Daily Archives: June 28, 2023

Recast with Kremlin response.

The Kremlin said Wednesday that Russian forces only hit military-linked targets in Ukraine, after a strike on a restaurant in the eastern city of Kramatorsk killed at least 10 people.

The comments come a day after the Ria Pizza restaurant popular with soldiers, journalists and aid workers was destroyed in the city, one of the largest still under Ukrainian control in the east.

"Strikes are only carried out on objects that are in one way or another linked to military infrastructure," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"TheRussian Federationdoes not carry out strikes on civilian infrastructure," he added.

Kyiv's National Police said the strike, which came in the evening as the eatery was busy with guests, had also wounded 61 people.

The Ukrainian emergency services said three children were among the dead.

They added that a baby born in 2022 was among those wounded and warned that some people were still under the rubble.

An AFP journalist on the scene shortly after the strike saw the restaurant in ruins surrounded by debris with rescuers rushing to clear the rubble and search for bodies.

Russiahas denied striking civilian infrastructure throughout its 16-month-long Ukraine campaign.

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Kremlin Says Only Hits 'Military' Targets After Ukraine Restaurant Strike - The Moscow Times

The crackle of the radio spurs the doctors to action. They don surgical gloves and pick up scissors, ready to cut through bloodied uniforms. Then it comes, the distinctive rumble of the armoured vehicles engines. The walking-wounded stumble out first, then paramedics carry out those in need of stretchers. Finally, there are the body bags, which will be taken to a mortuary. Military commanders bark orders at the drivers to hide their vehicles before theyre targeted by the Russians.

Military commanders bark orders at the drivers to hide their vehicles before theyre targeted by the Russians

Inside the infirmary, the mood is calm. The medics are focused on the job in hand, and the wounded soldiers rarely scream; theyve often already waited for hours to be collected from the front. Instead they let out exhausted moans or, worse, they wheeze and rattle through laboured breaths. Its a terrible sound. Once the painkillers kick in, soldiers missing chunks of their body begin to talk. One guy who had stepped on a mine asked me for a selfie; another, who had just lost his arm and was about to have his leg removed, sat up, looked me in the eye, and told me to take his picture.

There is no typical day at this stabilisation unit, a small hospital based in a partially ruined building a couple of miles from Ukraines eastern front. Soldiers come here for first aid and life-saving procedures before being transported to a proper hospital farther away from the front line. Some days there are only a couple of walk-ins; during intense periods of fighting, as many as 100 wounded soldiers pass through every day. Ive been embedded with the unit since August 2022, photographing the medics as they battle to do their jobs under gruelling conditions.

One guy who had stepped on a mine asked me for a selfie; another, who had just lost his arm and was about to have his leg removed, sat up, looked me in the eye, and told me to take his picture

The infirmary itself consists of two rooms and a hallway on the ground floor of the building. Its here that the team of around ten doctors and nurses apply tourniquets, remove shrapnel and sew up wounds, or at least clean them as best as possible. They have to make difficult decisions quickly. If 15 injured soldiers come in at once, the medics assess whos in the most pain and whos in danger of bleeding out. As a piece of shrapnel was removed from his arm, one young soldier, who used to work in IT before the war, compared the unit to a pitstop in Formula One. Like so many who come through the unit, he was in surprisingly good spirits, thanks to a mixture of adrenaline, shock and pain relief.

The damp basement is where the medics eat, sleep and relax not that theres much time for any of that. Theres no hot water and few creature comforts. Most of the furniture and decor has been scavenged from bombed-out buildings. Their beds are thin mattresses on wooden crates. Someone found a set of kitschy paintings in an old office, and signed them with the names of famous artists like Dal and Van Gogh.

As a piece of shrapnel was removed from his arm, one young soldier compared the unit to a pitstop in Formula One

They try to keep the mood bright as it can get pretty dark in here. The windows are blacked out and its often too dangerous to go outside, though sometimes we risk it. Recently, one of the medics spotted a beautiful sunset and a few of us decided to go for a walk. We sat on a rooftop and watched the night draw in over the war-torn landscape. Someone took a selfie and, just for a moment, things felt normal again.

Sviatoslav, a 46-year-old colorectal surgeon, signed up at the start of the war but was told there was no need for doctors with his specialism. Three months ago, he was finally called up. I knew it would happen sooner or later and I was psychologically ready, said Sviatoslav, who until he got his papers worked in a private hospital in central Ukraine.

He attended lectures in emergency medicine at a military hospital before being sent to the stabilisation unit. Its taken him several weeks to acclimatise to his new surroundings. In a hospital, there are procedures, and you can send patients for various consultations. Here you have just a few minutes to make a decision and youre often [making] it yourself.

Sviatoslav often wears a bulletproof vest, even during operations. You cant dry your clothes and shoes properly. You are constantly cold and damp, he said. The sun, light and wind you only see through the crack in the door that you can only have it open for a few minutes its scary.

The damp basement is where the medics eat, sleep and relax not that theres much time for any of that

What bothers him most is the lack of hygiene. Sometimes, said Sviatoslav, theres no time to wash his hands before an operation, or to find a pair of scrubs. Personal hygiene is also hard to maintain. He cant remember the last time he had a bath and has had only three cold showers since he got here. Instead, he uses wet wipes to clean himself. I understand how [hospitals] should be clean and in these conditions, theres none of that. Its hard for me.

Pasha, 33, used to work as a medic in trauma units in Kyiv. He was on holiday abroad when Russia invaded and rushed back to sign up. I wanted to make myself useful to our armed forces, he said. Along with a driver, Pasha helps evacuate injured soldiers from the front line to the stabilisation unit. My job is very similar to that of a normal ambulance driver; its just that it happens under constant shelling.

