On July 31, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that Russian forces had completed the capture of Chasov Yar, although available geolocated footage does not support the claims. Geolocated footage released on July 31 shows that they have likely captured most of the settlement.
This is according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The Russian Ministry of Defense and numerous Russian bloggers have credited the capture to elements of the 98th Airborne Division (Airborne), including its 299th Airborne Regiment.
However, the Russian tactical advance to the west does not constitute an operationally significant development in this area, as Russian forces have held most of the northern and central parts since late January 2025 and began advancing into the southwestern part in mid-June 2025.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces fired eight Iskander-K cruise missiles from the city of Kursk and 309 "Shahed" type drones and decoys from the city of Bryansk; Millerovo, Rostov Oblast; Shatalovo, Smolensk Oblast; and Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Krai on the night of July 30-31.
This package of strikes is significantly larger than the average Russian strike before May 2025. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces were mainly targeting the city of Kiev and that Ukrainian forces shot down three "Iskander-K" cruise missiles and 288 drones. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that five cruise missiles and 21 drones hit 12 sites, and that debris from missiles and drones hit 19 sites, mostly in the city of Kiev.
Ukrainian authorities reported that the Russian strike killed at least 11 people, injured at least 135 in the city of Kiev alone, and caused significant damage to housing and civilian infrastructure in the city of Kiev and the Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv regions.
Russia's increasingly intense nighttime strikes against Ukraine were and remain a clear Russian rejection of Trump's calls for peace in Ukraine.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev responded to a statement by US President Donald Trump on his two Telegram accounts in English and Russian on July 31. Russia "is doing everything right" and will continue on his own path, likely referring to the war in Ukraine and Russia's general anti-Western behavior.
Medvedev also alluded to Russia's automatic or semi-automatic nuclear weapons control system, called "Dead Hand" or "Perimeter", in response to Trump. The Kremlin regularly uses Medvedev to instill fear among Western decision-makers and discourage future military assistance to Ukraine.
China is a crucial factor in enabling devastating long-range Russian strikes against Ukrainian rear areas. A Russian blogger claimed on July 30 that Russian forces launched up to 200 Geran-2 drones (the Russian version of the Iranian Shahed-136 drone) and Garpiya-A1 kamikaze drones (reportedly another variant of the Shahed drone that Russia manufactures primarily with components made in China) in the strike on Kiev.
Reuters recently reported that Chinese companies are deliberately falsely labeling drone engines supplied to Russia for use in Garpiya drones as "industrial refrigeration units" to conceal their actual military purpose, and that Russia is also using Chinese components in other Shahed-type drones, including a decoy and reconnaissance variant.
ISW has observed reports indicating that Russian defense manufacturer Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant Kupol has increased its annual production of Garpiya-A1 drones from 2,000 to over 6000, largely thanks to steady supplies of Chinese-made L550E engines.
China is an indispensable supplier to the wider Russian drone industry, as ISW has regularly reminded.