Ukraine Daily

Tuesday, July 5

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

Two local residents walk along a university building hit by a Russian missile strike in Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast on July 3, 2022. (Photo by Narciso Contreras/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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Mayor: Russian missiles hit Mykolaiv. Russian missiles struck the port city of Mykolaiv early on July 5, Mykolaiv city Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said as air raid sirens were activated across the city. Rescuers, medics, emergency crews and utility workers are already working on the ground. There is no information on casualties available at the moment.

Russia attacks Dnipropetrovsk region with 7 missiles. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Valentyn Reznichenko reported that Russia targeted the region with seven missiles overnight on July 5. Ukrainian military forces downed six of them, while one hit a residential area in the city of Pokrovsk, damaging a few houses. No casualties have been reported yet.

Investigation: Satellite images show Russia regularly exporting Ukrainian grain to Turkey via Crimea. Satellite images analyzed by the journalists show Russian and Syrian vessels transporting Ukrainian grain stolen from the newly-occupied parts of Khreson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts via Sevastopol to Turkish ports, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Schemes investigative project.

Interior Ministry: Ukraine investigates over 20 sexual violence cases by Russian soldiers. Deputy Interior Minister Kateryna Pavlichenko told Ukrinform news agency that police have opened over 20 criminal investigations into alleged sexual crimes by Russian troops. “In (some) of these 20 cases there may be several instances of sexual violence against several victims or violence committed by several criminals,” she said.

Ukraine has defused over 150,000 explosives since Feb. 24. According to the State Emergency Service, more than 152,000 explosives, including nearly 2,000 aerial bombs, have been defused since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Interior Ministry earlier reported that pyrotechnic teams had demined over 2 million hectares of Ukrainian territory, while 30 million hectares still need demining. The ministry said that the complete cleaning of the territory could take as many as 10 years.

Russian army shells Sumy Oblast, injures 6 civilians. Governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said that four people were injured in the settlement of Esman when a rocket hit a school. Two more civilians were wounded near the town of Bilopillya.

Minister: Russia’s war has destroyed 25,000 km of Ukrainian roads, more than 300 bridges since Feb. 24. Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano, Switzerland, that the damage to infrastructure is estimated at more than $95 billion.

General Staff: Ukrainian military repels Russia’s offensive in several directions in Donbas. Ukrainian troops repelled Russian attacks on the village of Bilohorivka in Luhansk Oblast and on the Vuglehirsk thermal power plant in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine’s General Staff said. At the same time, Russian troops had “partial success” when trying to storm the village of Mazanivka near the city of Slovyansk in Donetsk Oblast, according to the General Staff.

PM: Ukraine needs $750 billion for post-war recovery. In his address to the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano, Switzerland, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the cost of the post-war recovery plan is estimated at $750 billion, adding that the main source of funding should be assets confiscated from Russia and its tycoons. According to various estimates, they amount to $300-500 billion. Loans and grants from allies and international organizations could cover the rest, as well as private sector investment, and contributions from individuals and companies, he said.

Institute for the Study of War: Putin likely directed an ‘operational pause’ after Russian seizure of Lysychansk. The U.S. think tank said in its latest assessment that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has likely directed his troops to take an “operational pause” after they captured Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk Oblast. Putin presented the capture of Lysychansk and Luhansk Oblast as a major victory for Russian forces in Ukraine and said that the Russian units that participated in the battle for Lysychansk should rest to increase their combat capabilities. Putin‘s public comment was likely meant to signal his concern for the welfare of his troops in the face of periodic complaints in Russia about the treatment of Russian soldiers, the experts said.

Zelensky: Ukraine in talks with Turkey, UN on grain exports from seaports blocked by Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a joint briefing with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson that third parties other than Russia should guarantee the safety of grain exports. Currently, 22 million tons of grain have been blocked in Ukraine due to Russia’s naval blockade of the Black Sea ports.

Russian governor reports shelling in Kursk region. Kursk regional Governor Roman Starovoit said Russian villages near the border with Ukraine were subjected to artillery fire early on July 5. He said the villages of Markovo and Tetkino less than 10 kilometers from the border were targeted but did not provide more details.

Swedish PM visits Borodianka, Bucha. On July 4, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson visited Bucha and Borodianka, towns in Kyiv Oblast devastated by Russia’s war in March. “President Volodymyr Zelensky says that Ukrainians are fighting not just for Ukraine, but for the civilized world and democratic values. And this is the absolute truth,” she said.

Read our exclusive, on the ground stories

Russia will focus on capturing all of Donetsk Oblast after seizing Lysychansk in neighboring Luhansk Oblast, Governor of Luhansk Oblast Serhiy Haidai said on July 4. Ukrainian forces were forced to withdraw from Lysychansk, Ukraine’s last holdout in Luhansk Oblast, on July 3, after months of fierce fighting. Both sides confirmed that Russian troops had taken the city. Read our story here.

Liubov Panchenko was a renowned Ukrainian artist of the 1960s. She spent her life defending and promoting Ukrainian culture, resisting the totalitarian Soviet regime’s censorship by adding folk motifs to her drawings, collages, and clothes as well as speaking the Ukrainian language when forbidden. Panchenko died after months of starvation in Russian-occupied Bucha. Read our story about Panchenko here.

The human cost of Russia’s war

Mayor: People dying due to medicine shortages in Mariupol. There are not enough drugs for patients with cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, and those who have thyroid gland diseases, according to Vadym Boychenko, the mayor of Russian-occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast.

International response

Johnson: Scotland and Wales pledge $120 million in military aid for Ukraine. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on July 4 that Scotland and Wales together have contributed 100 million pounds ($120 million) to military support of Ukraine. Johnson also thanked the two countries for housing 9,000 Ukrainian refugees.

Reuters: Pope Francis wants to visit Moscow, Kyiv. According to Reuters, Pope Francis hopes to be able to go to Moscow and Kyiv as soon as possible in a quest to broker a peace deal. However, no agreement is in place, while the Pope’s previous attempts were unsuccessful.

NATO appoints new Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. U.S. Army General Christopher Cavoli has taken over as NATO’s new supreme allied commander in Europe. Cavoli - who speaks Russian and has a master’s degree from Yale in Russian studies - replaced General Tod Wolters of the U.S. Air Force who had been in post since 2019.

UK to impose new sanctions against Belarus. On July 5, the British government will introduce a new package of economic, trade, and transport sanctions as Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s “regime continues to actively facilitate (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin’s illegal invasion,” according to a statement by the U.K. government. The sanctions will include a ban on the exports of oil refining products, advanced technology components, and luxury goods to Belarus, as well as on the imports of iron and steel from Belarus.

Bloomberg: Iran cuts oil prices to compete with Russia in China. Iran, which is subject to U.S. sanctions, has been forced to lower its already cheap crude oil prices to $10 a barrel below Brent futures, compared with a $5-6 discount in February, in order to find new buyers on the Chinese market. In May, Russia became China’s largest oil supplier, exporting about 2 million barrels of Urals crude a day to the East Asian country, up 55% year-on-year. Russia’s Urals crude has also been trading at a big discount due to the sanctions imposed on Russia.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Alisa Soboleva, Natalia Datskevych, Oleksiy Sorokin, Thaisa Semenova, Oleg Sukhov, Toma Istomina, Olena Goncharova, Brad LaFoy, and Sergiy Slipchenko.

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