Wounded Ukrainian fighters taken from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in south Ukraine, May 16, 2022 (Sky News)

EA on ABC Australia: Russia’s “Terrorism” with Missile Strikes on Ukraine’s Civilians

Wednesday’s Coverage: Sweden and Finland Joining NATO After Turkey Lifts Objection

Source: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 2040 GMT:

The US Treasury has blocked the US-based company of Russian oligarch Suleiman Karimov, worth more than $1 billion.

The Treasury said Karimov was using Heritage to funnel and invest funds in large public companies, through shell companies and “foundations” established in Europe.

Earlier this week, Karimov’s $300 million superyacht arrived in California from Fiji, after its confiscation by the US Government.

UPDATE 2035 GMT:

After the NATO meeting in Madrid, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will deliver six CAESAR howitzers and armored vehicles to Ukraine.

UPDATE 1750 GMT:

Russia is using inaccurate missiles from old Soviet stocks for more than 50% of its strikes in Ukraine, with the resulting increase in civilian casualties, says Ukrainian Brig. Gen. Oleksii Hromov.

Hromov said the rate of Russian strikes in Ukraine has more than doubled in the last two weeks:

The enemy’s targets remain military facilities, critical infrastructure and industry, transport networks. At the same time, the civilian population is suffering significant losses due to strikes.

To carry out rocket strikes, the enemy in more than 50% is using missiles from the Soviet reserve, which are not sufficiently precise. As a result, civilian buildings are being hit.

The general said more than 200 missiles were fired on Ukraine in the second half of June, an increase of 120 from the first half of the month, with 68 civilian sites hit in the last two weeks.

UPDATE 1743 GMT:

The Russian occupation has shipped its first grain from the port city of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine.

Yevgeny Balitsky said the cargo ship was taking 7,000 tons of grain to “friendly countries”.

Ukraine officials say Russia has stolen millions of tons of Ukrainian grain, while blockading Ukrainian-held ports and bombing storage warehouses.

UPDATE 0853 GMT:

Russian forces have withdrawn from Zmiinyi (Snake) Island in the western Black Sea.

The Russians seized the island in the opening day of their invasion, but the occupation became a symbol of Ukrainian defiance: defenders rejected the initial demand for surrender with a “Go fuck yourself, warship”.

The Ukrainians have pummeled the Russian forces with fire from rockets and drones, destroying a landing craft, a patrol boat, and most of the island’s buildings and facilities.

A Russian withdrawal is a setback for Moscow’s hopes of control the western end of the coastal corridor along the Black Sea, including the port city of Odesa.

The Russians tried to cover up the retreat with the declaration that it is a “step of goodwill” to allow grain shipments out of Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials scoffed at Moscow’s excuse. Presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak wrote, “So, in order for Moscow to show its goodwill, we have to beat it up regularly.” Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak tweeted:

UPDATE 0807 GMT:

Russia’s imports dropped by 50% since its invasion of Ukraine, according to Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov.

Reshetnikov told a conference on Wednesday that delegations of Russian officials traveled to Asia to seek replacement of Western companies who have left Russia. However, the drop in imports is still 40%.

Moscow’s authorities have not published official statistics for three months. The Federal Customs Service said data must be classified because of the risks of “speculation”.

However, data from other countries shows the extent of the fall: shipments from Germany are down by 70%, from Japan by 76%, and from South Korea by 74%. Even China, with its public support of Russia, has reduced exports by 38%.

Rosstat, the government agency for economic statistic, recorded a fall in wages of 7.2% in April, the second-largest monthly drop in 22 years.

Russia’s inflation rate is at a 20-year high of 17.8%.

Rosstat also announced a 96.7% fall in automobile production in April 2022, compared to output in April 2021.

Only 4,000 cars rolled off assembly lines during the month. Of the 20 manufacturers before the invasion, only two are still operating.

Sales of new cars fell by 84% in May.

UPDATE 0728 GMT:

The latest Russian attacks on the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine have killed one person and injured six, including an 11-year-old girl in “average” condition in hospital.

The death toll from Tuesday’s attack on Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine has risen to six, with six injured. Rescuers are still digging through the rubble of a high-rise building.

