The UK parliament is not sitting, Rishi Sunak is on holiday and British politics in general has slowed down for the summer recess.
But the Ukraine-Russia war is still rolling on – so here’s five bits of recent news from the conflict which may have slipped under your radar.
1. Ukraine says Russia has lost more than a quarter of a million troops
Ukraine claimed on Thursday that Russia has lost 252,000 troops over the course of the war.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces also claimed there were 580 Russian casualties on Wednesday alone.
The report suggested Ukraine’s opposition has lost 4,278 tanks, 8,303 armoured fighting vehicles, 7,495 vehicles and fuel tanks, 5,028 artillery systems and 711 multiple launch rocket systems since invading its European neighbour last February.
By Ukraine’s calculations, Russia has lost 469 air defence systems, 315 airplanes, 313 helicopters, 4,179 drones and 18 boats, too.
While neither side has been transparent about their losses – and it’s hard to identify the exact number of soldiers killed or injured – the UK’s defence secretary Ben Wallace already estimated around this many Russian troops had been lost back in July.
Speaking in London, he said: “The splinter in the hierarchy of the Russian army is very real and the casualty rates are horrific.
“It would not be wrong to say at least 230,000 to 250,000 dead or injured Russians.”
2. Concerns over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe is currently under Russian control, although it is still operated by Ukrainian technicians.
On Thursday this week, the Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom reported that the plant had lost power from its main power line overnight.
It was quickly connected to a backup cable, but one which has less than half the power coursing through it – meaning the risks of a blackout for the plant are higher.
Without sufficient power, the cooling pumps are turned off and the plant’s 4th reactor heads into “hot shutdown”, and it needs to stay cool to prevent a nuclear incident.
Energoatom has long warned about the consequence of the Russian occupation of the plant, saying the “untrained” management brings the plant “closer to disaster”.
This is not the first time it’s been disconnected from its main power source, either.
Even the backup line was disconnected between March and July, due to damage on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River.
3. Drone attacks increase in Russia
Russian civilians have been experiencing more of the realities of war in recent months, as Kyiv has started to use drones to reach beyond the Ukraine-Russia border.
Russia claimed on Thursday that it had downed 13 Ukrainian drones when they were on their way to attack the city of Sevastopol and the capital Moscow.
It also said it shot down two Ukrainian combat drones deployed to attack Moscow, on Wednesday.
Drone attacks have been steadily increasing since May, when two drones were supposedly shot down outside the Kremlin building.
However, the bulk of the war is still taking place on Ukrainian land.
Two people were killed in an attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, according to the region’s officials.
Seven people also died in a Russian missile attack in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk earlier this week.
Ukraine has been targeting Russian ships in the Black Sea, too, after Moscow decided to hit Ukrainian ports.
4. UK imposes more sanctions
On Tuesday, foreign secretary James Cleverly announced 25 new sanctions targeting Vladimir Putin’s access to foreign military equipment.
This encompasses any individuals and businesses in Turkey, Dubai, Slovakia and Switzerland found to support the illegal war in Ukraine – and three Russian companies importing electronics key to Russia’s military equipment.
The UK is also targeting Iran and Belarus’ support for Russian military, including those involved with the development of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles used by Russian troops and the Belarusian defence organisations.
It claimed: “Unable to access Western components, the Russian military is struggling to produce sufficient top-end equipment and is now desperately searching for foreign armaments. Russia is already having to mobilise Soviet-era tanks and harvest kitchen freezers for low-grade chips. ”
It came after Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska condemned the loopholes in the sanctions on Russia which allowed Moscow to still turn a profit.
She told The Independent that the world must help “terminate the possibility of circumventing these sanctions” so that the invasion does not drag on “endlessly”.
5. Woman arrested over Zelenskyy assassination plot
A woman who was suspected of trying to gather information of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s movements to help Russians assassinating him was arrested, according to Ukraine’s intelligence service.
She has not been named, but allegedly planned to send coordinates to her Russian supervisor.
She could face 12 years in prison if found guilty.
Ukrainian intelligence also arrested three members of an all-female spy ring after they were suspected of taking photos of Ukrainian military bases and equipment.
These images were then reportedly being sent it to a person inside the Wagner Group and someone else who worked for Russian intelligence.
Their leader reportedly escaped to Russia, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
