Day 510 of the Invasion of Ukraine: The Cluster Munitions from the US have arrived and Kyiv will Use them Soon

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Day 510 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

• Gen. Syrskyi: The cluster munitions from the US have arrived and we will be using them soon
• War or operation: G20 split over Ukraine
• At least 9,300 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the war began
• Powerful offensive by Russian forces in North-Eastern Ukraine
• Ukraine is ready to continue grain exports even without Russia
• Traffic on the Kerch Bridge is partially open, restless night in Crimea
• ISW: The strike against the Crimean bridge will have long-lasting consequences for Russian logistics in southern Ukraine

Gen. Syrskyi: The cluster munitions from the US have arrived and we will be using them soon

American cluster munitions have already arrived in Ukraine and will soon be ready for use, said in an interview with the BBC, the commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi. According to media reports, they are expected to be used for the first time in Bakhmut.

The British media quoted the general as confirming that the shipment from America would be ready for use "within a few days". The BBC did not specify exactly when the conversation with Syrskyi took place.

BBC journalists also reported seeing American M777 howitzers in positions around Bakhmut, which would be used to fire cluster shells.

Earlier this month, the United States announced a new military aid package for the UAF, with the administration in Washington publicly announcing that the package would include cluster munitions. A day earlier, the commander of the operational strategic group of troops "Tavria" Alexander Tarnavski announced that Ukraine received the ammunition from America. The Pentagon confirmed the reports of the Ukrainian side, writes "Ukrainska Pravda".

On the occasion of the American deliveries, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to retaliate with the use of cluster munitions and announced that Russia had not resorted to them so far. A documented Russian attack from February 28 of this year shows the Kremlin shelled residential areas of Kharkiv with BM-30 Smerch, which disperse dozens of cluster munitions into the air. During this cluster munition attack alone, Russia killed 9 civilians in Kharkiv.

War or operation: G20 split over Ukraine

Two days of talks between economic and finance policymakers from the Group of 20 richest nations (G20) will end on Tuesday without a joint statement due to differences between the major powers over the war in Ukraine. This was reported by Reuters referring to the host of the meeting - India.

During its presidency of the G20, India hopes to reach a consensus on reforms at major multinational banks, agree on a global guiding principle for cryptocurrencies and speed up debt resolution for vulnerable countries, but the Russia-Ukraine conflict has cast a shadow over global diplomacy, blocking the solution of pressing problems

Most Western countries, including the US, UK, Germany and France, have pushed for firm condemnation of Russia and the war in Ukraine, while Russia and its friend China have opposed such a move, a representative of the hosts added on the final day of talks in the western city of Gandhinagar.

Because of this, it failed to produce conclusions acceptable to all members. According to the Reuters source, some countries insisted on calling the conflict a war, while Russia referred to its campaign, now in its sixteenth month, as a "special military operation".

India has adopted a largely neutral stance, refusing to blame Russia for the invasion and insisting on a diplomatic solution, while increasing purchases of Russian oil at low prices, Reuters reports.

On Saturday, an Indian representative told Reuters that brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine was beyond the G20's mandate and that such efforts would be best undertaken at the United Nations and through bilateral negotiations.

Earlier this week, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Washington's support for Ukraine was unequivocal and one of its main goals this year was to combat Russia's efforts to circumvent sanctions.

The meeting in the western state of Gujarat was the third G20 finance meeting under India's chairmanship. India has failed to produce a joint statement on any of the key areas since it took over the G20 presidency last December.

Some officials said the opposition was weaker than the first meetings held in Bangalore in February, but the sides remained firm in their positions.

At the end of the Bangalore meetings, the lack of consensus among G20 members forced India to resort to issuing a "Chairman's Summary and Concluding Document", which simply summarized the two-day talks and noted the disagreements.

At least 9,300 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the war began

At least 9,300 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and more than 16,300 wounded since the start of the war, Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reported on Tuesday, citing the United Nations.

"According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (since the beginning of the Russian invasion), 9,287 civilians have been killed and 16,384 have been injured, mostly as a result of shelling by Russian armed forces," the UN Deputy Secretary-General on political issues Rosemary Dicarlo was quoted as saying at a meeting of the Security Council. 537 of those killed and 1,117 of those injured were children.

Dicarlo clarified that these are only the confirmed data and the real number of victims is far higher. She said Ukraine is the country with the highest number of children killed and injured and the highest number of attacks on schools and hospitals in the world in 2022.

