Prepared by Sofia Oliynyk and Maryana Zaviyska
Photo: Serhii Korovainyi for Wall Street Journal
Cities under attack
Six missiles were fired at Dnipropetrovsk region yesterday. Three missiles were shot down, while the other three hit the railway infrastructure and the industrial enterprise in Dnipro city. Due to the shelling, the service station in Dnipro was damaged, some station workers are still under the rubble. In Mykolaiv, explosions were heard early in the morning. The missile hit a multi-level residential block, killing two and injuring three. Search of the shopping mall debris in Kremenchuk, Poltava region, continues. 36 people have been missing after a Russian missile strike that killed at least 18. Early on June 28, Russian forces launched a massive missile attack firing close to 20 missiles from helicopters that targeted Kransopillia and Myropillia communities, Sumy region. Later, they reportedly fired from Grad multiple rocket launcher at various settlements in the region. Two people were killed and three wounded in the attack. Two civilians were killed and one injured by shelling of the village of Tsyrkuny, northeast of Kharkiv, on June 28. Five people were injured by shelling in the southeastern part of Kharkiv.
Cities under occupation
Russian forces continue abducting people in the occupied territories. In Kherson, the Russian troops kidnapped Mayor Ihor Kolykhaiev. In April, Ihor Kolykhaiev said he remained in the city, but refused to cooperate with the occupational ‘administration’ which was set up by the Russian military. In Energodar, Zaporizhzhia region, Borys Yarmolenko, head of the communal property department of the Energodar City Council, has been detained by Russian forces and kept for five days.
Self-proclaimed authorities are forcing people to obtain Russian passports. Residents of Melitopol refuse to take passports. Therefore, the Russians blackmail them by providing a pension and budget payments only in exchange for a passport. However, people still continue to resist.
Another step is forcing people to put a ‘TVR sticker’ on the license plate in their cars, indicating Tavriya province as a part of the Russian Federation directly. So-called ‘State Automobile Inspectorate’ stops cars in Melitopol and fines for various, including contrived, reasons, especially the cars without stickers. A fine can be avoided only if a collaboration sticker is attached instead of UA. More than 60% of workers of the Zaporizhzhya Iron Ore Plant refused to collaborate with Russian forces. The plant is located in the city of Dniprorudne, Zaporizhzhya region, which has been under Russian occupation since March. Most workers have left the city or simply do not go to work.
Russia plans to hold a referendum on the annexation of the Donetsk region to the Russian Federation. The ‘event’ is scheduled for September 11, says adviser to the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andriushchenko
Foreign policy
Türkiye lifted its veto on Sweden’s and Finland’s accession to NATO.The agreement comes after three nations agreed to protect each other’s security. Following NATO procedures, both Sweden and Finland will now become invitees and will have to follow the alliances’ ratification process. All 30 NATO members must now approve a country’s bid for it to be accepted into the alliance, which in many of them involves national parliaments having to give their green light.
President Zelenskyi addressed the UN Security Council on Tuesday. ‘Russia has no right to remain’: Volodymyr Zelensky called for depriving the aggressor country of its powers in the UN Security Council. ‘Russia has no right to participate in discussions and to vote on the war in Ukraine. Russia has no right to remain in the Security Council’. Also Zelensky called on the UN to adopt a definition of a terrorist state and to recognize the shelling of Kremenchuk as an act of terrorism by Russia. Meanwhile, the Permanent Representative of Albania on behalf of Albania, France, Ireland, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Ukraine condemned Russia for the series of missile strikes over 25-27 July, including a deadly attack on the Kremenchuk shopping mall.
Bulgaria expels 70 Russian diplomats due to their ties with Russian intelligence. In a note verbale to the Russian ambassador, the Bulgarian side also stated that it expects Russia to temporarily close its consulate general in Ruse and Bulgaria will temporarily close its consulate in Yekaterinburg.
As a follow-up of the G7 Summit, Canada announced $151.7 million in new humanitarian, development, and peace and security support for Ukraine. Prime Minister Trudeau also announced Canada will provide a $200 million loan to Ukraine through the International Monetary Fund to help meet its urgent liquidity needs.
