May 23 Buonsera Mag
Zelensky, Davos, East Ukraine, Poland, the Baltics, Bondarev and more
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…
Institute for the Study of War: Russian troops likely reinforcing positions in Kharkiv Oblast, increasing combat power in south.
President Zelensky said the situation remains "extremely difficult" in Ukraine's east due to Russian efforts to try and capture the cities of Slovyansk and Severodonetsk. Martial law in Ukraine has been extended until August 23.
According to the Kherson regional administration, Russian troops are mining roads and bridges, blocking the way for residents to evacuate from the occupied Kherson Oblast to the territory controlled by Ukraine.
Russia’s Counsellor to the United Nations in Geneva has resigned. Boris Bondarev: “Never have I been so ashamed of my country.” UN Watch is now calling on all other Russian diplomats at the United Nations—and worldwide—to follow his moral example and resign.
Lithuania halts Russian gas, oil, electricity imports. Lithuania became the first Baltic country to stop importing Russian energy products. It has also called for a naval coalition ‘of the willing’ to lift the Russian Black Sea blockade on Ukrainian grain exports.Reuters: Germany and Italy have allowed their companies to open accounts in rubles to buy Russian gas.
Germany is to relax visa requirements for skilled workers from Russia, just as the country’s domestic intelligence agency warned of a heightened risk that Russian nationals working for German firms could be recruited for industrial espionage.
The Guardian: Technicians linked to the Syrian military’s infamous barrel bombs that have wreaked devastation across much of the country have been deployed to Russia to help potentially prepare for a similar campaign in the Ukraine war, European officials believe.
Chancellor Scholz’s three-day tour of Senegal, Niger and South Africa kicked off on Sunday. The first stop on Scholz’s trip was Senegal, which has billions of cubic metres of gas reserves and is expected to become a major gas producer in the region.
@CPAC gathering in Budapest, Hungary…yes, CPAC…that CPAC.
Poland terminates gas contract with Russia ahead of schedule. The contract, signed in 1993, was valid until the end of 2022, but Poland decided to terminate it earlier due to Russia’s war against Ukraine, Polish Climate and Environment Minister Anna Moskwa said on May 23.
Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Slovakia appealed to EU finance ministers and called for confiscation of Russian assets.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s son Igor tried to avoid EU sanctions by changing his name to David Garcia. He was found out.
Starbucks closing 130 stores in Russia and leaving.
New Zealand will send a small number of troops from its defence force to the UK to train Ukrainian soldiers in using field artillery guns, the government announced today.
Why is Severodonetsk important?
Russian forces are focusing their efforts on Severodonetsk.
Severodonetsk is strategically hugely important as if it falls under Russian control, this would mean Moscow's forces will control almost all of Luhansk.
The city had a pre-war population of around 100,000 and is in Luhansk, where Moscow has re-focused its war effort. There are concerns the city could suffer the same fate as the port city of Mariupol, which was surrounded and pounded into submission.
Anne Applebaum, The War Won’t End Until Putin Loses
The expression off-ramp has a pleasing physicality, evoking a thing that can be constructed out of concrete and steel. But at the moment, anyone talking about an off-ramp in Ukraine—and many people are doing so, in governments, on radio stations, in a million private arguments—is using the term metaphorically, referring to a deal that could persuade Vladimir Putin to halt his invasion.
Boris Bondarev resigns
UN Watch: Russia’s counsellor to the United Nations in Geneva, Boris Bondarev, has resigned. He is the most senior diplomat to defect since his country’s invasion of Ukraine began in February. Read his resignation letter here.
President of Poland Duda in Kyiv on Sunday
President @AndrzejDuda was in Ukraine on Sunday and addressed the Verkhovna Rada. He will be the first head of a foreign state to deliver an address since the outbreak of the war.
*F…k* Putin!
On Saturday, at a concert in St Petersburg, the audience began chanting “*F…k* Putin!”. It’s no secret that Russian soldiers mainly come from the eastern regions and districts of Russia, while there are very few troops from Moscow and St Petersburg.
Walter Finch, 'Putin will be gone by 2023': Interview with Ex MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove
Warmongering Russian president Vladimir Putin will be shipped off to a sanatorium by the end of the year, a former MI6 chief predicts.
With persistent rumours of serious ill health for the Russian strongman, one method of 'moving things on' without need for a violent coup would be to place him in a long term hospital for the incurably unwell, suggested Richard Dearlove. (watch the video)
Anna Shilonosova, As a psychologist helping Ukrainians, I am a witness to the terrible traumas of war
All four of my grandparents survived the second world war, and all four were scarcely willing to talk about it, having either survived the siege of Leningrad or come back from the frontline wounded. On the rare occasions they did, their memories would leave them devastated.
RTE, Ukrainian negotiator rules out ceasefire
Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or concessions to Moscow while Russia intensified an offensive in the eastern Donbas region and stopped providing gas to Finland, as Polish President Andrzej Duda prepared to address the Ukrainian parliament today.
Forced deportations and population transfer
We published an article about this Russian war crime in past editions and please listen to the EuroFile@6 Spaces recording with Olga Tokariuk and Vadym who both give information about this.
Oops
Down-under
We’re signing off…thanks for reading
Mo & Scott