Just like all over the world, many Ukrainians start their day or take advantage of their breaks from work to browse their social networks. The grave reality of war continues in virtual life, as various images of fallen and wounded soldiers appear in their feed. «Glory to heroes!», «Eternal memory» and «Heroes never die», with such words the Ukrainians try numb their pain as they express condolences to the families and friends of the deceased on social media. Often volunteers from all walks of life, mostly (but not only) men in their prime, fall in battles along the 1,000km front. The Ukrainian Army continues to hold off pressure from Russian troops in Donbas and is waging counter-offensives in Kherson and Kharkiv.
Although no official figures for Ukrainian losses had been published for several months, everyone understood that they must be very high. Now Ukrainian officials are opening up about the matter. Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, acknowledged yesterday that up to 200 soldiers are killed every day because of Russia’s superior artillery. According to another adviser to Zelensky, the daily number of wounded reaches up to 800 soldiers. Also, the Ukrainian Army admitted that it only has one artillery system for every 10-15 Russian systems. It is running out of its own 152mm ammunition as it uses 5,000-6,000 shells every day. Therefore, the importance of Western-supplied weaponry is increasing.
According to Podoliak, Ukraine needs up to 300 multiple rocket launcher systems, as well as hundreds of artillery systems, to change the course of the war. He stresses that “until Russia suffers a serious military defeat, no dialogue will be possible. They will keep trying to take over part of our country.”
His statement follows the revealing words of Vladimir Putin about the true objectives of his invasion. The Russian president effectively acknowledged that Russia was waging a turf war of conquest in Ukraine, setting aside earlier claims about the alleged threat of NATO enlargement east or the need to “demilitarize” Ukraine. Speaking to young businessmen on Thursday, he compared himself to Peter the Great, an 18th-century Russian czar who waged a long war with Sweden and conquered the area where he later built the city of St. Petersburg. He claimed that “Russia was just giving back what was ours” and is doing it again. If Russia “remained firm in such basic values”, it would prevail, Putin assured.
Moscow had claimed that it was trying to protect the population of Donbas and overthrow the supposedly “Nazi” government of Ukraine. However, after killing several tens of thousands of people in the eastern region and throughout the country, Russia is clearly integrating the captured territories. He appoints new authorities, trying to introduce the Russian ruble and arrests anyone capable of leading the opposition. The independent Russian outlet “Meduza” quoted Kremlin sources as saying that Russia plans to unite all the territory it controls in Ukraine, parts of the southern provinces of Zaporizhia and Kherson, into a single federal district as part of Russia.
In his video speech at the Democracy Summit in Copenhagen, Volodimir Zelensky called for Ukraine to be taken out of the “gray area” and given the prospect of joining the EU. He expressed his bewilderment at the hesitation of some of the countries, stressing that “71% of the EU population is in favor of granting the status of a candidate country to Ukraine.” The European Parliament voted in favor of the motion this week with 438 votes in favour, 94 abstentions and 65 votes against. The European Commission is expected to make its decision on June 17.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia had no jurisdiction in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, actually controlled by Russia, where three foreign soldiers who fought for Ukraine were sentenced to death on Thursday. Ukraine assumes that Russia plans to use the fate of the soldiers in possible negotiations with the West. British Defense Minister Ben Wallace visited Kyiv yesterday to discuss the support his country has been giving Ukraine.
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