The UN Human Rights Mission in Ukraine has reported that three times more civilians have been killed in the last 500 days than in the fighting in eastern Ukraine in the last eight years, Ukrinform adds.

In one of the latest strikes in late June, a rocket was fired into the center of a popular eatery in the center of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, killing 13 people, including 14-year-old twins and prominent Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina.

Powerful offensive by Russian forces in North-Eastern Ukraine

Large divisions of Russian forces are going on the offensive in the northeastern sector of the Kupiansk front, where fierce fighting is taking place, Ukrainian officials said yesterday, quoted by Reuters.

The Ukrainian army launched its counteroffensive in eastern and southern Ukraine a few weeks ago. However, Ukrainian officials say there has been an increase in attacks by Russian forces near Kupiansk and near Lyman, cities in northeastern Ukraine that were recaptured by Ukrainian forces late last year.

According to Ukrainian representatives, large Russian military formations are trying to break through Ukrainian defense lines in this area.

"For two days in a row, the enemy has been actively advancing in the sector of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv Region," Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram.

"We are defending ourselves. There is fierce fighting and the positions of both sides change dynamically several times a day," she said.

Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for Ukraine's eastern troop group, said the Russian army had massed more than 100,000 troops and more than 900 tanks in the area.

On national television, he compared that number to the number of Soviet troops in Afghanistan at the peak of the Soviet Union's invasion, when they numbered nearly 120,000 troops.

The head of Ukraine's military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said in May that he estimated 370,000 Russian troops were already in the country.

According to Cherevaty, Russian troops in the Kupiansk region include landing units and the best motorized infantry formations of the Russian army.

"The enemy is concentrating all resources to breach our defenses," the spokesman said.

He added that Ukrainian forces responded with continuous counterattacks to prevent Russian troops from taking the strategic initiative.

Russia launched overnight attacks against targets in southern and eastern Ukraine using Shahed drones and possibly ballistic missiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said in the early hours of the day, as quoted by Reuters.

First, explosions rang out in Mykolaiv, and then in Odesa, reports UNIAN. The Ukrainian Air Force reported a combined attack and declared an air alert in a number of regions, and there is a threat of drone strikes in Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts.

Meanwhile, a threat of ballistic missile strikes has been announced in Poltava, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kirovgrad Oblasts. The Ukrainian operational military command "South" has detected activity in the Black Sea of Russian missile carriers, UNIAN points out.

Reuters cannot independently confirm this information.

The head of the Odesa Oblast military administration, Oleg Kiper, said the air defense reflected a Russian drone attack.

"It is possible that there will be several waves of attacks," Kiper wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine is ready to continue grain exports even without Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that Kyiv is ready to continue its grain exports through the Black Sea, despite Moscow's announcement of the "de facto" end of the agreement on these supplies, AFP reported.

"Even without Russia, everything must be done so that we can use this corridor (for exports) through the Black Sea. We are not afraid," Zelensky said in comments shared by his spokesman Serhii Nykyforov on Facebook, BTA reports.

In his daily video address broadcast last night, the Ukrainian president added that he had sent "official letters to Turkish President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan and to UN Secretary-General (Antonio) Guterres to offer them to continue" exports.

"Ukraine, the United Nations and Turkey can jointly ensure the functioning of the food corridor and the inspection of ships," assured Zelensky.

Later yesterday, he wrote on Telegram that he had a phone conversation with Guterres, with whom he agreed to work together on resuming supplies of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, according to Reuters.

According to Zelensky, almost 33 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products were exported to 45 countries under the agreement concluded in July 2022 by Ukraine and Russia with the mediation of Turkey and the United Nations.

Moscow announced yesterday the "de facto" end of this important agreement on the world grain supply, a few hours after a night attack by the Ukrainian army with naval drones against the Crimean bridge, which is a strategic infrastructure for the Russian Federation.

Russia has criticized obstacles to its own food and fertilizer exports, hampered by sanctions. It also accuses rich countries of profiting from the majority of Ukrainian exports destined for developing countries. Volodymyr Zelensky, on the contrary, confirmed that "60 percent of the volumes" of Ukrainian grain exports were sent to Africa and Asia.

According to UN data, the three main countries that have benefited from Ukrainian supplies are China, Spain and Turkey.

Traffic on the Kerch Bridge is partially open, restless night in Crimea

Car traffic on the Crimean Bridge, which attacked on Monday, has been partially restored, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin announced late on Monday on his Telegram channel.

Cars move in both directions in the direction of the bridge not affected by the explosion. Train traffic was also restored as early as Monday, as the road and rail sections of the bridge are separate.