My job is very similar to that of a normal ambulance driver; its just that it happens under constant shelling

His shifts can last up to 26 hours and he often has to work through the night. Hes had two weeks off since March 2022, the standard amount of leave for army personnel. He said the doctors at the stabilisation point have become like a second family to him, drawing emotional support from each other. Like all families, they bond through humour: You wouldnt like the jokes we tell, medics jokes are pretty dark.

Last autumn, on their way to pick up some soldiers, they found the wreckage of a helicopter crash. They extracted the three pilots and treated them on the side of the road, before taking them to the unit. Six months later one of the pilots texted him to say thank you. I dont expect thank-yous for my work, but it was really nice to get that message, said Pasha.

Christopher Occhicone is a photojournalist working in Ukraine. He was speaking to Arjun Dodhia. Isobel Koshiw is a freelance journalist based in Kyiv

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Dark, damp and deathly: inside a hospital on Ukraine's front line - The Economist

I would hope what [the Wagner rebellion] does is reinforce to members of Congress, particularly some of my Republican colleagues, who were talking about not continuing funding Ukraine, that this is why it is important to make sure that we are funding Ukraine to push forward, House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said on MSNBC on Monday.

Increasing Ukraine aid is far from a given. Bipartisan support for further arming Kyiv runs deep in Congress, but theres a vocal swath of conservatives, and some progressives, that oppose more U.S. aid. Many top leaders also concede that new funding will hinge on whether Ukraines counteroffensive makes progress in pushing back Russian forces.

The U.S. still has authorization to pull billions of dollars worth of equipment from American stocks and send it to Ukraine. Yet the White House still has to request authority when the current one runs out. It hasnt done so yet, and congressional leaders are divided over the prospect of approving more. The Pentagon, meanwhile, is taking a wait-and-see approach to whatever the next request might be.

American military aid for Ukraine comes in two forms: direct drawdowns from existing stocks under the Presidential Drawdown Authority, and the longer-term Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which uses U.S. funds to sign contracts for weapons and equipment in the months and years to come.

If any of that funding is to be increased, it wont come from the spending blueprint already before Congress.

Theres no additional money in the base budget, said one senior Defense Department official, who was granted anonymity to talk about matters still under discussion. Weve got either the presidents drawdown authority or [Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative] authority as the two primary means to support Ukraine, but for future budgets, its probably too early to tell where things will end up relative to additional replenishment numbers.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, just after securing the debt limit and spending caps deal this month, said he had no plans to take up any supplemental spending beyond the regular fiscal 2024 budget under consideration. Additional spending, therefore, would mean running afoul under the caps of the debt deal, and risks upsetting lawmakers on the Republican right flank who wanted to see deeper spending cuts and oppose new aid for Kyiv.

That puts him at odds with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who on Tuesday reupped his call to rush more weapons to the frontline in the wake of the rebellion. The GOP leader told reporters in Kentucky that its hard to imagine the uprising is bad news for Ukraine.

If you look around the whole world right now, the single most important mission of the free world should be the defeat of the Russians in Ukraine, McConnell said.

I know there are some voices of opposition in the United States, but heres a way to look at it: the amount of money weve spent, sent to Ukraine is about .02 percent of our gross national product, and most of it is spent in this country, McConnell said. So we have a country only asking for help thats doing the fighting.

Another Republican supporter of Ukraine aid, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), said on Meet the Press on Sunday that its been money well spent. The aid, which equates to 5 percent of the U.S. military budget, has helped take out half of Russias military, he said.

Our actions have helped Ukraine prevail to the extent that they are right now. Theyre still in a war, Russia controls 10 percent of their country, but without our aid, without our support, I think Ukraine would have fallen by now, said Bacon, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Too many Republicans have tried to stay under the radar on this, and we do best when we stand for whats right and whats truthful, Bacon said.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a McCarthy ally and member of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, said the turmoil in Russia is a sign Washington must, remain fully committed to assisting our friends in Ukraine with the tools they need to defeat the Russian regime.

The events that occurred over the weekend in Russia show what many of us already knew: Vladimir Putin is a weak leader who launched an unprovoked war on a sovereign nation, Fitzpatrick said in a statement. As the majority of lawmakers agree, a Ukrainian victory is also a victory for American economic and national security, and global stability.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), on MSNBC, argued that because McCarthy is hemmed in by his right flank, the situation could deny Ukraine what it needs in its counteroffensive.

Thats why I think unity right now is so important. If we can do all we can right now to help Ukraine make this push, as Russia is on its heels, this could really change the course of the conflict and get Russia finally out of Ukraine, Swalwell said,

This is a moment right now that we can increase funding, but if he sees himself as more important than what happens on the battlefield in Ukraine, theyre going to not be able to meet this opportunity, Swalwell said of McCarthy.

Despite the bipartisan push, Congress has its share of doubters. In the wake of DODs admission last week that it overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion over the past two years, one Republican lawmaker involved in budget and appropriations discussions with McCarthy said theres not yet a solid case for a new tranche of aid.

First, the implications of developments in Ukraine and Russia are still playing out, said the lawmaker, who was granted anonymity to discuss closed-door conversations among Republicans. Second, its pretty clear DOD doesnt have a clue how much money they have or need for Ukraine. They have some work to do there. Last, our position that we would oppose anything that attempts to circumvent the debt ceiling limit of $886 billion stands.

Congressional Ukraine Caucus Co-Chair Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) was confident Ukraine already had the support in Congress it needs to win more aid and wouldnt put stock in the events in Russia swaying his colleagues.

This just keeps it positive, because I still think the majority is with us majorities in the House and Senate and majorities of Democrats and Republicans, Quigley said in an interview, adding about recent events: It just shows [Putins] weakness and incompetence in prosecuting this war.

