Press digest – Ukraine

PRESS DIGEST – UKRAINE

Sixth month of heroic resistance of Ukraine against Russian military invasion

Key updates on the war against Ukraine as of August 5, 2022

#ArmUkraineNow

 

DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES

📌  The Russian Federation sends propagandists to the occupied territories to prepare pseudo-referendums — Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The Kremlin has sent representatives of the United Russia political party to the occupied territories of Ukraine to prepare so-called annexation referendums. Partisans, in turn, according to intelligence information, have become more active in the occupied territories, which will probably prevent the invaders from holding a pseudo-referendum.

📌More than 1059 children were affected by the Russian armed aggression in Ukraine. 359 children were killed, and another 700 were wounded.

📌In the evening of August 2, Russian invaders fired eight cruise missiles at Ukraine, seven of which were shot down by air defence forces. X-101 and X-555 missiles were launched from the Caspian Sea area. Strategic bombers Tu-95 and Tu-160 were used.

📌SUMY REGION:

  • On July 31, the Russian military shelled a farm in the Sumy region in the morning. In total, there were about 50 “arrivals.” The shells hit a local farm, which caused a fire. The details of casualties and damage are being clarified.

📌DONETSK REGION:

On July 29, the Russian Armed Forces launched a missile strike at residential buildings in Kramatorsk. One person was killed and five more people were injured. Two private houses were completely destroyed, and 21 more buildings were damaged.

  • The video of how people in occupied Mariupol are forced to live now was published by the mayor’s adviser Petro Andriushchenko.

  • A fire broke out in a wheat field in the Donetsk region due to Russian shelling. The fire destroyed 150 hectares of the field by the time the emergency service units arrived. So far, the fire has been extinguished, and there were no casualties or injuries.

  • On July 30, one of the invaders’ shells hit a two-story building of a railway repair base in Bakhmut. One person was killed.
  • The Russian military destroyed the Free Radio office in Bakhmut on August 3. The journalists specified that the strike was so powerful that no walls were left in the office and nearby premises of about a hundred square meters, tons of concrete and bricks were scattered dozens of meters away.

Due to the shelling of Toretsk on August 4, eight people died and four were wounded. Three children were among the four wounded. The hit came to a public transport stop, where there were people at that time.

📌KHARKIV REGION:

  • On July 30, the Russians launched rocket attacks on Kharkiv at night. In particular, they hit a school.

  • On August 1, the invaders fired at a bus stop in the Saltivsky district of Kharkiv. Two people were injured.
  • On the evening of August 4, the invaders hit two districts of the city. Emergency medical teams went to the sites. There is preliminary information about three casualties.

📌 ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION:

  • Russian soldiers took 453 civilians, hostage, for the five months of temporary occupation of parts of the Zaporizhzhia Region. According to the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, 191 people are still in captivity, including two minors.
  • The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, captured by the Russian invaders, is “out of control,” said Rafael Grossi, Director General of the IAEA. According to him, the situation is becoming more dangerous every day.
  • On July 4, the enemy launched a series of missile strikes on the Zaporizhzhia region. Two hits were recorded. There is one victim who was injured by glass fragments.

📌 MYKOLAIV REGION:

  • Due to the shelling in Mykolaiv in the morning on July 29, 7 people died.
  • Russian troops shelled one of the sleeping areas of Mykolaiv on the night of July 30. One person was killed, and six more were wounded.
  • On July 31, about 40 missiles arrived at Mykolaiv during the massive nighttime shelling. The Police have already documented 27 damaged infrastructure: nine private and four apartment buildings, stores, dormitories, educational institutions, garages, and warehouses.
  • On August 1, as a result of night shelling, the invaders bombed the Mykolaiv hospital, one of the largest in the region.
  • The Russian army shelled Mykolaiv twice during the night of August 3. The Russians damaged a pier, an enterprise, apartment buildings, a garage cooperative, a supermarket, a pharmacy, and a horse-riding school. The Russian army used two S-300 air defence missiles. One hit the supermarket, the other one fell nearby. Preliminary, no casualties.

📌 KHERSON REGION:

  • The largest lighthouse in Ukraine was damaged in the Kherson region. Russian missiles hit the Adziogol Lighthouse in the Kherson region. It is not yet known how damaged it is and whether it can be restored. The structure survived both World War I and II, but was struck by Russian missiles.