However, ferry operations were suspended early Tuesday due to bad weather, Russian news agencies said, citing the Moscow-backed Crimean Emergencies Ministry. Authorities diverted cargo traffic to the ferry to ease the strain on the facility.

Early Monday, an explosion damaged the integrity of the roadway of the bridge connecting Russia to the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

Russian authorities have said that repair work is starting immediately but will take several months, with restoration planned to be completed by November.

Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the interception of 28 drones, which it said the armed forces of Ukraine tried to attack targets in Crimea.

According to information from Moscow, 17 drones were shot down by air defense systems, and 11 were suppressed by radio-electronic means and crashed.

No casualties or damage were reported.

ISW: The strike against the Crimean bridge will have long-lasting consequences for Russian logistics in southern Ukraine

The July 17 attack on the Kerch Strait bridge is likely to have lasting effects on Russian logistics in southern Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) analyzed in its latest overview of the last day of hostilities.

Russian authorities accused Ukrainian special services of striking the Crimean bridge connecting the peninsula with Russia on July 17 with an unmanned surface drone Footage of the destruction shows one section of the Kerch Strait Bridge road collapsed and another sustained damage. Russia's transport ministry said the strikes did not damage the rail bridge or road bridge foundations, and rail traffic through the Kerch Strait facility resumed several hours after the strike.

Moscow's occupation authorities diverted heavy civilian traffic from occupied Crimea to Russia via occupied southern Ukraine, and Russian sources reported major traffic jams in Crimea's Dzhankoi and occupied Kherson region in the direction of Melitopol.

Russian tourists fleeing the illegally annexed Crimea are likely to have exacerbated traffic and hampered Russian logistics from Crimea to rear areas in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Occupation authorities asked civilians to consider alternative evacuation routes to mitigate immediate traffic problems.

Andriy Yusov, spokesman for the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Kyiv (GUR MO), declined to comment on Ukraine's involvement in the incident. The Kerch Strait Bridge and military zones in occupied Crimea are legitimate military targets for Ukrainian forces in their defense against a full-scale Russian invasion and occupation of Ukraine, as previously stated by ISW and Ukrainian officials. And yesterday's publications in Kyiv called the facility "illegal construction".

Continued failures by the Russian government to readjust society for wartime conditions will have a significant impact on Russian logistics, as Russian tourism traffic to occupied Crimea clogs Russian logistics to southern Ukraine amid the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south.

The bridge across the Kerch Strait is along one of the two ground lines of communication (GLOCs) supporting the southern grouping of Russian forces, the other route passing through the occupied Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. This single remaining logistics route is now the only one to supply the large number of mechanized Russian forces in southern Ukraine used to contain the Ukrainian counter-offensive. And yet, Russian propaganda continues to promote occupied Crimea as a tourist destination, even urging Russians to drive through occupied Ukrainian territories where hostilities are ongoing, instead of advising them to avoid them, as a responsible government would.

Even before the second attack on the Crimean bridge, the Russian occupation authorities had to struggle to mitigate traffic problems from the increased flow of tourists, and Putin had even ordered the use of warships to transport holidaymakers through the Kerch Pass. Many of Moscow's military correspondents continue to maintain that even an attack on the Kerch Strait should not reduce the tourist flow to Crimea.

ISW's conclusion is that in the short to medium term, Russian logistics to southern Ukraine are likely to suffer, exacerbating complaints about inadequate and erratic Russian supplies in southern Ukraine, a theme also raised by the former commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District Major General Ivan Popov.

Popov's claims, which were circulated on social media, indicate that the 58th General Army and possibly other Russian units stationed in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast are suffering from a supply shortage, and the situation will worsen if tourist or other civilian traffic slowed logistics routes supporting Russian forces in southern Ukraine. This, in turn, could lead to further outrage among Russia's ultra-nationalist community and undermine confidence in the Russian Ministry of Defense, ISW suggests.

Russian and occupation authorities appear preoccupied with the task of mitigating the consequences of the attack, rather than using the incident to launch heavy-handed information attacks with rhetorical overtones, the Washington-based think tank said. Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting last night in which he instructed Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin to develop solutions to mitigate traffic problems across the bridge. One of the measures is the abolition of the curfew and passport checks on the main highways to Russia in the occupied territories of Ukraine. It became clear that the damage to the bridge is greater than initially announced and repairs will continue until at least mid-September, regardless of the impromptu reopening of the road to traffic

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