Although Russia has amassed a really giant pressure to try to take Ukraine’s Sumy area, Ukrainian army officers say they’ve thwarted this summer time offensive. Russian sources, in the meantime, declare that the advance is “inevitable.” Sumy is the place Ukraine staged its invasion into Russia’s neighboring Kursk area in August 2024. Ukraine nonetheless holds territory in Kursk, though a a lot smaller space than it had on the peak the operation. Now Sumy is on the middle of an enormous battle that has seen each side deploy a few of their finest troops.
Although the Russians have poured 50,000 troops into the hassle, the offensive has been halted, based on the Ukrainian Armed Forces Basic Workers.
“Presently, the state of affairs is stabilized, the development of the enemy has been stopped alongside the road of Junakivka – Yablunivka – Novomikolaivka – Oleksiyivka – Kindrativka” in Ukraine and inside Kursk, the final workers claimed on Fb. “Our troops keep defenses alongside the designated border, conduct preparation and counter-offensive measures to repel the enemy.”
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Ukrainian army has begun to push Russian army out of settlements in Sumy area, – Basic Workers of Ukraine
It’s reported that the state of affairs has stabilized, the enemy’s advance has been stopped. As well as, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are “making ready and finishing up”… pic.twitter.com/tPoo10sTJq
Ukrainian troops “liberated” the village of Andriyivka, the final workers claimed. “As well as, our items superior within the space of Oleksíivka, pushing the opponent away from Sumy.”
“Their predominant technique,” Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s high army commander, stated of the Russians, is to “put on us down with their numbers.”
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Commander-in-Chief Syrsky The Armed Forces of Ukraine have fully stopped the Russian offensive in Sumy area, the road of fight contact has been stabilized. Ukraine has as soon as once more shackled 50 thousand Russian troopers, pic.twitter.com/kfVXg2aftK
“Earlier this month, Ukraine despatched elite commando items from its army intelligence directorate, often called GUR, to assist stabilize the state of affairs,” The Wall AvenueJournal reported. “Since then, the Russian advances in Sumy have been largely stopped, and Ukraine has clawed again some territory.”
Elite items of The Most important Directorate of Intelligence of Basic Budanov managed to stabilize the state of affairs within the Sumy route, regardless of the focus of fifty,000 Russian forces there. The enemy can also be being destroyed by the fellows I used to be with in Syria.https://t.co/48866GFxsu
As a sign of Russia’s curiosity in pushing deep into Sumy, it despatched a few of its most elite items into the battle, Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, head of GUR, advised us earlier this month.
“It’s not so essential the quantity indicators or amount indicators,” Budanov advised us in an unique interview. “It’s extra essential to the reason of what’s taking place now. Presently, the utmost allied variety of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is conducting the offensive within the Sumy route. For instance, the 104th Airborne Division, the fortieth Brigade of the Naval Infantry. The 83rd Airborne Brigade. The a hundred and fifty fifth Naval Infantry Brigade. So the perfect of the assault items that the Russian Federation has.”
The objective, stated Budanov, is “to create a buffer zone on our territory. They’re dealing with loopy resistance from our facet. An advance from their facet exists. However at this level, I can’t say that it has any strategic which means. Our items might be relocated to that space quickly, and we’ll see what occurs.”
In the meantime, Russian artillery has crept deeper into Sumy, placing extra cities and villages in danger.
Russian forces shelled the village of Pishchane close to the northeastern metropolis of Sumy round June 22–23, with one artillery strike touchdown lower than a kilometer from the regional capital’s outskirts.https://t.co/fZxoudn3hY
— The New Voice of Ukraine (@NewVoiceUkraine) June 30, 2025
This protection of the Sumy area has come at a steep value, based on Ukrainian troops.
“Through the half-year that Ukraine held territory in Russia’s Kursk area, troopers who fought there stated they assumed the army can be making ready sturdy defensive positions on the Ukrainian facet of the border,” the Journal famous. “As an alternative, after a chaotic and expensive retreat from Kursk, they discovered outdated trenches, with no overhead cowl from drones. The troopers at the moment are digging their very own positions beneath drone fireplace in some circumstances.”
