Daily Briefing

Key Takeaways

• Ukraine's long-range 'Flamingo' cruise missiles struck TSSKB-Progress — Russia's key Soyuz rocket manufacturer — in Samara, and hit Savasleyka airbase (home of MiG-31K/Kinzhal carriers) in the same overnight wave; 8 sources corroborated the Samara strike.
• Russia's Sheskharis terminal at Novorossiysk (~700,000 bpd) suspended crude exports after a drone attack, compounding damage from strikes on NOVATEK-Ust-Luga and the Syzran refinery — Ukraine's energy campaign is now causing measurable fuel shortages in at least five Russian regions.
• A Russian drone killed a 3-month-old infant and wounded 11 others in Marhanets, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast; the UN separately reported July 2026 was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since May 2022 (437 killed, 2,610 wounded).
• ISW assesses the Kremlin is deliberately rejecting ceasefire talks to keep Russian society mobilized ahead of September State Duma elections; Lavrov explicitly ruled out any freeze along the current contact line.
• Poland is finalizing a MiG-29-for-drones barter deal with Ukraine (delivery within weeks), and Ukraine's jet-powered interceptor drones have entered combat testing to counter Russia's faster Shahed variants.