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

📌There are still about 600 of injured in ant-sanitary conditions, with no water, food and medicines in Azovstal plant. The issue of military evacuation remains unresolved.

📌On May 14, the Russian army used incendiary or phosphorus bombs against the defenders of Mariupol. Air bombardment continues, heavy artillery and tanks are used, and a large number of infantry.

📌 As of May 13, Russia has released more than 2,100 missiles onto Ukraine, – said the representative of Ukraine to the UN Serhiy Kyslytsia.

The Russian military, after hearing the call of the “Kalush Orchestra” to help the defenders of “Azovstal” at Eurovision, wrote on the bombs: “Help Mariupol, Help Azovstal”, “for Azovstal, just like you asked”

📌Since the beginning of a full-scale military invasion, Russia has deported 2,500 Ukrainian children. At the same time, Russia is preparing legislative changes to simplify the procedure for their adoption. It will allow anybody in Russia to adopt children with minimal checks. Such legislative decisions are not safe enough as they may provoke the increase of pedophilia cases and child trafficking.

📌Overall, more than 650 children are affected in Ukraine due to the full-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation. 227 children were killed, 421 injured.

📌 A video has been published showing the road of death between the villages of Motyzhyn and Yasnohorodka in Kyiv oblast. The bodies of 37 civilians who died at the hands of the Russian military were found there. The video was published by The Wall Street Journal.

📌 Russians are increasing their military presence in Crimea. Russian troops are strengthening air defense systems on the west coast.

📌 Russian Federation is conducting illegal trials and detaining Crimean Tatars. A member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, chairman of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center Eskender Bariyev said that a large number of dead and wounded soldiers of the Russian army are being brought to the territory of Crimea.

📌 271 cases of abduction of civilians were recorded in Zaporizhzhia oblast, more than a hundred of civilians are being held hostage.

📌 Ships and submarines of the Russian Federation are in the Black Sea. There are at least 30 cruise missiles on board.

📌 In the village of Kamyanka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russian soldiers have turned into a prison the premises of the school where those servicemen who refused to fight are kept – Zaporizhzhya OVA.

📌 Within the last days of shelling, Mykolayiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Sumy, Lviv, Odesa regions came under fire:

Thus, 4 missiles of the Russian forces completely destroyed the object of military infrastructure in the Lviv region.
In the Kharkiv region, 5 people were killed and 17 wounded in the shelling.

In Zaporizhzhia, a Russian missile hit a protected part of the island of Khortytsia and caused a fire.
8 to 12 Russian missiles hit Kremenchuk’s infrastructure facilities in the Poltava region.
On May 16, in the morning, russian strategic aviation attacked Odesa region. Tourist infrastructure was damaged, buildings were destroyed, and a fire broke out. Two people are injured, a small child is severely injured.

📌 In the Donetsk region, as of May 15, 11 settlements were shelled. 36 civilian objects were destroyed. There are the injured and dead.

📌 Russian troops are active in the Kherson region:

During street checks, the military scans civilians for tattoos, checks their phones, cars and belongings. Those who do not pass this “procedure” are taken away in an unknown direction.
In Kakhovka in the Kherson region began to publish and distribute the printed newspaper “Black Sea Vestnik (News)”.
According to Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova, a group of recruiters has arrived in Kakhovka trying to find people who would agree to work in the ORDLO (Temporarily
occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions) special services. Up to 50 civilians were tortured and killed during the stay of this group. About 120 residents of Kherson were abducted. Their whereabouts are currently unknown.
Phosphorus shelling was recorded in the region.
📌 Also Russian troops continue to shell Luhansk region. As of May 15, the number of shelling from various types of artillery and using aircraft reached 30. Local residents were injured. At least 52 urban infrastructure facilities have been damaged. In addition:
A hospital in Severodonetsk was shelled. 9 people were injured.
The shelling of the evacuation and humanitarian route Lysychansk-Bakhmut continues.

📌 Russia is conducting a hidden mobilization in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, and even women are planned to be drafted into the Russian armed forces. In particular, such events began in the temporarily occupied Crimea, – Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova.

📌 At the same time, people from Popasna, Luhansk region, are taken out to the occupied territories in order to get them drafted and force them to fight against Ukraine.

📌 The Russian invaders completely destroyed 101 medical institutions, and a total of 618 were damaged. 32 billion hryvnias are needed to restore these hospitals, – Viktor Lyashko, Minister of Health.

📌 1,748 educational institutions were damaged due to bombarding and shelling of Ukrainian cities and villages by the Russian military forces. 144 of them are destroyed completely.