Belarus
Belarusian opposition leader asks Zelensky to support unity of both nations. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the Belarus opposition in exile, said in the video address to the Ukrainian president that ‘our peoples now support each other, and politicians should help them do that.’ The address comes amid intensified reports that Belarus may officially join Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Energy security
On Tuesday, 28 June, Russian occupying forces attacked the territory of the Kryvyi Rih Thermoelectric Power Plant in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The day before, on 27 June, the Russian Ministry of Defense published a ‘warning’ news item, stating that Ukraine was allegedly preparing to blow up the Kryvyi Rih TPP in order to accuse the Russian forces.
On June 28, the Lithuania Seimas adopted a law restricting Russia’s access to the country’s gas transportation system, as well as to the LNG terminal in the city of Klaipeda, amid a ‘threat to national security.’ Only the transit of gas to Russia’s Kaliningrad will be allowed through the country’s territory.
The G7 leaders have agreed to explore imposing a ban on transporting Russian oil ‘unless the oil is purchased at or below a price to be agreed in consultation with international partners,’ according to the summit’s communiqué obtained by The New York Times.
On June 30, ENTSO-E will officially launch commercial electricity exports from Ukraine to Europe, says Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko. Accordingly, gradual increase in electricity exports will bring funds to stabilize the financial condition of the Ukrainian energy market. European countries, in turn, will have an opportunity to ensure a more stable energy supply and replace Russian energy resources, says the statement.
Food security
Ukraine faces an estimated $23.3 billion of the indirect losses in agriculture due to production decrease, logistics disruption and lower prices for export-oriented commodities, caused by the Russian war in Ukraine. Kyiv School of Economics report indicates the most significant drop in the estimated 2022 harvest is for wheat (expected 33% fall in the 2022 harvest, compared to the baseline), sunflower (32% fall), and barley (31% fall) since a substantial share of these crops is produced in the areas directly affected by the war. The combined value of losses for top-four export-oriented crops (wheat, corn, barley, sunflower) is 11.9 billion US dollars.
Culture
As of June 24, 2022, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy recorded 396 episodes of Russian war crimes against Ukrainian cultural heritage. Ukrainian authorities recorded the complete destruction of 9 cultural heritage sites in Donetsk, Kyiv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions, and the condition of another 25 remains unknown. Out of all the damaged buildings, 58 were severely damaged, 123 were moderately damaged, and 173 were slightly damaged. So far, the Russians have damaged 123 cultural heritage sites in Ukraine. The constant shelling, rocket and bombings destroyed 21 monuments of national importance, 95 of local significance and 7 of newly discovered cultural heritage sites.
In four months of the full-scale war, Russia has committed 413 crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine, presents the report of the Institute of Mass Information. A total of 33 journalists were killed by Russians, including eight who were killed while performing their duties. 14 journalists have been injured and at least 15 journalists went missing. The occupiers keep threatening Ukrainian journalists, namely by sending them emails with threats. In the four months of the war, IMI has recorded 58 cases of threats and persecution of journalists and media outlets
Demography
According to a study ‘The Demographic Tragedy of Ukraine: A Second Holomodor?’ by NoBrainerData, Russia’s war against Ukraine may create a demographic catastrophe due to an excess of war-related deaths, extreme internal mobility, an increase in emigration, fewer births, and possible loss of territory.
Reading corner
- Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict – EJIL: Talk! (ejiltalk.org) – the outbreak of conflict and war increases the exposure of women and girls to war crimes, especially all forms of gender-based violence, arbitrary killings, rape and trafficking. Russian behaviour in Ukraine reconfirms usage of the sexual violence as instrument of the war.
Statistics
- General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the total estimated losses of the Russian military as of 10 a.m., June 29, 2022: personnel – around 35 450, tanks ‒ 1572, APV ‒ 3720, artillery systems – 781, MLRS – 246, anti-aircraft warfare systems – 103, fixed-wing aircraft – 217, helicopters – 185, operational-tactical level UAV – 640, cruise missiles – 142, boats and light speed boats – 14, soft-skinned vehicles and fuel tankers – 2598, special equipment – 61.
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The team provides medical aid in the hot spots. Recently their evacuation car was destroyed, thus the team is fundraising for a new mobile hospital car.
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