As the Wagner mutiny unfolded, top House Armed Services Committee Democrat Adam Smith said the impact on Russias invasion of Ukraine would be difficult to predict. Still, divisions in Russia could offer a prime opportunity for Ukraines counteroffensive to gain steam, he said.

Three defense industry lobbyists told POLITICO they think the Wagner rebellion will help defense hawks argue for a supplemental spending request for the Pentagon and Ukraine.

But the likelihood of passing a supplemental before late fall is slim because of the limited time on Congresss calendar over the next two months, said the lobbyists, who were granted anonymity to candidly discuss the state of play.

It will give a boost to the efforts on a supplemental because of the heightened instability its creating. The instability in Russia, however it plays out, makes the world more dangerous across the board, one of the lobbyists said.

Congress is on recess for July 4 and will also be in August, which does not leave time for a supplemental before the end of the fiscal year. Lawmakers are more focused on passing appropriations bills, the lobbyists said.

Until then, funding for Ukraine is limited within the base budget. Defense policy and spending legislation advanced by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and the House Appropriations Committee last week green lights $300 million for the Pentagon to arm Ukraine, even with Bidens budget request.

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Russia mutiny revives stagnant talk of increasing Ukraine aid in Congress - POLITICO

The events playing out in Russia feel like the trailer for the next James Bond movie: Vladimir Putins ex-chef/ex-cyberhacker/recent mercenary army leader, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, goes rogue.

Prigozhin, a character straight out of Dr. No, leads a convoy of ex-convicts and soldiers of fortune on a madcap dash to seize the Russian capital, shooting down a few Russian military helicopters along the way. They meet so little resistance that the internet is full of pictures of his mercenaries waiting patiently in line to buy coffee: Hey, could you put a lid on that? I dont want it to spill on my tank!

But then, just as suddenly, as Prigozhins men got within 120 miles of Moscow, he apparently caught wind that his convoy on the open highway would be sitting ducks to a determined air attack. So Prigozhin opted for a plea bargain, arranged by the president of Belarus, and called off his revolution sorry, didnt mean it, I was just trying to point out some problems with the Russian Army and everyone called it a day.

Its still not clear if the stone-hearted Putin conveyed any direct threat to his old pal Prigozhin, but as Putins former bag man, Prigozhin clearly wasnt taking any chances. With good reason. As the ever-helpful president of Belarus, where Prigozhin reportedly surfaced on Tuesday, said, the Russian president told him that he wanted to kill his traitorous mercenary commander, to squash him like a bug.

Like the sinister Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the Bond villain who leads the international criminal syndicate SPECTRE and was often seen petting his white cat while plotting mayhem, Putin is often seen at his 20-foot-long white table, with visitors usually seated at the far end, where, you suspect, a trapdoor waits, ready to swallow anyone who gets out of line.

My first reaction watching this drama unfold on CNN and then replayed over the past few days was to wonder: Was this whole thing for real? I am not a conspiracy buff, but Live and Let Die had nothing on this Mutiny on the Moskva script a script that is still playing out, as the analog Putin tries to keep pace on state-run Russian TV while the digitally savvy Prigozhin continues to run circles around him on Telegram.

To the question many readers have asked me What happens to Putin now? it is impossible to predict. I would be careful, though, about writing Putin off so fast. Remember: Blofeld appeared in six Bond movies before 007 finally eliminated him.

All one can do for the moment, I believe, is to try to calculate the different balances of power shaping this story and analyze who can do what in the coming months.

Let me start with the biggest balance of power that should never be lost sight of. President Biden, please come onstage and take a bow. It was the broad and sustained coalition Biden assembled to confront Putin in Ukraine that ripped the facade off Putins Potemkin village.

I like how Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli diplomat in the United States, described it in Haaretz this week: Biden understood from the start that Putin is the epicenter of an anti-American, antidemocratic, fascist constellation that needs to be defeated, not negotiated with. Prigozhins mutiny essentially did what Biden has been doing for the past 18 months: exposing Putins weaknesses, puncturing his already impaled veneer of supposed strategic genius and aura of invincibility.

Putin has long ruled with two instruments: fear and money, covered with a cloak of nationalism. He bought those whom he could buy and jailed or killed those whom he couldnt. Some Russia watchers, though, argue that fear has now left the building in Moscow. With Putins aura of invincibility having at least taken a hit, others could soon challenge him. Well see.

If I were Prigozhin or one of his allies, Id still stay away from anyone walking along a Belarusian sidewalk with an umbrella when the sun is shining. Putin has done a pretty effective job of eliminating his critics, and one should never underestimate the deep fears of Russians about any return to the early 1990s chaos after the fall of the Soviet Union and how grateful many still are for the order that Putin restored.

Its Putins balance of power with the rest of the world where things get complicated, because we in the West have as much to fear from Putins weakness as his strength.

There is no sign yet that the Prigozhin mutiny, or the Ukrainian counteroffensive, has led to any significant collapse of Russian forces in Ukraine, but it is too soon to draw any final conclusions.

U.S. officials argue that Putins strategy is to exhaust the Ukrainian Army of its 155-millimeter howitzer artillery shells, the mainstay of its ground forces, as well as of its antiaircraft interceptors, so its ground forces would be naked to Russian airpower and then try to hold on until the Western allies are exhausted or Donald Trump gets re-elected and Putin can get a dirty deal where he saves face in Ukraine.

Its not a crazy strategy. Ukraine fires off so many 155 rounds as many as 8,000 per day that the Biden team is now scrambling to find more stocks before the new factories making them come online in 2024.

Logistics matter. So does whether you are playing defense or offense, because offense is harder and the Russians are now really dug in and have laid mines all across their defense lines, which is why the Ukrainian counteroffensive has been off to a slow start.

