Prepared by Sofia Oliynyk and Maryana Zaviyska
Photo: Kharkiv/ State emergency service
Cities under attack.
Russian invaders fired BM-21 Grad at a high-rise building in Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region. 2 sections of the building were completely destroyed. At least 15 people were killed and two dozen more are feared trapped after the shelling. On Sunday, State Emergency Services were working on getting people from under the debris. Shelling of Kharkiv continues. As a result of Sunday’s shelling, seven people were injured there. Another shelling hit a Kharkiv residential building this morning. On Saturday, Russian forces launched 6 missiles at Mykolaiv. The Mykolaiv Region Governor reported explosions in the city on the morning of July 11. Russia launched 6 missiles on Mykolaiv city again. At least one person was injured.
Meanwhile, in the Odesa region, the passage of ships has been opened after the liberation of Snake Island. A large accumulation of ships is waiting to pass through the Sulina channel via the Bystre mouth of the Danube-Black Sea channel for the entry/exit of ships transporting agricultural products.
Resistance.
Russian authorities are attempting to increase security in occupied territories, likely considering an active Ukrainian partisan movement, reports Institute of War Studies. The think tank indicated the introduction of martial law by Russian-appointed Kharkiv region Head Vitaliy Ganchev in occupied Kharkiv region settlements. This likely means that Russian occupation authorities are very concerned about partisan activity and fear Ukrainian sabotage of Russian ground lines of communication in eastern Kharkiv region. Previously, Russian-appointed Head of Kakhovka Administrative District Volodymyr Leontiev ordered an access control regime in the city, requiring residents to obtain permits to enter certain buildings or areas. Among the recent achievements of the partisan movement was the killing of the Russian-appointed Nova Khakovka Police Deputy Chief Serhiy Tomka in his car on July 7.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk in a televised address on July 10 urged civilians in the temporarily occupied Kherson region to evacuate, as Ukraine’s Armed Forces are planning a counteroffensive in southern Ukraine. ‘I know for sure that there should not be women and children there, and that they should not become human shields,’ Vereshchuk said. She did not indicate when the Ukrainian counteroffensives will occur.
Human rights.
The World Health Organization issued an urgent appeal on Friday for access to sick and injured people caught up in the war in Ukraine, including ‘hundreds’ of landmine victims, ‘premature babies, pregnant women, older people, many of whom have been left behind’. Dr Dorit Nitzan, WHO Ukraine Crisis Incident Manager, warned that others in need of immediate help included those with chronic but preventable illnesses. ‘The people who have not been able to receive early diagnosis and treatment for cancer, who now have much more advanced tumors and more critical illness,” she said. “People who have not been able to receive medications for hypertension and now have failing hearts or have suffered strokes. Diabetics who could not get treatment and whose disease is now severe.’
Hromadske Radio co-founder and human rights activist Maksym Butkevych was captured by Russian forces near Hirske, Luhansk region, reports Hromadske Radio. Russian state-controlled news outlet RIA Novosti posted a video featuring Butkevych and other captured Ukrainian servicepeople in late June, but his capture has now been confirmed by his relatives.
Foreign policy.
The war crimes of the Russian Federation in Ukraine reminded the world of the Srebrenica genocide. Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell and Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi stated this in a joint statement. ‘Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine has brought back a brutal war to our continent. The mass killings and war crimes we see in Ukraine bring back vivid memories of those witnessed in the war in the Western Balkans in the 1990s.’
Gérard Larcher, the Chairman of the Senate of the French Republic visited Ukraine. In the frame of visit, he went to Bucha, Kyiv region, as well as held a meeting with President Zelenskyi. Zelenskyi thanked Paris for supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as for its important assistance to Ukraine’s army and people during the full-scale Russian invasion of the country. Later Chairman Larcher addressed Parliament of Ukraine as well as announced parliamentary partnership between France and Ukraine. At the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, Mr Larcher and Minister Chernyshov discussed decentralization reform in Ukraine and further study of the experience of Ile-de-France et Alpes-Maritimes.
G-20 diplomats failed to agree upon a unified position on the war in Ukraine. This made the prospects for further cooperation at the forum uncertain, reports Associated Press. The agency notes that, despite the ‘emotional call for unity and an end to the war,’ the diplomats did not agree on the final communiqué and did not take the traditional group photo, as was done in previous years.
Sanctions.
