Ukraine Claims Heavy Russian Losses, Successful Counteroffensive in South

The Russian army suffered some of its heaviest personnel losses of the war in July, while Kyiv’s forces made their largest territorial gains in more than a year, according to Ukrainian official statements released this week. Ukrainian Defense Ministry estimates, based largely on geolocated drone footage, put Russian military casualties in July at 42,860 killed or seriously wounded. Moscow had not sustained losses on that scale since January 2025, the ministry said.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. According to Kyiv’s count, total Russian personnel losses since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 have reached 1,461,660. Russia also lost 13,998 cars, trucks and motorcycles in July—a record for the full-scale war, according to the Ukrainian military. Kyiv Post could not independently verify the Ukrainian military’s figures. However, individual units and military information platforms monitored by Kyiv Post documented intensive Ukrainian drone operations throughout the month, primarily targeting logistics and supply convoys moving through Russian-occupied territory in southern Ukraine. The deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians A statement released Thursday by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission identified July 2026 as the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians during the war, with 437 people confirmed killed in Russian attacks. The death toll was 30% higher than in June and included 17 children, UN figures showed. Other Topics of Interest Russian Strikes Target Pavlohrad and Combine Harvester in Zaporizhzhia Russian forces struck the city of Pavlohrad and targeted a combine harvester in the Zaporizhzhia region, injuring four people. Many Ukrainian civilian deaths and injuries result from Russian glide bombs, attack drones and missiles striking residential buildings. The highest casualty figures often follow attacks that cause parts of apartment buildings to collapse onto the people inside. Ukrainian government figures broadly match the UN data, although officials estimate that the actual number of civilians killed and wounded may be as much as twice the confirmed total. Some victims remain buried beneath collapsed buildings and are never recovered, while others were not officially registered as living at the addresses struck. The announcements of heavy Russian military losses and record Ukrainian civilian deaths came as Ukraine claimed to have completed a successful counteroffensive that pushed Russian troops back more than a dozen kilometers along a broad section of the southern front. According to statements and graphics published by military-affiliated information platforms between Saturday and Wednesday, the operation took place near the intersection of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Ukrainian forces reportedly liberated approximately 745 square kilometers (288 square miles), retaking 26 settlements along a 60-kilometer (37-mile) front and placing them under full Ukrainian control. In a national video address on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said troops had also searched and cleared Russian forces from another 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) of “gray zone” no-man’s-land. He credited assault and airborne infantry units operating in the sector with carrying out the attacks. Independent OSINT researchers and international think tanks have largely confirmed Ukrainian advances in the area, although assessments of the precise territory retaken and degree of control vary. Ukrainian media outlets in July and August largely observed a military request not to report on the fighting while the operation was underway. Accounts from participating troops nevertheless indicated that Ukrainian forces were making progress. Earlier Ukrainian counteroffensives advanced more rapidly and captured more territory but proved less successful in consolidating those gains. Ukranian tactics, explained A major Ukrainian operation in Russia’s Kursk region initially captured nearly 1,500 square kilometers (579 square miles) of Russian territory and placed more than 100 Russian settlements under Ukrainian control. Ukraine subsequently lost almost all those gains. A Ukrainian counterattack against a major Russian penetration near the Donetsk region town of Dobropillia in August 2025 reportedly recovered 1,300 square kilometers (502 square miles) and destroyed a Russian assault force estimated at 10,000 troops. However, it largely restored the previous line of contact rather than liberating new territory. Statements released Tuesday and Wednesday by the 425th Assault Regiment, the lead Ukrainian unit in the southern operation between February and July 2026, also supported official accounts of substantial territorial gains and confirmed that the regiment had spearheaded the advance. Reports from the regiment and other participating formations, including the 7th Mobile Corps, described small, day-by-day attacks intended to erode Russian control gradually. The tactics were designed to minimize Ukrainian casualties while allowing troops and firepower to be concentrated against each successive objective. Inflicting maximum losses on Russian forces was reportedly considered as important as gaining territory. Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces launched an intensive midrange kamikaze-drone campaign in June targeting Russian road logistics behind the front, particularly troop and supply movements through Russian-occupied territory in southern Ukraine. The strikes were often carried out using Styrofoam and carbon-fiber drones carrying enough explosives to destroy a tank. According to the Unmanned Systems Forces, the campaign burned or otherwise destroyed at least 400 trucks carrying military cargo, including fuel and ammunition. The losses left some front-line Russian units short of supplies and, in some cases, unable to receive reinforcements. Independent Ukrainian military analyst Kostyantyn Mashovets said in a late-July battlefield assessment that the Ukrainian offensive toward Oleksandrivka had forced the Russian high command to divert troops from two combined-arms armies—the 5th and 36th—to the threatened sector. The redeployment slowed the Ukrainian advance but reportedly forced Russia to cancel a major offensive farther north. Mashovets and Ukrainian official sources have also alleged that lower-level Russian commanders’ unwillingness to admit Ukrainian territorial gains left senior commanders unaware of the deteriorating situation. Russian officials have consequently claimed victories that troops on both sides, as well as independent researchers and media outlets, knew to be false. Russian disconnect with battlefield reality A particularly stark disconnect between Moscow’s claims and battlefield reality came on July 3, when Russian President Vladimir Putin held a highly publicized, nationally televised meeting with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and other senior commanders. Putin was told that Russian forces had captured 133 settlements and more than 3,000 square kilometers (1,158 square miles) of Ukrainian territory since Jan. 1, including 29 settlements and 636 square kilometers (246 square miles) in June alone. During the presentation, Gerasimov claimed Russian troops were advancing most rapidly in the Oleksandrivka and Huliaipole directions—effectively the same sector where Ukrainian forces were successfully counterattacking. Later that day, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that Oleksandrivka had fallen under Russian control. At the time, the nearest Russian troops were probably around 15 kilometers (9 miles) away. On July 18, Gerasimov again delivered a televised battlefield report to Putin, claiming that Russian forces were advancing in every sector. The US-based Institute for the Study of War, reviewing Gerasimov’s claims, found that Russian forces had actually been losing territory at an average rate of approximately 1.6 square kilometers per day between July 1 and 17. False reports of Russian territorial gains are chronic within the Kremlin and may represent an attempt by Putin’s subordinates to manipulate him, the institute said.