Prepared by Sofia Oliynyk and Maryana Zaviyska
Photo: Website/ zmist.pl.ua
Cities under attack.
Three cruise missiles hit Zaporizhzhia early in the morning. Another three missiles hit Kryvyi Rih damaging the industrial plant. In the Sumy region there was artillery shelling from the territory of Russia. About 20 houses of civilians of Krasnopillya and the transmission line were damaged. Half of the village is left without electricity. The Luhansk region remains under continuous attack. Severe battles are going near Severodonetsk which has been turned into ruins since the beginning of full-scale Russian invasion. Another shelling hit the oil refinery in Lysychansk, says Head of Luhansk Regional State Administration Serhiy Haidai. Russian artillery keeps shelling the city of Lyman, Donetsk region, where civilians still remain. Within the day, 10 people were killed and 12 injured in the region. Mykolayiv has endured another shelling, as Russian forces shelled the city from BM-30 Smerch.
Cities under occupation.
In Kherson, the mobile communication of Ukrainian providers Kyivstar and Vodafone disappeared yesterday. Meanwhile, Russian invaders introduced the ruble along with still present hryvnias in the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson region. Businesses and businessmen can set prices in both hryvnias and rubles at the rate of 2 Russian rubles per 1 UAH. In the near future, the occupiers plan to open branches of Russian banks. By introducing the ruble, the occupiers seek to destabilize the population and prepare the conditions for Ukraine’s accession to Russia. About 90% of pharmacies in the temporarily occupied Kherson region do not work, and prices have risen 3-5 times for most of the available medicines.
In Melitopol, problems with mobile service remain, as Russian authorities disconnected cellular communication, most likely due to the redeployment of military equipment of Russians.
In Mariupol, about 200 bodies were found in the rubble of a high-rise building’s basement. All of them were at a high degree of decomposition. The locals refused to collect and pack the bodies of the dead, therefore the representatives of βThe Ministry of Emergencies of Russiaβ left the work site without doing anything. In addition, the city-wide process of reburial from the high-rise buildings’ courtyards was halted. One of the reasons is the introduction of the so-called state corporation βRitualβ to provide services of the burial and exhumation. People wishing to bury the deceased have to bring the body to the morgue and provide evidence that the deceased was allegedly βkilled by the Ukrainian armyβ while being recorded on camera.
Foreign policy.
The Council of the EU adopted a regulation allowing for temporary trade liberalization and other trade concessions with regard to certain Ukrainian products. βThis means that for one year there will be no import duty on all Ukrainian exports to the European Union. Thanks to these measures, the EU will be able to significantly support Ukraine’s economy,β the statement said. The decision will include lifting all the tariffs under Title IV of the Association Agreement, the collection of anti-dumping duties on imports originating in Ukraine, and the application of the common rules for imports with respect to imports originating in Ukraine.
The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor OrbΓ‘n, has declared a state of emergency. βThis will give the government room for maneuver and the opportunity to react immediately to the consequences of the war in Ukraine,β OrbΓ‘n said. According to him, the government will announce its first measures in a state of emergency on Wednesday, May 25th. The decision comes in response to an βeconomic crisisβ caused by war in neighboring Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, as well as measures introduced by the EU. OrbΓ‘n introduced similar emergency measures during the coronavirus pandemic, however, overall business remained unchanged back then.
Oil sanctions against Russia will not be approved at the EU summit. The European Commission president tells POLITICO that she does βnot expectβ agreement on an oil ban next week. It has been almost three weeks since Ursual von der Leyen proposed a βcomplete banβ on all imports of Russian crude oil and refined fuels, in order to cut the revenues that help fund the Russian war in Ukraine. In a letter to the President of the European Council, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor OrbΓ‘n wrote that oil sanctions should not be the topic of the discussion at next weekβs EU summit.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is underway to prepare grounds to legally confiscate assets linked to serious illegal activities and suspected criminals, including those evading European Union sanctions against the Kremlin.
Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak announced the establishment of an international advisory group that will develop proposals on security guarantees for Ukraine. The group will be co-lead with former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The IMF report points to five forces that will shape the global economic outlook in 2022: the war in Ukraine, monetary tightening and financial market volatility, fiscal withdrawal, Chinaβs slowdown, and pandemic vaccine access. The latest IMF forecast from April 2022 sees global growth dropping to 3.6% in 2022 from an estimated 6.1% in 2021 and its January 2022 forecast of 4.4%. Ukraine and Russia themselves are projected to experience severe contractions in GDP of more than 30% and close to 10% respectively. The Russian war in Ukraine will have an impact on regional stability and economic growth.
Recent polls.
Kyiv International Institute of Sociology presented the results of their recent survey, where 82% of respondents said they did not support any territorial concessions, as it will prolong the war and increase the threat to Ukraine’s independence. In all regions of Ukraine, the majority of the population is against any territorial concessions. Even in the East, which is currently experiencing intense fighting, 68% are against concessions (only 19% are ready to make concessions), and 83% are opposed to concessions in the South (only 9% are ready to make concessions).
Sociological group βRatingβ held another wave of the national sociological survey dedicated this time to personal freedoms, security, and civilian gun ownership. Some of the key findings β 73% of the respondents evaluate the situation in the country as tense. The right to protect their life is the most important right for the respondents today (58%) among the key rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine. Freedom of speech is the most important right for 32%, the right to personal integrity, for 30%, the right to work, for 27%, the right to social protection, for 25%, and the right to property, for 21%. The freedom of movement is the most important right for 14%, judicial protection, for 13%, education, for 11%, safe environment, for 8%, freedom of religion, for 7%, and the right to entrepreneurship, for 6%. During the war, the share of those who support granting Ukrainian citizens the right to own firearms and ammunition has more than doubled. Today, 58% support such an initiative, while 39% do not (before the war this group counted 70%).
War through the photo lens.
The photojournalist Paolo Pellegrin made a 4000-mile journey through war-torn Ukraine with the writer James Verini for an article about Kharkiv, the city on the countryβs eastern flank that has been devastated by Russian shelling. The photo documentation shows a grim image of the devastated lives from the West to the East.
Under occupation.
From February 25 to April 1, 2022, the village of Zdvyzhivka of the Bucha community of the Kyiv region was occupied by Russian troops. More than 800 residents were under the occupation, including about a hundred children. The video contains testimonies of local survivors of the occupation and footage of the aftermath of occupation recorded during the first week of liberation.
Reading corner.
- Ukraine’s natural environment is a casualty of war. The damage could be felt for decades | CNN
- Experts say Ukraine war shows we need a new way to feed the world | POLITICO
- As a refugee scholar, I want to make Ukrainian studies more visible | Nature Human Behavior
- Visualizing Air Raid Sirens in Ukraine by Volodymyr Agafonkin | Observable (observablehq.com)
Statistics.
- 125 thousand kmΒ² of Ukrainian land (20.7%) is currently temporarily occupied by Russia.
- About 13 000 Russian war crimes cases are investigated in Ukraine at the moment. The prosecutor’s office has compiled a list of about 600 suspects who may be involved in these crimes. 48 Russians will face charges in court.
- 238 children died, more than 433 were injured since the beginning of the war.
- General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the total estimated losses of the Russian military as of 10 a.m., May 25, 2022: personnel β around 29 450, tanks β 1305, APV β 3213, artillery systems β 606, MLRS β 201, anti-aircraft warfare systems β 93, fixed-wing aircraft β 206, helicopters β 170, operational-tactical level UAV β 491, cruise missiles β 112, boats and light speed boats β 13, soft-skinned vehicles and fuel tankers β 2213, special equipment β 44.
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