Once Securely Occupied Russian Territory Now Being Cleared By Ukraine

Ukrainian forces are clearing areas that had been securely occupied by Russia  as systematic counterattacks retake positions held by Russian units for years. JL

 
Ukrinform reports:

Soldiers of Ukraine's 3rd Regiment of the Special Operations Forces cleared a forest area, reportedly near Myrnohrad, where Russian units had been hiding for a long time. The mission's difficulty lay in the dense vegetation and the area's mining. Because of this, aerial reconnaissance and other attempts by friendly units to locate the enemy had been unsuccessful. A second mop-up group discovered enemy positions that had already been abandoned; weapons, ammunition, and other equipment left behind by the occupiers were found. 

Cold War Helicopter Now Effective Ukraine Drone Hunter-Killer

Ukraine has become famous for teaching old war dogs new tricks. Its troops have repeatedly taken cast-off NATO weaponry, innovatively and effectively repurposing it for modern war.

In this latest case, the Ukrainians have addressed the short battery life and weather-affected tendencies of anti-drone munitions by using aging Cold War submarine hunter helicopters to lift the antidrone drones above the cloud cover and then launch them at incoming Russian drones. JL

David Axe reports in Trench Art:

The Sea King is Ukraine's latest interceptor drone carrier. Interceptors costing just a few thousand dollars apiece have helped Ukrainian air defenders blunt the impact of the thousands of Gerans, drones modeled after Iranian-made Shaheds, that Russia launches at Ukrainian cities every month. Air defenders typically take out around 90% of incoming Gerans. But interceptor drones come with limitations. They're powered by batteries that exhaust themselves after just a few minutes of flight. And they are prone to being blinded by bad weather and low clouds. To prolong the interceptors' flights and get them above the rain and clouds, Ukrainian forces have begun using manned aircraft to loft the interceptors into the air before launching them. The Ukrainian navy's helicopter unit, the 10th Naval Aviation Brigade operates the Sea Kings.

Ukrainian Cyberattack Causes Russians To Shoot Down Own Jet Fighter

The crash of a Russian Su-57 jet fighter taking off from a military airfield near Moscow may have been caused by a Ukrainian cyberattack. 

The Ukrainians reportedly hacked into the Moscow area air defense system, caused the Russian plane to be designated an enemy target and then, either let the system engage the threat, or then actually ordered the Moscow system to shoot it down. Either way, this is another clever manipulation by the Ukrainians and an added worry for Russia. JL

Defense Express reports:

The crash of a Su-57 fighter jet near Moscow was linked to the actions of air defense units from Russia's Combat Army Reserve Moscow detachment, which is composed of reservists. This could be the first known instance of a combat aircraft being destroyed as a result of a cyberattack. The aircraft crashed immediately after taking off from Kubinka airfield, meaning that it was flying at a low altitude. This possibility involves gaining unauthorized access to and manipulating the airspace situational awareness system. The Su-57 may have been designated as an enemy target, leading to it being engaged by the 1st Moscow Special Purpose Air and Missile Defense Army, medium and long-range air defense missile systems. 

Massive Russian Offensive At Dobropillia Shattered By Ukrainian Forces

Russian forces continue to target Dobropillia because it would make a useful jumping off point for an assault on Ukraine's Fortress Belt. 

Unfortunately for the Russians, the Ukrainians also know how to read a map and have been preparing for attacks towards this objective. The result continues to be decimation of any Russian forces foolish enough to believe that they can survive, let alone break through in this sector. JL

Vladislav Khomenko reports in Militarnyi:

On July 22nd, Russian forces deployed the 8th and 41st Guards Combined Arms Armies, as well as the 90th Guards Tank Division, to carry out a large-scale mechanized offensive on the Dobropillia front. The Russians deployed dozens of armored vehicles, motorized vehicles, and specialized equipment. The offensive unfolded from several directions. (But) the 1st Azov Corps and attached units had previously set up mine and explosive barriers. The Ukrainian Air Force damaged bridge crossings, and Russian attempts to deploy pontoon bridges were thwarted by repeated airstrikes. The assault was repelled. Seven tanks, six armored vehicles, Grad and Sarma multiple launch rocket systems, three pieces of specialized equipment, 47 units of light equipment were destroyed, and 123 occupiers were killed, 29 wounded.