Ukrainians additionally complained that areas that the Russians at the moment are advancing throughout weren’t mined.
“It’s like they ready for tank columns, not a battlefield the place dozens of drones strike each day,” stated one infantry commander named Kyrylo, who fought in Kursk and is now preventing in Sumy. “Each single day a place isn’t prepared is a day somebody may not come again.”
“Nonetheless, troopers within the space say that holding Sumy is coming at a larger human value than needed.
Through the half-year that Ukraine held territory in Russia’s Kursk area, troopers who fought there stated they assumed the army can be making ready sturdy defensive positions… pic.twitter.com/GhVV4H0eC6
Russian sources, in the meantime, say that Moscow’s summer time offensive has been attaining desired outcomes.
“Items of the Sever Group of Forces improved the tactical state of affairs alongside the entrance line” in Sumy, the Russian MoD claimed on Monday. “Losses have been inflicted on manpower and {hardware} of two mechanised brigades, one jaeger brigade, three air assault brigades, three assault regiments of the AFU, two territorial defence brigades, and the Khimera Particular Operations Detachment of the Ukrainian Most important Directorate of Intelligence close to Bessalovka, Pisarevka, Novaya Sech, Varachino, Miropolye, Yunakovka, and Sadki.”
“One of many predominant information gadgets of the previous day right here was the strikes of Russian barrel artillery on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces within the village of Peschanoye, which is situated near Sumy itself,” the Russian Conflict Gonzo Telegram channel posited. “It’s vital that regardless of all of the efforts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to cease the offensive of the Russian Armed Forces, everybody understands that additional advance of Russian troops is inevitable.”
Nonetheless, for Russia, this offensive has resulted within the lack of quite a lot of troops and tools.
Time will inform how profitable this new Russian push actually is. Nonetheless, regardless of how pricey its offensive has been, Moscow has much more troops to expend. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday stated Russia was planning new offensives.
Putin has already stolen virtually half a yr from diplomacy — one other half a yr — on high of all the period of this conflict. Russia isn’t altering its plans and isn’t on the lookout for a approach out of this conflict. Quite the opposite, they’re making ready for brand spanking new operations, together with on… pic.twitter.com/Hx47bYgT8z
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 30, 2025
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Elsewhere on the battlefield, the entrance traces remained largely stagnant, although Ukraine did make a small advance within the east. Listed here are the important thing takeaways from the newest Institute for the Examine of Conflict Evaluation:
Kursk: Combating continued in Kursk Oblast on June 29, with no actual progress noticed by both facet.
Kharkiv: Russian forces continued offensive operations in northern Kharkiv Oblast on June 29 however didn’t make confirmed advances.
Luhansk: Russian troops continued to attempt to advance towards Borova, Kupiansk and Lyman however didn’t acquire any territory.
Donetsk: Russian forces continued offensive operations within the Novopavlivka, Pokrovsk, Siversk, Toretsk and Velyka Novosilka instructions however didn’t make any confirmed advances. In the meantime, Ukrainian forces lately superior within the Chasiv Yar route.
Zaporizhzhia: Russian forces continued offensive operations close to Malynivka (east of Huliaipole) and in western Zaporizhia Oblast on June 29 however didn’t advance.
Kherson: Neither Ukrainian nor Russian sources reported any floor exercise within the Kherson route on June 29.
In a single day Sunday, Russia launched the most important aerial assault of the conflict, firing 477 drones and 60 missiles, based on the Ukrainian Air Drive, including that of those, 249 have been shot down and 226 have been misplaced, probably having been electronically jammed. A minimum of 10 individuals on the bottom have been killed. As well as, a Ukrainian F-16 pilot was killed defending in opposition to that onslaught, based on the Ukrainian Air Drive.
“Maksym Ustymenko, born in 1993, was killed after taking pictures down seven aerial targets,” the Air Drive stated in an announcement, including that “his plane was broken whereas he was making an attempt to shoot down the final one, dropping altitude and crashing.”
