Ukrainian forces confirmed that a russian colonel killed in Kharkiv fighting was taken out while directing attacks near the border. The Operative-Strategic Group of Forces Khortytsia, a Ukrainian military command on the eastern front, said Col. Lebedev, commander of the 83rd motorized rifle regiment of the 69th motorized rifle division, died as he tried to push assaults forward in the Velykyi Burluk direction.
The Velykyi Burluk direction is the most recent Russian attempt to invade Kharkiv Oblast from across the northern border. After a limited breakthrough, Russian forces managed to hold a strip of ground only a few kilometers deep, just to the west of the Kupiansk front. They have been trying to expand that foothold and stretch Ukrainian defenses, but their advance has stalled from the start. A 15 July report by the Institute for the Study of War noted that Russian military bloggers claimed advances west and south of Milove and renewed attacks around Velykyi Burluk near Milove.
Russian colonel killed in Velykyi Burluk sector clashes
The Ukrainian command reported late on 26 July that defenders destroyed the officer who had led storming operations aimed at widening Russia’s small foothold west of the Kupiansk front. The command’s report mentions only the last name of the eliminated colonel, Lebedev.
Earlier, Oleksii Rozumnyi from the 13th brigade of the National Guard unit Hartiia said Russian forces are using these border attacks to pull Ukrainian reserves into the area. According to him, the occupiers have shifted tactics since the time of the Kursk offensive. They now focus more on logistics strikes and use drones equipped with fiber optics to hit deep, sometimes almost reaching Kharkiv city.
Escalating fighting east of Vovchansk
Reports also describe heavy clashes east of Vovchansk — a border town further west of Velykyi Burluk, where Russian troops have tried to break through Ukrainian defenses and move in the direction of Velykyi Burluk.
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Russia’s latest attacks left at least three civilians dead and at least 25 injured across Ukraine, with strikes reported in Donetsk, Kherson, Sumy, Odesa, and Kharkiv oblasts. Russian drones targeted Odesa and Kharkiv, their bombs struck Kramatorsk and Sumy, while artillery shelling targeted Kherson and other cities.
Amid the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, Moscow continued its daily deliberate attacks against Ukrainian civilians in attempts to degrade morale.
Kramatorsk boy killed as Russian bomb hits residential building
Civilian casualties from Russian attacks mounted overnight on 22 July as a Russian guided bomb struck a residential building in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast. According to the head of the city’s military administration, Oleksandr Honcharenko, the strike killed a 9-year-old boy born in 2015. Five more civilians were injured. The explosion caused a fire in the building, which was extinguished by emergency services.
The killed boy was among three civilians killed in Donetsk Oblast over the previous 24 hours, according to the oblast military administration. Russian forces killed one more person in Kostiantynivka with shelling and another in Zarichne. Meanwhile, they injured five civilians in Sloviansk and two more in Dobropillia. Russian attacks also wounded one person each in Rodynske, Lyman, and Shandryholove.
Multiple wounded in Kherson from early-morning shelling
Kherson city and the village of Inzhenerne came under Russian artillery fire early in the morning on 22 July. The Russian attack injured a 62-year-old man while outside in Inzhenerne. Minutes later, at 08:10, Russian shelling hit Kherson, wounding a 54-year-old man. Another victim, a 55-year-old woman, was later reported injured from the same barrage. All three suffered explosive trauma and shrapnel wounds and were hospitalized, according to the Kherson Oblast Military Administration.
Authorities confirmed that seven people had been wounded across Kherson Oblast in the previous 24 hours due to artillery and drone attacks.
Drone swarm strikes Odesa
Odesa was once again targeted by Russian drones launched from the direction of occupied Crimea and the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russians launched 42 explosive and decoy drones overnight, mostly Shahed types. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted or jammed 26 of them. electronic warfare systems suppressed seven others. However, nine drones hit their targets across three locations, which included Odesa. Another key target was Kharkiv.
In Odesa, a Russian drone injured one person. Debris from intercepted drones sparked a fire in a parking lot. Multiple vehicles were destroyed. The impact also shattered windows in a multi-story residential building and damaged a shop, local authorities reported. The State Emergency Service of Odesa Oblast reported that 62 rescuers and 17 vehicles were deployed to manage the aftermath. Three separate crash sites were confirmed in the city.
Aftermath of a Russian drone attack on 22 July 2025 in Odesa. Photo: Suspilne Odesa.
Suspilne reports that air raid sirens were activated at 01:48. Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov issued an early warning to residents of the Arcadia and Fontanka districts. Explosions followed shortly after.
Drone attacks wound civilians in Kharkiv Oblast
Russian forces targeted seven settlements in Kharkiv Oblast over the past 24 hours using a mix of Shahed drones, FPV drones, and another unidentified UAV. The oblast military administration confirmed three civilian injuries.
The Russian strikes injured an 84-year-old woman Kupiansk, a 67-year-old woman in Ivano-Shyichyne, Bohodukhiv community. In the village of Verbivka, Balakliia community, a 29-year-old man was hurt after stepping on an unidentified explosive object.
Guided bombs hit Sumy, injuring civilians including a child
In Sumy, Russia launched a strike on 21 July at approximately 22:30. According to the Sumy City Military Administration, three people were injured, including a child. Acting mayor Artem Kobzar said the Russians used two KAB-type guided bombs. The Sumy Oblast Military Administration added that the attack damaged five apartment buildings, a shopping center, and 18 vehicles. A 60-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man were hospitalized with confirmed injuries.
Damage to an apartment building following a Russian bomb attack on Sumy late on 21 July 2025. Photo: Suspilne Sumy.
Serhii Kryvosheienko, head of the Sumy MVA, warned that more casualties were possible and that emergency teams were still working at the scene.
