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Russia's leading Su-57 fighter jet has gone down.
An independent Ukrainian collective asserts that Russian troops shot it down themselves after Ukrainian hackers intervened.
Russia mounted one of its biggest armored offensives in recent months, yet even vehicles fitted with anti-drone gear failed to break through.
The Dobropillia sector is emerging as a key front where Russia seeks to push forward.
Strikes on Wildberries sites persist, with observers in St Petersburg witnessing warehouses ablaze.
Videos of the day: Drones compete in strikes on Wildberries facilities; a failed Russian attempt against a ground drone.

Ukraine appears to have executed a distinctive operation that led to the loss of Russia's most sophisticated Su-57 fighter jet. According to Defence Express, this could represent the initial instance of a combat plane being brought down through cyber means.

Around midday on Thursday (23 July), a plane went down near Zvenigorod in the Moscow region. Russia's defence ministry acknowledged the event but did not identify the aircraft model.

Russian outlets indicated it was an uncommon Su-57, the pinnacle of Russia's air force inventory, positioned as a fifth-generation platform and recently praised by Putin as the world's finest.

Images from the site depicted the plane in flames, though specifics remained limited.

Russia's defence ministry attributed the incident initially to a technical issue. It noted the plane was on a training sortie without munitions, came down in an empty zone, and the pilot ejected safely without serious injury. These represent the official Russian account.

Nevertheless, Russian bloggers soon suggested the plane might have fallen due to intervention by Bars Moscow, a Russian air-defence formation. Composed of reservists with limited experience, the unit aims to shield the capital from increasing Ukrainian drone incursions.

The independent volunteer collective Inform Napalm echoed this view. Though not an official Ukrainian entity, it works alongside Ukrainian forces.

It likewise stated that a Bars Moscow unit downed the aircraft, yet Ukrainians had compelled it to act.

According to the group, how did this unfold?

Several days prior, it released footage obtained showing the Russian unit practising with Lys-2 drones. The material included details on the software employed by the formation.

The group reviewed the material and forwarded an analysis to appropriate Ukrainian military channels.

The document compiled information on personnel drills, the software and hardware setup, operational procedures, and pinpointed weaknesses in the Bars Moscow network, Inform Napalm noted.

Per the collective, this allowed Ukrainians to identify a method to affect one Bars Moscow crew and turn a Russian-designed system back on its creators.

Russian air defence activated. Yet this time it operated to Ukraine's advantage, the group stated. Ukrainian military and intelligence bodies have not addressed the Su-57 incident.

The precise manner in which Ukrainians might have swayed Russian air defences to strike their own plane remains unclear. Inform Napalm mentioned only a broad cognitive and cyber operation.

Defence Express observed that the unit uses interceptor drones, machine guns and MANPADS. These tools demand line-of-sight, implying the operator would have recognised the aircraft as Russian.

Setting aside the chance that Russian troops intentionally downed their own plane, the site outlined two alternative scenarios. One involves a Citadel automatic cannon that can detect and engage targets independently. It is uncertain if the unit possessed this equipment. Ukrainians might theoretically have accessed it remotely.

The other scenario suggests they altered the aircraft's radar classification to hostile, prompting soldiers to engage what they believed was a Ukrainian missile. These remain speculative.

The plane flew at low level after departing the nearby Kubinka airfield. Defence Express suggests it could have been a two-seat Su-57D variant that completed its debut test flight only in May.

The Oryx site records that Russia has visually verified the loss of just one Su-57 to date, a damaged example in 2024. Ukraine has previously asserted strikes on multiple such planes. Russian sources have admitted some incidents, yet visual proof is absent.

Russia's air force possessed only four Su-57s when the full-scale invasion began. Current estimates place the total at 40 to 50.

Russia has employed these fighters sparingly near the front. This year, however, indications emerged of more regular use. They reportedly operate within 200 km of the line and release Kh-59 and Kh-69 cruise missiles against Ukrainian targets.

Russia also showcases these fighters at air displays to promote exports. Only Algeria has purchased them so far, though Asian nations such as India, Indonesia and Malaysia have expressed interest.

Russia conducted one of its largest mechanised assaults on Ukrainian lines in nearly a year. Such operations have largely ceased because delivering heavy equipment forward is extremely challenging. Drones observe nearly everything and can readily target large vehicles.

