There was another day of little news from the front, as both sides are mostly resorting to shelling. Ukraine seems to be trying to further whittle down Russian defenses and artillery before trying to advance further in Zaporizhzhia oblast. A lot of fighting is still happening west of Verbove and around Novoprokopivka, but Ukraine is not making any progress currently. This will need to change soon if they hope to make some strategic advances before the rainy season sets in. Capturing Verbove and reaching the next defensive line to start breaching operations would be ideal, but at this rate, I'm not even particularly confident that Ukraine can secure Verbove before everything turns to mud. Ukraine is in a better position around Novoprokopivka, but capturing it would only hell them to breach the line that they have already pushed past by Verbove. That said, Novoprokopivka is on the route straight to Tokmak, while Verbove is not.
The one battlefield development worth going to is actually in Kherson oblast. Ukrainian forces have crossed the Dnipro yet again to land on another river island, east of the Antonovskiy bridge. There is a bridge in the area, though as a rail bridge it is fairly worthless unless if Russia or Ukraine can establish a deep and enduring presence on the opposite side of the river. Seeing as Ukraine would need to secure the island they landed on, advance to and secure a second island, and then cross once again to establish a bridgehead on the opposite bank, this is not an easy task. There's also the high chance they Russia would blow the bridge if Ukraine advanced that much. Regardless, Ukrainian troops are now operating in the area and if they can advance, Ukraine will be pressuring the city of Oleshky to its northeast. An actual push to take Oleshky is likely very, very far away, but this is part of the groundwork to be make such an operation hypothetically possible in the distant future.
In an absolutely titanic shift, the United Kingdom is now openly mulling sending "advisors" to Ukraine. As has been the case in many other conflicts, "advisors" frequently (but not always) end up becoming combatants. For instance, it is believed that a handful of countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have a handful of personnel in Ukraine to help train Ukrainian forces and to assess and try to repair damage done to sensitive western equipment. They have likely not seen direct combat. But the British proposal would go beyond this, by openly deploying forces, rather than quitely sending in just a few people who were to operate in an extremely limited role.
France is also inserting itself more firmly into the region by opening up a defense agreement with Armenia. News of a similar venture in Ukraine by a large number of countries and companies which would enable Ukraine to domestically produce and develop a large amount of military hardware understandably overshadowed the Armenia news. While far from a mutual defense clause, Russia now must go toe to toe with another major power to be the guarantor of Armenian peace.
The United States Congress has at the last minute passed a new short term funding bill, which means we might be facing down the exact same situation again in November. In the meantime, funding continues, and training of Ukrainian pilots for the F-16 program can continue without any disruptions. However, the $300 million in funding which was to be dedicated to Ukraine was ultimately left out of the funding bill. It will likely be passed on its own in the relatively near future as it is a priority for many members of Congress. It is worth noting though that opposition to support for Ukraine, particularly from the Republicans, is growing. As with any other subject that has become partisan, there's a chance that its future becomes quite linked to future elections, which are around a year away.
Relatedly, Slovakia's elections were today, and the the pro-Russia Smer have emerged victorious. However, the parliament will likely be quite fractured as Smer is currently sitting at 23% of the vote with almost all votes counted. As the largest party, they will likely get the first shot of forming a coalition, but there is a chance that they could fail. In that case, the moderate, pro-West, and pro-Ukraine Progressive Slovakia might have a chance to form a government. However, this is the best case scenario for Ukraine. In the meantime, one of Ukraine's important neighbors will likely be turning against it, joining ranks with countries such as Hungary.