Ustymenko is at the least the fourth Ukrainian F-16 pilot to be killed. You possibly can learn concerning the others right here.
Final evening, First Class pilot Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustymenko was killed whereas flying an F-16 plane and defending Ukraine’s skies from a Russian assault.
Maksym used the complete vary of onboard weapons and shot down seven Russian targets.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 29, 2025
Along with utilizing jets to take down Russian drones, Ukraine can also be utilizing helicopters, which you’ll be able to see within the following video.
Cockpit footage from a Ukrainian Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship taking pictures down a Russian Shahed assault drone with its Yak-B gatling gun. pic.twitter.com/nIvxATYGCr
Russia is now reportedly utilizing Kh-31 (AS-17 Krypton) supersonic anti-ship missiles launched from Su-30 Flanker fighters to assault Ukrainian sea drones. This comes within the wake of GUR’s use of AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles launched from drone boats to down two Flankers.
The Russian The Incorrect Facet Telegram channel claims that three Ukrainian drone boats have been destroyed by Kh-31 missiles fired from a Flanker. The Incorrect Facet posted video it says exhibits the Kh-31 supersonic anti-ship missiles hitting drone boats, however we can’t independently confirm that.
Utilizing these standoff weapons would enable Russian jets to fireplace on the drone boats from a lot safer distances than how they at present function. Nonetheless, Budanov on Monday pushed again on the Krypton declare.
Along with saying he had no info that such an assault passed off, Budanov advised us that utilizing these missiles to assault drone boats can be “silly and ineffective.”
Often, Russian jets assault the drone boats with cluster bombs, Budanov added.
The drone boats “are a really small goal with excessive pace,” he defined.
There are unconfirmed claims that Ukraine is now utilizing its giant industrial quadcopter drones, nicknamed by the Russians “Baba Yagas,” to drop artillery shells on Russian forces.
The Ukrainian “Grom” group, preventing within the Oleshkovsky district of the Kherson area, is utilizing these drones to drop 155mm and 122mm shells, based on Ukrainian milblogger Nikolaev Vanek.
A video Vanek revealed on Telegram seems to indicate a number of cases of drones dropping artillery shells on Russian positions. Whereas we can’t independently confirm this, it’s fairly doable that the heavy elevate drones can carry a 155mm shell, which weighs about 100 kilos. 122mm shells weigh about half that a lot.
Utilizing Baba Yaga drones to ship artillery shells is smart as a result of carrying artillery shells would give these heavy-lift drones much more punch than they now have. Although there’s excessive demand for artillery shells, there’s additionally an important stress positioned on the gun barrels, which this configuration would mitigate. Drones also can ship shells much more precisely than howitzers, requiring far fewer munitions.
As drone professional Samuel Bendett advised us, whereas the video seems to indicate the drones dropping artillery shells, it’s unclear whether or not it is a restricted check or one thing extra extensively used.
Ukraine’s heavy-lift Baba Yaga drones have now began dropping 155 mm artillery shells on Russian positions.
The Ukrainian Metinvest firm stated it has designed new armor safety for Patriot air protection techniques, amongst Russia’s high targets. The corporate stated it “manufactured and put in a shell weighing greater than three tons to cowl key components of the Patriot complicated.”
The safety “consists of a metal body and armored plates,” the corporate defined. “The construction covers a number of essential system nodes directly: the SAM management station, the radar compartment, and the generator.”
“In such conflict circumstances, each minute when the air protection system is working saves lives. Our protecting shells are designed for this very goal – to make sure that the tools stays operational even beneath fireplace,” stated Metinvest COO Oleksandr Myronenko. “For the reason that starting of 2025, Metinvest has begun systematic work on safety for air protection techniques. The primary shells have been put in at air protection services within the spring, and since then, the designs have been always improved. Every new challenge is tailored to a selected location and kind of kit.”
That is the corporate’s newest try to offer armor safety for closely valued, high-end air protection techniques.
