An NHK analysis of satellite imagery suggests that Russian military activities have significantly decreased in eastern Ukraine since mid-July.

NHK looked into terrestrial heat-source data from NASA satellites to get a sense of how the conflict in Ukraine has been going since February. Such data is usually used to locate wildfires.

The heat-source data point to locations where fires broke out amid the fighting in the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv.

Between July 1 and 10, the number of such locations stood at 2,903. But it plunged to 662 during the next 10-day period through July 20, and to 657 in the following period through July 30.

The US Institute for the Study of War says in a report released on July 16 that Ukrainian fighters used US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems to strike multiple Russian targets, including ammunition depots.

As a result, it said detected heat anomalies from NASA's remotely sensed data decreased significantly in Donbas starting around July 10.

Takahashi Sugio, the head of the defense policy division at Japan's National Institute for Defense Studies, said satellite data suggests a drop in the number of Russian attacks.

He said this should be viewed as a sign that Russian troops on the front lines are running out of ammunition because of disruptions to their supply lines.