PRESS DIGEST – UKRAINE

Fourth month of heroic resistance of Ukraine against Russian military invasion

Key updates on the war against Ukraine as of June 10, 2022

#ArmUkraineNow

📌The Ukraine War still holds surprises. The biggest may be for Putin – Friedman for NYT.

The Russian-Ukrainian war can affect the course of history and change the future of the planet, says American journalist, and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Thomas Friedman. He expressed this opinion in a new column for the New York Times.

DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES

📌As of February 24, there are 3,620 settlements under Russian occupation. Each of them has experienced destruction. During this time, Russia has used almost 2,500 different missiles against Ukraine, most of which hit the city’s infrastructure. — President of Ukraine Zelensky.

📌UN Human Rights Ukraine: Latest update on civilian casualties in the context of Russia’s armed attack against Ukraine: 4,302 killed, incl. 272 children; 5,217 injured, incl. 439 children, mostly caused by shelling & airstrikes. The actual toll is much higher.

📌Ukrainian military casualties now range from 100 to 200 people daily — Mykhailo Podolyak, an Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President says.

 📌Total damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure due to war equates to nearly $104 billion — Kyiv School of Economics.

📌It will take up to 10 years for the full demining of Ukrainian land where hostilities have continued or continue. Currently, about 300,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian lands remain mined as a consequence of the Russian attack.

📌Christofer Miller: “New sat (sic) images. The heavy artillery duels & massive Russian missile attacks in eastern Ukraine are destroying the landscape. These are craters in a field northwest of Sloviansk, seen on June 6. Gives you a sense of the number of shells being lobbed. It’s nonstop.”

📌The Ministry of Healthcare estimates that about 15 million Ukrainians will need psychological support because of the war. At the same time, about 3-4 million people will need to be prescribed medication.

📌During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, 32 media representatives were killed and 16 others were injured.

📌Civilian casualties from Russian attacks last week:

• Mykolaiv region – 9 dead, 28 wounded.
• Kharkiv region – 4 dead, 12 wounded.
• Zaporizhzhia region – 5 wounded.
• Donetsk region – 3 dead and 2 wounded.
• Luhansk, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa. Damaged houses, infrastructure facilities.

📌DONETSK REGION: 

❗️The court of the self-proclaimed DPR has delivered its first verdict on three foreign soldiers who defended Mariupol together with the Ukrainian military. Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and Moroccan Brahim Saadoune, whom the terrorists call “mercenaries”, were sentenced to death, the Russian propaganda website RIA said.

❗️The Russians completely destroyed the largest wooden temple in Ukraine – All Saints Monastery Svyatogorsk Lavra. This is how All Saints Skete looks now.

❗️Bombed school in Bakhmut, Donetsk region. Photographer: Serhii Nuzhnenko.

📌MARIUPOL NEWS:

❗️In Mariupol, the Russian military began demolishing houses without dismantling the debris and evacuating the bodies of the dead. In this way, they destroy the evidence of their looting. The bodies that were found are taken to the Livoberezhny district landfill.

❗️The invaders are considering a way to ‘clear mines’ in Mariupol by releasing captured Ukrainians into minefields – Security Service of Ukraine. For this, they even came up with a new term: “mine clearance in a natural way.”

❗️Russian invaders arrange “hunger games” for residents of Mariupol. Mariupol residents are forced to really fight for humanitarian aid due to the lack of another source of food, said Petro Andriushchenko, adviser to the mayor of the city.

“Get in line first. Wait two or three days ahead. But a queue is not a guarantee. On the day of the “queue”, one must run among the first 300 lucky people already in the live queue. Then they keep people warm like an animal in a squad. Without water and the ability to collect it. Then, if one’s lucky, one will get something of very poor quality, which also will quickly deteriorate without refrigeration. A day or two, and one will again have to run through the hell of humanitarian aid. Rage. Just rage,” Andriushchenko said.

❗️In Mariupol, Russian troops instructed teachers, employees of children’s centers and kindergartens to make a video of the children’s anthem of Russia and the “young republics” before the “Day of Russia”, – said Mariupol Mayor’s Adviser Petro Andryushchenko.

