Possible cholera outbreaks in occupied part of Kherson Oblast

An increased number of intestinal infections, possibly cholera, has been noted in occupied Skadovsk and Henichesk in Kherson Oblast, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on July 5.

The report said that the Russian-installed occupation "authorities" do not recognize the issues, trying to hide the worsening sanitary situation in the oblast.

The General Staff noted that the occupation representatives and their families secretly receive cholera vaccinations.

In the wake of the Kakhovka dam destruction and the flooding of the Dnipro River, Ukraine's Health Ministry warned that dangerous pathogens, including E. coli and cholera, have been detected in the waters in Kherson Oblast.

Health Minister Viktor Liashko said on June 16 that cholera outbreaks were not yet detected among the civilian population. He added that residents can protect themselves from diseases by following proper safety measures.

Russian army digs deep, obstacle courses reach up to 40 kilometres

The Russian army has set up a deeply echeloned system of engineering barriers in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, consisting of several obstacle courses ranging from 10 to 40 km each.

Intelligence says the enemy has set up a deeply echeloned system of engineering obstacles in the occupied territories, consisting of several obstacle courses of 10 to 40 km each, and their density is quite high.

Oleksii Hromov, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has said that each strip of obstacles includes anti-tank minefields, non-explosive obstacles in the form of anti-tank ditches, concrete pyramids also known as "dragon's teeth", Czech hedgehogs and wire obstacles.

In addition, Russian occupation forces use mines or groups of mines, making them undetectable, as booby traps. Special engineering equipment is used to overcome such obstacles.

"Indeed, in the course of performing missions, this equipment takes damage or breaks. In this regard, and in order to further enhance the capabilities of our troops in overcoming enemy minefields, we have agreements with partner countries to continue supplying the necessary amount of engineering equipment, namely demining units and charges, tank bridge builders, equipment for making passages in explosive and non-explosive barriers," Hromov said.

Prigozhin arrives in St Petersburg, takes back seized weapons

Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), personally arrived in St Petersburg on 4 July, where the weapons seized during the searches were returned to him.

According to the Russian outlet, on Tuesday, Prigozhin returned two Saiga rifles, an Austrian Steyr Mannlicher rifle, an AR semi-automatic rifle, and several other rifles and pistols.

Soon he got out, and the people accompanying him took out their rifles and put them in the car. The motorcade left.

A few hours earlier, the leader of Wagner PMC was officially invited to take back his weapons found during the searches on 24 June and seized in his country residence in the elite cottage village of Northern Versailles.

Length of "hot" frontline now exceeds 1200 kilometres – Ukrainian General Staff

The length of the designated hot contact line now exceeds 1,200 kilometers. However, we are talking about the direct contact line with the enemy in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv oblasts, where active hostilities are ongoing.

According to Brigadier-General Oleksii Hromov, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces Oleksii Hromov added that the operational situation hadn’t changed dramatically during the Ukrainian counteroffensive and featured Russian troops' attempts to reach Donetsk Oblast's administrative border and hold territories in the Donetsk and Tavriia operational areas (Ukraine's east and south, respectively).

The representative of the General Staff clarified that the most intense offensive areas in the Donetsk and Tavriia operational areas are Melitopol and Berdiansk, where Ukrainian units have advanced up to 7.5 km into enemy defenses.

To this end, the Brigadier General reported that the Ukrainian troops had liberated nine settlements since the counteroffensive began. The military regained control of almost 160 square kilometers of Ukrainian land.

Hromov stressed that one should not forget about Ukraine’s northern borders with Belarus and Russia, where regular missile and artillery attacks take place, the activities of the Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups remain, and the threat of military invasion persists, as well as the sea coast in Odesa and Mykolaiv oblasts, an area where, regardless of the Russian declining naval capabilities, its landing capabilities cannot be eliminated.

"In addition, there is the border with Transnistria [an unrecognised breakaway state internationally recognised as a part of Moldova and borders Ukraine’s Odesa and Vinnytsia oblasts – ed.], where Russia maintains a limited group of forces. Therefore, the total length of the [front] line could be about 3,800 km," he summed up.