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Russian saboteurs tried to infiltrate Ukrainian lines in Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast. Ukrainian troops intercepted and eliminated them, Ukraine’s top general Syrskyi confirmed. The attack came amid intensifying fighting across Donetsk, Sumy, and Kharkiv oblasts, as Russian forces press multiple axes of advance.
Amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s military operations aimed at seizing all of Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast intensified around Pokrovsk in February 2025, with multiple units redeployed to reinforce this direction. The focus then shifted toward Kostiantynivka, but the main push now appears to have returned to Pokrovsk.
Russian saboteurs in Pokrovsk eliminated during failed incursion
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported that Russian saboteurs in Pokrovsk attempted to breach Ukrainian defenses on 18 July. The group, described as a DRG — diversionary and reconnaissance group, failed to reach the city. Ukrainian defenders spotted them in time and destroyed the entire group.
According to Syrskyi, Russia continues using small infantry groups to try and seize Pokrovsk. Russia mostly switched to these tactics after years of costly frontal “meat-wave” attacks.
Syrskyi posted the update at 22:07 on 18 July via Telegram. He said Ukrainian troops “courageously repel intensified pressure and destroy the Russian aggressor” along the Pokrovsk and Novopavlivka axes. These fronts in Donetsk Oblast were the main focus of his report to President Zelenskyy, who also serves as Ukraine’s supreme commander.
Ukrainian units credited with stopping Russian sabotage team
Syrskyi named several units that contributed to Ukraine’s recent defensive success. He highlighted the 59th Assault Brigade and Special Operations Forces operating on the Pokrovsk axis.
Situation in the area of Pokrovsk as of 18 July 2025, according to Deep State. The reported Russian advancements are further south from Pokrovsk.
He also praised units on other fronts. These include the 225th Separate Assault Regiment and 95th Air Assault Brigade in the Siversk direction (northeastern Ukraine), the 3rd Assault Brigade near Kupiansk (Kharkiv Oblast), and the 82nd Air Assault Brigade and 14th National Guard Brigade near Dobropillia (Donetsk Oblast).
Additionally, the 5th Assault Brigade and elements of the 225th Regiment fought in the Novopavlivka direction, which Syrskyi also called a high-pressure area.
Ukrainian forces counter Russian gains across several fronts
According to an 18 July report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces “recently advanced near Pokrovsk” and in northern Sumy Oblast. ISW classifies Pokrovsk as part of Russia’s Subordinate Main Effort—aiming to capture all of Donetsk Oblast and potentially push into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
The ISW also noted that the Ukrainian forces have advanced near Novopavlivka, while the Russians in northern Sumy Oblast.
Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState reported similar activity. On 18 July, it noted Russian advances near Voskresenka, Zelenyi Hai, and Yablunivka—all in Donetsk Oblast.
On 19 July, DeepState added that Russian troops had occupied a different Yablunivka in Sumy Oblast. They also advanced near Yunakivka (Sumy Oblast), Khatnie (northeastern Kharkiv Oblast), as well as Romanivka and Toretsk (Donetsk Oblast).
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Russia’s chemical attacks in Ukraine have exceeded 10,000 incidents since February 2023, according to Anton Honchar, chief specialist of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Directorate of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Support Command. Honchar told Ukrainska Pravda that Russian forces began using chemical weapons against Ukrainians as early as 2014–2015.
Earlier in July, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas voiced concern over Russia’s increasing use of chemical weapons. She cited intelligence from Dutch and German services that recorded at least 9,000 incidents since the full-scale invasion began. Kyiv says Russia’s use of chemical weapons began much earlier but couldn’t be fully documented until mobile teams and international protocols were in place.
Ukrainian mobile teams specializing in chemical detection are now deployed across the front, collecting samples of grenades, contaminated gear, and aerosols. These groups work in close coordination with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Special Operations Forces. Honchar noted that over the past month alone, Ukrainian teams recorded about 760 instances of chemical weapons use by Russian troops.
Banned toxic grenades lead Russia’s battlefield arsenal
According to Honchar, 88% of Russia’s chemical attacks involve hand grenades such as the RG-Vo and K-51, both of which are banned for combat use under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). These grenades are intended for riot control, not military operations, yet Russia reportedly uses them to flush Ukrainian troops out of trenches and bunkers. Kyiv accuses Moscow of violating Article 1, Clause 5 of the CWC, which prohibits the use of toxic chemicals as weapons against enemy forces.
Another widely documented agent is chloropicrin, once used to test gas masks. Now, it’s being weaponized in improvised explosive devices or loaded into containers and dropped from drones.
Evidence collected for international prosecution
Honchar stressed that Ukraine now has the technical ability to gather battlefield samples according to international forensic standards. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) requires strict procedures to validate evidence in court. Ukraine’s field units adhere to these rules, enabling the country to pursue accountability at both the national and international level.
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Ukraine accuses Russia of continuing to research, produce, and distribute chemical weapons despite claiming to have destroyed its stockpiles in 2018. The OPCW had been told by Moscow that its inventory was eliminated, yet Ukraine says banned agents are being actively used. One case cited by Honchar involved Russian General Kirillov, head of the Russian Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defense Troops. According to the SBU, he was responsible for supplying banned grenades to frontline units before being eliminated in December 2024.
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Russia’s 155th Naval Infantry Brigade has been identified as one of the units most often using chemical weapons. Kyiv says these attacks are concentrated in combat-heavy directions such as Pokrovsk, Kupiansk, and Lyman, where Russian forces attempt to force Ukrainian troops out of fortified positions.
Honchar said Russian forces prefer to use chemical weapons during spring, summer, and autumn due to better evaporation conditions, and mainly during daylight assaults when their ground offensives are most active.
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