A Ukraine postage stamp commemorating the explosion on the Russian-controlled Kerch Bridge, October 8, 2022

Wednesday’s Coverage: “A Global Project of Protection” — Zelenskiy Welcomes Reconstruction Conference

Map: Institute for Study of War

UPDATE 1627 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a law banning the import of books from Russia.

Zelenskiy’s office posted on social media that the law will “strengthen the protection of the Ukrainian cultural and information space from anti-Ukrainian Russian propaganda”.

Thanking Zelenskiy, Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko posted on Telegram, “The adoption of this draft law will protect the Ukrainian book publishing and distribution sector from the destructive influence of the ‘Russian world’.”

UPDATE 1428 GMT:

Foreign donors have pledged €60 billion ($66 billion) for Kyiv at the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference in London.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said, “This provides us with the medium-term predictable support that will unlock the macro-economic stability that Ukraine needs.”

He added that efforts are now focused on unlocking “the enormous potential of the private sector”.

On Wednesday, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen announced plans for the European Union to provide €50 billion in financial assistance for Ukraine Government operations and recovery from 2024-2027.

UPDATE 1415 GMT:

A Russian military helicopter has crashed in the Baranavichy region of neighboring Belarus.

UPDATE 1406 GMT:

For the second day in a row, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has assailed the Russian Defense Ministry and its leaders for lying about Ukraine’s counter-offensive and the extent of Russia’s “very serious losses on the front”.

In an audio message, the mercenary leader stepped up his rivalry with Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu and the commander of Russia’s operations, Maj. Gen. Valery Gerasimov:

Total trash is being put on the President’s desk. Shoigu and Gerasimov have a simple approach. The lie must be monstrous for people to believe it. That is what they are doing.

It’s all being hidden from everyone. Russia will wake up one day and learn that Crimea has been handed over to the Ukrainians….

They are misleading the Russian people and if it keeps on like this we’ll be left without the most important thing: Russia.

UPDATE 1355 GMT:

Asked about this morning’s strike on the Chonhar road brigade between Russian-occupied areas of Kherson and Crimea in southern Ukraine, Ukraine Defense Intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov replied:

Work is ongoing and will be continued. This is the planned work of the security forces, the defence forces, the resistance movement and the local population, which is waiting for the return of Ukrainian legal power in these territories.

I can only say: to be continued.

UPDATE 1144 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Kyiv’s intelligence agencies have received information that Russian occupiers are considering the release of radiation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine.

Zelenskiy said the intelligence is being shared with international partners.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov insisted that Zelenskiy’s statement is “just another lie”.

UPDATE 1136 GMT:

Russia fired six missiles and four attack drones early Thursday, causing damage in the cities of Odesa and Kryvyi Rih.

The Ukraine air force said, “The enemy rockets did not reach their targets in the Dnipropetrovsk region….The occupiers are continuing their terror against the Ukrainian people, attacking Ukraine’s critical infrastructure facilities.”

However, one of the downed drones struck a warehouse and a Russian missile damaged at least 10 homes in Kryvyi Rih.

UPDATE 1131 GMT:

Following this morning’s missile strike, a Russian proxy official says repair of the Chonhar road bridge between Russian-occupied areas of Kherson and Crimea in southern Ukraine could take up to several weeks.

UPDATE 1127 GMT:

A Russian court has rejected the appeal of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against his pre-trial detention.

Gershkovich, a US citizen, was seized by security forces at the end of March as he worked on a story in Ekaterinburg. He has been charged with espionage.

No date has been set for the trial.

UPDATE 1118 GMT:

Ukraine’s military cites “partial success” in its counteroffensive on Thursday.

General Staff spokesperson Andriy Kovaliov said forces are reinforcing positions and moving towards the villages of Rivnopil and Staromayorske near the Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk border on the southern front.

On the eastern front, troops are advancing towards the settlements of Bilohorivka and Dibrova in “particularly heavy fighting”.

Forces are also holding off Russian attacks elsewhere in Donetsk, including in the areas of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Mariinka.

UPDATE 0846 GMT:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has encouraged Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to lift Ankara’s blockade on Swedish membership of NATO.

Blinken met Fidan on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London on Wednesday.

Sweden and Finland sought accession to NATO soon after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, seeking advantage in domestic politics and leverage on the Turkish Kurdish issues, objected.

