Ukraine Situation Report: More Russian Ammo Dumps Blown Up

Ukraine Situation Report: More Russian Ammo Dumps Blown Up by Howard Altman at The War Zone 7/12/2022
By Howard Altman | The War Zone | July 12, 2022

Ukraine’s effort to deplete Russia’s stock of artillery shells and other explosives where it is stored shows no signs of slowing.

Ukraine’s effort to deplete Russia’s stock of artillery shells and other explosives where it is stored shows no signs of slowing.

It appears that Ukraine is continuing to pummel Russian ammunition depots.

Video is emerging of new strikes, this time in Luhansk, as Ukraine remains intent on depleting Russia’s stock of shells for its long-range fires which have been creating devastation on Ukrainian troops and civilians.

Rob Lee on Twitter: “The aftermath of the Ukrainian strike on an ammo depot in Luhansk. The strike was allegedly conducted from Bakhmut. https://t.co/rzs1ePHhmK https://t.co/58QI0TVLt2” / Twitter

OSINTtechnical on Twitter: “Luhansk, reports that a Russian ammunition dump was hit. Secondary explosions are fairly audible. https://t.co/7XFGWEwYph” / Twitter

But the Russians apparently struck back, firing at Ukrainian position in Bahkmut in response.

Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 on Twitter: “Meanwhile, Russia responds by sweeping Bakhmut off the earth with artillery in the night. https://t.co/GGrThLvjcv” / Twitter

We covered this ongoing Ukrainian hunt for Russian ammunition here.

Before heading into the latest news from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can get caught up with our previous rolling coverage here.

The latest:

The vivid images of explosions at a Russian ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka Monday generated a lot of speculation that the attack was the result of fire from U.S.-supplied M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).

While the Pentagon declined to tell The War Zone whether those systems were involved, it says that Ukraine is using them to great effect. Regardless of whether Ukraine used any of the eight HIMARS now in-country (another four are promised) in last night’s attack, retired Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan says they are not a “silver bullet” that will change the course of the war by themselves.

Ryan, who worked in the Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination Cell on the U.S. Joint Staff, is now a widely-quoted commentator on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Mick Ryan, AM on Twitter: “Over the past few days, the Twittersphere has been expounding on the impact that several #HIMARS rocket artillery systems are having in #Ukraine. And they are awesome! But some perspective is required before expectations for their impact get too overblown. 1/17 🧵 https://t.co/IglUsr31Ax” / Twitter

“HIMARS is having an important impact and will continue to do so, but it alone will not win this war,” he said in a Twitter thread Tuesday afternoon.  “While it has provided the Ukrainian Armed Forces with a new ‘Long Hand’ to attack the Russian invaders, there is no such thing as a silver bullet solution in war.”

Mick Ryan, AM on Twitter: “11/ So, #HIMARS is changing the character of the fight in Ukraine. It is allowing the Ukrainians to target the Russians at greater distance and in areas that have been denied to them because of Russian air defence systems. https://t.co/Ul34BeKYWu” / Twitter

Mick Ryan, AM on Twitter: “12/ And it has permitted the Ukrainians to fight how they want to fight, and not in the heavy attritional way preferred by the Russians. The #Russians will have #HIMARS at the top of their targeting lists for their long-range missiles and air force. https://t.co/xzBEqidaqe” / Twitter

The War Zone’s analysis highlighted this exact reality back in May, prior to the HIMARS deliveries to Ukraine.

“Importantly, its impact does not abrogate the responsibility of western nations to continue providing the full range of weapons, munitions, intelligence, training and other forms of support required by #Ukraine.”

Rob Lee on Twitter: “Photos from the aftermath of yesterday’s strike in Nova Kakhovka. https://t.co/jpU4cPxNHI https://t.co/vmQc5y2Yre” / Twitter

Iran has offered Russia “hundreds” of drones, including armed ones, for use in its war in Ukraine, according to the U.S. government. Tehran also has considerable experience with such designs, and how to use them. Their use by Russia would be bad news for Ukraine. You can read our report about that here.

The War Zone on Twitter: “Russia Getting Iranian Attack Drones Would Be A Very Big Deal https://t.co/IlcyyaKU1Y” / Twitter

The Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate says it staged a daring raid to rescue captured Ukrainian troops in Kherson Oblast. With Ukraine’s military losing hundreds of troops a day to death, injury and capture, this raid is a big morale boost.

