Ukraine Daily

Tuesday, 14 June 2022

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

Ukrainian soldiers sit on an armored fighting vehicle in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk Oblast, on April 7, 2022, amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP) (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Deputy Defense Minister: Russia uses banned, untested weapons in Ukraine, breaking international law. According to Hanna Maliar, the Russian military is using its war against Ukraine to test new weapons which are still under research. Russia is also using many weapons that are banned under international law, she added.

Ukraine opens over 700 cases of collaboration, treason since start of war. Around 400 of the criminal cases filed have been transferred to other law enforcement agencies, Ukrinform news agency reports, citing First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Yevhen Yenin. The highest number of suspected collaborators are reportedly in Luhansk and Kyiv oblasts, 162 and 155 cases, respectively.

Report: Russia earned 93 billion euros from fossil fuel exports during the first 100 days of war. According to a report by the Finnish Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the EU imported 61% of the total sum, which is worth approximately 57 billion euros. China, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey are among the largest importers of fossil fuel from Russia. “Fossil fuel exports are a key enabler of Russia’s military buildup and brutal aggression against Ukraine,” the report reads.

President’s Office: Ukraine to request 1,000 howitzers, 500 tanks from NATO. Ukraine is also planning to request 200-300 multiple rocket launchers, 2,000 armored vehicles, and 1,000 drones from NATO, according to Mykhailo Podoliak, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, and a Presidential Office document obtained by the Kyiv Independent. Ukraine needs the weapons to achieve parity with Russia and kick Russian troops out of Ukraine, he said. NATO defense ministers are expected to decide on the issue at a meeting in Brussels on June 15, according to Podoliak.

Russian occupiers steal over 3,200 tons of ore from plant in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. According to the Ukrainian troops based in the region, a total of 54 freight cars with ore have been stolen from a plant in the village of Mala Bilozirka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

SIPRI: Global nuclear arsenal to expand for first time since Cold War. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia’s war and Western support for Ukraine have increased the risk of nuclear arms use and proliferation. “All of the nuclear-armed states are increasing or upgrading their arsenals and most are sharpening nuclear rhetoric and the role nuclear weapons play in their military strategies,” said Director of SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme Wilfred Wan.

Ukraine’s military: Ukrainian, Russian forces engage in ‘air battle’ in southern Ukraine. Ukraine’s Operational Command “South” said on June 14 that Russian forces attacked Ukrainian positions via helicopter in Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts, but Ukrainian forces managed to repel Russian attacks. Ukraine’s military also killed 28 Russian troops and destroyed ten units of Russian military equipment.

Institute for the Study of War: Russia conducts unsuccessful operations in Donbas. The U.S. think tank reported on June 13 that Russian forces carried out unsuccessful assaults near the cities of Popasna, Bakhmut, Izium, and Sloviansk. Russia is also reportedly continuing to deploy unprepared volunteer and reserve units to reinforce its forces. The think tank reported that Russian forces likely “staged terrorist activity” in temporarily-occupied Melitopol and Berdiansk for “Russia Day” on June 12.

Government bans exports of Ukrainian coal, gas, oil fuel. The June 13 government decree is a response to the ongoing fuel shortage in Ukraine caused by Russia’s attacks on energy infrastructure, supply, and storage.

CNN: Ukraine used trucks, ships to export corn dodging Russian blockade. A ship carrying 18,000 tons of Ukrainian corn reached a Spanish port on June 13. Ukraine shipped corn to Poland using trucks and then loaded it onto a ship at Poland’s Baltic Sea port of Swinoujscie, CNN reports. Russia is continuing to block Ukrainian ports with over 25 million tons of grain stuck in Ukraine.

Odesa Oblast Administration: 5 Russian warships carrying cruise missiles remain in Black Sea. Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa Oblast Administration, said this includes four large landing ships and one submarine. Ukraine’s Operational Command “South” said earlier that Russia is ready to use a total of 40 cruise missiles from the Black Sea.

Luhansk Oblast Governor: Russia destroys all bridges leading to Sievierodonetsk. According to Serhiy Haidai, all bridges are ruined, but Ukrainian defenders in the city are not blockaded and still control a part of the city. Locals are surviving in extremely difficult conditions, as the evacuation of civilians and delivery of humanitarian aid to Sievierodonetsk is impossible, the official said.

Ukraine’s military destroys 1 fuel, 2 ammunition depots in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s Operational Command “East” said on June 13 that it killed 48 Russian troops and destroyed an unmanned aerial vehicle, two artillery tractors, an infantry fighting vehicle, two mortars, and military equipment.

2 Ukrainian journalists come under shelling in Lysychansk, Luhansk Oblast. Journalists Hrystyna Havryliuk and Taras Ibrahimov from Suspilne media outlet came under shelling while reporting from Lysychansk, the network said on June 13. They were evacuated, and no one was injured.

