After an extended battle for the village, Russia has captured Novoselivka Persha. The village was the largest still under Ukrainian control east of the Vovcha river in Donetsk oblast. With its falls Russia can much more comfortably try to exploit their breach in Ukraine's defenses between the Vovcha and Kazenyi Torets rivers.
Ukraine today gave a rare statement offering insight into their casualty rates, saying that Russia is roughly taking three times as many personnel losses, and around two to three times the amount of equipment losses. While Ukraine continues to outperform how they should on paper, these rates are simply not sustainable for Ukraine. Russia has several times the population, natural resources, and stockpiles of pre-built weapons, with the added benefit that there are no restrictions in Ukraine on where Russia can strike, while the inverse does not hold true. Ukraine needs to rethink their current defensive strategy on the sooner side of things especially with social uneasiness regarding the way the war is being fought and how the draft is being handled has been increasing.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba met with Wang Yi, the Foreign Minister of China. Kuleba walked out of their meeting having apparently won a great deal, or at least claiming that that was the case. The Ukrainian readout of the meeting has stated that China expressed strong support for Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty. Zelenskyy himself also claimed that China had promised to not send weaponry to Russia. If these claims hold true it is effectively a diplomatic coup for Ukraine. China has been one of the most important countries for Russia, helping them to fend off international isolation at the expense of seeping Chinese economic clout inside of Russia.
Despite the middling rate of artillery shells to Ukraine so far this year, Czechia is already looking to 2025. They seek to replicate their initiative from this year, which saw large numbers of artillery shells be purchased from third countries, sent to Czechia, and then transferred to Ukraine. One of the largest financial beneficiaries of this was Russia's ally Serbia, which sold a large quantity of shells to Ukraine by way of Czechia. These shells have helped to level the playing field, some. Russia retains the shell and barrel advantage, but Russian barrel production is quite poor, while the west is struggling to find adequate supplies of shells for Ukraine. On thst note, Rheinmetall has agreed to establish a new munitions plant inside of Ukraine; it will take approximately two years to complete. This comes not long after the head of Rheinmetall survived a Russian assassination attempt according to western intelligence.
Ukrainian media has alleged that after the regular prisoner and body swaps that take place between Russia and Ukraine, that Ukrainians families have found that the remains being returned to Ukraine have been missing internal organs. This is obviously a deeply concerning allegation, and if at all accurate, points to a sickening problem. Either Russia's military has an organ trafficking problem or their own healthcare is in such dire straits that they need to rely on the bodies of slain Ukrainian soldiers to supply their own needs.