Canada intends to impose further sanctions in relation to Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine. Another round of sanctions will contribute to the extensive sanctions already introduced by Canada, said Minister Joly at the G20 in Bali, Indonesia on July 8. These new sanctions will apply to land and pipeline transport and the manufacturing of metals and of transport, computer, electronic and electrical equipment, as well as machinery. Once the measures are in effect, Canadian businesses will have 60 days to conclude contracts with targeted industries and services. This ban will also broaden the scope of existing measures and put further pressure on a pillar of the Russian economy.
Belarus.
Russian pilots begin intensive training at five airfields in Belarus, reports the monitoring group ‘Belaruski Gayun’. Belarus has seen an increase in air training at 5 airfields at the same time, as paratrooper training has begun. About 20 pilots from Russia arrived in Baranovichi on the morning of July 7 by the regular Moscow-Brest train. The monitoring group reports that this is not the first report that the Russian military began to arrive in Belarus by ordinary passenger trains.
Food security.
In Ukraine, 2022 wheat production is forecast at 20 million tonnes, 27 percent below the five-year average, says FAO Crop Prospects and Food Situation quarterly Global Report. It is estimated that about 20% of the planted area may not be harvested as a result of direct destruction, constrained access to fields, labor shortages and lack of economic resources due to the ongoing war. The corn output, to be harvested from September, is tentatively forecast at 24 million tonnes, almost 30% below the average, due to a significant reduction in the area planted. In addition, yields may fall below the average levels due to delayed or missed application of fertilizers. As a result, the total 2022 domestic cereal output, including winter and spring crops, is currently expected at about 51 million tonnes, a well below-average level. However, the real level of production will be determined by the availability of fuel for harvesting and storage cap.
Energy security.
Energoatom reports that Russian soldiers have forcibly gained access to restricted areas at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant for a pro-Russia blogger to record ‘interviews’. The main goal of the staged interview was to create a propaganda piece about how the Zaporizhzhia plant is operating safely under the muzzles of the occupiers’ guns.
Canada will return a repaired turbine to Germany that is needed for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline and could help to ensure continued flows of energy until Europe can end its dependency on Russian gas, reports Reuters. Meanwhile, Ukraine officials have expressed ‘deep disappointment’ over Canada’s decision to return the Nord Stream-1 turbine to Germany. The Ukrainian foreign and energy ministries blasted the return of the turbine as ‘bending the sanctions regime to the whims of Russia.’
Culture.
417 crimes against the cultural heritage of Ukraine committed by Russian forces since the beginning of the war. Most of the destruction occurred in the Kharkiv region. 99 episodes were recorded in the region, 82 of them in the city itself and its surroundings. 95 crimes were documented in Donetsk region, 64 of them in the city of Mariupol. 79 episodes were recorded in the Kyiv region.
Reading corner.
- Russia’s long history of show trials in Ukraine | POLITICO – There have been 15 exchanges since the invasion began, the largest of which came on June 29 and featured 144 combatants on each side, including 95 from Azovstal. But each side accused the other of creating an ‘exchange fund’ — essentially taking prisoners solely for the purpose of exchanging them for other prisoners.
- Ukraine Muslims pray for victory, end of occupation | Associated Press – Read the story about Ukrainian muslims and the last remaining operational mosque in Ukrainian-controlled territory in Donbas – Kostiantynivka mosque. There are around 30 mosques in the region in total but most are now in the hands of the Russians. ‘Muslims make up almost 1 percent of the population in Ukraine, which is predominantly Orthodox Christian. There is a large Muslim population in Crimea — home to the Crimean Tatars and illegally annexed by Russian in 2014. Numbers there jump to 12%. There is also a sizeable Muslim community in eastern Ukraine, the result of waves of economic migration as the region industrialised and many Muslims immigrated to the Donbas region to work in the mines and factories.’
- Ukrainian priest says Mass, then heads to war | The Washington Post
Statistics.
- More than 400 Ukrainian health care facilities are in the territories temporarily occupied by the Russians. Meanwhile, Russian forces have already destroyed 87 healthcare facilities here, 84 of which are in Donetsk region, and continue to destroy the region’s medical infrastructure.
- General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the total estimated losses of the Russian military as of 10 a.m., July 11, 2022: personnel – around 37 400, tanks ‒ 1645, APV ‒ 3828, artillery systems – 838, MLRS – 247, anti-aircraft warfare systems – 109, fixed-wing aircraft – 217, helicopters – 187, operational-tactical level UAV – 676, cruise missiles – 155, boats and light speed boats – 15, soft-skinned vehicles and fuel tankers – 2696, special equipment – 66.
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