However, before Turkish elections last month, Erdoğan ended his obstruction to Finland’s membership. Oslo formally joined NATO on April 4.

NATO and Western officials are that, with Erdoğan securing another Presidential term on May 28, he will do the same with Sweden. Stockholm’s membership can then be confirmed at NATO’s summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in mid-July.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Wednesday, “Our judgement is that we have done what was expected of us, now it is time for the Turkish parliament to start the ratification process.”

UPDATE 0813 GMT:

A European Union working group reportedly has concluded that there are no legal means to confiscate frozen assets of Russia’s Central Bank.

The group was tasked with evaluating if the assets, more than €200 billion ($219 billion), could be used for Ukraine’s reconstruction. However, an internal document says there are “no credible legal avenue allowing for the confiscation of frozen or immobilized assets on the sole basis of these assets being under EU restrictive measures”.

The panel has studied two other options. It says the first, investment of Russian assets with profits going to Ukraine, carries significant legal risk.

The second option of the windfall contribution requires firms with large Russian holdings to transfer a share ofprofits to the EU.

Russia’s frozen assets generated profits of almost €750 million ($825 million) in the first quarter of 2023.

UPDATE 0804 GMT:

Russian security officials have searched the home of lawyer Irina Gak after her client, activist Anatoly Berezikov, died in prison last week amid allegations of torture.

Officers also searched the home of activist Tatyana Sporysheva, who was in contact with Berezikov in the days before his death.

Authorities reportedly plan to investigate Gak and Sporysheva for “knowingly disseminating false information”.

UPDATE 0743 GMT:

The latest Russian shelling of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine has killed a civilian in Chasiv Yar and injured six, including a child, in other areas.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine has carried out a missile strike on the Chonhar road bridge between the Russian-occupied areas of Kherson and Crimea in southern Ukraine, say Russian proxy officials.

The strike was reported about 5:50 a.m. Vladimir Saldo, the Russian proxy “governor” of Kherson, said the road was damaged, diverting traffic. No casualties have been reported.

Saldo claimed UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles, delivered to Ukraine this spring were probably used — a dubious assertion, given the Storm Shadow’s 450-kg (990-pound) warhead and the limited damage.

Ukrainian analysts say the damage is more likely to be from a Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, also used on bridges last autumn during Ukraine’s liberation of part of the Kherson region. or an explosive drone with a “significant warhead”.

Ukrainian forces have been striking Russian transport routes, oil and ammunition depots, and supply and logistics positions as part of “shaping operations” for the counter-offensive in the east and south of the country.

Today’s operation also echoes last October’s bombing of the Kerch Strait bridge between Russia and occupied Crimea, seriously damaging the flagship project of Vladimir Putin.

See also Ukraine War, Day 228: Russia Assesses Damage to Kerch Bridge and Its Invasion

Zelenskiy’s Realism on Counter-Offensive

In a BBC interview on Wednesday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on international observers to be realistic about the pace of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, now in its third week.

Ukraine has liberated eight villages on the southern front between the Zaporizhia and western Donetsk regions, and has advanced on the eastern front around the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk.

But Zelenskiy noted that the advance was “slowly than desired” for some observers:

Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It’s not….

Whatever some might want, including attempts to pressure us, with all due respect, we will advance on the battlefield the way we deem best.

He explained that Ukrainian commanders, facing 200,000 square km of territory mined by Russian forces, would not risk the chances of success and soldiers’ live to meet expectations of those outside the country.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War supported Zelenskiy’s assessment of a sustained, long-term operation:

Ukrainian forces are likely successfully setting conditions for a future main effort despite initial setbacks….

Ukrainian forces may be conducting several offensive operations across the entire theater in order to gradually attrit Russian forces and set conditions for a future main effort.

Losses are inevitable on both sides, but careful operational planning on the Ukrainian side likely seeks to mitigate and balance this reality with the equally important observation that the degradation of Russian manpower is a valuable objective.

Kyiv was also backed from an unexpected quarter yesterday, as Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group, called out the Russian Defense Ministry’s propaganda.

Prigozhin said in an audio message that the Ministry was not acknowledging the loss of territory: “They are misleading the Russian people.”

He noted that the series of villages recaptured by Ukraine, and citing the lack of arms and ammunition for Russian forces.

Huge chunks have been handed over to the enemy. All of this is being totally hidden from everyone. One day Russia will wake up to discover that Crimea too has been handed over to Ukraine.