In January, we reported that Metinvest “designed a system utilizing practically 200 armored metal plates, as much as 8 mm thick, which can be connected to the perimeters of a Western-donated air protection system’s command module.”
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Ukraine has begun manufacturing particular armor safety for the Patriot air protection system.
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Any further, the complicated’s management station, radar comparator, and generator are protected by numerous protecting armor plates weighing 3 tons. pic.twitter.com/FjU2oV7bLn
Ukraine continues to search out and assault high-value Russian air protection techniques in Crimea. The next video exhibits a flock of Ukrainian drones blinding a pair of Russian S-400 batteries, scoring hits on a TEL, two 92N2E Grave Stone engagement radars, and two 91N6E Large Chook search radars.
As we have now reported typically up to now, taking out these techniques doubtlessly opens holes in Russia’s air protection overlay of the peninsula and the northwestern Black Sea. This might go an extended technique to making certain the survivability of standoff strike weapons, like Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG, and different assaults, equivalent to these by long-range kamikaze drones.
GUR stated the assault was launched by its “Ghost” particular unit, however didn’t point out whether or not it was from land or sea.
Ukrainian long-range assault drones proceed to search out high-value Russian SAM techniques in Crimea.
Seen right here, a swarm of Ukrainian drones blind a pair of Russian S-400 batteries, scoring hits on a TEL, two 92N2E Grave Stone engagement radars, and two 91N6E Large Chook search radars pic.twitter.com/6vGYVeArub
The Ukrainian Protection Ministry (MoD) launched the primary footage of the launch of considered one of its Aeroprakt A-22 mild plane, which was transformed to a drone. Ukraine has used these drones to assault Russian airfields and protection business targets.
Earlier this month, we wrote that Ukrainian and Russian sources reported that an assault on the Russian Shahed manufacturing facility within the Alabuga Particular Financial Zone was carried out by an explosive-packed Aeroprakt A-22. What made this completely different is that the A-22 was towing an explosive-laden glider. As we wrote about on the time, Alabuga was attacked in April 2024 by an A-22.
For the primary time, footage has been launched exhibiting the launch of a giant Ukrainian kamikaze drone based mostly on the sunshine plane platform Aeroprakt A-22. pic.twitter.com/6bi5OzvseL
Jakub Jajcay, who volunteered to battle with Ukraine for six months between 2024 and 2025, supplied a dire evaluation of the actual worth of first-person view (FPV) drones on the battlefield. In a scathing article for Conflict On The Rocks titled “I Fought in Ukraine and Right here’s Why FPV Drones Sort of Suck,” Jajcay stated they have been inefficient and laborious to function.
“Whereas first-person view drones are low cost, they’re often not the most cost effective possibility accessible to commanders,” Jajcay posited. “That is the issue with utilizing them in double-tap strikes or for missions that may be achieved by different techniques. Certainly one of these drone sorties prices about $500 in materiel. A mortar shell prices lower than $100. A munition dropped from a reusable drone, often additionally one thing like a modified mortar shell or 40-millimeter grenade, additionally prices lower than $100.”
“The second motive why these drones hardly ever do what they have been designed to do is technical,” he famous. “They’re finicky, unreliable, laborious to make use of, and prone to digital interference. Few first-person-view drones have night-vision functionality. People who do are in brief provide and price twice as a lot as the bottom mannequin. In Ukraine, within the winter, it’s darkish for 14 hours a day. Wind, rain, snow, and fog all imply a drone can’t fly.”
Jajcay’s conclusions echo among the considerations a Ukrainian drone commander raised with us in an unique interview again in Could. He estimated that, for quite a lot of causes, solely about 30% of radio-controlled FPV drones attain their goal.
Nonetheless, that is one overseas fighter’s remark and doesn’t take note of that FPV drones have been transformative, placing tools and personnel and maintaining each side pinned down for a fraction of the price of different guided weapon techniques with standoff capabilities. As well as, because the Ukrainian drone commander identified, nearly all of losses inflicted on the enemy have been by FPV drones.