📌DNIPROPETROVSK REGION:

  • On August 1, The Russians fired at the Nikopol and Kryvyi Rih districts of the Dnipropetrovsk region, recording more than 60 missile hits. Two women were injured. 
  • On August 2, the Russian troops shelled an evacuation bus heading from the village of Starosillia, Kherson region. The Russian army shot a minibus up close with an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM). As a result, two civilians were killed. Five civilians, three men, and two women were managed to be evacuated to Kryvyi Rih.
  • The invaders shelled one of the city districts twice, on August 3. The community was attacked by cluster bombs launched by BM-27 Uragan MLRS.  The hostile attack claimed the life of a 70 years old woman who was gardening when the Russian rockets attacked. A 73 years old man was injured. Several dozens of private houses were damaged in two villages.

On the night of August 4, the Russian invaders fired again at the Dnipropetrovsk region, as a result of which one woman was wounded;  60 “Grads” shelled the city of Nikopol — dozens of houses were damaged.

  • On the night of August 5, the Russians shelled the Nikopol district and the Kryvyi Rih district. The Russians fired twice at Nikopol from Grads. 40 shells flew into the city.

📌OLENIVKA SITUATION:

  • The International Committee of the Red Cross will try to get into the attacked penitentiary facility in Olenivka. 
  • ​​Russia published a list of the killed and wounded in the penal colony in Olenivka. It includes 48 killed and 73 wounded. The Patronage Service of the Azov Regiment cannot confirm or deny these reports and is verifying them for reliability.
  • Russia did not provide Ukraine with any lists of Ukrainian prisoners of war killed and injured in Olenivka, according to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
  • The UN Secretary-General: “In relation to the recent tragedy at the prison in Olenivka, we stand ready to send a group of experts able to conduct an investigation, requiring the consent of the parties”.
  • Journalist Christopher Miller published a photo of the penal colony in the occupied Olenivka. The Maxar satellite photos show how the penal colony looked before and after the attack: on July 27 and after July 30, respectively.

  • On July 31, Russia denied the International Committee of the Red Cross access to Ukrainian prisoners of war, held in the penal colony in Olenivka, despite the Geneva Convention in force.

  • Bellingcat: Russian invaders were digging graves for the burial of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the territory of the Olenivska colony at least a week before the explosion.

  • Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has established the facts on the killing of the Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka.

  • On August 4, the International Committee of the Red Cross claimed that it did not guarantee the safety of Ukrainian prisoners of war who left the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. “We did not guarantee the safety of prisoners of war who fell into the hands of the enemy, because this is not in our power. We explained this to the parties in advance,” the committee said in a statement.On August 4, the international human rights organization Amnesty International published a report “Ukrainian military tactics endanger the civilian population.” It states that the troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are based in residential areas, including schools and hospitals, in violation of international humanitarian law.

    The captured soldiers were interrogated by investigators of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic together with members of Wagner Group and employees of the Federal Service of Investigations of the Russian Federation. Physical torture and beatings were actively used during interrogation. 

    These measures were primarily utilized not for the purpose of obtaining any confidential information, but for harassment, physical humiliation, and psychological demoralizing aimed to suppress the moral and psychological resolve of the Ukrainian soldiers

    Some facts were established concerning the intended murder of the Ukrainian prisoners of war in a penitentiary facility in Olenivka, Donetsk Region, where Ukrainian prisoners of war were held, including the servicemen from Azov regiment.

    The UN announced it is launching a mission to establish the cause of the deaths of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka. According to António Guterres, a technical task for the mission, which requires the consent of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, is currently being prepared.

    US intelligence found out that the Russian Federation is trying to plant false evidence in order to lay responsibility for the death of prisoners of war in Olenivka on July 29 in Ukraine.

    📌Another body of a civilian tortured by the Russian military was found in the Kyiv region. The man’s hands were tied with a rope fastened through an iron carabiner of the towіng cable. The rope was also wrapped around the deceased neck, indicating that the man had been strangled before he died.

    📌  Russian propagandists claimed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly attacked the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol using a drone on the morning of July 31. Therefore, the city even cancelled the Russian Navy Day celebrations, in particular, the concert, fireworks, and the parade of ships in Sevastopol Bay. There have been no official comments from the Ukrainian authorities so far.

RUSSIAN AND BELORUSSIAN CONTEXT 

⚠️ CNN: Russia is preparing over 30 thousand volunteers to be sent to the war against Ukraine. Volunteer battalions, planned to be sent to the war against Ukraine, are being formed throughout Russia. Analysts estimate that over 30 thousand volunteers can be mobilized to replenish the ranks of the Russian army. Around a third of them will be sent to the Donbass.

⚠️️The president of the aggressor country, Vladimir Putin, approved a new Maritime Doctrine, in which he called the Black Sea water area “a zone of national interests” and also named NATO a threat.

⚠️️ More than 100 families of Russian invaders have appealed to Putin to find their relatives in Ukraine. They do not know what happened to their husbands or if they are alive, and all they get from the Russian authorities are runarounds.

