-ordination,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.

It added: “Elements of the 5th Combined Army are likely to be under particular pressure, and probably also feel that they are long overdue for a rotation out of the front-line.”

“Across the south, common problems for Russian commanders are highly likely to include shortage of artillery ammunition, a lack of reserves and problems securing the flanks of units in the defence,” the ministry said.

Three Ukrainian sea drones attacked two Russian Black Sea navy ships 340km (211 miles) southwest of Sevastopol and were destroyed, TASS cited Russia’s defence ministry as saying today.

The ministry said the ships were in the area to control the passage of other vessels.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine’s military needs enough long-range weapons after he accused Russian forces of firing two ballistic missiles from occupied Crimean territory.

“According to preliminary data from our military, these two missiles were fired at Kryvyi Rih from the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea, from the area of Dzhankoy. And this proves again and again that for the safety of our cities, for the protection of the normal life of Ukrainians and our children, our military must have enough long-range weapons, enough means to defeat terrorists,” he said in his nightly address.

He also called for a “significant increase” in world’s sanctions pressure against Russia.

“…And we must respond with determination – determination to supply Ukraine with the necessary modern weapons, including long-range missiles, so that we can remove this terrorist threat that Russia is creating against our people, against our children,” Mr Zelensky said after an attack in central Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih, which is his hometown, killed six.