Press digest – Ukraine

PRESS DIGEST – UKRAINE

Fifth month of heroic resistance of Ukraine against Russian military invasion

Key updates on the war against Ukraine as of July 1, 2022

#ArmUkraineNow

DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES

📌Russia noticeably stepped up its rocket attacks on Ukraine during the last weekend of June. In total, on June 25-26, Russia and Belarus fired from 60 to 80 long-range missiles.

On June 25, explosions were heard in many regions including Kyiv, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Kharkiv, and other regions. It is also stated that about 24 missiles were launched at the Zhytomyr region.

To calculate the cost of these missiles, Forbes used the following estimates: the cost of the X-101 missile is $13 million, the Kalibr is $6.5 million, the Iskander is $3 million, and the Onyx is $1.25 million, X-22 – $1 million, Tochka-U – $300,000

In some cases, the number of missiles fired or their distribution by type remains unknown. Given this, it is impossible to determine the total cost of Russian missiles fired over Ukraine over the weekend. However, according to Forbes, it could range from $150 million to $220 million.

📌More than 978 children were affected by the Russian armed aggression in Ukraine. 343 children were killed, and another 635 were wounded.

📌MARIUPOL NEWS:

  • All books from the library of the Church of Petra Mohyly in Mariupol were burned by the invaders. Unique copies of Ukrainian-language publications were kept there and are now lost forever.

📌LUHANSK REGION:

  • On June 29, the Russian military destroyed the Sievierodonetsk Power Station. 
  • There is no hour when enemy artillery subsides – the Head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration on the offensive on Lysychansk. “In Lysychansk, the Russians do not stop destroying housing, industrial and administrative facilities. They are trying to blockade the city from the south while destroying everything their artillery and multiple rocket launchers can reach. We are holding the defense of Lysychansk.” – Serhii Haidai.

    • On June 30,  in Lysychansk, air strikes destroyed a police station and damaged the territory of the oil refinery — the Head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration Serhii Haidai.

📌KHARKIV REGION:

  • On June 25, Russian troops shelled the subcritical nuclear research facility “Source of Neutrons” in Kharkiv. The building of the Institute, in which it is located, suffered significant damage.
  • On June 27, Russian forces fired missiles at Northern Saltivka. 4 dead, 19 people were injured, including 4 children

📌 ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION:

  • The Russian army abducts people in Enerhodar for money: they demand 50,000 hryvnias for release. Mayor Dmytro Orlov says that hundreds of city residents are now in captivity. A large part of them is qualified employees of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Some are detained for “political” reasons, some for money. Prisoners are subjected to electric shocks, beatings and imprisonment for weeks, sometimes even months.
  • Partisans in the temporarily occupied Melitopol hung leaflets around the city for Constitution Day. The leaflets noted that about 300 Russian soldiers were killed during the entire period of hostilities in the city. “Russian, do you sleep at night? We managed to kill more than 300 of your friends at night! Partisans do not sleep at night, they hunt”, the leaflets read.

📌 ODESA REGION: 

  • On June 27, Russian aviation launched a missile strike in the Odesa region. “As a result of hitting a residential area of the village, several residential buildings and outbuildings were destroyed and caught fire in an estimated area of 500 square meters”, the report reads. According to preliminary information, six people were injured, including one child.
  • On July 1, as a result of a night hit by a rocket in a nine-story building in Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky, 18 people were killed, including two children. More than 30 people were injured, including three children. This was reported by the State Service of Ukraine for Emergency Situations.

Also in Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky, a recreation center was fired upon. At the moment, 3 dead are known, of which 1 is a child. Partially destroyed two base buildings. A high-rise building and a recreation center were fired upon by 3 Russian X-22 missiles.

Also it is known about 21 were dead and 38 were wounded, including 6 children in Serhiivka.

📌 MYKOLAIV REGION:

  • Destroyed civilian infrastructure and residential buildings, and people were killed in Ochakiv, Mykolaiv region, as a result of shelling by the Russian invaders on June 28.

At the moment, six are known to be injured, of which four are children – a three-month-old baby in a coma, a one-year-old child, and teenagers 13 and 16 years old, Anna Zamazieieva, chairman of the Mykolaiv Regional Council, said.

  • Russian invaders destroyed the lawn of the main stadium of Mykolaiv. The height of the funnel is about 5 meters, diameter is 15 meters.

On the morning of June 29, the Russian military struck a residential apartment building in Mykolaiv. At least 10 missiles were fired at Mykolaiv in half an hour. About 6 people were killed.

