06/19/2022
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 00:12 Stoltenberg: War could last for years +++
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expects the war in Ukraine to last for years. That’s why you shouldn’t slack off in supporting Ukraine against Russia, he told the “Bild am Sonntag”. The costs are high, but if you don’t take a firm stand against Russian President Vladimir Putin, “then we’ll pay a much higher price,” Stoltenberg said. He expects Ukraine to be able to drive Russian troops out of Donbass again with the help of further arms deliveries from the West. The western defense alliance will not intervene in the fighting itself. “We are helping the country, but we will not send NATO soldiers to Ukraine.” As a clear signal to Moscow, they have strengthened their own defense with 40,000 soldiers under NATO command.
+++ 23:10 factory in Isjum burns after rocket fire +++
Russian missiles hit a gas processing plant near the city of Izyum in eastern Ukraine. According to the governor, there is a big fire. In addition to the factory, houses were also hit. There is no information on victims.
+++ 22:20 Almost two million Ukrainians abducted to Russia +++
According to the Moscow military, almost two million people have been brought to Russia from the contested areas of Ukraine. A Defense Ministry official put the total number of Ukrainians at 1.936 million, including 307,000 children. On Saturday alone, 29,730 people were evacuated to Russia, including 3,500 children, says Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev.
According to Moscow, the people from the combat zones are brought “to safety” in Russia. Ukraine has accused Russia of not allowing people to flee to areas controlled by the Kiev government. From Ukraine’s point of view, these are deportations. Many Ukrainian refugees are trying to leave Russia and travel to third countries.
+++ 21:40 Russia expects record harvest due to theft in Ukraine +++
“The Kherson region will help the Russian Federation achieve a record grain harvest in 2022,” reports Russian news site Gazeta.ru, citing Russian-appointed governor of the occupied Kherson region Vladimir Saldo. “The Kherson region has always brought good harvests,” says Saldo, who has been described as a collaborator by the Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine accuses Russia of not only destroying the country but also plundering it.
+++ 21:27 Ukrainian First Lady worries about the psychological stability of the Ukrainians +++
“Every Ukrainian is now under enormous psychological stress,” says Ukrainian President Olena Zelenska the British Guardian. “Half of our population lives apart from their families.” At the moment the country is focused on fighting the Russians, but when the war is over there will have to be a major program to heal the nation. “No one needs a country that won, that fought for its territory, but populated by people who cannot live normally, function or raise their children. There are great dangers ahead of us,” says Olena Selenska.
+++ 20:58 Russian rocket attack destroys oil tanks +++
Russian troops use a missile attack to destroy oil tanks near the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. The regional administration reports three rockets that hit the depot. “There is a strong fire,” writes the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Resnichenko, on Telegram. Three people were taken to hospital with burns.
+++ 20:35 EU: Russia uses hunger as a weapon +++
The EU accuses Russia of deliberately creating the risk of a famine in large parts of the world. It was Moscow’s “conscious political decision to use grain exports as a weapon and an instrument of blackmail against anyone who opposes their aggression in Ukraine,” wrote EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in a Saturday statement blog entry.
“Russia has turned the Black Sea into a war zone, blocking shipments of grain and fertilizer from Ukraine and also affecting Russian merchant shipping,” Borrell said. The EU is working with the United Nations to enable Ukrainian grain exports. “We hope that a solution can be found in the next few days. If this does not happen, there is a risk of a global food catastrophe.”
+++ 19:53 Battle of Sievjerodonetsk: Russian troops gain territory +++
The Russian army conquers further areas of the heavily contested administrative center Sievjerodonetsk, but cannot completely take over the former city. “As a result of the shelling and storming, the enemy achieved partial success in the village of Metjolkine and is trying to establish itself there,” the Ukrainian general staff said in its situation report in the evening. Metyolkine is located south-east of Sievjerodonetsk. Chechen regional dictator Ramzan Kadyrov had previously said that Russian forces had taken the town. Thousands of Chechens are fighting in the Russian army in Ukraine.
+++ 19:08 USA could deliver four more HIMARS +++
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, an attempt by Russian troops to storm the Ukrainian positions in the industrial area of the city failed. Russian storming attempts were also unsuccessful in Syrotyne, a village west of Metjolkine.
The Pentagon is considering supplying four more rocket launchers to Ukraine. That reports the US news site Politico, citing information from the US Department of Defense. Should the White House agree, the number of HIMARS artillery systems sent into the country would double; HIMARS stands for “High Mobility Artillery Rocket System”. A Pentagon official is quoted as saying that the decision will be made “on the basis of immediate Ukrainian needs.”
Ukrainian MP Oleksandra Ustinova tells Politico that Ukraine needs many more rocket launchers, along with longer-range ammunition. “The Russians have penetrated 200 kilometers into our country,” Ustinova said. The US wants to prevent Ukraine from firing on Russian territory. According to Ustinova, the four already committed HIMARS are not enough. “We asked for ten times more.”
You can read earlier developments of the Ukraine war here.