As Ivan Krastev, a Russia expert and the chairman of the Center for Liberal Strategies in Bulgaria, told me: In the first year of this war, when Russia was on the offensive, every day that it was not winning, it was losing. In the second year, every day that Ukraine is not winning it, it is losing.

We should not underestimate the courage of Ukrainians. Nor should we underestimate how exhausted they have to be as a society.

And as has happened in history, the Russian Army has been learning from its mistakes, John Arquilla, a longtime professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in California and the author of Bitskrieg: The New Challenge of Cyber Warfare, explained to me, The Russians suffer, but they always learn.

Putins army has gotten better at pushing authority down to the officers on the front lines and using drones extensively, Arquilla argued. At the same time, the Ukrainian Army has drifted somewhat from its early strategy emphasizing small, mobile units, armed with intelligence and smart weapons, attacking the lumbering Russian Army to adopting a bigger, heavier profile and using more tanks.

The Ukrainians were winning with small units, swift-flowing information and smart munitions, Arquilla said. Now they look a lot more like the Russian Army they were defeating. The battlefield will tell us whether this is the right strategy.

All that said, we should be worried as much by the prospect of Putins defeat as by any victory. What if he is toppled? This is not like the last days of the Soviet Union. There is no nice, decent Yeltsin-like or Gorbachev-like figure with the power and standing to immediately take over.

The old Soviet Union had institutions there were party and state organs, central and provincial which were responsible for maintaining their bailiwicks, as well as some order of succession, Leon Aron, a Russia scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, whose book about Putins Russia is being published in October, remarked to me. When Putin came in, he bulldozed or subverted all political and social structures outside the Kremlin.

But Russian history does offer some surprising twists, Aron added: Longer term, historically, successors to Russias reactionary rulers are often more liberal, especially early in their term: Alexander I after Paul I, Alexander II after Nicholas I, Khrushchev after Stalin, Gorbachev after Andropov. So if we can get through a transition from Putin, there is some hope.

In the near term, though, if Putin is ousted, we could well end up with someone worse. How would you feel if Prigozhin had been in the Kremlin this morning, commanding Russias nuclear arsenal?

You could also get disorder or civil war and the crackup of Russia into warlord/oligarch fiefs. As much as I detest Putin, I detest disorder even more, because when a big state cracks apart, it is very hard to put it back together. The nuclear weapons and criminality that could spill out of a disintegrated Russia would change the world.

This is not a defense of Putin. It is an expression of rage at what he did to his country, making it into a ticking time bomb spread across 11 time zones. Putin has taken the whole world hostage.

If he wins, the Russian people lose. But if he loses and his successor is disorder, the whole world loses.

Continued here:

Opinion | Putin, Prigozhin and the Danger of Disorder - The New York Times

(Bloomberg) -- Switzerland blocked arms maker Ruag AG from selling almost 100 tanks in a deal that would have seen them used by Ukraine in its war with Russia.

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The government said the request is inconsistent with applicable law, noting that Switzerland is a neutral country which cant approve sales of arms bound for an active conflict zone. Ruag said it acknowledged the decision, but declined to comment further when contacted by Bloomberg.

The rejection applies to 96 non-operational Leopard 1 tanks currently stored in Italy, which are property of Ruag. The proposal was for the vehicles to be refurbished in Germany and then sent to Ukraine.

The announcement on Wednesday is unconnected to a separate sale of 25 Leopard 2 tanks of the Swiss army, which are supposed to go to German company Rheinmetall AG.

The latter deal recently won the support of the Swiss government and is expected to go through by next year. In this case, Germany has promised not to send the tanks to Ukraine, but to keep them at home to fill gaps in its own military.

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Switzerland Blocks Sale of Leopard 1 Tanks Bound for Ukraine - Yahoo News

To date, Ukraine has seen 10 of 109 Bradley variants already delivered destroyed, two damaged, and another 12 damaged and abandoned, according to the latest figures from the Oryx open source intelligence tracking group. That figure could be higher, because Oryx only tabulates equipment it can visually verify.

Curiously, none of the 100 Strykers provided to Ukraine have been reported damaged, destroyed or abandoned, which could be an indication of just what Kyiv is holding back in its counteroffensive.

Asked by The War Zone if the U.S. has determined whether any Strykers have been lost, Ryder said that he was not going to do battle damage assessment for the Russian military.

He later added that there was no timeline for the delivery of these vehicles.

The other capabilities in this 41st Presidential Drawdown Authority package include:

Before we head into the latest news from Ukraine,The War Zonereaders can catch up on our previous rolling coverage here.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to make progress in its counteroffensive, likely retaking territory Russia has held since 2014. That, at least, is the conclusion of the U.K Ministry of Defense in its latest daily intelligence briefing.

As well as liberating more villages, the same report suggests that Ukraine has, perhaps for the first time, begun to retake territory in the east of the country that lies beyond the de facto borders established between Kyiv and the self-proclaimedDonetskRepublicin 2014.

"Ukrainian airborne forces have made small advances east from the village ofKrasnohorivka, near Donetsk city, which sits on the old line of control," the briefing states.

"This is one of the first instances since Russia's February 2022 invasion that Ukrainian forces have highly likely recaptured an area of territory occupied by Russia since 2014."

"Recent multiple concurrent Ukrainian assaults throughout the Donbas have likely overstretched Donetsk People's Republic and Chechen forces operating in this area."

All told, U.K. Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace said that Ukraine has already liberated some 300 square kilometers of territory, more than Russia captured during its failed winter campaign.

There is no indication, he added, that Russia has the needed ground troops to counter the multiple threats from Ukraine along the 200-kilometer line from Bakhmut to the left bank of the Dnipro River.

