A Russian ammunition depot explodes after a strike by Ukrainian forces on Nova Kakhovka in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, July 11, 2022

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Tuesday’s Coverage: Death Toll Rises to 45 from Russia’s Rocket Strike on Donetsk Apartment Block

Source: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1501 GMT:

The European Union has told Lithuania that it must allow the passage of sanctioned goods, with the exception of weapons, by rail between Russia and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Lithuania had blocked movement of some commodities and products on the ground that it was implementing EU sanctions, bringing threats of retaliation from Moscow.

The EU said that while transit by road is not allowed, “no such prohibition exists for rail transport”.

UPDATE 1231 GMT:

Emergency services have pulled two more victims from the rubble of the apartment building destroyed by Russian rocket fire in Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region on Sunday night.

The recoveries raise the death toll to 47.

Amid intense Russia shelling (see 0715 GMT), at least three other civilians were killed across Donetsk on Tuesday. Two people perished in Avdiivka and one in Bakhmut. Eight others were injured.

UPDATE 1220 GMT:

Russian attacks have killed another five people in the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office.

Tymoshenko said the Russians used multiple rocket launchers in 28 attacks, damaging residential buildings and a hospital.

UPDATE 1209 GMT:

A third US citizen is being held captive by Russian proxy forces.

Suedi Murekezi, 35, was arrested last month in Russian-occupied Kherson in southern Ukraine, where he had been living for more than two years, said his brother Sele Murekezi: “We are all extremely worried for his wellbeing. He is obviously in danger.”

Suedi Murekezi contacted his brother on July 7, saying he is detained in Donetsk city in eastern Ukraine.

Murekezi said he is in the same prison as Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, two American fighters who are being threatened with show trials, long prison sentences, and even executive by Russian proxy officials.

Murekezi’s friends and family say he did not participate in any fighting, having moved to Ukraine about four years ago.

Murekezi told his brother that he had been falsely accused of participation in pro-Ukrainian protests.

UPDATE 1205 GMT:

The Zelenskiy Government will not agree to a ceasefire which includes ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a briefing:

The objective of Ukraine in this war…is to liberate our territories, restore our territorial integrity, and full sovereignty in the east and south of Ukraine. This is the end point of our negotiating position.

UPDATE 0746 GMT:

Russian shelling has killed a 55-year-old man and injured five people in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.

Governor Oleh Synyehubov said the five wounded are in stable condition in hospital.

He said a Russian missile attack was thwarted by air defenses.

UPDATE 0739 GMT:

Russia has launched a criminal case against Ilya Yashin, one of the last opposition activists still in the country, for “spreading false information” about the Russian military.

Yashin’s lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said on Tuesday that security forces had searched Yashin’s home.

Yashin, a Moscow city councillor, was sentenced to 15 days in prison in June for disobeying police. He was due to be released early Wednesday.

See also The Kremlin Widens Its Net of Arrests Over Putin’s Invasion

UPDATE 0715 GMT:

Still in an “operational pause” after overrunning the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, Russian forces shelled areas in neighboring Donetsk on Tuesday night.

On Sunday night, Russian rocket fire collapsed a five-story apartment building in the town of Chasiv Yar, killing 45 people.

UPDATE 0641 GMT:

The US is sending an additional $1.7bn in economic aid to Ukraine to fund essential services.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who is in Japan, said in a statement:

This latest contribution of economic assistance for Ukraine is part of President Biden’s commitment to support the government of Ukraine as it defends Ukraine’s democracy against Russia’s unprovoked and unjustifiable war.

This aid will help Ukraine’s democratic government provide essential services for the people of Ukraine.

On Monday, European Foreign Ministers approved €1 billion ($1 billion), the first instalment of a €9bn package agreed in May.

UPDATE 0620 GMT:

Ukraine is beginning the export of grain via ports on the Danube River.

