Prepared by Sofia Oliynyk and Maryana Zaviyska
Photo: Slava Ratynski
Cities under attack.
Three Russian missiles struck the Chernihiv region. Residents of the four villages had to be evacuated due to the risk of fire. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian forces continued using BM-27 ‘Hurricane’ to shell the communities – two districts were targeted during the night. In the Luhansk region, Russian forces cut off all routes for evacuating citizens from Severodonetsk by destroying the last bridge linking it to a Ukrainian-controlled part of the city on the other side of the river. Sergei Gaidai, Governor of Luhansk region, said on social media that around 70% of Severodonetsk is under Russian control. Russian forces regularly shell Azot chemical plant, which also serves as a shelter for 540-560 civilians including 40 children. In the Donetsk region, yesterday, Russian troops struck residential areas with supersonic air-to-ground missiles of the X-22 “Storm” class. Due to the two air raids, the residential houses were destroyed. Kharkiv and the region is again under the shelling, as Russian forces attacked at night. 5 people were injured in the Chuhuiv district, Izium, and Kharkiv, and one person died in Chuhuiv district. At night, the Russian army shelled the Sumy Region, damaging civilian infrastructure.
See the interactive map of the current situation in Ukraine.
Cities under the occupation.
Donetsk Regional State Administration reports that preliminarily more than 22 000 civilians were killed in Mariupol, and more than 50 000 were deported to Russia and the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk region. Due to the constant Russian shelling, almost 90% of the city’s housing was destroyed, and almost all hospitals, kindergartens, and schools were destroyed or damaged. There is no gas and water supply in the city, the electricity network is damaged.
The Russian occupational administration plans to re-open the drama theater in Mariupol on September 10 after it has been destroyed by Russian missiles causing mass civilian casualties — said the adviser to the mayor Petro Andryushchenko.
Human rights.
The National Police of Ukraine is investigating criminal proceedings over the deaths of more than 12 000 Ukrainians, which were found in mass graves, said Ukrainian National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko. More than 1500 civilians were killed in the Kyiv region only, particularly in Borodianka, Hostomel, Bucha, Irpin. Around 1200 bodies are still to be identified, though the process is complicated due to their condition.
Another mass burial of civilians was discovered in the Kyiv region near Vorzel, Bucha district, with seven civilian bodies. The bodies were found in the area of deployment of Russian forces back in March. Identified bodies were executed with gunshots in the head, some having their hands tightened.
Morocco-born Brahim Saadoun, who was last week sentenced to the death penalty by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), is a Ukrainian national who handed himself in voluntarily. The father of Brahim said his son should be treated as a prisoner of war considering his nationality. DPR claims Brahim is a mercenary, therefore has to be convicted to the severest punishment.
Foreign policy.
On Friday, the European Commission will deliver its opinion on the countries’ candidacies. Politico reports it is expected to recommend granting Ukraine official status. It is also increasingly likely that Moldova could be given the green light (with conditions). Though, the decision on Georgia is not yet available.
Sanctions.
US President Joe Biden has officially announced that he is extending sanctions against Belarus for another year. As of today, the European Union is disconnecting Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, as well as Rosselkhozbank and Moscow Credit Bank, from the SWIFT interbank system as part of the sixth package of sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, reports BBC Russia.
Food security.
Near occupied Nova Kakhovka and Beryslav, Kherson region, the Russian army is forcing people to sell 70% of their harvest to buyers from Crimea, says Ukrainian intelligence. Procurement prices in some places are as low as 10% of their retail value. At the same time, there is a ban on exporting harvest to Ukrainian-controlled territories from the occupied territories. There have even been cases of entrepreneurs handing out strawberries and cherries to people free of charge just to avoid helping the Russian occupants.
Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotsky projects this year’s harvest in Ukraine will be around 65 million tons, which equals 60% of the previous year harvest amount. The number is preliminary considering the developments in Ukraine, as well as the weather conditions. Currently, Ukraine exports up to 1.8 million tons of agricultural products by land routes and rivers, compared to 350 thousand tons in March. In June, he predicts, the figure could rise to 2 million tons.
Energy security.
Ukrainian company “Naftogaz” has made a deal with Symbio Infrastructure to supply liquefied natural gas and “green” hydrogen from Canada to Ukraine. The project is due to start in 2027. The energy resources will be delivered to an import terminal in a transit country in Europe to be agreed upon by the parties.
Economic security.
Ukraine’s government suspended the export of fuel oil, coal and domestically extracted natural gas, according to a government resolution dated June 10 and published on Monday.
Recent polls.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine remains people’s biggest concern in every one of the 19 countries surveyed, closely followed by economic worries and the cost-of-living crisis, according to the Kantar Global Issues Barometer, which included 11 000 respondents — Bloomberg reports. While Covid-19 is no longer seen as a pressing concern, 64% of people globally listed the war as a top worry, followed by 39% who mentioned economic issues. The level correlated with proximity, with 94% of Poles independently offering that they are anxious about the war, compared with 80% of Spanish, German and French, Kantar said.
Culture.
Ukrainian writer and activist, Serhii Zhadan, has become a finalist of the EBRD Literature Prize. The distinction comes for his renowned work “Internat” (“The Orphanage”). This is the story of the schoolteacher, who travels across the war-torn Donbas in Ukraine to pick up his nephew from a residential school. The pair then travel back home together. Belying the simplicity of this storyline is Serhiy Zhadan’s extraordinary, explosive, tender, angry and poetic novel of a country riven by conflict, and the absurdities, banalities, horrors and moments of human connection that war occasions.
Decolonisation.
“If asked to name colonialism’s dominant trait, I’d say it is unification”, writes Illia Levchenko, art historian. “An empire is a patchwork, with each piece having its distinct cultural, political, and administrative features and mindset. A colonial repressive mechanism promotes the illusion of a homogeneous space where everything is common: the language, the cultural norms, the traditions. Every feature, once forced upon a given group of people, must be taken by that group as something primordial and familiar.” In his recent article “Friendly Foes”: Art as a Soft Power of Russian/Soviet Colonialism” he analyzes the Soviet approach toward erasing cultural identity of Zakarpattia (Transkarpattia) region.
Reading corner.
- In Kherson, life under Russian occupation and Ukrainian counteroffensive | The Washington Post
- Opinion | Russia’s Missiles Are Burning the History of Ukraine’s Babyn Yar Ravine | The New York Times (nytimes.com)
- Ukraine: Time for the West to make up its mind | POLITICO
- Ukrainians have fought for independence for more than a century | The Washington Post — The stubborn reality thwarting Vladimir Putin’s fictions.
Statistics.
- General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the total estimated losses of the Russian military as of 10 a.m., June14, 2022: personnel – around 32 500, tanks ‒ 1434, APV ‒ 3503, artillery systems – 721, MLRS – 229, anti-aircraft warfare systems – 97, fixed-wing aircraft – 213, helicopters – 179, operational-tactical level UAV – 588, cruise missiles – 125, boats and light speed boats – 13, soft-skinned vehicles and fuel tankers – 2473, special equipment – 54.
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