However, when it comes to Bakhmut, while Ukrainian troops are making progress around that city, they have yet to enter it again, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Tuesday on her Telegram channel.

"At present, offensive actions in the Bakhmut direction have been going on for a fourth day," she said. "Our defenders advance on the flanks every day. Gradually, but surely. As of today, they have not entered the city of Bakhmut."

The reason, she said, is largely because of the defenses Ukraine built up while it held the city.

Bakhmut and its suburbs have "a developed system of engineering fortifications and an extensive network of strongholds. All this was once prepared by our military and local authorities for defense, which actually helped to keep it for so long," said Maliar. "But now these fortifications and strongholds have been occupied by the enemy, so to liberate these lands requires a little more effort and patience."

The Kremlin-connected Rybar Telegram channel concurred with Maliar that Ukraine is making progress around Bakhmut, a surge it claimed that could spell greater trouble for Russian forces in that part of the front.

As his troops have made progress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited two areas along the frontline in eastern andsouthern Ukraine.

"Today the front. Donetsk region, Zaporizhzhia," he said on his nightly address. "Our warriors, our frontline positions, areas of active operations at the front. Today, our warriors have advanced in all directions, and this is a happy day. I wished the guys more days like this."

Zelensky's comments come after Ukrainian troops reportedly established a foothold near the Antonovsky Bridge on the left bank of the Dnipro and retook the village of Rivnopil.

On Tuesday, the battle for the area near the bridge raged on, with both sides trading heavy artillery fire as Ukraine tries to hold on to its bridgehead and Russia tries to counterattack.

Ukraine's special operations forces (SSO) riverine units have played a big role in the burgeoning Dnipro River area of operations.

Once again, rail infrastructure within Russian-occupied Crimea appears to have come under attack.

According to the Telegram channel of the official Russian RIA Novosti news agency, railway tracks were damaged in easternCrimea. That account cites the Russian-imposed regional governor, who said repairs would take four to eight hours. The reports did not state what caused the damage, but there has been a series of similar attacks on railways both in Crimea and in areas of Russian close to the Ukrainian border which some have blamed on Ukraine or pro-Ukrainian partisans.

A top Chinese official has suggested that Beijing could back Ukraines aims of reclaiming its 1991 territorial integrity, which includes Crimea - the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 - Al Jazeera reported Tuesday.

In a recent interview, Chinas envoy to the European Union Fu Cong said I dont see why not when asked about supporting Kyivs goals, which include reclaiming other Ukrainian regions now occupied by Russia.

We respect the territorial integrity of all countries, according to Al Jazeera. So when China established relations with the former Soviet Union, thats what we agreed. But as I said, these are historical issues that need to be negotiated and resolved by Russia and Ukraine and that is what we stand for.

Images of Chinese-manufactured Type 66 152mm high explosive artillery shells being used by Russia, meanwhile, have emerged on social media. It is unclear of where the munitions came from, but markings on the containers indicate they could have originally been delivered to Iran, then shipped to Russia.

Wallace told Parliament today that the Storm Shadow air-launched, conventionally armed cruise missiles are having a "significant impact on the battlefield" thanks to its accuracy and Ukraine's ability to successfully deliver the payload. You can read more about what the Storm Shadow brings to the table for Ukraine in our deep dive here.

Canadian troops are working to prove a new concept of operations involving heavily armedPolaris MRZR4x4 all-terrain vehicles, including oneswith TOW anti-tank missiles. This effort started late last year and comes as troops in Ukraine have been making use of all-terrain vehicles, buggies, and other very light vehicles as mobile anti-tank platforms for well over a year now. You can read more about this in our story here.

The United Nations Humans Rights Office today announced that Russian forces have carried out widespread and systematic torture of civilians since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Dozens of civilians have also been summarily executed by Russian forces in the same timeframe, the U.N. says. Meanwhile, Ukrainian security forces are accused of 75 cases of arbitrary detention of civilians.

As part of its report, the U.N. Humans Rights Office interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses, resulting in details of more than 900 civilians being arbitrarily detained in the conflict, including children and elderly people, most of them by Russia. The vast majority of those interviewed reported torture and, in some cases, being subjected to sexual violence during detention by Russian forces.

The head of the U.N. Humans Rights Office inUkraine, Matilda Bogner,said: Torture was used to force victims to confess to helping the Ukrainian Armed Forces, compel them to cooperate with the occupying authorities or intimidate those with pro-Ukrainian views, AP reports.

There was much speculation after it was noted that an Il-96-300 transport from the Russian Special Air Group had departed Vnukovo Airport, outside Moscow, headed for Washington DC. The aircraft, a type normally used for transporting Russian government officials, is being used for a regular rotation of diplomatic staff, Maria Zakharova, a Russian Foreign Ministry press spokesperson, told the TASS news agency.

According to TASS: "The plane flying to Washington will take out Russian diplomats who are ordered to leave the U.S. in connection with the completion of a three-year stay," Zakharova said.

"Russian diplomats are leaving the U.S. not because of expulsion, but because of restrictions imposed by Washington on the work of Russian foreign missions."

Exactly a year after a Russian airstrike on Kremenchuk hit a busy shopping mall, killing at least 21 civilians, explosions have again rocked the central Ukrainian city.

"Explosions were heard in Kremenchuk," said Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ignat. "We are waiting to hear from regional administrations about the implications of the explosions."

Ignat said that two missiles were spotted before the explosions were heard inKremenchuk, according to a report from Reuters.

Last year's attack on Kremenchuk took place at a time when authorities estimated there were hundreds of people inside the shopping mall. Many were trapped inside and different world leaders subsequently described the incident as a war crime.