Russia has blockaded Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea, cutting exports by 2/3rds and exacerbating a global food crisis. But Ukraine’s recapture of Snake Island in the western Black Sea this month has enabled it to reopen the Bystre Canal.

Ukraine’s Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Vaskov says 16 foreign ships are now at the Danube ports, half of them arriving since Monday.

The Infrastructure Ministry said more than 90 ships are waiting in Romania’s Sulina Canal. Only four can be admitted per day, with a rate of eight per day needed. Ukraine is negotiating with Romania and the European Commission to increase the transits.

Vaskov said Ukraine expects to increase monthly exports of grain by another 500,000 tons with the revival of the long-decommissioned ports and full use of the canals. Another 2 million tons are being moved via railways to neighboring countries such as Poland.

Ukrainian traders exported up to 6 million tons of grain per month before Russia’s invasion.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Using recently-supplied US rocket systems, Ukrainian forces have hit a series of Russian ammunition depots across occupied Ukraine.

In the most visible attack, the Ukrainians fired a US-supplied missile on a large ammunition stockpile in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine. The military said artillery and armored vehicles were also destroyed, and claimed the destruction of another depot in the town of Charivne.

Video showed the explosion of the Nova Kakhovka depot late Monday night:

Satellite imagery indicated the target was a warehouse close to a key railway line and a dam on the Dnipro River. The detonation set off secondary blazes in nearby buildings.

Russian occupation officials claimed that the strike was on “warehouses with mineral fertilizers”, with damage to the market, hospital, and houses. They said at least seven people were killed and 70 wounded, without declaring whether the casualties were military or civilian.

Military analysts said Ukraine has now destroyed both of the major Russian arms warehouses near Kherson city, seized in the first days of Vladimir Putin’s invasion in late February. The strike in Nova Kakhovka was the fourth time that Ukrainian forces have hit the town’s warehouses.

Game Changer? Kyiv’s Use of US-Supplied HIMARS

Last month the Biden Administration authorized the delivery of the medium-range M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System to Kyiv. Each HIMARS carries six rockets, with a range of up to 80 km (50 miles).

Eight HIMARS have been delivered, and the Administration authorized four more this month.

The deployment has caused consternation among Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin, who has warned of retaliation with severe consequences. Russian military bloggers have criticized authorities for their ineffective defense against the systems, raising the prospect of censorship by the Kremlin.

Alexander Sladkov, a war reporter for the State broadcast outlet Rossiya 1, wrote on Telegram this week: “Ukrainian missiles and artillery have struck decision-making centers several times, with results. The centers are small but important.”

Russian State TV journalist Andrei Rudenko said HIMARS probably hit ammunition stores in the towns of Shakhtarsk and Torez in east and southeast Ukraine: “Strong fires and explosions. The situation is horrible.”

And Igor Girkin, a former commander of Russian proxy forces in eastern Ukraine, wrote on Telegram that Russia has suffered “large losses in both men and equipment”: “The Russian air defense systems… turned out to be ineffective against massive strikes by HIMARS missiles.”

Ukrainian forces are already retaking territory in southern Ukraine, and officials said this week that a counter-offensive is imminent, including in the Kherson region.

Zelenskiy: Russian Forces Have “Not an Iota of Courage”

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address to the nation:

[The Russians] no longer have strategic power, character, or understanding of what they are doing here, on our land. There is not an iota of courage to admit defeat and withdraw troops from the Ukrainian territory.

The President cited the Russian military’s reliance on Soviet-era weapons and tactics, as he foresaw the outcome of the war.

A really difficult road is ahead. Unfortunately, it is impossible to do otherwise when you are protecting your home from a terrorist assault. But it is also clear that what lies ahead is the success of our state. Ukraine will be able to defend itself. Ukraine will be able to rebuild itself. Ukraine will be able to fulfill all its foreign policy goals.

When millions of people work sincerely for this – each and every one at their own level – the result will be inevitable.