Last week, three Russian attack drones flew into Belarusian airspace at once. The third drone flew there on the morning of 16 July, from the Zhytomyr Region to the Belarusian city of Bobruysk, according to sources in the Defence Forces.
To shoot down the drone, the Belarusians sent up a Su-30 fighter jet and a Mi-24 helicopter. The drone's flight over Belarusian territory was previously reported by the Monitoring Channel, while the Ukrainian Air Force reported on 16 July that two UAVs were lost in Belarus.
The interlocutors also confirmed the use of an unknown type of drone by the enemy, the wreckage of which was found in Kyiv.
In total, over the past week, Russia conducted up to a hundred tactical aircraft sorties every day and shelled up to 140 localities. Some of them were shelled repeatedly. The enemy did not use strategic aviation for strikes last week.
The Russians are focused on trying to continue their offensive in 12 main areas, including the threat to Sumy Region.
Russia has also begun to actively seek new tactics for missile attacks.
‘Trends include almost daily demonstration flights of strategic aviation with access to missile launch sites, systematic actions of small groups of aircraft, unlike the previous format of their massive use, and new ways to overcome air defence systems,’ the sources explained.
The risk of damage to ground targets on the territory of Ukraine up to and including Kyiv and regional centres in the northern and western regions remains at the same level. The current intensity of almost daily attacks with guided aerial bombs, X-59/69 missiles and Shahed UAVs is expected to continue, with attempts to cover as much of Ukraine as possible.
Last week, the enemy's ground forces involved in the hostilities against Ukraine did not undergo any fundamental changes and approximately numbered up to 528,000 people. The Russian National Guard's FSV grouping remained unchanged and totalled up to 35,800.