[ADDED NEWS/FLASH UPDATE--TRUE COUNTEROFFENSIVE IN ZAPORIZHZHIA MAY HAVE BEGUN. NEXT WEEKS CRITICAL] Ukrainian War Update July 26 (Patreon only... for now)

Ukrainian War Update July 26 (includes economic/political and front-line movements)

[FLASH NEWS UPDATE FOR JULY 27: RUSSIAN DRIVE TOWARD NIDIYA POSSIBLY STUNTED. UKRAINE MAY HAVE LAUNCHED TRUE PUSH AT ROBOTYNE IN ZAPORIZHZHIA. RUSSIAN ATTACKS TOWARD NADIYA MAY HAVE BEEN BLUNTED/STALLED. NEXT TWO WEEKS CRITICAL. SEE ITEMS BELOW.]

(Please note that these reports will typically be issued on Wednesdays/Thursdays of every week.)

But first... the investigative war news plug of the week

A remarkable feat of investigative reporting appeared in the on-line magazine, The Insider (theins.ru), this week here: https://theins.ru/en/politics/263675.

The article notes how the rooftop of the Russian embassy in Chisinau keeps sprouting satellite dishes and transmitting devices, and that it became “particularly noticeable ahead of presidential or parliamentary elections, as well as during the visits of foreign delegations to Moldova—as well as the “prior to the 1 Eurosummit and in May. following a cyber-attack on government networks, which resulted in thousands of classified documents being compromised.”

According to The Insider, individuals identified on said rooftop were “communication officers associated with the GRU and SVR, closely connected to hacker groups responsible for breaching the electronic mailboxes of Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, and Hillary Clinton.”

Check this one out.

Battlefield news

The war has now hit day 517, and although gains are still relatively small, new developments are clearly evident in Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces have achieved marked success, and in the north—where Russian gains are disconcerting, following the previously noted buildup of approximately 100,000 Russian soldiers near Kupyansk.

First the positives: as indicated in the previous report and in the vlog, Ukraine was noted as pushing hard for a number of towns, including Pryyutne, Robotyne, Andrivka and the much fought over [...]

For more info and the full article, hit the Patreon link here: https://www.patreon.com/TheCornerswithPrestonSmith

Map attribution: Deepstate.UA.