⚠️️ Intelligence: about 200 marines of the 810th Marine Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation refused to return to the war in Ukraine.

⚠️️ Instead of rotation, Russian service members are sent on vacation to the Henichesk district of the Kherson region. The invaders are placed at the bases of the Arabat Spit, where they are offered to rest for several weeks, and then they are sent back to battle. 

DEFENSE UPDATES

📌 On August 2, the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated 7 more settlements in the Kherson region. Now 53 settlements have been de-occupied in the region.

📌On August 3, the first ship with Ukrainian grain reached the coast of Türkiye. The ship “Razoni” with Ukrainian food left the port of Odesa on August 1 for the first time since February 24. There are more than 26 thousand tons of corn on board. It walked along the corridor, the safety of which was confirmed by the UN and Türkiye.

📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:

📌U.S. Secretary of State Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov had their first conversation since the start of the war in Ukraine. Blinken urged Russia to fulfil agreements on Ukrainian grain exports, told Lavrov that the U.S. was aware of Russia’s further steps in Ukraine and emphasized that an attempt to annex Ukrainian territories would result in an even greater reaction from the West. At the same time, Lavrov told Blinken that the goals of Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine would be met.

📌OSCE will deal with human rights violations in Russia. This was announced by the permanent representative of Ukraine to international organizations. “The aggressive policy of the Kremlin did not arise from scratch. We know well from history that any aggression is preceded by an active attack on democracy and human rights within the country in order to consolidate the regime and eliminate all potential opponents. Unfortunately, today’s Russia is a clear confirmation of this rule.”

📌The United States Administration is considering including Russia on the U.S. list of countries’ sponsors of terrorism along with the possibility of applying a number of other additional sanctions against Moscow — White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a briefing.

📌 Belgium has frozen 50.5 billion euros of funds belonging to people, companies and other legal entities sanctioned after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

📌On July 3, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister Urmas Reinsalu. 

📌Almost a third of foreign retailers left Russia – 27% of the brands that rented premises in the shopping center announced this decision.

Another 51% of foreign brands have suspended their activities, and 22% are restructuring.

📌The Joint Coordinating Center approved the dispatch on August 5 of three ships with grain from Odesa and Chernomorsky. They will deliver 58 thousand tons of grain.

PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE

📌 Germany will provide 16 “Biber” bridge layer tanks for Ukraine. 

📌 North Macedonia handed over T-72 tanks to Ukraine.

📌 At the border, Latvia asks the Russians to sign a document condemning the war in Ukraine.

📌 Norway has handed over 14 IVECO LAV III armored vehicles to Ukraine — the Norwegian government. These vehicles have good mobility and protection and are of the same type used by Norwegian forces in Afghanistan, the report noted.

📌The Qatar Fund of Development managed by the Qatar state institution has transferred $5 million to the Ukrainian ministry within the United24 initiative.

📌Lithuania will provide for Ukraine ten more M113 armored vehicles, as well as packages of explosives and smoke grenades.

📌A peaceful march was held in the city of Ljubljana in support of the sanctions pressure on the aggressor country and to inform Slovenians about the atrocities of the Russian military against Ukrainian prisoners of war, in particular, the recent events in the penal colony in Olenivka.

📌 Switzerland has introduced additional sanctions against Russia. The new measures are primarily related to the ban on purchasing, importing or transportation of gold and gold items from Russia. It is also forbidden to provide any services related to such goods. The assets of Sberbank, the largest Russian bank, have also been frozen. It is forbidden to provide any financial resources or technical support to the bank.

📌Canada provided 40 million USD to Ukraine to assist in grain storage, reports the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.

📌 Sky News: the UK prepares £3bn export finance package for Ukraine. UK Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has supported the allocation of credit facilities to Ukraine through UK Export Finance (UKEF) governmental agency.

📌 The Ukrainian “Come Back Alive” foundation and the Turkish Baykar company have officially announced their cooperation. On August 3, the directors of the organizations signed a Memorandum on expanding cooperation in Istanbul.

📌The Japanese government has announced another aid package for Ukraine — the Ministry of Defense of Japan press service. 

📌The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide Ukraine with an additional $1.8 million in health care support.

📌The EU plans to allocate €8 billion of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine by September. It is noted that part of the tranche will consist of grants, which do not need to be returned, and the other part – of loans. According to the source, Germany will contribute to the new aid package, while other EU countries, such as Italy and France, have so far refrained.

📌Priyanka Chopra met with Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Chopra visited the largest refugee center in Warsaw. She also visited a UNICEF summer camp, where children between the ages of 5 and 16 stay. The actress took part in classes for the children and played with them outside.

📌 Canada resumes UNIFIER military training mission — it sends more than 200 instructors to train fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the UK.