WAR IN UKRAINE: June 10, 2022
A Ukrainian teenager returns to her ruined school in prom dress she never got to wear. The 16-year-old, named only as Valerie, is described by her aunt as having bought dresses with her friends for a graduation event that didn't happen because the Russians destroyed her school in Kharkiv.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 106
Ukraine’s GDP is down 15.1% year-on-year in first quarter of 2022. The Ukrainian government estimates that the country’s GDP may fall by 30 to 50 percent in 2022 as a result of Russia’s war. By at least one estimate it will take a decade for Ukraine to return to pre-war GDP growth levels.
Official: 100-200 Ukrainian soldiers killed in combat every day. Mykhailo Podoliak, an aide to the president’s chief of staff, told BBC that one of the main reasons for the large number of casualties is a lack of parity between Ukrainian and Russian military capabilities. Such parity could be achieved if Ukraine received hundreds of powerful artillery systems from the West, he added - Kyiv Independent
There's a shortage of fresh water and medical facilities in Mariupol and the city is at risk of a major cholera outbreak, the UK's Ministry of Defence says. The city's exiled deputy mayor says the 100,000 people still in the city, which fell to Russia after months of bombardment, are at growing risk of disease - BBC
Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says his forces have made some gains in fighting in the south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region. But he says Ukrainian troops have again come under sustained attack in the eastern city of Severodonetsk, the BBC reports.
Moscow-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region say their top court has handed down death sentences to two British nationals and a Moroccan for being "mercenaries" and fighting with Ukraine's armed forces. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, has made progress toward accepting a plan that would restart Ukrainian grain shipments from its seaports - RFE/RL
My latest OpEd for CNN Opinion, in which I share the emotions of covering the war in Ukraine from in-country, how it’s connected me with the experiences of my ancestors, and the reasons for moving to the region. Read the full OpEd here