A really fascinating first hand account of issues skilled whereas working typical radio-controlled FPV drones in Ukraine: https://t.co/NDWZwiJ0GM
A video popped up on social media exhibiting an FPV drone apparently making contact with, however not destroying, a automobile.
A Russian milblogger supplied some recommendation on learn how to survive the ever-present onslaught of Ukrainian surveillance drones.
In a submit titled, “The way to survive beneath the ‘hen’: preventing small surveillance UAVs,” the Mad Canines Telegram channel supplied some methods to keep away from detection and lambasted strategies that don’t.
“The place Mavic is, there’s loss of life,” Mad Canines wrote.
As well as, Mad Canines identified that nighttime doesn’t imply the drones can’t function, however there are limitations utilizing thermal cameras. The underside line – don’t congregate in teams as a result of “the thermal imager sees a dense group higher than a single one.”
As for different issues to not do, Mad Canines stated enjoying useless and hiding in rubbish are ineffective.
“The thermal imager unmistakably exhibits the place the warmth is, which suggests the place life is. It really works worse than a foul joke,” Mad Canines stated about enjoying useless. “Masking beneath trash — solely in motion pictures. The particular person is shifting, and that’s the principle factor. Even if you happen to lined your self with cellophane and buried your self within the mud, you moved your finger and bought on the file. The drone operator will calculate you. Shortly.”
“Drone conflict isn’t the longer term, it’s yesterday.” A Russian blogger offers recommendation on surviving beneath the fixed gaze of Mavic drones.
“The way to survive beneath the ‘hen’: the battle in opposition to small surveillance UAVs. 1/ https://t.co/76ySGCw5Wk pic.twitter.com/hp44LN8B3w
Talking of thermal imaging on drones, two Russian troopers are seen being hit by FPV drones in a video shot by a thermal digicam.
The professional-Ukrainian Russia Volunteer Corps (RDK) claims it obtained tens of gigabytes of secret knowledge on Russia’s strategic digital warfare (EW) techniques by hacking into Russian networks. The info exhibits critical flaws in these techniques.
“For twenty years, Russian propaganda molded the parable of its ‘unparalleled’ radio-electronic protect,” RDK acknowledged on Telegram. “Over-the-horizon radars, suppression complexes, ‘secret’ stations – all this changed into a dense layer of disinformation, vultures and paranoia. At this time it’s within the palms of the RDK. Russian digital warfare is not a ‘hospitality.’ That is an open designer marked: made in a rush, examined within the fog, susceptible within the chilly. Now Ukraine is aware of the place to beat. What doesn’t work, what heats up, what freezes, what makes noise, and what’s only a dummy. And most significantly, it has a full vary of needed info and an understanding of all the digital warfare structure, which is able to considerably improve defensive capabilities.”
The group launched that info June 14 in a YouTube video.
An X consumer named @ChrisO_wiki supplied larger element concerning the hack and what was uncovered.
For instance, one Russian system, the Tirada-2.3 satellite tv for pc communications digital suppression station, “has critical flaws,” he posted on X. “It’s reported to be extraordinarily delicate to climate, vibrations, requires complicated settings and a steady energy provide. The system copes poorly with fight circumstances.”
16/ Nonetheless, they are saying that it has critical flaws. It’s reported to be extraordinarily delicate to climate, vibrations, requires complicated settings and a steady energy provide. The system copes poorly with fight circumstances.
Photos have emerged on social media exhibiting that the Russians have begun turning AK-630 naval anti-aircraft weapons into everlasting firing positions. The AK-630 is a single-turreted, six-barreled 30mm gun with a price of fireside of as much as 1,000 rounds per minute. The weapons are being faraway from ships and deployed within the occupied south.
Russians have begun putting in AK-630 naval anti-aircraft weapons as everlasting firing positions. The AK-630 is a six-barreled 30mm gun with a price of fireside of as much as 1,000 rounds per minute. The weapons are being faraway from ships and deployed within the occupied south. pic.twitter.com/gbRAkZb4JS