 

📌KHERSON REGION:

  • On June 28, in Kherson, the invaders kidnapped Mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev, said the adviser Galina Lyashevskaya. In April, Kolykhaiev said he remained in the city but refused to cooperate with the occupation “administration” which was set up by the Russian military.
  • Forced passportization of Kherson residents accelerates – Regional Council. “Russian propagandists are spreading fakes that shortly Ukraine will refuse social payments to residents of the Kherson region, primarily – from pension payments. And that Russia will pay pensions, but for that, you need to obtain a Russian passport” – the Deputy Head of the Regional Council Yurii Sobolevskyi. According to him, the Russian military uses deception and blackmail to force people to provide personal data when obtaining a Russian passport to use in the referendum.

📌DNIPROPETROVSK REGION:

  • In total, six missiles were fired in the Dnipropetrovsk region on June 28. Three missiles were shot down. In Dnipro City, the missiles destroyed the railway infrastructure and the industrial enterprise. Rescuers found two killed civilians – a man and a woman.
  • On June 30, the Russian military destroyed the grain warehouse — the Head of the Regional Military Administration. In the town of Zelenodolsk, Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian Federation hit an agricultural enterprise. A warehouse containing 40 tons of grain was destroyed. The explosion caused a fire — said Valentyn Reznichenko.

📌POLTAVA REGION:

  • On June 27 the invaders fired rockets at a shopping center, where there were more than a thousand civilians. The shopping center was on fire, rescuers are fighting the fire, and the number of victims is unimaginable. 

The fire area is 10,300 square meters, and a fire train from Ukrzaliznytsia is heading to the place, the State Emergency Service reports.

As of July 1, 19 people were killed, and 28 fragments of human bodies were found during debris removal. 62 people were injured, and 26 were hospitalized.

📌KYIV REGION:

  • On June 26, the rocket hit the roof of a 9-storey residential building in the Lukyanivka district and demolished several upper floors. In total, 25 residents were evacuated and four victims were hospitalized. Including a seven-year-old girl who was pulled out from under the rubble, and her mother was rescued

📌At least 3,000 dolphins have died because of the war unleashed by the Russians in Ukraine. This was announced by the doctor of biological sciences, professor, and employee of the National Natural Park “Tuzlovsky Limans” Ivan Rusev.

📌Rocket strikes from the territory of Belarus are a large-scale provocation by the Russian Federation with the aim of further involving Belarusian forces in the war against Ukraine as a direct participant – Ukrainian intelligence.

📌On June 26, the Russians resorted to nuclear terrorism – at 6AM an enemy missile flew at a critical height over the South Ukrainian nuclear power plant. The flight was filmed on video, Energoatom reports.

📌Russia removed 400,000 tons of grain from the occupied territories of Ukraine during the full-scale invasion. Taras Vysotskyi, the First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, reported this.

 

RUSSIAN AND BELORUSSIAN CONTEXT 

⚠️  The Russians will face problems when trying to surround Lysychansk – ISW. As stated in the report of the Institute for the Study of War, Ukrainian troops will maintain defences around Lysychansk and continue to deplete the Russian occupiers. But if necessary, they will make a conscious retreat. In order to completely isolate Lysychansk, the Russian occupiers need to cut Ukrainian logistics routes from Bakhmut and Siversk.

⚠️️According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the leadership of institutions and organizations of the Gomel region was warned about the likelihood of the return of units of the Russian Federation Armed Forces. At the same time, the Russians plan to increase the number of operational-tactical aviation on the territory of Belarus. 

⚠️️General Staff: Belarus sent about 20 wagons of ammunition to Russia. 

⚠️️The Russian Federation cynically commented on the missile attack on Kremenchuk. They say Russian forces allegedly hit “arms and ammunition hangars” rather than a shopping mall. The Russian Defense Ministry also reiterates narratives that the fire at the allegedly out-of-operation shopping center “was caused by the detonation of ammunition stored nearby at the factory.”

 

DEFENSE UPDATES

📌Ukraine returned 144 servicemen from captivity, 95 of them were defenders of Azovstal. According to the Central Intelligence Agency, most of those released are injured or wounded.

📌On June 30. Operational Command “Pivden”: Russian troops left Zmiinyi Island after another shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. During the night, the missile and artillery units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces systematically shelled the island, due to which the enemy hastily evacuated the remnants of the garrison with two speedboats.