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian Armed Forces claim they shot down two Kalibr cruise missiles and seven Iranian-made Shahed drones in the course of last night. The same source states that Russia carried out 45 airstrikes and launched 38 attacks using multiple rocket launch systems (MLRS) on Monday night.

Another Russian engineering vehicle has apparently been captured, which will come in handy when it is repaired and used by Ukrainian forces.

More video emerged of Russian forces coming under attack from Ukraine.

And finally, while we have seen a number of innovations and improvisations from both sides, the modified turret placed on the hull of this Russian T-72B2K main battle tank is one of the more unusual ones we have seen.

That's it for now. We'll update this story when there's more news to report about Ukraine.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

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Ukraine Situation Report: U.S. Replenishes Kyiv's Bradley Fighting Vehicle Force - The War Zone

Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, believes that the rebellion in Russia would have damaged the morale of Russian troops had it lasted two days longer.

Source: Kuleba in an interview with CNN

Quote: "If this mutiny had lasted for 48 hours more, I'm pretty certain we would have felt a demoralising impact on the Russian forces fighting in the south and east of Ukraine.

Unfortunately, Prigozhin gave up too quickly. So there was no time for this demoralising effect to penetrate Russian trenches."

Background:

The Wagner Group mercenaries advanced 780 kilometres deep into Russia and stopped only 200 kilometres from Moscow. Prigozhin stated that he was stopping the so-called "justice march" to avoid bloodshed and that the rebellion was a protest, not an attempt to overthrow the government.

Western media outlets stated that the rebellion in Russia was a "gift" for the Ukrainian offensive and that it was likely to change the course of the war.

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Prigozhin surrendered too quickly, occupiers in Ukraine did not have time to lose heart Ukraine's Foreign Minister - Yahoo News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the early stages of planning a trip to Ukraine, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Kornichuk said on Wednesday.

Kornichuk discussed the matter with the Prime Ministers Office a day earlier and found that they were willing to consider a visit to Kyiv.

Netanyahu is reconsidering issues related to Russia following the attempted coup over the weekend, he said.

The trip is in a very preliminary stage of planning and no date has been set, the ambassador said.

The Prime Ministers Office said that no decision has been made.

I told them that the fastest way for Netanyahu to get to the White House is through Kyiv, Kornichuk said. The invitation is on the table and has been passed on a couple of times and I hope it will be accepted and we will see Mr. Netanyahu in Kyiv.

The ambassadors remark is a reversal of the usual situation in recent decades, in which countries tried to get closer to Washington by strengthening their relationships with Jerusalem. Netanyahu has yet to be invited to the White House, and US President Joe Biden has indicated that the reason is the Israeli governments planned judicial reform.

Best Radio, an Israeli Russian-language station, reported on Wednesday that Netanyahu is considering a stop in Chiinu to meet the president of Moldova en route to Kyiv.

The Foreign Ministry publicly recommended for the first time that Netanyahu meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The head of the Foreign Ministrys Eurasia Division Yuval Fuchs made the remark at a meeting of the Foreign Policy Subcommittee of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday.

The subcommittee convened to discuss Israel's stance on the Ukraine-Russia war after Kornichuk, sharply criticized Israel's inaction in providing military aid to Ukraine.

Subcommittee chairman MK Gideon Sa'ar (National Camp) expressed the need for Israel to take a more visible, active role in aiding Ukraine.

"The issue of the war in Ukraine remains the number one concern for the world, the international community and international public opinion. In the eyes of the Western world, Israel remains on the sidelines of this conflict. There is a need for a renewed assessment of the Israeli policy towards the war in Ukraine," Sa'ar said.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu should travel to Kyiv - it could reduce this rift," he stated, calling for Israel to implement any agreements with Ukraine that have been delayed.

Saar went on to warn against the Russian-Iranian partnership as a threat to Israel.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) concurred, saying that the nonstop developments in the war between Russia and Ukraine have ramifications for the whole world, including us.

Ukraine has become Irans playing field, he added. Iranian weapons flood the region, Iranian technology and Russian cooperation are a clear danger to the security of the State of Israel.

Edelstein said that the whole world is focused on this war and Israel is still deliberating and dragging its feet. It is clear to everyone what is the right and moral thing to do, and every day that we sit on the fence, we are isolating ourselves and giving the Iranians more time to get stronger. This must change immediately.

MK Ze'ev Elkin (National Camp), chairman of the Israel-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, said that while Israel has been concerned about incurring consequences from Russia if it takes a firm stance favoring Ukraine, there may likewise be consequences for not doing so. He lamented that Israel is falling behind the Western world in this regard.

"The West continues to raise their level of assistance while we remain stuck in the same mind frame of the first day of the war. This is a grave mistake. Israel must urgently wake up and change its policy towards the Russia-Ukraine war," Elkin said.

Elkin, who was born in Kharkiv, has a brother and two nieces who live in the city, as well as other relatives in Ukraine. Edelstein was also born in Ukraine.

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post last week, Netanyahu said that the deconfliction mechanism between Jerusalem and Moscow is critical in allowing Israel to strike Iranian targets, as long as the Russian military has a presence in Syria.

"Our pilots are flying right next to Russian pilots over the skies of Syria," Netanyahu said. "And I think its important that we maintain our freedom of action against Irans attempts to place itself militarily on our northern border."

Days later, the Ukrainian Embassy lambasted Israel for a "near absence of... humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in the first half of this year and that the "relevant statements made by the Israeli prime minister have always aimed at justifying Israels complete inaction in providing Ukraine with defensive assistance [since the start of the war.]"

Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.

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Netanyahu considering visit to Ukraine, Kyiv's envoy to Israel says - The Jerusalem Post

June 27, 2023 at 12:19 p.m. EDT

KREMINNA FOREST, Ukraine For five days, the attacking Russians threw everything they had at the Ukrainian brigade defending a patch of forest here on the eastern front mortar, artillery, flamethrowers and tank fire mowing down whatever stood in their way. By the sixth day, bodies littered the smoldering terrain. Only a scorched field and blackened tree stumps remained.