MilitaryLand.net on Twitter: “📽️Special Forces of Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence (#HUR) conducted an operation behind enemy lines to free Ukrainian prisoners in #Kherson Oblast. #UkraineRussiaWar https://t.co/cZXfeGJ8Rw” / Twitter

As Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine grinds along in its fifth month, Belarus has kicked off military drills in the Homel region, just north of the border with Ukraine. It was there, you will remember, that Russian troops escaped to after their advance on Kyiv was repulsed.

Fox News on Twitter: “Belarus launches military drills on border with Ukraine, tests troop readiness https://t.co/f4uwA6AooF” / Twitter

As Belarus drills, Serhiy Kryvonos, a Ukrainian Army General, suggested that nation could be planning to invade from the north with assistance from Russia, according to the Ukraine NOW Telegram channel.

“They have the forces and means necessary to start an assault on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border without waiting for huge reinforcements. There are those who are able to attack us,” Kryvonos said.

According to Kryvonos, Belarus is able to mobilize 340,000 soldiers in addition to 56,000 currently serving in the Belarusian Armed Forces.

Speaking of Belarus, its president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, suggested that it is NATO that is planning an attack on Russia, through Ukraine and Belarus.

Anton Gerashchenko on Twitter: “Lukashenko claims that NATO’s “crusaders” are going to attack Russia through the territories of Belarus and Ukraine. I wonder how many of the people in that room are fighting to keep a straight face while listening to this. English subtitles https://t.co/j2hFBRW5jN” / Twitter

Don’t forget, Lukashenko is the guy Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to give nuclear-capable Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile systems to. You can read our coverage of that here.

The war is now primarily about sustainability and relative losses, which is how we should view Russia’s successes in Luhansk.

Rob Lee on Twitter: “Thread on the current status of the war. I wrote about the battle for the Donbas in April, and I think it still applies. The war is now primarily about sustainability and relative losses, which is how we should view Russia’s successes in Luhansk. https://t.co/9C5ZWkbLb9 https://t.co/kSNqyQKhEi” / Twitter

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) posted its latest map of Russia’s war in Ukraine, continuing to show the battles concentrated in the east and south with little new progress made by either side.

Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 on Twitter: “The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing. The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 12 July 2022 Find out more about the UK government’s response: https://t.co/VzA3UIavMP 🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 https://t.co/2qwaYM5LvO” / Twitter

The U.K. MOD also introduced some of the Ukrainian troops it helped train to the public. 

Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 on Twitter: “🎬 Meet the Ukrainian soldiers who took part in training exercises earlier this year, operating armoured vehicles. The UK-led programme allows Ukrainian Forces to scale-up their resistance as they continue to defend their nation against the Kremlin. 🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 https://t.co/J6N9xlNCI8” / Twitter

Alexander Drueke, an American military veteran captured by Russian forces in Ukraine and who is currently being held in solitary confinement by pro-Russian separatists in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, appears hopeful the U.S. government is pursuing his release, according to a phone call provided to The Washington Post by his family.

The Washington Post on Twitter: “Alexander Drueke, an American military veteran captured by Russian forces in Ukraine is being held in solitary confinement but appears hopeful the U.S. government is pursuing his release, according to a phone call provided to The Post by his family. https://t.co/MLrR6sHeoU” / Twitter

A Defense Department watchdog warned on Tuesday that some of the DOD’s and individual services’ practices for tracking and recording the movement of money and aid to Ukraine are hurting the office’s ability to track aid overall, Defense One noted.

Defense One on Twitter: “Ukraine Aid Oversight Hindered by Pentagon Record-Keeping, Watchdog Says https://t.co/nb4LoVXzCz via @DefenseOne @DefTechPat @courtneybuble” / Twitter

In response to a question from The War Zone Tuesday morning, Senate Armed Service Committee ranking member James Inhofe (R-Okla), said while he wished “President Biden was moving faster – way faster – to provide Ukraine with military aid, I am encouraged by the Pentagon’s initial oversight of the aid Congress has authorized.”

“This report from the department’s independent watchdog is a sign that the Department of Defense is tracking financial flows properly, thanks to audit efforts started by the previous administration and maintained by this administration. Congress and the inspectors general must continue aggressive oversight of military aid to Ukraine to ensure we can keep providing the Ukrainian Armed Forces the weapons they need.”

Regardless, concerns are growing about a black market developing from the $10 billion in military aid from around the globe provided to Ukraine.

