On July 19, Russian forces continued their attempts to advance in the Bakhmut direction, aiming to seize the Vuhlehirsk Thermal Power Plant. Additionally, Russia continued artillery shelling and airstrikes on towns and villages in the northern Kharkiv region, as well as in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

On July 20, Ukrainian partisans carried out an attack on the Russian garrison at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

On July 21, The European Council adopted additional measures to tighten existing economic sanctions against Russia. These included a new ban on purchasing, importing, or transferring gold from Russia, including jewelry; strengthened export controls on dual-use goods; an extended ban on access to ports and locks; and sanctions on an additional 54 individuals and 10 entities, including the mayor of Moscow and Sberbank, one of Russia's largest financial institutions. The new measures, like previous sanctions, did not affect the export of food, grain, or fertilizers from Russia.

On July 25, a breakthrough occurred during the fighting for the Vuhlehirsk Thermal Power Plant in Svitlodarsk. According to the Ukrainian side, after several days of ineffective attacks, Russian forces achieved "partial success." The next day, Russian sources reported that the power plant had been captured by the Wagner Group mercenaries.

In the following days, Ukrainian forces continued to successfully repel attacks in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions. The Russians also continued heavy shelling of Ukrainian positions and towns along the front line in the Donbas.

On July 29, The Russian side reported that 53 people were killed and 75 were injured in the shelling of a prison in Olenivka, where prisoners of war, including members of the” Azov” Regiment from Mariupol, were being held. The Ukrainian side challenged these claims, stating that the attack was carried out by the Russians themselves to cover up evidence of torture and executions of Ukrainian prisoners. The Wagner Group was accused of carrying out the attack. The Russians did not allow representatives of the International Red Cross to conduct an investigation at the site.

Photo: Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. CC BY-SA 3.0