We had to retreat, said an infantryman, who goes by the call sign Master, describing the battle earlier this month. It was very challenging for the infantry to hold the front, because we were being pushed very hard by the Russians, without adequate artillery cover.

Russia is still on the attack on the eastern front of Ukraine. (Video: The Washington Post)

The forest, just west of Kreminna, a Russian-occupied town in Ukraines Luhansk region, is now an epicenter of some of the wars fiercest fighting. But unlike elsewhere on the eastern and southern fronts, where Ukraine has mounted a long-anticipated counteroffensive, the fighting here is being driven by Russia in its latest push to seize the entire eastern Donbas region.

According to Ukrainian soldiers, Moscow has bolstered its eastern forces and intensified its attacks, aiming to recapture towns and cities that Ukraine liberated in the fall.

Master, who was recuperating from the battle in Yampil, a front-line village on the outskirts of the forest in eastern Ukraine, said that as a result of the attack, the Russians had advanced roughly 300 to 400 meters up to a quarter of a mile on the north side of the forest. They are certainly attacking more intensely and advancing in this direction, he said. The Washington Post is not identifying Master or other soldiers because of security concerns.

Unlike in Zaporizhzhia, for instance, where the Russians are dug into heavily fortified defenses and the Ukrainians are trying to advance, in the Kreminna forest, the side that is attacking or defending can vary day to day or even hour by hour.

A Ukrainian platoon commander, who goes by the call-sign Hephaestus, said Russias operations in the east had dramatically increased. Within just one 24-hour stretch this week, he said, there were six attempted attacks on his brigades sector.

They are losing the initiative in the south and near Bakhmut, Hephaestus said. Therefore, they need to give something to Russian society at a political level to show they have some ambition and advantage. The Donetsk and Luhansk regions have always been a priority for Russia.

A British intelligence memo on Sunday reported that Russian forces had made a significant effort to launch an attack on the Serebryanka forest near Kreminna, an adjoining forest to the southeast of the Kreminna wood.

This probably reflects continued Russian senior leadership orders to go on the offensive whenever possible, the memo stated Russia has made some small gains, but Ukrainian forces have prevented a breakthrough.

The Kreminna forest is now one of the most dangerous spots on the front line. Winding toward the forest through the moonscape of what used to be peoples homes, there are few signs of life. A lone soldier on a bicycle. A rusting basketball hoop. People live here, scrawled across the gate of a shrapnel-riddled house. The gargantuan task Ukraine faces in reclaiming its stolen territory is quickly apparent.

On Saturday, Post journalists accompanied the platoon commander Hephaestus as he drove to fallback positions in the forest. A voice crackled on the walkie-talkie. Up ahead, theres a mortar unit be aware, they could fire at any time. The road through the forest is unpredictable and constantly hit by mortar rounds and artillery. Warrens of trenches run through the woods, while armored vehicles and rocket launchers are tucked away in the undergrowth.

The concentration of the enemy is now much higher in the forests of Kreminna than in any other areas of the front, Hephaestus explained. It is connected with the landscape. Thanks to the dense forests, it is easy enough for the enemy to hide a large number of troops and equipment.

Every movement should be gradual, he added. The priority for us is every human life. If we use them unplanned and irrationally, there will be unjustifiably immense sacrifices.

A group of medics stationed at an evacuation point in the forest said the situation varied from week to week but had become more noticeably harder in recent days. In previous weeks, they were rotated every 10 days, but now, they are being rotated every two due to the uptick in fighting.

Two days ago, we were working throughout the night, I lost track of how many calls there were, said a 25-year-old medic known as Priest. He played a recording he had made on his phone of an assault near their position one night that week: a stomach-twisting soundtrack of relentless bombardments that lasted for hours.

Priest estimated that casualties for the Lyman region, which includes the Kreminna forest, has increased by 10 times. In his particular brigade, he said, there had been about 70 casualties in two days.

A web of threats lurk in the woods. The terrain itself a mishmash of thick pine forests, swamps, lakes and hills is difficult and hinders the rapid advance of assault units. Mines, drones and smoke from the near-constant fires that rage from the shelling make the territory even more lethal. Then there are roving reconnaissance groups.

The Kreminna forest, located just west of a Russian-occupied town in Ukraine's Luhansk region, is now an epicenter of some of the war's fiercest fighting. (Video: The Washington Post)

One night last week, Hephaestus carefully led his unit on a mission to find weak spots in enemy lines. As the unit slowly made its way in the dark through the dense woodland, cutting through thickets of nettles and foxgloves, they could smell the burning pines. The Russians were bombing the woods again with flamethrowers, a tactic used to both obscure the view of reconnaissance drones and to smoke out the locations of Ukrainian positions and equipment.

Suddenly, the lead scouts signaled that they had spotted movement up ahead. The unit stopped. Looking through night-vision goggles, they identified the silhouettes of a Russian reconnaissance unit farther up in the woods, roughly 10 meters away. The unit opened fire. A few minutes later, all the Russians lay dead.

This is the forest, said Hephaestus with a shrug, adding that it is common to come face-to-face with enemy units in the woods. Sometimes we are able to catch the enemy by surprise if you stand still, you can hear a crunch, a whisper especially at night when its quiet.

Sometimes the Russians wear Ukrainian uniforms taken from the soldiers they killed or captured, to try to infiltrate Ukrainian lines. They can be a large, elite fighting group or a handful of inexperienced recruits who were sent directly to the front lines.