📌The European Court of Human Rights accepted Ukraine’s complaint against Russia. Kyiv accuses Moscow of military aggression, attacks on civilians, and other human rights violations. In total, the European Court of Human Rights is now considering five Ukrainian complaints against the Russian Federation and 8,500 individual lawsuits related to the war.

📌 GOV.UK: Britain will contribute up to £10 million for the repair of the Ukrainian railway for grain exports. “In addition to preventing grain from leaving Ukraine via the Black Sea – the route by which 96% of Ukraine’s grain has historically been exported, Russian attacks are disrupting rail exports. To counteract this, the UK is contributing up to £10 million in materials and equipment to Ukraine Railways to repair rail infrastructure and help get grain out of the country by rail”, said a press release.

📌Russia is currently the country with the largest number of sanctions imposed in the world. It is ahead of Iran, Syria, and North Korea. Castellum.AI tracks sanctions against Russia. In particular, it refers to sanctions following February 22.

📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:

📌On June 27, President of Moldova Maia Sandu arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit – Website of the President of Moldova. 

📌The United Kingdom will provide technology to test wheat to prevent Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia in the temporarily occupied territories from reaching the world market, British Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs George Eustice said.

📌Ministry of Digital Transformation: The IT Army attacked more than 4,200 Russian resources in 4 months of the war.

📌​​The NATO summit adopted a new strategic concept of the Alliance, which names Russia the main threat to security — the DPA news agency.

 

PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE

📌Four additional MLRS, the shipment of which to Ukraine was announced by the White House on Thursday, will be transferred to Kyiv in mid-July.

📌 12 EU countries are now completely or partially cut off from Russian gas, –European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

📌Croatia will supply fuel and liquefied gas to Ukraine. Such agreements were reached during the working visit of the Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine Mykola Kolesnyk to Croatia.

📌The package of military assistance to Ukraine from the States includes 18 boats, – Pentagon. In particular, we are talking about two 10-meter river vessels, six 12-meter naval warships, and ten 11-meter Dauntless Sea Ark patrol boats.

📌The Ministries of Finance of Ukraine and Germany signed an agreement to provide Ukraine with 1 billion euros in grant funding. The funds will be directed to the state budget of Ukraine to finance priority social and humanitarian expenditures under martial law.

📌A separate section dedicated to the Ukrainian cultural heritage will be available on the Arts & Culture online platform owned by Google. The platform visitors will be able to review art collections and galleries, and also receive physical and contextual information on Ukrainian works of art.

📌The Czech Republic has suspended visa issuance to Russians and Belarusians by March 2023 — Radio Prague.

📌The United Kingdom denied visas for the Russian delegation to attend the OSCE session.

📌Germany, together with the Netherlands, delivered 12 Panzerhaubitzen 2000 artillery mounts to Ukraine, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said. A group of Ukrainian servicemen who were trained to work with these artillery installations also returned home.

📌 In Japan, the Monteroza restaurant chain has launched a Ukrainian menu. Part of the proceeds from sales will go to the humanitarian needs of Ukraine.

📌G7 leaders have agreed upon an embargo on Russian gold, according to Reuters. The export of gold is the highest source of revenue for the Russian budget after the export of energy sources.

📌The Indonesian President will visit Ukraine and Russia on a peacekeeping mission. Joko Widodo said that the Russian-Ukrainian war has catastrophic consequences for the whole world, so he invites the parties to sit down at the negotiating table, reports Reuters.

📌The UK is ready to provide $525 million in guarantees for a World Bank loan to Ukraine later this year.

📌NATO will provide Ukraine with modern weapons systems. 

📌NHK: Japan expands sanctions against Russia. They include a ban on the import of Russian gold and the provision of accounting, trust, and other services to Russia.

📌G7 countries will allocate $29.5 billion to Ukraine as financial assistance.

📌BAYKAR announced that it would give away the drones for which the people of Ukraine raised money for free.

📌 Germany and the Netherlands will supply 6 more Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers to Ukraine.

📌Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau announced new 151.7 million Canadian dollars aid for Ukraine.

📌The founder of Virgin Galactic, billionaire Richard Branson met with Ukrainian business in the subway. Before that, Branson visited Hostomel – he was interested in the Antonov airfield, and the possibility of its restoration.

📌Ukraine received $1.3 billion in aid from the United States. 

📌Sweden will hand over anti-tank weapons and demining equipment to Ukraine — Swedish Ministry of Defence. The total amount of military aid from Sweden will be 500 million Swedish kronor ($49 million).