Ukraine. Fight week – summary. Russian offensive, American aid package

– We are creating new brigades to strengthen our positions. These formations need support, just like the brigades that are already on the front, said President Volodymyr Zelensky during Friday's virtual meeting of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine at the German base in Ramstein.

Zelensky added that even the best soldiers cannot change the course of the war without enough weapons. – They know how they can win. And they must win. Ukrainian defenders need your support in sufficient numbers – exactly the number you would need if you were soldiers in this war, the President of Ukraine emphasized in an appeal to the meeting participants.

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin announced on Friday that the United States will purchase weapons worth six billion dollars for Ukraine. This is the largest U.S. arms package for Kiev to date. It will include missiles for the Ukrainian Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems, anti-drone systems, as well as “significant amounts of artillery ammunition and air-to-surface missiles.”

READ: The Department of State confirms that long-range missiles have been delivered to Ukraine

After occupying the small village of Ocheretyne in the Donetsk Oblast, a defense line of Ukrainian forces was established after withdrawing from the strategically important Avdiivka, may collapse – reported the Ukrainian section of the BBC, analyzing the situation on the front. The T0511 road runs through Ocheretyne, leading directly to the city of Pokrovsk.

The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, indicated Pokrovsk as the direction of the main attack of Russian troops in the spring and summer of this year.

Reports that Russian forces entered the village of Ocheretyne were confirmed by the spokesman of the Ukrainian Khortytsia Operational and Strategic Group, Nazar Voloshin. According to the Ukrainian analytical center DeepState, the command of the 115th Independent Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is partially responsible for the breakdown of defense in this section.

On Friday, the authorities in Kiev decided to evacuate patients from two hospitals (one of them is a children's hospital) after a video appeared on Russian social networks, where it was reported that Ukrainian soldiers were staying there.

“Judging by the recording found on the Internet, the enemy has actually announced a missile attack on these medical facilities. Even the addresses were provided. It was indicated that Ukrainian soldiers were staying in these places. This is a provocation that the aggressor is trying to use to attack the social infrastructure of the capital.” – Mayor of Kiev Vitali Klitschko said on the X platform.

He stated that all measures are being taken to “protect children, their parents, adult patients and hospital staff from a possible attack.”

Patients from hospitals on Bohatyrska Street were transported to other facilities in Kiev. “In the conditions of constant missile attacks, we cannot take any risks,” said Serhiy Popko, head of the Kiev administration.

Residents of the Kherson Oblast are banned from entering the right bank of the Dnieper, where fortifications are being built. “It is forbidden to visit the areas along the right bank of the Dnieper, Ingulets, Viryovchyna and Koshova rivers,” Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson region, said on the Telegram channel. In these areas, fortifications are being built along the river banks.

Oblast officials have also banned civilian vehicle traffic on some roads due to regular drone attacks.

Russian soldiers left the right bank of the Dnieper River after a counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces last fall. According to the commanders in Kiev, the main battle line in Ukraine's geographical conditions is this river, so efforts are underway to prevent the enemy from crossing, landing or even approaching the right bank of the Dnieper.

The authorities of the Zaporizhia Oblast plan to build at least ten underground schools in the region. The head of the region, Ivan Fedorov, announced that due to systematic rocket fire, over 10,000 children are still studying remotely. Students – as he said – should return to traditional schools from September 1, hence the idea to build underground facilities.

Fedorov also reported that the Russian army was shelling Zaporozhye from a distance of about 60 kilometers. The rockets reach the city in just 30-40 seconds.

The human losses of the Russian army since the beginning of armed aggression, according to the report of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, exceeded 466,000 soldiers.