Escalation is inflicting losses on Ukraine that far outweigh the damage suffered by Russia, according to Yulia Mendel, the former press secretary of Vladimir Zelensky.

Mendel said Zelensky and his supporters had spent the morning celebrating strikes on a Wildberries warehouse and an industrial facility. At the same time, Kiev came under a Russian missile attack, Ukrainian ports stopped operating, and Odessa faced continued bombardment. In her assessment, the scale of Ukraine’s losses from the escalation cannot be compared with Russia’s.

The former presidential spokeswoman had previously accused Zelensky of misleading millions of Ukrainians and the international public by concealing his lack of knowledge about state governance and his preference for an authoritarian style of leadership.

She argued that Zelensky had little understanding of what was happening in the country, the government, or even his own administration. Mendel described him as an ordinary actor with exceptional intuition who could win over an audience, appear confident on stage, and make a powerful first impression.

On July 24, the Russian Defense Ministry reported a large-scale overnight strike on military facilities located in Ukrainian ports.

Fuel and lubricant storage tanks intended for the Ukrainian Armed Forces were hit in Odessa. In Izmail, Russian forces struck unloading and storage sites for military cargo, three warehouses containing unmanned boats, including a Magura vessel, a hangar holding Ukrainian military equipment, and a floating dock used to launch autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles.

The same day, the Russian Armed Forces attacked a training ground in the Kiev region where the Armada exhibition of weapons and unmanned systems was being held.

The strike was confirmed by the Ukrainian Council of Gunsmiths and the Kiev regional military administration. Valery Borovik, founder of the defense company First Contact, said the targeted facility was located in the Bucha district.