Daily Archives: July 1, 2024

They first appeared as a cloud of dust on the horizon. A few seconds later, the motorcycles carrying Russian soldiers sped into view, zigzagging across a field, kicking up dust, attempting a noisy, dangerous run at a Ukrainian trench.

They moved fast, they spread out and they swerved, said Lt. Mykhailo Hubitsky, describing the Russian motorcycle assault he witnessed. Its a type of attack that has been proliferating along the frontline this spring, adding a wild new element to the already violent, chaotic fighting.

Russian soldiers riding motorcycles, dirt bikes, quadricycles and dune buggies now account for about half of all attacks in some areas of the front, soldiers and commanders say, as Moscows forces attempt to use speed to cross exposed open spaces where its lumbering armored vehicles are easy targets.

These nonconventional vehicles have been turning up with such frequency that some Ukrainian trenches now overlook junk yards of abandoned, blown up off-road vehicles, videos from reconnaissance drones show.

The new tactic is the latest Russian adaptation for a heavily mined, continually surveilled battlefield, as Moscows forces work to achieve small tactical gains, often of just a few hundred yards.

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Motorcycles and Mayhem in Ukraine's East - The New York Times

I tweeted my way into U.S. Embassy events, including two Independence Day receptions hosted by then-U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt.

But by the time Russias full-scale invasion began, I had fallen out of love with the platform. I had other priorities caring for my elderly disabled parents who chose not to evacuate.

Theres a video of me escorting them into the bomb shelter in the early days of the Russian onslaught, one I later shared in a short interview with France 24. My dad, then 80, could only manage baby steps and soon became bedridden. He passed away a harrowing 18 months later, on Aug. 30, 2023.

The meds, the diapers, the bedsores, the sleepless nights and his dying breaths they all left me with a crater in my soul. And he left me with one last parent: my mom, aged 75.

In her younger days, my mom had spent nearly four decades working as an English-speaking tourist guide at one of Kyivs most revered sights the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, a millennium-old cave monastery. In 1982, when Kyiv celebrated its 1,500th anniversary, she graced the cover of the Polish magazine Przyja (Friendship) so young, radiant and energetic. Throughout her career, she guided thousands of people from all continents and all walks of life. Her list of VIPs included International Olympic Committee Chairman Juan Antonio Samaranch and other dignitaries like the head of the Pakistani General Staff. She saw in-person First Lady Raisa Gorbachev, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite. Did she love her job? She was married to it.

Now shes a mess anxious and depressed, insomniac and psychotic, underweight and constipated, socially isolated and cognitively impaired. Like my dad in his final years, she fully depends on me.

Continued here:

Letter from Ukraine: How will my mom survive if I'm drafted? - POLITICO Europe

The occupying forces in the Russian-annexed Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine are preparing to transfer residential property to military personnel, the Centre of National Resistance in Kyiv said on Sunday.

Flats would not only be handed over to Moscows occupying forces but also to migrants from Central Asia, the centre said.

The internationally unrecognised leadership in Luhansk is preparing corresponding laws. Many Ukrainians have fled the occupied territories and left their property behind.

Immigrants from Central Asia are mainly used as cheap labour by Russia not least for the reconstruction of towns and villages destroyed by the war.

According to a statement from the centre, the occupying forces are confiscating homes abandoned during the war and transferring them to homeless people.

Civilians are also being forcibly relocated from areas close to the front. Russian soldiers would then be housed in the civilian buildings, it said.

Russian state employees in Luhansk are being given flats abandoned by Ukrainians to carry out administrative tasks in the occupied territory, the centre said. Such flats and houses are offered for sale at low prices.

The Kremlin is promoting such resettlements because it wants to completely Russify the occupied territories, the statement said.

09:43

Ukraine war two years on: disease, displacement and demands for aid

Ukraine war two years on: disease, displacement and demands for aid

The occupiers rejected recognising the documents on residential property issued in accordance with Ukrainian law. Instead, they demanded that ownership be formalised in accordance with Russian laws. Homeowners would thus be forced to first apply for a Russian passport and then go through Russian legal procedures.

