Press digest – Ukraine

Third month of heroic resistance of Ukraine against Russian military invasion

Key updates on the war against Ukraine as of May 12, 2022

#ArmUkraineNow

#SaveMariupol

DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES

📌 Over the past 24hrs, 38 aircraft flights, including 4 flights of strategic bombers, were made to the territory of the Azovstal plant, which is defended by the defenders of Mariupol. Enemy barrel artillery, tanks, etc. also continue to operate. The enemy does not stop trying to capture the Ukrainian fortress and continues to carry out daily assaults with the support of infantry.

📌 By the end of the year, in the destroyed Mariupol more than 10 thousand people may die from diseases and intolerable conditions. There are 150-170 thousand people in the city.

📌 As of May 9, the Russian side deported 400 people from Mariupol, including 70 children, – reported adviser to the mayor Petro Andryushchenko.

📌 The Pentagon estimates that Russia used 10 to 12 hypersonic missiles in the war with Ukraine. Launch dates, launch sites and targets have not been announced at the Pentagon.

📌 According to the National Guard of Ukraine, 501 servicemen of the National Guard have died since the beginning of the war. 1,697 servicemen were wounded and injured.

📌 As of the morning of May 12, more than 643 children were injured in Ukraine as a result of full-scale armed aggression by the Russian Federation. According to official information, 226 children died and 417 were injured.

📌 Almost along the entire line of contact, the enemy continues to use all available artillery and aircraft to fire on the positions of our troops, the destruction of civilian and military infrastructure. In particular:

In recent days, 7 missiles have been launched into the Odesa region. Tourist infrastructure facilities were damaged, 5 buildings were destroyed, a shopping center caught fire, 7 people were injured and 1 person died.

As a result of the shelling of Kharkiv region in recent days, 4 people were killed and 19 were injured.
In the Donetsk region, 9 civilians were wounded and 3 were killed in the shelling. Also, 11 people died as a result of the shelling of Yampol in late April.
In the Mykolaiv region, 11 people were wounded.
As a result of shelling in the morning of May 12 in the Dnipropetrovsk region 1 civilian was wounded, 1 person died. Also 12 people were wounded and 3 were killed in the shelling in Chernihiv region. Missile strikes hit critical infrastructure, damaging administrative buildings and private homes, including a school and boarding school.

📌 The Russian army also continued shelling Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia regions. Fighting continues on Zmiiiny Island.

📌 Fires on the Kinburn Spit on the border of the Mykolayiv and Kherson regions proceed for more than a week.

📌 In addition, Russian troops shelled a boarding school in Gorny, Luhansk region. The building of the regional specialized school is an institution with modern repairs and new equipment, where children with special needs studied, said the head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration Serhiy Haidai.

📌Throughout the day of May 9, in the Luhansk region, the Russian military fired en masse on all possible routes to leave the region.

📌 For the fourth time, Russian forces fired a missile at a bridge across the Dniester estuary on the Black Sea coast.

📌 In the temporarily occupied Kherson, the Russian military wants to give captives weapons and force them to fight the Armed Forces. Ombudswoman Lyudmila Denisova mentioned more than 2,000 such prisoners in the city.

📌 They also demand lists of empty apartments to house Russian servicemen and special services, Ukrainian intelligence reports.

📌 On May 10, 44 dead civilians were found in the temporarily occupied Izyum under the rubble of a 5-storey building, which was destroyed in the first decade of March, said the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration Oleh Synegubov.

📌 Russian soldiers torture and shoot pro-Ukrainian activists they manage to find in the southern regions of Ukraine.

📌 The threat of landing of Russian troops on the territory of Odesa Region from the Black Sea – reported General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksiy Gromov. Near the region are Russian warplanes, ships and submarines. They are trying to hit military facilities, critical infrastructure, industry, transport networks.

📌 The grain stolen by Russian soldiers is already in the Mediterranean. The most likely destination is Syria. From there, grain can be smuggled to other countries in the Middle East, according to the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

📌 In Kreminna, Russians are exporting equipment from hospitals and schools to the Russian Federation, said the head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration Serhiy Haidai.

📌 Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, at least 116 buildings of spiritual significance have been destroyed, including 91 Orthodox churches, – reported the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova.

📌 Since the beginning of the war, 600 health care facilities have been damaged or destroyed. About 200 ambulances were shot or seized.

📌 The Russian Federation destroyed 27 oil depots in Ukraine and caused $ 227 million in damage. Total damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure due to destruction amounted to more than $ 94 billion – Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).

MARIUPOL NEWS

⚠️ In Mariupol another 100 thousand people are waiting for evacuation, – reported the mayor Vadym Boychenko. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk also said in an interview with AFP that more than a thousand servicemen, including hundreds of wounded, are at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

⚠️ The Russian army continues to bomb Azovstal with air bombs, – advisor of the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andryushchenko.

⚠️ The outpost of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Mariupol was attacked not only by aircraft and artillery, but also by tanks, – advisor to the mayor Petro Andryushchenko.

⚠️ Mariupol residents who did not pass the “filtration” are sent to the occupied territories – to the correctional colony №52 in the village of Olenivka in Donetsk region or to the prison “Isolation” in Donetsk. The minimum term of imprisonment is 36 days.

⚠️ The Russian side is going to launch a repair base for military equipment at the Mariupol Metallurgical Plant. Factory workers are urged to appear on May 12. However, Mariupol residents do not want to cooperate with the Russians, who are going to make repair shops for tanks and armored personnel carriers at the plant, – advisor the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andryushchenko reported.

