May 13 Buonasera up-date
Kharkiv, EU, Macron, Scholz, UNHRC, Russian propaganda
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.
Here are some other stories we’re following…
Sources reveal that Kharkiv region has been liberated.
There’s a fierce battle on-going at the bridge near Severodonetsk. Gaining the area would allow the Russians to make a bridgehead and advance in the direction of the river’s estuary. This would let them encircle the key city of Severodonetsk more fully as they attempt to cut off Ukraine’s whole eastern Donbas region.
Russian forces again attack Ukraine’s biggest oil refinery in Kremenchuk.
Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin spoke with his Russian counterpart MoD Shoigu for the first time since Feb 24, and also spoke with UK’s MoD Wallace as well. Wallace said, “We will continue to work with unity and resolve to provide Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked invasion.”
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said in a Facebook post that Kyiv hopes to arm a million people as the country prepares for a “new, long phase of war”.
The Kyiv Indepedent: Zelensky said, “Russia has destroyed 570 healthcare facilities since Feb. 24” and of those "completely destroyed 101 hospitals". "It's barbarism," he continued.
Defence One: Russia has fired about a dozen hypersonic missiles since they invaded Ukraine and are generally running out of precision guided munitions, Defense One reports. The Russian forces now rely more on "dumb" bombs during their airstrikes.
Hromadske Int.: Russia has lost another ship, the logistics ship Vsevolod Bobrov in the Black Sea, according the spokesman of the Odesa regional military administration Serhiy Bratchuk said.
Electricity exports from Russia to Finland are being suspended from 01:00 local time (22:00 GMT) on Saturday. Finland only buys 10% of its electricity from Russia. The announcement comes the day after Finland announced its decision to join NATO.
The Guardian: The EU could agree on a phased embargo on Russian oil next week despite concerns about supply in eastern Europe, according to diplomats and officials.
Politico Brussels: Jacopo Barigazzi, Barbara Moens and Leonie Kijewski reported overnight, EU diplomats are weighing up a radical option to get around Orbán’s reluctance to ban Russian oil: parking the plan.
According to the French Foreign Ministry, Ukraine’s application for membership in the European Union is currently being examined by the European Commission and will be discussed at an EU summit in June and then there’s this:
The BBC: UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says Vladimir Putin is "humiliating himself on the world stage" and calls for tougher sanctions on Moscow. Speaking at a G7 meeting, she says sanctions should not be eased until all Russian troops have left Ukraine.
Germany says it can cope with a boycott of Russian gas as soon as this winter.
The UN Human Rights Council has voted to set up an inquiry into allegations of abuses by Russian forces in Ukraine. In a statement, FM Kuleba has welcomed “the adoption of the UN HRC resolution reinforcing inquiry into Russia’s war crimes in the recently liberated Ukrainian territories and in Mariupol. Perpetrators of these barbaric crimes will be brought to justice.”
NBC News: Four US Democrats are reported to have sent formal requests to the CEOs of YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook’s parent company, Meta, asking them to “preserve and archive content” that could be used as evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
Turkey’s Erdogan says it would not welcome Finland and Sweden joining NATO.
Peter Walker- UK sanctions target Putin’s financial network including rumoured girlfriend
The UK has issued sanctions against a dozen members of Vladimir Putin’s family and inner circle including his long-rumoured girlfriend, arguing that given the Russian president officially owns only modest assets, these are the people who help support his lavish lifestyle.
EU Barometre- EU’s response to the war in Ukraine
This Flash Eurobarometer survey shows large consensus among EU citizens in all EU Member States in favour of the EU’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The majority of Europeans think that since the war started, the EU has shown solidarity (79%) and has been united (63%) and fast (58%) in its reaction. Respondents are widely in favour of the unwavering support to Ukraine and its people. In particular, more than nine out of ten respondents (93%) approve providing humanitarian support to the people affected by the war.
You find a brief review of the findings here.
Another one bites the dust…
The BBC: Satellite footage has emerged showing a Russian military ship that has sunk near Zmiinyi (Snake) Island, which was seized by Russia at the start of the war and has become a battleground of strategic value for Russia to gain control of the Black Sea.
Michael Weiss- Is Putin Sick – Or Are We Meant to Think He Is?
An oligarch close to the Kremlin was recorded on a tape saying the president is ‘very ill with blood cancer.’ Is this true, idle speculation or disinformation designed to make an erratic and paranoid dictator vulnerable look ripe for removal?
What the People Say: Yevgenia Albats Goes on the Road
I set out in my car to drive through along some of Russia’s highways and byways. I went to Tver, Serpukhov, Klin, and other cities, all within a radius of about 350 kilometers from Moscow. I had one goal: to talk to people. I wanted to understand who was for and against the war and why. Why do they support a war that that is turning into a disaster for 190 million people in two countries?
He’s pulling a ‘Macron’
Opinion: This isn’t right and it will not get Ukraine or the West anywhere with Putin. On Solovyov’s show, the panelists made fun of Macron and all his phone calls. Calling Putin signals that he’s important. Most Russia watchers and analysts believe that Putin and the regime should be completely ignored and isolated.
Pjotr Sauer- ‘They were furious’: the Russian soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine
When the soldiers of an elite Russian army brigade were told in early April to prepare for a second deployment to Ukraine, fear broke out among the ranks.
The unit, stationed in Russia’s far east during peacetime, first entered Ukraine from Belarus when the war started at the end of February and saw bitter combat with Ukrainian forces.
On the Russia info-sphere front…
The Ukrainian Tractor Corps…
Spaces of interest…
We’re signing off…thanks for reading…
Scott & Mo