Don's Weekly, 7 July 2025: Part 2

by Donald Hill

(…continued from Part 1…)

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Pokrovsk

In this area, and after nearly a year of bitter assaults, the Russians are now in the process of creating yet another cauldron (‘obvious’ by them focusing on assaults on flanks, either side of Pokrovsk).

Russian airstrikes on Novoekonomichne and Pokrovsk (purportedly deploying UMPKs on FAB-1500M-54s). Three kilometer advances at Novoserhiivka and Koptieve continued to put the slow stranglehold on Pokrovsk.

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Komar

A Russian column was discovered by a drone and cluster munitions stopped the vehicles and eliminated the troops that dismounted. Russian troops in Komar were attacked. Two Russian vehicles were destroyed 5 km from Velyka Novosilka. Russian infantry and equipment around Shevchenko are targeted.

The Russians crossed the Vovcha river and entered Dachne. A Russian airstrike damaged a bridge in Iskra and another airstrike hit what’s left of a house in the village. Airstrikes in Voskresenka and up to 3 km north of the village, and more airstrikes in the woods north of Myrne.

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Zaporizhzhia

Russian soldiers clear the basements in Kamianske. After several months of fighting, they took what’s left of the city. The basements provide some measure of protection against shellfire and observation from drones, but if you are spotted entering the basement the enemy infantry can throw grenades down the stairs and fire into it and you cannot defend yourself. A drone will either kill you or collapse the entrance and bury you. This is true for both sides.

The 65th, 128th and 110th Brigades were named as the first three units of the XVII Corps, ZSU. The 128th Mountain Assault Brigade was raised in 1922, making it the second oldest brigade in the army. It began the war in Melitopol and was pushed back 75 km to the north where it’s been fighting since April 2022. Some of its battalions were sent to fight in the Luhansk region and the counteroffensive to liberate Kherson.

The 65th Brigade was activated in April 2022 and was fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region eight months later. It also took part in the 2023 offensive. They were considered one of the top 20 effective brigades in the army and their commander was just promoted and rumors say he might be given a corps command.

The 110th Brigade was formed in March 2022 and sent to Avdiivka, where it held out under very heavy pressure. When the US Congress failed to authorize new aid, the shortage of artillery shells directly contributed to Russia overrunning the city in February 2024. After rest and refit, it took part in the Kursk invasion before being pulled back. On the morning of July 1st, the brigade commander and several other brigade officers were killed, including the deputy commander, and more than 30 wounded after a Russian missile strike on their headquarters in Huliaipole in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, 70 km from the front line. The reason for the massed gathering or the details of the security failure were not reported: probably ‘under investigation’, as usual in the ZSU under Syrsky…

On June 26th, HUR sabotaged the rail line 16 km east of Tokmak. After the track was repaired they sabotaged the rail line again on July 1st near Chemihivka. It is unknown how quickly or how effectively Russia will adjust to these attacks.

Russia has four armored trains that patrol rail lines and defend repair crews (specialised troops: each of VSRF’s has one railway brigade). Three operate in the Eastern, Southern and Central Military Districts in Russia and one operates in Ukraine.

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Kherson

A drone repair facility was identified and eliminated with three small diameter bombs. A Russian 152 mm gun damaged by a drone is temporarily abandoned.

The human safari continues with a fire engine responding to an earlier attack, known as a double-tap attack, and a gas station. Imagine being caught in an open field with your child when a Russian drone flies overhead.

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Odesa

Five were injured when a drone hit an apartment building. Crimea

Radars are always located at Tarkhankut because of its geographical location by the Black Sea and they are protected by EW systems. But aerial drones launched from naval drones attacked three Nebo radars.

A Russia air defense system and radar were attacked near Kurortne. FIRMS showed fires south of the village.

A Pantsir air defense system was destroyed after missing an approaching drone, other radars were hit, and at Saky airbase, an Su-30 was attacked. The drone attacking the Su-30 probably landed short of the aircraft which may or may not be damaged.

Satellite imagery confirms that a Pantsir and three helicopters were destroyed at Kirovske airbase on June 28th.

Three drone operators died when the car they were in exploded near the village of Strilkove, 150 km from the front lines. They were involved in the testing and operational deployment of drones and EW equipment.

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Occupied Territories

A former Russian-appointed mayor of Luhansk was killed and three others wounded in an explosion at the door to a residential building.

The 8th Combined Arms Army headquarters was hit in Donetsk on June 30th and again on July 3rd. The chief communications officer was killed on June 30th but other details of the two strikes were not reported. The 20th Motor Rifle Division headquarters was also hit.

Small oil storage tanks are hit in Luhansk. A metallurgical plant in Donetsk was hit.

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Baltic Sea

Germany and Sweden will identify and crack down shadow fleet vessels breaking maritime regulations by asking passing vessels about insurance coverage. Germany will not stop vessels for inspections. Irregularities could lead to sanctions. Denmark reported a shadow fleet tanker but did not detain it due to its concerns about legalities. Ships escorted by Russian military assets have not been stopped.

Shadow fleet tankers are avoiding the English channel unless they have a Russian escort because they are required to broadcast their location. They sail around the UK instead. They have also lied to Danish authorities, sailed through Estonian waters at night to avoid detention, turned off their Automatic Identification Systems, and another has been drifting outside the English Channel for two weeks while it either waits for a Russian escort or reflags its ship.

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Russia

A water pipeline that served the home base of the 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade was damaged in an explosion. At the same time, a gas pipeline that served that base and other facilities was damaged by an explosion and a large-scale fire.

The Kupol plant in Izhevsk produces Tor anti-aircraft systems 1,000 km east of Moscoy. There was a large fire after the drone attack that destroyed a 60 x 23 meter section of the building and three people were killed.

An oil refinery in Saratov was attacked by Ukrainian UAVs. The oil depot at Borok was attacked, too: that’s 1300km away from Ukraine, but there was no word on damage. An electrical substation near Moscow was hit and a nearby factory that produces warheads for drones was hit. The Azov Optical and Mechanical Plant in Rostov was hit. It creates optical, laser, spectral and thermal imaging equipment. Two drones set an electronics factory in Cheboksary on fire 975 km from Ukraine.

Borisoglebsk air base was hit. Su-30, Su-34 and Su-35 aircraft are based there. Besides FIRMS and a single image of a fire, unconfirmed reports indicate a depot for bombs, a training aircraft and possibly other aircraft were hit. The fires burned for at least 24 hours. The first satellite images suggest that drop tanks for the fighters were hit.

An Su-34 crashed in Nizhny Novgorod and the navigator died.

For the fifth time in 2025, a tanker carrying Russian oil suffered an explosion. The Vilamoura was the last ship hit while it was off the coast of Libya. Its engine room was flooded and it is being towed to Greece.

A pro-Ukrainian Russian group hacked ten gigabytes worth of data on Russian EW systems. The includes specifications, test reports, names and addresses of personnel, architecture, production, supply, architecture and more.

The vice president of the oil pipeline monopoly Transneft committed suicide by falling out of the window of his home. He lived on the 10th floor but jumped out of the 17th floor just to be certain. Suicide by defenestration was the choice for 16 of Russia’s powerful businessmen and other enemies of the state. Other methods were also used, such as a colonel that shot himself five times in the chest. Here is the list of 71 suspicious deaths in the gangster’s paradise since January 2022.

There are an estimated 4600-8000 foreign mercenaries fighting for Russia.

A ship loading ammonia in Ust-Luga suffered an explosion that breached its hull and list to the left. No one was injured and ammonia explosions have happened in peaceful circumstances.

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(…to be continued…)