Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 526.

As Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues and the war rages on, reliable sources of information are critical. Forbes gathers information and provides updates on the situation.

Kherson region. Russian forces attacked a medical facility in the southern city of Kherson on Aug. 1, authorities said. The shelling resulted in the killing of Dmytro Bilyi, a 25-year-old doctor, who was on his first official day of work. Five other hospital employees were injured.

On Aug. 3, St. Catherine’s Cathedral in Kherson came under Russian artillery fire twice. Four firefighters, who were working to extinguish the blaze caused by the first attack, were wounded in the subsequent blast and hospitalized.

Russian drones attacked ports in southern Ukraine on Monday night, Aug. 1. According to preliminary reports, around 40 thousand tons of grain expected by African countries, China and Israel were damaged. Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure Alexander Kubrakov said the Danube river port of Izmail suffered the worst damage. There, a naval installation, and facilities belonging to Ukrainie’s Danube Shipping Company, a major freight carrier, were left partially destroyed. “The world must resist,” said Kubrakov. Behind these images of destruction “are the lives of hundreds of millions of people. In Ukraine, in Europe, in Africa.”

In July, Moscow launched 150 missiles and 265 Shahed drones at Ukrainian cities, the independent conflict tracker Monitor reported. Missiles used include Kalibr, X-101/555, Onyx, and X-22 types. Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted an estimated 206 out of 265 incoming drones, demonstrating 70% effectiveness in its operations. “A notable trend is emerging towards large-scale, simultaneous launches of various destructive weapons, with long intervals between missile attacks,” said Monitor group members. “Additionally, there has been a noteworthy increase in the use of supersonic missiles in the month of July, specifically targeting port infrastructure and the agro-industrial complex for damage.”

Front line. Despite significant resistance, Ukraine's soldiers are steadily advancing near Melitopol and Berdyansk in the South, according to the latest update from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moreover, Ukrainian units in the Bakhmut area have secured territory around the village of Andriivka in the East, and withstood Russia’s unsuccessful efforts to regain control over the village of Klishchiivka. Brigadier General Alexander Tarnavsky, commander of the “Tavria” troops, so named for a region of southern Ukraine that includes occupied Crimea, said that in the last 24 hours, the adversary lost at least 22 units of military equipment, namely one tank, four artillery and mortar systems, three UAVs, and nine AFVs. “The work continues,” he wrote on social media.

Slovakia delivered two of 16 Zuzana 2 model howitzers, pledged to Ukraine, Slovak media reported on Aug. 1. Shipment of the long-range, self-propelled artillery, was made possible through a joint effort by Norway, Denmark, and Germany, with an overall budget of over 90 million Euros ($98 million). Slovakia is expected to supply Ukraine with 14 additional Zuzana 2 howitzers in the near future. “It is our duty to help where ever, and how ever, we can,” Slovak Prime Minister Ľudovít Ódor said. “The defense of Ukraine and its ability to face Russian aggression is in all of our interest. A world in which rules do not apply and international rules are not respected is unacceptable to us.”

More than 10 thousand civilian casualties have been recorded in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale aggression, said Yuriy Byelousov, chief of the war crimes division at Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office. These include the confirmed loss of 499 Ukrainian children. The figure, Byelousov adds, agrees with the UN data, however, the actual number of dead is much higher. “We understand that these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. Once we reclaim our territories, the casualty figures will likely increase significantly, potentially even by tens of times. I fear that there could be tens of thousands of deaths in Mariupol alone.”

By Daria Dzysiuk, Karina L. Tahiliani