Jun 16 Buonasera Mag
Ukraine war today, The Trio in Kyiv, Ramstein 3, US servicemen captured, Finland, China, Russian economy, Ikea closing, Navalny, Dutch intelligence
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Minister of Defence Reznikov at Ramstein 3- Results- Ukraine will continue its fight for Freedom and Independence; Our partners will continue to support Ukraine; NATO has the greatest unity in its history; Ukraine will win.
Stories we’re following…
About 10,000 civilians are trapped in Severodonetsk, a regional governor says. Russian forces say they will reopen a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave the city's Azot chemical plant but an evacuation was also planned yesterday and failed to materialise.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser president Zelensky, said that to end the war, Ukraine needed 1,000 calibre 155mm howitzers (long-range artillery launchers), 300 multiple-launch rocket systems, 500 tanks, 2,000 armoured vehicles and 1,000 drones.
Two former US servicemen have been captured during fighting with Russian forces in Ukraine, The Telegraph has learned.
Biden announces additional $1 billion worth of military aid, Milley announces HIMARS shipment. According to U.S. General Mark Milley, the package announced on June 15 is set to include HIMARS multiple rocket launchers to be sent before the end of June.
U.S. probing how American electronics wound up in Russian military gear. FBI and Commerce Department agents are visiting tech companies to ask about computer chips found in drones, other weaponry.
Turkey ready to host four-way meeting to unblock export of Ukrainian grain. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country is ready to host four-way talks with the UN, Russia and Ukraine in order to ensure transportation of Ukraine’s grain exports.
Finland prepares to close border with Russia. The Administrative Committee of the Finnish Parliament supported the proposal to close the border with Russia in case of hybrid threats emanating from Moscow.
PM Draghi, president Macron and chancellor Scholz here photographed by La Repubblica on their way to Kyiv. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is set to join the three leaders. They’ve arrived and we’ll be waiting for the readout of their visit with president Zelensky. At 10:37 am Kyiv time, anti-air siren went off.
President Macron says Ukraine "must resist and win" and criticises Russian "barbarism".
As per Ukraine obtaining candidate status, a diplomat familiar told Politico that “[t]here’s no consensus for candidate status and there’s no consensus for no candidate status. But there seems to be consensus for a third way — candidate status with conditions”. They seem to be all over the map.
President Macron, Prime Minister Draghi and Chancellor Scholz inspected the war damage on a visit to the town of Irpin which Russian troops occupied at the war's start.
Chancellor Scholz said Russia’s war of “unimaginable cruelty” and “senseless violence” in Ukraine must end.
The Russian army began to work out scenarios for the defense of the Kuril Islands the day after the Japanese authorities announced a sharp increase in military spending.
Two-thirds of Russian regions fell into recession: The economic situation of the Russian regions has deteriorated sharply against the backdrop of a wave of Western sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine.
A new study found that the production of half of Russia’s construction materials (including bricks, tiles, porcelain, and more) is almost entirely dependent on equipment imported largely from the West.
Ikea Announces Closure of Russia Business: On Wednesday, Swedish furniture company Ikea announced that it would sell factories, close offices, and reduce its workforce in Russia amid restrictions and supply chain issues, although it will pay its employees through August.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry added another 49 British nationals to its ever-growing list of foreigners banned from entering Russia.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday offered the most unambiguous declaration of support to Russia’s Vladimir Putin since his invasion of Ukraine, vowing to support Moscow’s “sovereignty and security”.
Alexei Navalny was transferred to IK-6 with a strict regime in the Vladimir region. Prisoners of the colony reported torture.
Dutch intelligence has revealed that a deep cover spy working for the Russian Military Intelligence Service, GRU, used a false Brazilian cover identity to travel from Brazil to the Netherlands.
Weapons delivery to Ukraine by country
J6 Hearings
A lawyer advising Donald Trump claimed to know about a “heated fight” among Supreme Court justices over whether to hear 2020 election arguments.
The Insider, "They threaten mothers and sisters." How “volunteers” are forcibly sent to fight in Ukraine in Chechnya
In Chechnya, men are forcibly sent to fight in Ukraine - there are almost no real volunteers left, and the security forces intimidate residents, torture them and threaten them with criminal cases. Many agree to go to war in order to save their families from humiliation, and themselves from cases under terrorist articles and torture.
Sauer & Roth, ‘It was worse than hell’: life in Mariupol under Russian occupation
“It was worse than hell there. There are no words to describe it,” said 55-year-old Vladimir Korchma, who had lived all of his life in Mariupol where he worked as a machinist at a local factory. “We had no gas or electricity. Only the lucky ones had water,” said Korchma, who left the city at the end of May.
David Rothkopf, How Biden Can Help Ukraine Win the Long War
The real test of the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy is yet to come. For all the support it has shown the Zelensky government—and in terms of military aid that support has been unprecedented—it is what will happen in the months ahead that will determine whether Biden and his team will be viewed as having successfully risen to what is very likely the defining foreign policy challenge of the president’s first term in office.
Programming Note
Our weekly EuroFile@6 is going on hold this week but we’ll be back next week with our special guest Benjamin Schmitt, energy expert, to talk about what is happening internationally and how Russia is still weaponising energy.
Thanks for reading…
Mo & Scott