Russia strikes on the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine killed two civilians and wounded two.

UPDATE 0652 GMT:

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo met with Ukraine counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Kyiv in Wednesday, describing his visit as a “manifestation of the Indonesian people’s concern for the situation in Ukraine”.

The spirit of peace never fades. I offered to carry a message from President Zelenskiy for President Putin whom I would also visit.

Indonesia is drawing attention because it is the host of the G20 summit in November. Moscow insists that Vladimir Putin has received an invitation and is considering his attendance.

Zelenskiy said in his nightly address:

For the first time in all the years of independence, the President of Indonesia, a very influential state that may suffer significantly from the food crisis provoked by Russia, paid a visit to Kyiv today. Therefore, these were important negotiations that opened for Ukraine another strategic direction of relations with Asia.

UPDATE 0644 GMT:

Vladimir Putin has signalled his acceptance of Sweden and Finland’s membership in NATO.

Speaking a day after the path to membership was assured, with the lifting of Turkish objections, Putin said:

We don’t have problems with Sweden and Finland like we do with Ukraine. We don’t have territorial differences.

If Finland and Sweden wish to, they can join. That’s up to them. They can join whatever they want.

He drew a line against the presence of NATO forces in Sweden and Finland: “If military contingents and military infrastructure were deployed there, we would be obliged to respond symmetrically and raise the same threats for those territories where threats have arisen for us.”

Putin was on his first foreign trip since he invaded Ukraine, visiting the Turkmenistan capital Ashgabat:

UPDATE 0635 GMT:

In his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the breaking of diplomatic ties with Syria after the Assad regime recognised the “independence” of the Russian Proxy “republics” in Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

Zelenskiy noted sanctions pressure on the Assad regime “will be even greater” after it pledged allegiance to Russia’s invasion.

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson tweeted:

Moscow has supported Bashar al-Assad since the start of the Syrian uprising in March 2011. Its massive military intervention from September 2015 prevented the fall of Assad, killing tens of thousands of civilians through bombing, shelling, and sieges.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Defenders of the Azovstal steel plant, in the port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, are among the largest exchange of prisoners of war during Russia’s invasion.

Among 144 freed Ukrainians were 95 Azovstal defenders, who held out for 12 weeks against Russian bombardment, siege, and ground attacks before surrendering in mid-May.

Ukrainian military intelligence announced the exchange in a Telegram message on Wednesday. It said most of the troops had serious injuries, including burns and amputations, and are now receiving medical care.

No information was given on the number of Russians who were exchanged.

More than 1,700 Azovstal fighters were taken to Russian proxy territory in eastern Ukraine. Some have reportedly then been moved to Russia, where they face the prospect of show trials and even execution.

See also Ukraine War, Day 87: Defense of Mariupol Ends

Among the freed defenders were 43 members of the Azov Regiment, which played a central role in the defense of Mariupol.

The city, at the eastern end of a coastal corridor on the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, was a focal point of Russia’s scorched-earth tactics. Shelling and bombing destroyed most of the city center. Hospitals and other civilian sites were struck, with up to 600 people — including women, children, and the elderly — killed as they were sheltered in the Drama Theater when it was demolished by an attack.

Of the pre-invasion of population of 440,000, an estimated 100,000 remain. Ukrainian officials say they are enduring shortages of food, water, and essential items, and face diseases such as cholera with water polluted by the remains of bodies still lying in destroyed buildings.

Amnesty: Russian Bombing of Mariupol Theater Was War Crime

In a 72-page report, Amnesty International has found that Russia’s airstrike on the Drama Theater on March 16 was a war crime.

Oksana Pokalchuk, head of Amnesty’s Ukraine branch, said:

Until now, we were speaking about an alleged war crime. Now we can clearly say it was one, committed by the Russian armed forces.

These explosions were caused by something really big: two 500-kg (1,100-pound) bombs.

Amnesty interviewed 52 survivors and first-hand witnesses, about half of whom were either in the theater or nearby, and assessed satellite imagery. Researchers determined determined that, in a clear sky, a Russian pilot could see the word “CHILDREN” written in giant Cyrillic letters in front of and behind the building.