Financial Times on Twitter: “Since Russia invaded Ukraine, western states have pledged more than $10bn in military support. But officials fear that criminal groups are smuggling weapons back out of the country and on to Europe’s black market https://t.co/t8evymsPHE” / Twitter

But military aid isn’t the only money Ukraine is receiving.

Ukraine is getting an additional $1.7 billion in assistance from the U.S. government and the World Bank to pay the salaries of its beleaguered health care workers and provide other essential services.

KFYR-TV on Twitter: “The U.S. has sent a total of about $7.3 billion in aid to Ukraine since the invasion by Russia began in late February. https://t.co/GgK2YiLI04” / Twitter

While the Russians have made some wild claims about long-range fire systems provided by foreign governments to Ukraine (like the false claim about destroyed HIMARS), sometimes they apparently do destroy things, as this video would appear to show.

🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker on Twitter: “#Ukraine: The first Ukrainian M777A2 155mm howitzer fell into the hands of the Russian forces. This one in basically destroyed condition was captured in #Luhansk Oblast. It is known that two M777A2 were previously destroyed West of Lysychansk, so it could be one of them. https://t.co/4e1clm5tYk” / Twitter

And they’ve also taken out a number of Ukrainian drones as well.

Rob Lee on Twitter: “Footage reportedly of the wreckage of a Ukrainian kamikaze UAV used in Enerhodar. https://t.co/JL22QKDJSV https://t.co/u7DiwSUm7m” / Twitter

Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to find creative ways to restore its stock of weaponry, including making the best out of downed or otherwise derelict airframes.

🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker on Twitter: “#Ukraine: A recent video of a rare Ukrainian Mi-8TV armed helicopter fuselage being transported by a truck. Apparently Ukrainian (or even EU) facilities are currently working on restoring flighting capabilities of the Air Force, using old aircraft even in rather poor condition. https://t.co/ioHKVdfgax” / Twitter

And Ukraine continues to show creativity when it comes to rigging up improvised weapons systems, as this video shows.

🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker on Twitter: “#Ukraine: A Ukrainian improvised MRLS based on a few salvaged tubes taken from Russian BM-21 Grad and a donated pickup seen in action. https://t.co/7kNY7wOzJE” / Twitter

Meanwhile, more foreign military equipment continues to pour into Ukraine, like these Bergepanzer armored recovery vehicles that will be delivered from Germany.

Oryx on Twitter: “Germany will deliver three Bergepanzer 2 armoured recovery vehicles (ARVs) to Ukraine, presumably to be used in conjunction with the 30 Gepard SPAAGs that will soon be delivered as well 🇩🇪🇺🇦 Source: https://t.co/Ut6jrT5wjT https://t.co/Dls3ex9lgy” / Twitter

The Russians have said a lot of things over the course of their war on Ukraine, a great deal of which are untrue. Like claims that they aren’t using Tochka (S-21 Scarab) mobile short-range ballistic missiles, which Ukraine uses as well, offering a shallow level of deniability for indiscriminate strikes. It can carry various types of warheads up to a weight of around 1,000 pounds over a range of up to 75 miles in its most recent Tochka-U version.

Evergreen Intel on Twitter: “Remember all those times Russia & company denied using Tochkas anymore? Yeah… here’s six launchers with Vs and Zs on them driving through Lutuhyne, Luhansk.” / Twitter

Back in April, we told you the story of the Ukrainian nuclear researcher who was deeply concerned about how the Russians took over Chernobyl and shelled Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in the southern Zaporizhzhya region.

Well, it looks like the Russians are using the Zaporizhzhya plant to launch Grad rockets toward Mykolaiv.

Jay in Kyiv: 1/2 Russia is now using Europe’s largest nuclear power plants as a base from which to shoot GRAD rockets toward Mykolaiv. Hour ago, Energodar.

And just as they did with Chernobyl, it appears Russia is turning the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant into an armed camp.

Shashank Joshi on Twitter: “Insane. “At the Za­por­izhzhia Nu­clear Power Plant in south­ern Ukraine, more than 500 Russ­ian sol­diers…have de­ployed heavy ar­tillery bat­ter­ies & laid anti-per­son­nel mines along the shores of the reser­voir whose wa­ter cools its six re­ac­tors” https://t.co/3WlrIyA8oA” / Twitter

We will continue to update this post with new information until we state otherwise. 

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

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