📌 According to satellite images from BlackSky and the European Space Agency, when Russian troops retreated due to a long counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops in the Kharkiv region, three bridges vital to Ukraine’s continued advance were blown up.

📌 The number of people leaving Ukraine to flee the war has exceeded 6 million. Such data is provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Reuters reports that this is the most serious refugee crisis in Europe since the end of World War II.

MARIUPOL NEWS

⚠️ According to Mariupol Mayor’s Advisor Petro Andryushchenko, Russia is preparing a large-scale disinformation attack for the international community using the parents of children deported to Russia and Donetsk.

Being threatened by separation from their children, parents are forced to record videos where they would “testify” that the separation of parents and children was done by the fighters of Azov regiment and the Ukrainian army.

After those videos, the Russians plan to promote the stories of how they found and returned the children to their parents.

⚠️ Russians spread news that the Ukrainian military went out of the Azovstal plant and raised a white flag. This is fake, as the Ukrainian defenders keep on holding the defense.

RUSSIAN CONTEXT

⚠️ Fortifications are being built on the border with the unrecognized Transnistrian region, – Maksym Marchenko, Head of the Odesa Regional State Administration.

⚠️️ In the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova, the armed groups have been transferred to daily operations. At the same time, units of the operational group of Russian troops continue to be on high alert.

⚠️ Self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko is trying to avoid direct participation in the war in Ukraine. This is stated in the daily summary of British intelligence.

⚠️ The First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said that Russia’s position on Ukraine’s possible accession to the EU has changed and now it is similar to the position on Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

⚠️ To imitate the successful offensive of the “second Army of the world” and create a picture of humanism, Russian propagandists are forcing the commanders of the occupying forces to withdraw from the forefront and provide them with personnel and military equipment to participate in filming campaign videos and fake reports. Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

⚠️ About 2,500 militants from the Chechen Republic took part in the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, according to the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

⚠️Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev said in his Telegram channel that his country “spit” on the non-recognition of Ukraine’s new borders by the G7.

⚠️ Russia’s ambassador to the United States said that Moscow would not capitulate in Ukraine: “We are firm and clear and unequivocally convinced of this, at least Russian diplomats working here are convinced such capitulation will not happen, never will.”

DEFENSE UPDATES

📌 The Armed Forces of Ukraine have already de-occupied 1,015 settlements throughout Ukraine. Six of them – within yesterday.

📌 Ukrainian military reached the state border of Ukraine in Kharkiv region, they restored a border sign on this part of the state border

📌Ukroboronprom’s enterprises have restored trophy equipment worth 1.5 billion hryvnias since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

📌42 investigators of the International Criminal Court will come to Ukraine to investigate war crimes. This was stated by the Chief Prosecutor of the ISS Karim Khan.

📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:

📌 On Zmiinyi Island, thanks to the actions of the Armed Forces, the Russian logistics vessel Vsevolod Bobrov, one of the newest in the rashists’s fleet, caught fire – Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the Odesa OVA.

📌Ukrainian fighters once again struck at the occupiers in the legendary city of Chornobaivka in the Kherson region, – adviser to the head of the OPU Oleksiy Arestovych.

📌 On May 13, paratroopers of the 80th Separate Assault Brigade thwarted attempts by the Russian occupiers to cross the Seversky Donets River nine times.

📌 The Armed Forces of Ukraine are pushing Russian troops to the border with Russia in the Kharkiv region, – Chairman of the Kharkiv OVA Oleg Syniehubov.

📌 EU heads of state and government will discuss Ukraine’s application to join the European Union at a summit in June, according to the French Foreign Ministry.

HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS AND EVACUATION UPDATES

📌 Negotiations are in progress to exchange 38 severely wounded Azovstal fighters out of 600 wounded. At the same time, Turkey has stated its readiness to evacuate wounded servicemen from Azovstal by sea. However, Moscow has not yet agreed to this.

📌 A column of 100-500 cars with Mariupol residents who had been waiting for a pass for more than three days was finally allowed to enter Zaporizhzhia. Source: Adviser to the Mayor of Mariupol Petro Andryushchenko

📌 Evacuation of citizens from Severodonetsk continues. The total number of evacuees in recent days is 27. Children and people with limited mobility are among them. The head of the Luhansk OVA Serhiy Haidai reports about it.

📌 On May 12, Russian troops fired artillery at a peaceful convoy of migrants leaving the Kherson region. One woman was injured. The chief of military administration of Kryvyi Rih Alexander Vilkul reported.