OpenAI's Agent Didn't Go Rogue: It Was Worse - OpenAI Didn't Know For 11 Days

It's probable that, based on the headlines about OpenAI agents 'going rogue' and hacking another company's files, some ambitious Hollywood screenwriter is already ginning up a script about rogue, evil AI agents taking over the world. 

But what actually happened was both more prosaic - and scarier. The prosaic part is that the agent was just trying to fulfill the task it had been given by OpenAI programmers, but it did so in ways never anticipated by OpenAI. That sort of 'genius' is supposed to be a key to AI's value. The scary part is that it was able to do so because OpenAI reportedly relaxed some of its security controls to 'help' the AI, again not anticipating just how clever and ambitious the agent would be. But the even scarier part is that OpenAI does not appear to have been aware for at least a week - and possibly almost two - that this had even happened. The implication, as has long been true with technology, is that the problem is not the AI itself, but the arrogance and greed of those who own it, who continue to resist any sort of oversight or regulation. And that is something the public now gets which Silicon Valley refuses to acknowledge. JL

Carly Page reports in LiveScience and BeauH reports in Slashdot:

OpenAI's models werent developing a suspicious agenda, they were looking for information that would help them complete the cybersecurity test OpenAI had given them. The models pursued the task, finding a route to success their creators had failed to anticipate or adequately block. "If there's a failure here, it's that humans created a test where success was measured by achieving an objective, deliberately relaxed some of the normal security controls to measure the system's capabilities, and underestimated how effective the model would be at finding an unexpected path to success." (But, to make matters worse) the agent attempted to break out of its test at OpenAI July 9. The intrusion at Hugging Face occurred on July 11 and lasted until July 13. It took several more days for OpenAI to realize its agent was behind the hack, and the two companies communicated about it for the first time on July 20

New Russian Assaults At Kharkiv Oblast Border Repulsed With Bloody Losses

The Russians have not had much success in attacking Kharkiv oblast. That record appears to be holding as new Russian probes along the Kharkiv border between Russia and Ukraine have been bloodily repulsed by Ukrainian forces. JL

Elza Diachenko reports in Gwara Media:

Russian troops tried to break through a new sector on the Russia-Ukraine border in the Kharkiv oblast. Ukrainian forces killed Russian soldiers both on Ukrainian and Russia’s territory when their forces advanced toward the border. The Ukrainian border guards reported that Russian troops suffered severe losses last week during fighting in the Kharkiv region. 

Ukraine's War Momentum Is Drawing Investor Interest In Long Term Prospects

While Ukraine's success in innovative drone development and deployment have understandably garnered most of the attention, it is the potential they foreshadow that is now attracting investment from Europe, the US and other western investors.

Ukraine has leveraged its capabilities as the Soviet Union's industrial heartland, turning that capability into the engine that has driven its military achievements. But the country also sits on the largest natural gas deposits in Europe, has a skilled workforce, an entrepreneurial class and the potential to become a lucrative export economy, which is why investors are now trying to get in - even though the war is still raging - before the rest of the world takes notice. JL

Andrew Kramer reports in the New York Times:

The mood has shifted on the war in Ukraine, a sign of a more upbeat assessment among military analysts and businessmen of Kyiv’s prospects in the war and who view of Ukraine as a large postwar market on a path to European Union membership. The country’s long-term prospects are potentially lucrative. Ukraine holds one of Europe’s largest reserves of natural gas, with an estimated value of $300 billion. 160 agreements this year have netted Ukraine $11 billion in private investment and aid. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the largest institutional investor in Ukraine, announced more than 500 million euros, or $570 million, in new funding. The bank has invested 10 billion euros since the invasion in 2022.