When a Post reporting team visited an artillery position on the Serebryanka flank on Saturday morning, active hostilities were underway. The percussive booms of shells and whistle of incoming fire cut through the otherwise eerie silence. Five young, exhausted soldiers emerged blinking into the sunlight from their shelter and hurried to their positions, where they prepared to fire several rounds from an L119 howitzer gun.

Their 40-year-old commanding officer, who goes by the call sign Scythian, has been stationed in the area for the past six months and said that the level of shelling from the Russian side had increased in recent weeks. He said the Russians had also amassed armored vehicles and tanks that had not been observed before. That the enemy is building up forces in this area is clear, he said.

An artillery commander of the National Guard, who goes by the call sign Brave, said that the battle lines in the forest were constantly shifting and rarely stable.

The enemy, like us, retreats in places and conducts counteroffensive actions; they break through certain positions and lines. Like us, in some places, they advance and elsewhere they sacrifice some positions, he said.

Brave said that such attacks can happen up to 10 times a day. When there is a tip from reconnaissance units that perhaps an infantry breakthrough is being prepared or a concentration is taking place in the forest, we begin to work, he said.

Understanding the Russia-Ukraine conflict

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On this part of the eastern front, Russia is still on the attack - The Washington Post

As Russia's invasion enters its 17th month, Ukrainian forces say Moscow is ramping up its use of low-cost suicide drones that are capable of destroying equipment many times their value and not easy to defend against.

The Lancet drone, an angular gray tube with two sets of four wings, has been an increasing threat on Ukraine's frontlines in recent months, according to Ukrainian soldiers.

Videos posted by pro-Russian social media channels over the last month appear to show Lancet drones damaging or destroying Ukraine's valuable Western-donated equipment, such as a Leopard 2 tank and a Caesar self-propelled howitzer.

Ukrainian servicemen from four different artillery crews named Lancets as one of the main threats they faced on the battlefield in conversations with Reuters.

Several soldiers said the frequency of its use had increased in recent months.

"Earlier, in spring, they were not using Lancets as often as they are now," 35-year-old artillery gunner Bohdan, who gave his call sign as Doc, told Reuters near Avdiivka on the Donetsk region frontlines.

Russia's defense ministry has been encouraging an increase of production of the Lancet as a cheap way to hit high-value Western equipment given to Ukraine for its counteroffensive, said Samuel Bendett, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Bendett said that, according to publicly available Russian sources, a Lancet drone costs approximately 3 million roubles (around $35,000).

In comparison, analysts estimate a single S-300 missile used by Russia to cost at least several hundred thousand dollars. A Leopard 2 tank is worth several million dollars.

Because the Lancet is a single-use device that destroys itself on impact, Bendett said it can only be viable if the cost is kept down to the tens of thousands of dollars per drone.

Ukraine has also developed strong capabilities in drones - also known as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) - as a cost-effective way to hit Russian targets.

Assault drones can send payloads to hit their target or serve as single-use "loitering munitions" - where they are strapped with explosives and ram the target themselves.

Bendett said there was unhappiness among pro-war Russian commentators about the large amount of Ukrainian videos showing successful UAV strikes, and that the Russian defense sector now wanted to create a competing narrative.

Russia appears to be copying some of Ukraine's earlier tactics, such as luring high-value targets forward into more exposed positions before hitting them with loitering munitions, Bendett said.

Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukraine's defense minister, acknowledged that Russia's increasing use of Lancets created difficulties.

"Every day we shoot down at least one or two of these Lancets ... but it's not a 100% interception rate unfortunately," he said.

Sak said the Lancet carried a relatively small explosive payload, ranging from 1.5-5 kg.

However, despite being less powerful than an artillery shell or most rockets, the Lancet appears to be able to inflict significant damage.

Lancet drones are flown in real-time by a pilot.

Sak said this distinguishes it from the Iran-made Shahed-136 drone, which Russia has also used extensively to hit Ukrainian targets, because a Shahed flies to a pre-programmed destination and cannot be piloted while in the air.

The newest Lancet model, the Lancet 3, can fly up to 50 km (30 miles), Bendett said, making it better able to strike targets deep behind Ukrainian lines than any other Russian suicide drone besides the Shahed.

Its ability to loiter and then chase down its target makes it a threat to high-value equipment such as tanks, self-propelled artillery and rocket launch systems.

One of the Ukrainian vehicles most at risk is the BM-21 Grad, a large Soviet-era truck-mounted launcher that can fire a barrage of up to 40 rockets over a wide area.

Its firepower makes it a priority target for Lancet drones, and a video shared by pro-war Russian social media channels last week appeared to show a Grad being hit by a Lancet. Reuters could not independently verify the footage.

A crew member of a Grad launcher near Avdiivka, who introduced himself by his call sign Voron, recounted having a close brush with a Lancet which had been sent to attack his launcher in early May.

Having fired on a Russian target, Voron said his Grad was immediately targeted by a Russian S-300 missile, which missed by about 150 meters. However, a Lancet drone then appeared in the sky and chased the Ukrainian rocket system.

"We decided to flee ... After about 50 meters it fell just to my right. It didn't hit us, thank God," the 27-year-old said.

Drones like the Lancet, which fly low and slow, tend to confuse traditional air defense systems, which are built to intercept fast-moving targets with a larger heat signature.

Nets or metal cages can help limit the damage, said Sak, the defense ministry official, but the best defenses are radar-equipped automated anti-drone guns, as well as electronic warfare systems.

Sak said Ukraine needed many more of these systems from its allies.

Without such systems, Ukrainian soldiers are often forced to try to shoot the Lancets down with small arms.

"It's flying at 100 kilometers per hour, so shooting it down with small arms is not an easy challenge," said Sak.

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Cheap Russian drone a menace to Ukrainian troops and equipment - The Jerusalem Post