Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with a commander on the Zaporizhzhia front line in southern Ukraine, June 5, 2022


Source: Institute for the Study of War


Friday’s Coverage: Russian Proxies Condemn 2 UK and 1 Moroccan Man to Death in Show Trial


UPDATE 1439 GMT:

Visiting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that the European Union executive’s opinion on the Ukrainian request to join the EU will be ready by the end of next week.

At their joint news conference, Von der Leyen said, “You have done a lot in strengthening the rule of law but there is still need for reforms to be implemented, to fight corruption, for example.”


UPDATE 1413 GMT:

The Russian economy will contract 15% this year, assesses the Institute of International Finance.

The IIF added that the Russian economy will shrink 3% in 2023, with the likelihood of a worsening projection as sanctions are expanded and tightened.


UPDATE 1405 GMT:

Ukraine Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi says Russian shelling destroyed up to 300,000 tons of grain in warehouses last week.

Vysotskyi said the Russians levelled warehouses with grain, wheat and corn, in the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv.

Russian attacks and siege of Ukrainian ports are exacerbating a global food crisis in which up to 1.6 billion people are affected, UN Secretary General António Guterres said earlier this week. The UN’s World Food Program said another 47 million people will be food deprived.

See also Ukraine War, Day 106: Russia Invasion Threatens “Unprecedented Wave of Hunger and Destitution”


UPDATE 1038 GMT:

Ukraine Presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovich has said that the Ukrainian army has lost up to 10,000 troops during the Russian invasion.

Arestovich gave the estimate in a conversation with human rights activist Mark Feigin.

Up to now, Ukrainian officials had not given a total figure for their military’s casualties. But in recent days, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have cited the killing of up to 100 soldiers and injuring of about 500 per day.

Ukrainian troops say almost 32,000 Russian troops have been killed, and Arestovich pointed towards that number:

At the beginning of the conflict, we had 100 deaths per day on average. But in the Russian army, 1000 per day died in the first 20-30 days. Now 200-300 are dying, no less.

UPDATE 0952 GMT:

Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer of The Guardian detail the near-collapse of Russia’s auto industry amid war on Ukraine and international sanctions.

Russians testify of waiting lists for spare parts which are months long. If they go to the black market, they pay 8 to 10 times the normal rate.

Aleksei Atapov, the owner of a car repair firm, said:

The central warehouses closed at the end of February, and even the custom parts that arrived were not given to us. They returned the money and took all the parts back abroad….

Two weeks after 24 February [the first day of the invasion], speculation for car parts reached its peak. Something that would cost 900 roubles ($15.60) would cost 7,000 to 7,500 roubles. Original car oil would cost 12,000 instead of 1,200.

Russia’s Industry Ministry said on Friday that it expects car sales to drop 51% in 2022 because of supply issues.

The Association of European Businesses said sales fell 83.5% in May, with an average rise of 50% in new car prices.

Avtovaz, Russia’s largest carmaker, announced an extra week of furloughs for workers because of a shortage of foreign parts, including semiconductors. The manufacturer’s Lada Grantas will lack safety features, including anti-lock braking systems and airbags; restrictions on emissions; and satellite navigation systems.


UPDATE 0944 GMT:

The office of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General has confirmed the killing of 24 more children in Mariupol, the port city in southeastern Ukraine levelled and overrun by Russian forces, by “indiscriminate shelling”.

The office has now established the deaths of more than 287 children and injuries of more than 492 during the Russian invasion.

Prosecutors emphasized, “These figures are not final, as work is underway to establish them in places of active hostilities, in the temporarily occupied and liberated territories.”


UPDATE 0602 GMT:

Vadym Boichenko, the exiled mayor of Mariupol, says Russia demolished 1,300 high-rise buildings in the occupied port city without removing the bodies of slain residents.

Boychenko said that, with up to 100 bodies in each of the buildings, the demolitions could point to a death toll far higher than the more than 22,000 which he has already announced.

He added that the decomposing bodies, combined with damaged sewer systems, are raising the prospect of cholera that could kill thousands of the remaining 100,000 residents in the city on the Sea of Azov.


UPDATE 0557 GMT:

Russia has labelled Committee Against Torture, a UN-linked human rights treaty body, a “foreign agent”.

Russian authorities use the label to stigmatize, blacklist, and sometimes prosecute those who challenge The Kremlin’s actions, including the invasion of Ukraine.

Founded in 2000, the Committee Against Torture called on Russian officials to investigate allegations of torture by security forces and to institute preventative measures.

The Committee was also designated in 2015 and in 2016, dissolving itself and then re-forming to avoid the label.


ORIGINAL ENTRY: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office has restated Ukraine’s resistance to Vladimir Putin’s war, saying that “we will not cede an inch” of territory to Russian invaders.

Ihor Zhovka, Zelenskiy’s diplomatic advisor. told Bloomberg:

We are not going to give away territory, we won’t cede an inch — especially not in Donbas. Russia has thrown everything at it.

At the same time, Zhovka pointed to the urgency for more military assistance to bolster Ukraine’s defense, particularly against the Russian offensive in the Donbas in the east of the country.

“I won’t get tired of saying Ukraine needs immediate supply of heavy weapons,” Zhovka asserted.

Ukraine’s deputy head of military intelligence, Vadym Skibitsky, told The Guardian that Ukraine is at lost of losing the artillery battle because of the shortage of shells for its older guns. He said Ukraine was firing 5,000 to 6,000 artillery rounds a day and had “almost used up all of our ammunition.” Russian forces are firing about 60,000 artillery shells and rockets each day in the Donbas, according to a senior adviser to the Ukrainian military command.

Their declarations are highlighted on the frontline in Donbas, with Ukrainian soldiers telling The New York Times that they can no longer respond to Russia attacks with blanket fire. Instead, they have to engage only specific targets, like the Russian howitzers.

Oleg said, “We’re running out of shells. They are not supplied fast enough since we fire too often.”

NATO has supplied Ukraine with 155-millimeter artillery shells, a larger amount than its entire ammunition stock before the invasion. But the Ukrainian forces have too few guns at the front which can fire the munitions.

Pentagon officials say that they provided all available Soviet and Russian weaponry and munitions after months of dealing with allies using the old systems. Ukraine will have to depend on Western munitions systems, but that required accelerated training of Ukrainian soldiers, an American official said.

European Union officials said some European countries have shipped so much of their ammunition reserves that they are concerned about replenishing their stocks.