RUSSIAN CONTEXT

⚠️ Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a Victory Day parade in Moscow that Russia “gave a precaution against NATO aggression” when it invaded Ukraine.

⚠️ Minsk is deploying a “special operation” on the border with Ukraine: In order to ensure the security of the Republic of Belarus in the southern direction, the forces of special operations units are deployed in three tactical directions, — the Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

⚠️ Russian soldiers lose confidence in their commanders and prepare for riots – the SBU has released intercepted telephone conversations of Russian soldiers.

⚠️Vladimir Putin, against the background of an unsuccessful “special operation” in Ukraine, can declare martial law in the Russian Federation and start a war in the occupied territory of Moldova, – the head of the US National Intelligence Service Avril Haines.

DEFENSE UPDATES

📌 President Joe Biden signed the law on land lease and protection of democracy in Ukraine. Ukraine will receive strong military and humanitarian aid from the United States under the accelerated procedure.

📌 Ukraine has regained control of the 1,200-kilometer border, two-thirds of which is the border with the Russian Federation.

📌 Ukrainian defenders liberated 1,003 settlements from Russians, and sappers have already demined 224 deoccupied towns and villages, – Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko reported.

📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:

📌 Dozens of bodies of Russian servicemen are found in the liberated settlements of Kharkiv region. Bodies lie on the streets, in houses and in landfills, – reported the head of OVA Oleg Sinegubov.

📌 The Russian Federation is withdrawing troops from the Kharkiv region due to significant losses, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said. But the time is needed to assess the security situation.

📌On May 9, during a working visit to Ukraine, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić visited Kyiv Region and visited Borodyanka and Irpin.

📌 The President of the European Council Charles Michel arrived in Odesa to celebrate Europe Day and express his support for the EU.

📌 The Prime Minister of the Netherlands will address the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday, May 12, by video conference.

📌 Ukraine submitted the second part of the answers to the special questionnaire for EU membership.

📌 The IT industry of Ukraine has set a historical record – 2 billion dollars in export earnings, – said the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy Danilo Hetmantsev.

HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS AND EVACUATION UPDATES

📌 Iryna Vereshchuk regarding the evacuation of the military from Azovstal:

As of now, it is impossible to unblock Azovstal by military means.

The Russians do not agree to the “extraction”. This is a reality, but it is not surprising from the Russians.

The government is working on different options. None of them are perfect. But we are not looking for an ideal option, but a working one.

As a first step, the following exchange is proposed: Ukraine removes the severely wounded servicemen from Azovstal along the humanitarian corridor, instead handing over the captured Russians according to the standard rules of prisoner exchange.

Negotiations are ongoing.

📌 For 3 days at the Russian checkpoint in Vasylivka, people evacuated from Melitopol in cars are not allowed. And those cars that were driving through Orikhiv came under fire – said Mayor Ivan Fedorov.

📌 100,000 Mariupol residents are still waiting to be evacuated. It is very difficult to organize a mission, but it is necessary to do everything possible together with the international community for this, – said the mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boychenko.

PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT

📌 Paul Hewson and David Evans – front man and guitarist of the band “U2” arrived in Irpin with words of support and offer of help. Before that, they gave a concert in Kyiv.

📌 The buildings of the European Union institutions were lit by the lights of the Ukrainian flag to remind the world that the EU stands with those who defend common European values in Ukraine.

📌 A march and charity concert in support of Ukraine took place in Brussels, attended by 2,500 people. All funds raised will go to charitable assistance to Ukraine.

📌 Thousands of Ukrainians and Poles marched from the Palace of Culture and Science to the Russian Embassy in Warsaw. All this was accompanied by Ukrainian songs, posters and blue and yellow flags.

📌Pulitzer Prize awarded Ukrainian journalists a special prize.

📌Silver investment coins with Ukrainian symbols were issued in the USA.

📌The Austrian company HEAD Group has resumed construction of a plant in Vinnytsia. It will be the largest sports equipment factory for winter sports in the world.

📌Japan’s oil refining company Idemitsu Kosan will refuse to buy Russian oil because of the situation in Ukraine, – the president of the corporation Xunichi Quito.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE

📌Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said he will impose an embargo on Russian crude oil imports as part of the G7’s decision to counter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Japan’s sanctions list also includes more than 130 people.

📌The EU and its allies have frozen Russia’s foreign exchange reserves by hundreds of billions of dollars. The EU should consider withdrawing the foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation to rebuild Ukraine. This was stated by the chief diplomat of the European Union Josep Borrell in an interview with the Financial Times.

📌The United States is abolishing import duties on Ukrainian steel for a year. The US Department of Commerce has announced the suspension of 232 customs tariffs.

📌The US House of Representatives also supported a bill to provide Ukraine with an additional $40 billion in aid, the vast majority of which will go to the purchase of weapons. The US Senate also plans to approve the document by the end of the week.

📌After Bundestag Speaker Bärbel Bas visited Kyiv, she called for speeding up the process of granting EU membership to Ukraine.

📌The Lithuanian Seimas has recognized Russia as a terrorist state. Parliament unanimously supported the resolution – 128 votes in favor.

📌The Czech Republic has officially replaced the Russian Federation in the UN Human Rights Council. During the secret ballot, 157 countries voted in favor and 23 abstained. The Czech Foreign Ministry said it would use the opportunity to promote and protect human rights.

📌Canada provides cyber assistance and intelligence on cyber threats to Ukraine. Canada condemns Russia’s cyber attack on the eve of the military invasion. This was stated by Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly.

📌New Zealand has imposed new sanctions on Russia.

📌Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that the country is ready to support the embargo on Russian oil if it applies only to marine oil.