❗️British intelligence: There is a risk of a major cholera outbreak in Mariupol. Sporadic cases have been reported since May. As medical services in Mariupol are likely to collapse, a large cholera outbreak in Mariupol will significantly worsen the situation.

❗️As of June 7, Ukraine had returned 210 dead bodies from Mariupol. Most of them are Azovstal defenders.

❗️The 160 bodies of Ukrainian servicemen returned during the exchange with the Russian side were from the ruins of Azovstal. They have already been taken to Kyiv, the Association of Families of Azovstal Defenders said. At least 52 of them are considered to be the bodies of the regiment’s soldiers, the affiliation of the dead to other units is being established, the Azov regiment’s press service said.

❗️Currently, more than 2,500 Ukrainian Azovstal degenders are in Russian captivity. This was announced by President Zelensky during a conversation with journalists.

📌LUHANSK REGION:

❗️The Russian military is still trying to capture the city of Severodonetsk and block the Lysychansk-Bakhmut route, but does not control it.

❗️Luhansk Regional Military Administration: In Sievierodonetsk, the invaders destroyed one of the city’s symbols – the Ice Palace. It had a capacity of 5,000 people. For 50 years, sporting and cultural events were held there.

📌KHARKIV REGION:

❗️On June 8th, the Russian invaders inflicted several blows on Kharkiv. At about 23:00 Kyiv time, due to shelling by invaders in the Novobavarsky district of the city, fires broke out in the buildings of a cafe, a shop and a school library. School building damaged. According to preliminary information, two people were killed and four others were injured.

📌 ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION:

❗️Almost 60% of the territory of the Zaporizhzhia region was temporarily occupied by Russian troops, – Governor of Zaporizhzhia region Oleksandr Starukh.

❗️Occupiers continue to destroy Huliaipole. Russian artillery shelled Huliaipole again. As a result, the invaders damaged only civilian facilities – mainly the residential sector.

❗️Russian invaders continue stealing Ukrainian grain. Trains began to move from Melitopol towards Crimea, the occupying “authorities” of the city reported. According to them, on June 7, the first 11 wagons left the Melitopol terminal.

📌KHERSON REGION:

❗️At the checkpoints of the temporarily occupied Kherson region, the Russian military was allowed to shoot “suspicious” civilians, according to Security Service of Ukraine. 

❗️In the occupied Kherson region the Russian military keeps about 600 people in torture chambers, and also takes out the kidnapped inhabitants to the annexed Crimea, – Tamila Tasheva, Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

📌 MYKOLAIV REGION:

❗️EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borrell said that Russian troops had destroyed the second largest Ukrainian grain terminal in Mykolayiv.

📌 BORDERLANDS  & BLACK SEA:

❗️About 3-4 battalion tactical groups are located at the borders of the Chernihiv and Sumy regions to demonstrate their presence and restrain the actions of Ukrainian units. 

❗️In the waters of the Black Sea, Russia holds 5 ships with a possible total volley of up to 34 caliber missiles.

📌The European Union has eased a sixth package of sanctions against Russia, removing a ban on access to cloud services.

📌The Swiss government has confirmed its refusal of requests from Germany and Denmark to allow the re-export of Swiss-made ammunition and combat vehicles to Ukraine.

📌IAEA President Rafael Mariano Grossi is trying to legitimize the Russian occupiers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. He said that his agency is preparing an expert mission to ZNPP. This visit is supposed to be carried out at the request of Ukraine. In Energoatom, Grossi’s words were called lies.

RUSSIAN CONTEXT 

⚠️ The Russian Orthodox Church has stated that it accepts the Crimean dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate under the direct authority of Patriarch Kirill.

⚠️ In Russia, a court has banned the publication of the names of soldiers killed in the war against Ukraine. Local sites are removing previously published information about the dead soldiers.

⚠️️The Armed Forces of Belarus have begun training to transfer from peacetime to wartime – the Ministry of Defense of Belarus.

⚠️️Social tensions among relatives of Russians killed on the Russian cruiser Moscow continue to rise. A special group of psychologists, doctors and lawyers is working with the sailors’ families to improve the difficult psychological condition of the families of the crew of the former flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, which sank on April 14 this year. This is done in order to force relatives to withhold information about their dead loved ones. 