PUBLIC AND BUSINESS SUPPORT

📌 Poland issued a post stamp with the image of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. It was initiated by the deputy of the Krakow City Council Łukasz Wantuch. All copies have already been sold out.

📌 Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies, has closed Russian transfers and withdrawals to foreign banks, regardless of country of residence.

📌As of May 12, more than $ 25 million was transferred to the NBU accounts in the first week of UNITED24. Donations in support of Ukraine came from 72 countries. Among the most active donors are the United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, Germany and, of course, Ukraine.

📌American actor Richard Gere put up for auction his cabriolet to help Ukrainians affected by the war with the Russian Federation. The full amount of the sale will be evenly distributed between World Central Kitchen and Open Arms Ukraine.

📌 Madonna and American digital artist Mike Winkelmann, known as the Beeple, have released the NFT collection Mother Of Creation. Part of the proceeds will be donated to help Ukrainian women and children.

📌 Host of the show The Grand Tour Jeremy Clarkson raised funds to purchase pickups to help Ukraine. Cars loaded with humanitarian aid have already arrived in Ukraine.

📌The French publishing house Grasset has published a collection of keynote speeches by Volodymyr Zelensky since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The collection “For Ukraine” is 220 pages long and contains 23 “most significant” speeches among those delivered by Zelensky since the beginning of the war. All proceeds from the sale are planned to be donated to support the Ukrainian people.

📌Writer Stephen King “patrolled” Vladimir Putin on his Twitter page. He wrote: “Putin assumed he was dealing with a lapdog. What he got was a wolverine. Glory to Ukraine!”

📌Representatives of Iceland at Eurovision after their speech called for peace in Ukraine.

📌 In New York, hundreds of people with Ukrainian symbols and slogans gathered in Time Square on May 14 to draw the attention of the United States and the international community to the tough situation in Mariupol.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE

📌 Ports of Egypt and Lebanon refused to accept a Russian tanker with stolen Ukrainian grain, – CNN.

📌 The United Kingdom provides Ukraine with a general package of humanitarian, economic and military support worth $ 2 billion, – said the British representative to the OSCE Neil Bush.

📌 If Gazprom does not fill the storage facility in Salzburg, Austria, it will be transferred to other suppliers, – an ultimatum from Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer. The repository is the largest in Austria and the second in Central Europe. It is currently empty.

📌 Japan bans the export of high-tech goods to Russia. These are: quantum computers, spare parts for them, microscopes, modeling equipment (3D printers), catalysts for oil refining, equipment for the manufacture of microelectromechanical systems and for the production of hydrogen fuel, vacuum pumps, refrigeration equipment and its components, polymers.

📌 The United Kingdom has imposed new sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. So far, the UK has imposed sanctions on more than 1,000 individuals and 100 legal entities, including oligarchs, worth £ 117 billion.

📌 The EU will allocate another 500 million euros to Ukraine: the money will go to defense. According to the President of the European Parliament Josep Borrell, together with this financial assistance, the total amount will be overall 2 billion euros.

📌The Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs blacklisted 102 Russian cultural figures, banning them from entering the country until undefined terms.

📌During the war in Ukraine, the Government of India has banned the export of wheat to ensure food security and assistance to neighboring countries.

📌The G7 countries have stated that they do not recognize the change in Ukraine’s borders.

📌 Israel approved Estonia’s request to hand over the Blue Spear 5G SSM high-precision missile system to Ukraine.

📌 The United States sends M777 howitzers to Ukraine. This was stated by the General Staff of the Armed Forces with reference to the US Department of Defense.

📌 Hungary’s new president Katalina Novak condemned Putin’s aggression and supported Ukraine’s accession to the EU, according to the Hungarian news portal Telex.

📌 Portugal blocks sale of € 10 million estate owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, subject to sanctions

📌 Greece will support the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO – the country’s Foreign Ministry.

📌 United Kingdom will take over the restoration of Kyiv and the region, Denmark – Mykolayiv region, the Baltic countries – Zhytomyr region. This was reported in the Office of the President of Ukraine.

📌 The US House of Representatives passed bills on: US financial institutions’ compliance with US sanctions on Russia and Belarus; writing off Ukraine’s foreign debts; exclusion of Russian government officials from certain international meetings.

📌 The UN Human Rights Council voted to launch an investigation into the crimes committed by Russian troops in the liberated territories of Ukraine. 33 countries voted in favor, China and Eritrea voted against.