Monday’s Coverage: The Ukrainians Remaining in Occupied Kherson

Source: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1430 GMT:

US volunteer Timothy Griffin has been killed in battle in Ukraine.

Griffin, from New York state, is at least the sixth American to die during the Russian invasion.

He had fought in the Ukraine counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region and was on the eastern front when his unit was attacked.

‘

UPDATE 1046 GMT:

Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podalyak has emphasized that Ukraine will only negotiate with Moscow once Russian troops have left all Ukrainian territory, including areas such as Crimea occupied in 2014.

Podalyak responded to reports (see 1006 GMT) that the US is pushing Kyiv to say publicly it will negotiate with Vladimir Putin, saying Washington treats Ukraine as an equal and there is no coercion.

The advisor added that Ukraine is winning and so negotiations now would be “nonsense”: “No one is forcing Ukraine into an unprofitable negotiation process, or rather, into accepting Russia’s ultimatum.”

The secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, said on Tuesday that the “main condition” for the resumption of negotiations is the restoration of Ukrainian territorial integrity.

UPDATE 1032 GMT:

Russia has freed another 30 Ukrainian troops who were captured in late February on Zmiinyi (Snake) Island in the Black Sea.

The troops became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance, telling a Russian warship, “Go Fuck Yourself”, when it demanded their surrender. Their defiance was commemorated in a national postage stamp.

In late June, their resistance was remembered as the Russians withdraw from the small island, a strategic point in the western Black Sea.

The Ukraine Parliament’s commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said efforts continue to release the remaining soldiers from Russian captivity.

UPDATE 1022 GMT:

A senior Russian proxy official in the occupied Kherson region has announced a one-off payment of 100,000 roubles ($1,640) to each Ukrainian resident who accepts resettlement in Russia.

Kirill Stremousov, the deputy administrator of the region, wrote on Telegram that Monday was “the last day of organized evacuation from the right-bank part of the Kherson region”, as a Ukrainian counter-offensive advances on Kherson city.

Russian proxy officials say 70,000 civilians have been transported, but many residents have refused to leave.

See also Ukraine War, Day 257: The Ukrainians Remaining in Occupied Kherson

Stremousov declared that those who stayed “only now began to realise the seriousness of the situation and my warnings”.

He said that those who now go across the Dnipro River to its left bank will be “transported to [Russian-occupied] Crimea, where the people will be met by volunteers and then the evacuees will go to other regions of the Russian Federation”.

Each resident “will be able to receive a one-time payment in the amount of 100,000 roubles and a housing certificate”, he proclaimed.

UPDATE 1006 GMT:

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has confirmed media reports that the Biden Administration has had confidential exchanges with Russian officials since the spring.

Sullivan said “channels to communicate with the Russian Federation at senior levels” remain open between Washington and Moscow.

Sullivan said the Administration has used the channels to pursue de-escalation rather than a negotiated resolution of the invasion.

We have [communicated] when it’s been necessary to clarify potential misunderstandings and try to reduce risk and reduce the possibility of catastrophe like the potential use of nuclear weapons.

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre later told reporters:

We reserve the right to speak directly at senior levels about issues of concern to the United States. That has happened over the course of the past few months. Our conversations have focused only on…risk reduction and the US-Russia relationship.

Russian newspaper Kommersant reports that Moscow and Washington are in discussion over a resumption of talks on strategic nuclear weapons, halted by Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

US officials privately said last week that they are encouraging Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to say publicly he will negotiate with Vladimir Putin, despite Kyiv’s line that there must be a change of Russian leadership before any discussions.

See also Ukraine War, Day 256: US to Zelenskiy — Say You’ll Negotiate With Putin

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told the nation that Ukrainian forces are “gradually moving forward” in their defeat of Vladimir Putin’s invasion, despite Russia’s campaign of strikes on energy infrastructure and civilian sites.

In his nightly address, Zelenskiy also said that “our forces are in a state of active defense” to check Russian assaults: “In some parts of the east and south, we are gradually pushing back the enemy.”

With Russia attempting for weeks to achieve a symbolic victory in the face of the Ukrainian advances, the President noted that “the Donetsk region” in the east “remains the epicenter of the greatest madness of the occupiers”:

They die by the hundreds every day. The ground in front of the Ukrainian positions is literally littered with the bodies of the occupiers.

He said Russia attacked “more than 50 settlements” on Monday with missiles, bombs, and rockets systems, but he continued with optimism:

We respond everywhere. We have the necessary results — another Russian aircraft was shot down.

We also received new systems that significantly strengthen our air defense. The protection of the Ukrainian sky is, of course, not 100%, but we are gradually moving towards our goal.

As of today, we can say that the recent escalation of Russian missile and drone terror has only resulted in the world responding – responding with new aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskiy noted the complaint of surviving members of Russia’s 155th Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet that 300 troops were killed, wounded, or captured last week because of poor command in the Donetsk region.

You can avoid this not by complaining to some wimps, but by your own opinion. And not in Telegram, but in public. Not by a complaint, but by a fierce protest. Not somewhere under the blanket, but on the streets. Against those in Moscow.

Or by surrendering to Ukrainian captivity. This is how you can survive as well.