The centre emphasised that the Russian approach was illegal and recommended that Ukrainian citizens keep original documents or certified copies of certificates of ownership. The Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly announced its intention to recapture the annexed territories.

Ukrainian citizens have also been expropriated on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Many homes, including one belonging to the family of President Volodymyr Zelensky, were seized by the Russian state.

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Flats in Russian-held Luhansk to be given away to troops, migrant workers - South China Morning Post

KYIV, Ukraine When President Volodymyr Zelensky walked into the high-ceilinged, ornate conference room in the presidential office building, the exhaustion on his face was so stark I almost felt guilty about taking his time.

Wearing his trademark black T-shirt and olive drab pants, and arriving after a morning of security meetings, he appeared to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. That may literally be the truth: The future of Western democracies rests heavily on what happens to Ukraine.

In a wide-ranging interview last week, Zelensky laid out how Ukraine could still win if the West can lose its fear of Vladimir Putin and recognize the Russian leaders weakness.

Zelensky defined what victory would mean. And he insisted that direct peace talks with Moscow wouldnt end the war but would encourage further Russian aggression against Ukraine, Europe and America.

It is impossible to help Ukraine with one hand and shake Putins hand with the other, Zelensky insisted. It will not work. It is not just a question of the West protecting Ukraine, he stressed. It is Ukraine which protects all of the democratic countries that Putin will attack further on.

READ MORE: Ukraines head of military intelligence is behind Kyivs biggest victories this year. He sees no point in peace talks | Trudy Rubin

I entered the presidential offices through a heavily sandbagged rear building door and walked down long silent corridors. All electronics, including cell phones, were banned from the visit as a safety measure. There have been numerous Russian attempts to assassinate Zelensky, the most recent in May when Ukrainian intelligence busted a network of Russian agents aiming to take the president hostage and kill him.

It has been a rough few months for the Ukrainian leader. His forces stopped a Russian offensive in the north but Putins troops are still advancing slowly in the east. The ground war is essentially stalemated.

But the tech-savvy Ukrainians have been making astonishing advances in drone warfare, which have brought the war home to Russia and driven the Kremlins ships out of occupied Crimean ports on the Black Sea and back to Russian bases.

The biggest [current] issue is with glide bombs, Zelensky told me, referring to Moscows recent use of thousands of bombs each month that can be released at a great distance from their target, protecting the launching aircraft from antiaircraft defenses. So you need to search for long-range solutions against their aerodromes where their military aircraft land, which Russia uses to launch glide bombs and missiles.

If President Joe Biden would let Ukraine use long-range U.S. missiles such as the recently delivered ATACMS to hit those airports in Russia, then the attacks could be prevented, Zelensky said. But so far that permission has not been granted. Ukraines innovative, home-produced long-range drones are hitting those airports but dont have the power of missiles.

Biden recently gave permission for shorter-range U.S. missiles to be used just across the Ukrainian border where Russian troops were massing, which halted the Russian offensive toward Kharkiv.

But that doesnt solve our issues, Zelensky told me. It is tactical, not strategic.

I asked Zelensky whether he believed Biden wanted Ukraine to achieve victory.

Yes, he answered quickly. I think that for the United States it is important and for Europe and for many countries. But we can have different ideas toward the word victory.

The West wanted to deny Putin the opportunity to fully occupy Ukraine and to put the aggressor in his place. I think for them it is the victory already, Zelensky said.

But for us, he continued, growing emotional, for the people at the front line who lost their brothers at arms, the civilians who lost their relatives, those who fled abroad but have husbands on the front line for us, victory is a moment of satisfaction.

We are grateful that the West did not let Russia occupy us [fully], but we need justice.

In other words, Zelensky, who still maintains a 60% popularity rating among Ukrainians, must listen to the voices of his people and his soldiers, who wont accept surrendering one fifth of their land to Russia after all they have suffered. That burden is visible in the lines on his face.

