Ukrainian forces continue to advance in Kursk oblast. They are confirmed to be operating at the edges of Korenevo, just outside of the city limits. South by the border, Ukraine has scooped up a handful of minor villages, securing the western flank of their pushes in the Snagost and Korenevo areas. This prompted Kursk authorities to mandate the evacuation of Glushkovsky raion, the district nestled between Korenevo and the Ukrainian border but has so far mostly avoided being occupied by Ukrainian troops. To the north, Ukrainian forces were geolocated rather deep in the oblast, outside of Safonovka. This puts them within striking distance of the logistical hub of Lgov, though I suspect that this was a reconnaissance in force mission, rather than the main body of Ukrainian forces. Still, with Ukrainian forces operating here and also separately pushing north along the highway towards the city of Kursk, Ukraine is now at a few points only a couple of miles from hypothetically being able to shell the airbase by the city of Kursk with domestically manufactured howitzers, not needing permission from western powers. To the east, Russia has had more success with seemingly keeping Ukraine out of Giri and Belaya. However, Ukrainian troops have reached Ozerki, which is close to the administrative border with Belgorod.
There has been a rumor of an aerial assault by Ukraine north of Lgov, but the lack of photographic proof and the risk with pulling off such an operation makes me more inclined to believe that the rumors are due to a Ukrainian disinformation campaign. However, Russia did suspend the rail line stretching the city of Kursk running north to the city of Oryol, which hints at least at Russian concern of potential Ukrainian activity north of Kursk.
Belgorod oblast overnight declared a state of emergency; similar to, but distinct from the counter terror regime that was already established. Furthermore, the oblast called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency throughout the entire country. Ukrainian forces were geolocated breaching the border of the oblast in a new location, though only by a couple of hundred feet. Still, the oblast is on edge and Russian milbloggers have been warning of a potential Ukrainian assault on the oblast.
Overnight, Ukraine launched one of their largest waves of drone strikes of the year, targeting four different airbases. Their target was not warplanes, but was instead fuel and munition depots. One of the airbases which was hit was impressively deep into Russia, in Nizhny Novgorod which is behind Moscow. It's not the deepest strike Ukraine has conducted, but it is certainly among them.
Russian advances in the Donbas continue. Despite Russia needing to pull some troops to Kursk, they still maintain heavy advantages. Russian troops are continuing to push on the flanks of Hrodivka, seizing much of the villages of Zhuravka and Orlivka. Russian troops are also pushing through central Niu York, and now control a large majority of the city.
Germany today announced that they are on the hunt for a suspect for the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines. This set off an extremely bizarre set of coincidences. First off, Germany opted to only release the suspects first name and last initial: Volodymyr Z, a Ukrainian. Poland then stated that they were aware of the hunt and that he was last in Poland in early July, but had left for Ukraine and thus they could not arrest this Volodymyr Z at this time. Volodymyr Z, of course, matches the first name and last initial of one Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Furthermore, he was also in Poland in early July. And winding back time to the sabotage incident, Zelenskyy was returning to Ukraine the day of the sabotage, so his precise whereabouts aren't known as his exact travel arrangements were kept secret for security reasons. It was later leaked that the suspect's last name is Zhuravlov, ruling out the direct involvement of Zelenskyy (who, to the best of my knowledge, does not have the diving nor demolition skills required to pull off such a stunt). But the particulars of the information which eas officially released is so astonishingly coincidental that I can't help but think that this was a metaphorical warning shot, perhaps as a way to express frustration by Ukraine's European allies for not cluing them in on Ukraine's counter invasion of Russia.