⚠️️Sanctions have affected 87% of businesses in Russia. At the same time, more than 30% of businesses in Russia are not experiencing an economic downturn.

⚠️️ Russian authorities have forced the Chief Rabbi of Moscow, Pinchas Goldschmidt, to leave the country for refusing to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.

⚠️️Microsoft slashes Russia operations after war clouds outlook – Bloomberg. More than four hundred employees to be affected. Microsoft Corp. is substantially reducing its business in Russia, joining the list of prominent technology firms cutting back or exiting the country altogether after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

⚠️️ Russia urges to cancel recognition of Lithuanian independence. The corresponding bill was submitted to the State Duma by a deputy from the United Russia party Yevgeny Fedorov, according to Russian media.

⚠️️Russian President Vladimir Putin canceled the annual hotline in June, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “The direct hotline cannot take place this month,” he said, adding that the timing of its holding is unknown, but allegedly preparations are underway for the event. Peskov did not specify the reasons for the transfer of the direct hotline. 

⚠️️Huawei began to close its official stores in Russia. Four of the 19 stores have already closed, and the company plans to further reduce the number of official outlets. Also, supplies are reduced by Xiaomi and Lenovo.

DEFENSE UPDATES

📌On June 6, Ukrainian troops repulsed a group of ships belonging to the Russian Black Sea Fleet from the Ukrainian coast for a distance of more than one hundred kilometers.

📌On June 7, Lviv paratroopers destroyed about 50 units of the so-called “elite regiment of the Russian Federation,” said Maksym Kozytskyi, governer of Lviv region.

📌Over the past week, 170 people were evacuated from Luhansk region.

📌Ukraine and Poland have signed the largest arms supply contract in 30 years, said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

📌More than 1,500 Belarusian volunteers are currently fighting in the Ukrainian army.

📌 In the Melitopol district of the Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian occupiers left almost all the checkpoints because they are afraid of the attack of Ukrainian defenders.

📌US Ambassador Bridget Brink visited Borodyanka, which was destroyed by the Russians.

📌Ukraine will receive volley fire systems, which are in service in the United States – HIMARS and MLRS. They dominate the Soviet installations currently used by Russian troops and the Armed Forces.   

📌The European Union has begun work on the seventh package of sanctions against Russia, said Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Jablonski. New restrictions include disconnecting all Russian banks from SWIFT and restrictions on gas that Russia can still sell.

📌More than 1.5 billion was raised in support of Ukraine through the United24 platform in one month.

📌Soldiers of the 103rd separate brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces evacuated vehicles from the Artemsil enterprise and more than 30 residents of Bakhmut. Now people are already in Dnipropetrovsk region.

📌General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: In the Volyn and Podillia regions bordering the territory of Belarus, the Armed Forces of Belarus are working on the issue of creating strike groups in one of the areas until June 11.

📌NRK: Norway has handed 22 self-propelled M109 Howitzers over to Ukraine, including spare parts, ammunition, and other equipment

📌A teenager helped the Armed Forces of Ukraine to stop one of its largest columns on the Zhytomyr highway. A drone helped him. Andrii Pokrasa, 15, managed to spot the lights of a military column advancing on Kyiv from his drone. He shared information with the Ukrainian military who was able to destroy the column.

“He was the only one who had experience working with drones in this region. He is a real hero of Ukraine,” said Yurii Kasianov, Commander of the Intelligence Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

📌 On June 8, the Armed Forces of Ukraine inflicted significant losses on the invaders during the assault on the enemy in the Berestove area (a village on the Lysychansk-Bakhmut highway), fighting on the spot continues, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports.

📌The United States sent another batch of M777 Howitzers to Ukraine, according to the Pentagon. The model, which is currently being sent to help the Ukrainian army, differs from other howitzers in the presence of a high-precision digital computer fire control system that allows accurate fire at long distances.

​​📌American anti-ship Harpoon missiles have already entered service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and are on the coastline alongside Ukrainian-made missiles Neptune, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine Oleksii Rieznikov said.

​​📌Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on sanctions against Russian President Putin as well as his press secretary Peskov. In total, more than 260 Russians and 236 businesses are on the list.