In practical terms, the first part of Zelenskys real victory is not to allow the full destruction of everything Ukrainian by Putin.

In Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia, Moscow tries to wipe out use of the Ukrainian language, the Ukrainian church, and the teaching of Ukrainian history. Children are taught that Ukraine was never a legitimate state.

READ MORE: Ukraines volunteer spirit buoys its fight against Russia | Trudy Rubin

Putins true and imperialistic aim in invading Ukraine is to rebuild the historic Russian empire by physical force or political subversion. Zelensky described how Russia is already pursuing that goal elsewhere: in Belarus, Georgia, and next stop if the West doesnt push back against Putin in the Baltic states, which are NATO members. By bombing Ukraines cities he is trying to make the country unlivable and drive out the population.

The second part of real victory, Zelensky specified, is security for today and for future Ukrainian generations, and the impossibility of the repetition of aggression.

We should be in the European Union for economic security. And we should be in NATO for physical security. If we dont have these two, there is a huge risk for us that the enemy will come back, he said. Ukraine has been invited to start EU accession talks, but the process is lengthy.

Yet Zelensky fears that the West especially the United States is still leery of pushing for real victory. Everybody is still afraid that Russia can split apart, everybody is afraid of what will happen to Russia without Putin and whether it will stay as it is or get worse.

As a result, he said, Putin is free to pursue his strategy of taking as much as possible. Any step forward on our territory, any occupation, any village even fully destroyed is positive for them, because it is important for them to bargain as much as possible, he noted.

At the opportune moment (especially if Donald Trump wins the presidency), Putin can then say we are ready [for talks] and while they are ready, they always need a pause.

A cease-fire is the best option for the Russians so they can prepare for taking even more, Zelensky said.

Putins victory would be incompatible with life for Ukraine, Zelensky told me. Bit by bit, they are washing away Ukrainian independence. They take territory, then legislate [to annex it] or invent economic or security unions with Moscow, and then they dissolve the country in this mud, in this Russian mud.

That is why we need to be strong, not to lose our country.

I asked Zelensky how Ukraine could overcome Russias superiority in manpower and weapons.

His reply was clear. And from what I saw in my two weeks in Ukraine including a visit to the eastern front line it makes sense.

First of all, manpower. Really, they have much more people, and really, we are taking care of our people more. But today we have one dead Ukrainian for six Russians on the eastern and northern fronts, he said.

British intelligence sources say the Russians are now losing 1,200 men a day, the highest rate of the entire war. Even for a Russian military that treats soldiers like cannon fodder, this ratio is untenable.

Second, Zelensky explained, this is a different kind of war, a war of technologies, and the one who is more technologically advanced can win. That means the West must deny the Russians the opportunity to develop the manufacture of drones (including copies of Iranian Shaheds) and missiles, by preventing Russia from dodging sanctions on chips and spare parts that come from European allies and from China.

Third, Ukraine is already producing advanced drones and racing toward production of advanced missiles. But we need funding so that we can be more technologically developed than Russia, Zelensky said. This presents great opportunities for joint production with Western governments or private firms.

And fourth, further sanctions on Russias oil and gas exports are needed, which would mean that in 2025, the Russian economy will be shrinking and will force Putin to raise taxes and skimp on social benefits for the public.

READ MORE: U.S., allies must stop playing Patriot games with Ukraine | Trudy Rubin

Whats the scariest for him is a dissatisfied Russian society, Zelensky said. That is the nuclear weapon against a nuclear Putin. As soon as the West stops being afraid of Russia after Putin, Russia without Putin will happen more quickly. His circle around him will feel that.

The only possible negotiations Zelensky envisions would be talks based on his own peace plan calling for full withdrawal from Ukraine, reparations and justice for Russian war crimes.

But what about Trump, who wants to cut off military aid to Ukraine and says the can war can be over in 24 hours? The GOP presidential candidate has said hed demand a cease-fire from both sides and force them to negotiate, effectively giving Putin what he wants and preventing Ukraine from taking back more occupied land. Not to mention that Putin has broken every accord between Russia and Ukraine in the last three decades.