Still, Russia tried again. The attempt occurred this week near Maiak on the Dobropillia axis north of Pokrovsk.

A Ukrainian soldier known as Officer stated he had not witnessed a comparable effort in almost a year. The Ukrainian Phoenix unit that halted the attack said it had not seen anything like it for a long time. It then released footage of the assault.

The map indicates the attack was halted in Russian-held territory, roughly five km short of the grey zone, per the DeepState UA map.

According to Phoenix, Russia committed dozens of armoured vehicles. Tanks formed a significant share, with some labelling it a tank assault specifically.

The result matched expectations. Officer reported that 80 percent of the vehicles were destroyed. Ukraine's general staff stated that Ukrainian forces destroyed or damaged 28 tanks overall that day.

The Phoenix border unit claimed it alone eliminated nine tanks, two armoured vehicles and three Grad multiple rocket launchers.

For context, Oryx lists Russia's visually confirmed tank losses at only five in May and 18 in April. This underscores the scale of the effort.

The reason Russia attempted this and what it aimed to accomplish remains open. Some observers noted that Russia seems to have fielded T-72B3A tanks here. Some suggest this marks the first confirmed use at the front.

This tank features the Arena-M active protection system. It is designed to shield against anti-tank missiles and FPV drones. A radar detects incoming threats and launches fragmentation munitions that detonate metres away to neutralise the projectile.

In practice the system did not perform as Russia intended.

The footage reinforces that armoured vehicles face severe challenges on the battlefield. They often fail to reach the grey zone before defences engage them with drones.

Under current conditions they function as costly armoured transports.

A major issue for all sides in Ukraine is that large mechanised assaults are spotted early, with engagements starting deep in the rear as units advance. This can last 30 minutes or longer, OSINT analyst Woofers noted.

Even if the attacking side neutralised drones, it would still confront mines, artillery and anti-tank missiles from defenders.

Tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are not obsolete, yet deploying them without sense or without autonomous counter-drone systems that physically defeat drones turns them into target practice, Czech analyst Jakub Janovsky wrote.

US analysts including Michael Kofman from War on the Rocks argue mechanised assaults remain viable under specific conditions.

Success today hinges more than ever on creating or seizing brief windows of opportunity. When such moments appear, mechanised forces alone can deliver speed, striking power and large-scale territorial gains. Mechanised forces succeed only when they advance at once, use deception and coordinate firepower rapidly. In the next conflict the edge will go to armies that act in seconds rather than those planning for weeks, they wrote earlier this year.

The selection of the Dobropillia area for the assault was likely deliberate. Several Ukrainian military analysts noted that Russia has shifted greater attention to this axis and seeks to approach Dobropillia.

Ukrainian blogger Petrenko stated that the adversary is raising pressure around Dobropillia.

The grey zone has grown around Myrne, Ivanivka and Vesele as well as the Shakhtar holiday settlement. Russian forces are attempting to advance across a wide front and secure a foothold for a further push toward Dobropillia, he said on Thursday.

Source: Petrenko

Military analyst Kostyantyn Mashovets wrote that Russia is actively preparing to markedly intensify operations in this direction soon.

A swift breakthrough to Dobropillia and its rapid capture would greatly improve prospects for a push toward Kramatorsk from the south, or rather the south-west, he added.

Map of the wider area. Source: DeepState UA

Ukraine continues its campaign against warehouses of Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer. It struck two facilities in and around St Petersburg with drones. According to footage, at least three drones hit one warehouse.

At least one warehouse was fully engulfed in flames.

Recordings showed Russian air defences could not intercept all threats. One clip depicts a Russian fighter passing a drone, yet the FP-1 drone still hits the warehouse.

They also struck a Wildberries warehouse in Simferopol, Crimea.

Overall, Ukrainians have targeted Wildberries warehouses for a fourth day since Saturday. They hit at least eight sites, some of which burned completely. They contend that Wildberries sells military-related items such as vests and drones, while Russia strikes similar logistics sites in Ukraine.

The strikes may carry a psychological impact. Ukraine has again reminded St Petersburg residents that the war is not confined to Ukraine.