Russo-Ukrainian war, day 1719: Russia digs tunnels on the occupied Kherson bank as Ukraine fields larger ground robots
A daily review from Euromaidan Press covers day 1719 of the war: Russian fortifications on the occupied Dnipro bank, heavy drones used against single armored vehicles, and larger Ukrainian ground robots. It also notes a US-approved Patriot interceptor sale.
Euromaidan Press, a news outlet covering the war in Ukraine, has published its daily review for day 1719 of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. It gathers military, technology and investigative developments.
Front-line developments
According to a Ukrainian marine officer, Russia has started digging tunnels and fortifications across 20–30% of the occupied bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson region. He says Russia has moved from frontal assaults to a "hybrid" positional war on that bank.
Near Huliaipole, Ukraine's 237th Unmanned Systems Battalion is using heavy drones, normally reserved for targets far behind the front, against individual armored vehicles. This is a response to Russian vehicles increasingly withstanding cheap drones.
Engineers of Ukraine's 100th Mechanized Brigade are clearing wrecked vehicles from a strategic eastern highway with a improvised bulldozer fitted with spikes. Drones damaged the road to Kramatorsk and are still hunting there.
A Western-made air-defense battery of Ukraine's 96th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade has shot down more than 300 Russian missiles and drones over Kyiv, including cruise missiles and Shahed strike drones.
Equipment and weapons
The US has approved the sale of 500 PAC-3 interceptors to Ukraine for $2.1 billion. One expert argues the deal will not solve Ukraine's biggest air-defense problem.
Ukraine's National Guard has received a car-sized heavy ground robot able to haul 1.5 tons and evacuate three casualties. Another project has produced robots for operating inside gas pipelines, as Russian troops have reportedly crawled through pipes behind Ukrainian lines.
Russia claims Ukraine uses a 6-kilogram satellite terminal for deep strikes. A Ukrainian presidential adviser neither confirms nor denies the reports.
Other developments
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has posthumously named Lieutenant Zakhar Kvasnyi, 22, and Junior Sergeant Roman Shymanskyi, 37, Heroes of Ukraine. The two engineers gave their lives in 2022 to stop Russian armored columns advancing on Kyiv at a bridge.
The review also mentions Ukrainian wiretaps involving five suspects, including a security service general and a senior police officer. Judges have already ordered two of them held, while the general's ruling is still pending.