Ukrainska Pravda: 33 Ukrainian volunteer drivers held captive by Russia for over 2 months. At least 33 drivers who were evacuating civilians from Mariupol and other cities are in Russian captivity, Ukrainska Pravda reported citing their family members. Russia reportedly accuses them of terrorism and wants to imprison them for 10-15 years.

German media: Private jets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs continue flying through European airspace. According to German news outlet Welt am Sonntag, avoiding sanctions is possible because the real ownership of planes is often hidden via offshore companies. The outlet identified at least 30 flights by jets and helicopters that belong to sanctioned Russian businessmen.

The human cost of Russia’s war

Ukraine exhumes bodies of 7 killed in forest near Kyiv. Ukrainian investigators exhumed seven bodies from makeshift graves in a forest near Kyiv on June 13. Police say they were civilians who had been killed by Russian forces during their occupation of the area. The bodies were found near Myrotske village in Buchansky district, some 30 kilometers west of Kyiv. “This is another sadistic crime of the Russian army in the Kyiv region,” Kyiv Oblast police chief, Andrii Niebytov, said.

Police investigate deaths of over 12,000 Ukrainians during Russian invasion. National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko said that over 1,500 civilians have been killed in Kyiv Oblast alone. According to Klymenko, 1,200 bodies, including those found in mass graves, have yet to be identified.

Donetsk Oblast Administration: Over 22,000 people killed in Mariupol. According to preliminary data, more than 50,000 people were forcibly deported from Mariupol to Russia and the Russian-occupied territories of Donetsk Oblast. The administration added that civilians who remain in occupied Mariupol are forced to go through so-called “filtration camps,” where residents are interrogated and tortured.

Governor: Russian forces shell Dnipropetrovsk Oblast with Uragan rocket launchers, killing 1. Five people were injured in Russia’s attack on the center of Zelenodolsk, a town in Kryvy Rih District, Valentyn Reznichenko reported on June 13.

Governor: Russian attack kills 1, injures 2 people in Sumy Oblast. According to Dmytro Zhyvytsky, a Russian drone dropped ammunition on the community of Velykopysarivska in Sumy Oblast on June 13, killing and injuring civilians. Sumy Oblast has been under numerous mortal attacks today, he added.

Governor: Russian attacks kill 3 civilians in Donetsk Oblast on June 13. According to Pavlo Kyrylenko, three civilians died in the towns of Avdiivka, Kurahivka, and Novoselivka Persha. Five people were also injured. Two civilians who were injured in Luhansk Oblast but received treatment in Donetsk Oblast also died on June 13, Kyrylenko said.

Prosecutor General’s Office: Russia’s war has killed 288 children in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Around 527 children have reportedly been injured since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The figures are expected to be higher since they do not include casualties in areas where hostilities are ongoing and in Russian-occupied areas, the office said on June 13.

Ukraine’s Armed Forces: Russia has lost 32,300 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. The General Staff said on June 13 that Russia had also lost 1,432 tanks, 3,492 armored fighting vehicles, 718 artillery pieces, 226 multiple launch rocket systems, 97 surface-to-air missile systems, 178 helicopters, 213 airplanes, 585 drones, and 13 boats.

International response

Politico: European Commission to give green light on Ukraine’s EU candidacy. Politico, citing officials privy to the information, said the European Commission will recommend granting Ukraine official EU candidate status following discussions on June 13. The next step will be for Ukraine’s candidacy to receive unanimous approval from the 27 heads of state in the European Council.

Prime ministers of North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro to visit Kyiv. According to Montenegro news outlet Vijesti, prime ministers Dimitar Kovačevski, Edi Rama, and Dritan Abazović have yet to agree on a date for the visit.

Foreigners from 55 countries serve in Ukraine’s International Legion. According to Damien Magrou, spokesperson for the International Legion, most of the fighters come from the U.S. and the U.K., however, people from “every part of the world, every continent” volunteered to defend Ukraine. He added that the International Legion is part of the Armed Forces, meaning it is funded by the Ukrainian military.

EU official: Ukraine should join European Union within years, not decades. European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova called for giving Ukraine EU candidate status “as soon as possible.” “This is a very strong symbolic message and an incentive for the Ukrainian people. We will make a decision on Friday,” Jourova said in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Reuters: Wikipedia appeals against Russian order to remove information about war. Wikipedia parent company, Wikimedia Foundation, is fighting a Russian court decision demanding it remove so-called “disinformation” regarding its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Russian court fined the company $88,000.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Daria Shulzhenko, Oleg Sukhov, Thaisa Semenova, Toma Istomina, Oleksiy Sorokin, Teah Pelechaty, Anastasiia Lapatina, and Olena Goncharova.

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