If Trump has such a model [to end the war in 24 hours], well, everyone would like to finalize the war. Maybe even in one hour would be better, Zelensky joked. But if the idea is to give up our territories, no, it will not solve the issue. It will not work; it will not lead to peace [globally] or between Ukraine and Russia.

What is needed is to give us security. Membership in NATO is good not only for Ukraine; it would provide security for Russia, Zelensky said. The Ukrainian border would be fixed, no further Russian invasion could cause another war, and the world wouldnt be afraid that Putin would come back again.

Sadly, the upcoming 75th NATO anniversary summit July 9-11 in Washington will not offer Ukraine a clear path to membership. We understand that the White House is not ready to give us the invitation, Zelensky said with a weary shrug. And Trump is saying the war is NATOs fault.

Unfortunately, this is the policy of one step forward, two steps back, the Ukrainian leader said, regretfully. I dont think this is the policy of world leaders. These are the very cautious steps of my de-miners in the minefield.

If the United States is afraid to annoy Putin, and this is the reason why we are not invited, then we ask our strategic partners to give us what would protect us: Patriots [anti-missile systems], a substantial number of F-16s, and the opportunity to use weapons [inside Russia].

If NATO is not ready to protect us, and to take us into the alliance, Zelensky said firmly, then we ask NATO to give us everything so we can protect ourselves.

At this moment, Putin smells American weakness and hopes for a Trump presidency that could cut off Ukraine and abandon NATO. Meanwhile, Putin is allied with Iran, North Korea, and China, which sees the fate of Ukraine as a litmus test for whether it can seize Taiwan. So it would be catastrophic if the White House failed to provide Ukraine with everything it needed before the November election.

Watching the bone-tired Zelensky exit the conference room, bereft of the full backing he needs to defeat Putin, was painful, because Ukraine could still repel Russia. But that would require Biden to display the level of courage that Ukraines president must summon every day.

Continued here:

Zelensky lays out how Ukraine can win, if the West loses its fear of Putin | Trudy Rubin - The Philadelphia Inquirer

A Russian attack on Vilniansk, a town in the eastern region of Zaporizhzhia, killed seven people, three of them children, officials said on Sunday.

A Russian missile attack on the town of Vilniansk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia killed seven people, including three children, local officials said on Sunday.

At least 38 people were also wounded in Saturday evening's attack, authorities said, and declared a day of mourning on Sunday. Eight of them were reportedly children.

The attack caused a huge fire and severe damage to residential buildings, critical infrastructure and vehicles.

Ukrainian officials published photos of bodies stretched out under picnic blankets in a park in Vilniansk, and deep craters in the blackened earth next to the charred, twisted remains of a building.

Firefighters could be seen battling the flames and conducting rescue operations.

Governor Ivan Fedorov said shortly after the attack that it took place "in broad daylight on a weekend in a place where people were spending their leisure time downtown. Without any military infrastructure.

Police investigators and the Security Service of Ukraine have opened an investigation into the potential war crime.

Vilniansk is in the Zaporizhzhia region, less than 30 kilometres from the local capital and north of the front lines, as Russian forces continue to occupy part of the province.

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Russian missile attack on eastern Ukraine kills seven, three of them children - Euronews

One person was killed and nine others including an eight-month-old baby were injured Sunday in a strike on a post office in Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, local authorities said.

The head of Kharkiv's regional administration, Oleg Synegubov, said a post office employee was killed.

The city of Kharkiv has been regularly targeted by Russian troops, who launched a major ground offensive in the region on May 10.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the offensive in Ukraine's northeast was intended to create a "buffer zone" to protect Russia's border Belgorod region from shelling.

On Saturday, seven people were also killed and nearly 40 injured in a Russian strike on Vilniansk, close to the regional hub of Zaporizhzhia.

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One Dead, Nine Wounded in Bombing of Post Office in Ukraine - The Moscow Times