1 Institute for the Study of War & AEI’s Critical Threats Project 2022
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment,
August 11
Kateryna Stepanenko, Layne Philipson, Angela Howard, Katherine Lawlor,
Karolina Hird, George Barros, and Frederick W. Kagan
August 11, 9:00 pm ET
Click here to see ISW's interactive map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This map is updated daily alongside the static maps present in this report.
The US State Department called on Russian forces to cease all military activity
surrounding the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and support the
creation of a demilitarized zone amidst new reports of shelling at the ZNPP
on August 11.
The US State Department also called on Russia to return control of the
plant to Ukraine.
Ukrainian and Russian occupation authorities accused each other of shelling
the ZNPP on August 11. Ukraine’s nuclear operating enterprise Energoatom reported
that Russian shelling damaged the area of the commandant’s office, storage of radiation
sources, and the nearby fire station.
The fire station is approximately 5km east of the
ZNPP. The Ukrainian Strategic Communications Center stated that Russian forces are
deliberately staging provocations at the ZNPP and are carrying out dangerous experiments
involving power lines to blame Ukrainian forces at the United Nations (UN) Security
Council.
Russian-appointed Zaporizhia Oblast Occupation Administration Head
Yevgeniy Balitsky claimed that Ukrainian shelling damaged the ”Kakhovskaya” high-
voltage power line, resulting in a fire and a large cloud of smoke seen on social media
footage from the city.
Russian officials have previously accused Ukraine of striking positions of
crucial significance to Ukrainians – such as the falsely-claimed HIMARS
strike on the Olenivka colony in occupied Donetsk Oblast. A CNN investigation
concluded that “there is almost no chance that a HIMARS rocket caused the damage to the
warehouse where the prisoners were being held.”
Russians may be continuing a similar
narrative around the ZNPP to discourage further Western support to Ukraine. ISW cannot
independently verify the party responsible for the shelling of the ZNPP.
Russia’s 64
th
Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (64
th
SGMRB) of the 35
th
Combined Arms Army (CAA) has likely been destroyed in combat, possibly as
part of an intentional Kremlin effort to conceal the war crimes it committed
in Kyiv Oblast. Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFEFL) investigative journalist Mark
Krutov conducted an investigation into the brigade following its participation in atrocities
in Bucha and concluded that after heavy fighting on the Izyum and Slovyansk axes, the
brigade has largely ceased to exist.
Krutov stated that out of 1,500 soldiers who were in
the brigade before the war, 200 to 300 were likely killed.
Krutov quoted CNA Russia
Studies director Michael Kofman’s estimates that the typical ratio for those killed to those
wounded in action is around 1 to 3.5, which would mean that the 64th SGMRB suffered
up to 700 to 1,000 wounded in action.
It is typical for Russian units that are so severely
degraded during combat to be disbanded and survivors reallocated into other combat