​​📌On June 10,  Armed Forces of Ukraine pushed the front line 5-7 km away from Zaporizhzhia.

📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:

PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE

📌 The Vatican has dedicated a silver coin to Ukraine. Proceeds from the sale of the coin (worth 50 euros each) will be used to help Ukraine.

📌IBM ceases operations in Russia. It is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of all types of computers, software and providers of global information networks.

📌The United States is handing over $50 million worth of rescue equipment to Ukrainian law enforcement and border guards, says US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink.

📌The New Zealand government has imposed new restrictive measures against 44 state-owned enterprises in Russia and Belarus due to a large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

📌The European Union has completed the supply of 90 cars to the Interior Ministry and the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine for a total cost of almost 2 million euros.

📌Ambassador of Ukraine to Japan Serhiy Korsunsky announced the conclusion of an additional agreement to increase the amount of aid to Ukraine by $500 million.

📌The Japanese government has said it will freeze the assets of two more Russian banks, the Credit Bank of Moscow and Rosselkhozbank, and added another Belarusian bank, Bilinvestbank, to the sanctions list.

📌The EU abolished all duties on Ukrainian goods for a year. In this way, the EU seeks to support Ukraine’s economy, which is suffering from a large-scale Russian war.

📌The UK has provided additional assistance to investigate Russia’s war crimes. In addition to funding, the government will send a special legal and police team to Ukraine.

📌The UK will provide Ukraine with M270 multiple rocket launchers, which can hit targets at a distance of up to 80 km – Ministry of Defense.

📌The National Council on Electronic Media of Latvia has decided to ban the broadcasting of the last 80 Russian TV channels that could still be watched in the Baltic country, – Delfi.

📌Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia and Montenegro have closed the skies to Russian Foreign Minister Serhiy Lavrov’s plane. This happened before the planned visit to Belgrade on June 6-7. After that, hysteria in some officials began in Russia, and even threatened to launch the Sarmat missile system.

📌 The EU has developed a plan to abandon Russia’s gas. It will include 50 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas imports from the United States or Qatar, an additional 10 billion on existing pipelines, the acceleration of offshore wind turbines and photovoltaic panels representing 25 billion cubic meters – EU Commissioner Thierry Breton.

📌The Spanish government is ready to supply Ukraine with canned Leopard 2A4 battle tanks, train tankers, and hand over anti-aircraft missile systems. This was reported by El Pais, citing government sources.

📌Sweden will hand over anti-tank sniper rifles and anti-tank grenade launchers to Ukraine, as well as the necessary ammunition.

📌 The World Bank has provided another $1.49 billion in aid to Ukraine. The money will be used to pay the salaries of state and social workers

📌 Polish President Andrzej Duda began a trip to southern Europe on Wednesday to convince them to support Ukraine’s EU candidate status.

📌MEPs believe that the EU should grant Ukraine the status of a candidate for the European Union. 438 deputies voted for the corresponding resolution of the European Parliament, 65 against, and 94 abstained.

📌Russia’s war against Ukraine will be one of the main topics of the G7 summit. At the end of June, the leaders of the seven most powerful regions in the world will meet in the German city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the White House said.

📌 The first billion dollars of US aid under the $40 billion package signed by President Joe Biden at the end of May has already arrived in Ukraine, US Ambassador to Kyiv Bridget Brink stated on Twitter. 

📌Lithuanian Seimas approves resolution pledging to support Ukraine to victory and full restoration of territorial integrity, LRT media outlet reports

📌Germany will provide Ukraine with up to 3.5 million euros for equipment to repair the power grid, — German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen after a meeting with Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko.

📌 Zelensky will be invited to the NATO summit in Madrid — Europa Press.

📌The Lithuanian Post Office started to sell a stamp with the image of the UAV Bayraktar, for which the country’s residents had been raising funds.

📌Japan has imposed new sanctions against Russian Federation – TASS. They will ban the supply of trucks, dump trucks, and bulldozers to the country. Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Kōichi Hagiuda announced this.

📌Amazon helped Ukrainian ministries and private companies transfer 10 million gigabytes of data to secure servers after the Russian attack – the company’s blog said.