WAR IN UKRAINE: July 17, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 144
Today marks the 8th anniversary of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which was struck over eastern Ukraine in 2014 while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The Russian BUK missile instantly killed all 298 passengers and crew from 10 nations. Currently, four suspects are being tried in the Netherlands for the mass murder and a final decision could come by the end of this year. I was part of the first international team on the ground in the hours after the crash. Read my firsthand account for CNN here
Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov has urged civilians to leave the city. "There is no room for women, children and the elderly, and those who can and want to leave - leave," he said in a Facebook post. "They destroyed the airport several times with missiles, hit all the outskirts of the city, shot at the bridge right in the centre, bombed the oil depot and service station, but citizens stubbornly continued to ignore the air raid sirens," he complained. "After the tragedies of Kremenchuk and Vinnytsia, I really hoped that at least someone would come to their senses." - BBC
U.S. Republicans wince as their Ukrainian-born colleague thrashes President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Victoria Spartz took the GOP mantle on aiding Kyiv back in the spring. Now, her fellow lawmakers worry she's undermining the effort. Read the full Politico report here
Women and children make up, by far, the proportion of Ukrainian citizens crossing by passenger buses from Poland into Ukraine. During a recent journey, I saw almost no men on my packed bus as males between the ages of 18 and 60 are temporarily banned from leaving the country, except for exceptional circumstances. Though one Ukrainian businessman was overheard at a Warsaw restaurant table last week boasting that he crosses the border freely in the basis he is “volunteering” to raise money for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. That struck a cord with an Uber driver in Lviv who said that as a volunteer he has no chance of leaving the country to earn a decent wage overseas as he has in the past. The driver, who’s worked overseas in forestry, said that the wealthy can afford to pay bribes to get permission to exit the country.
German Statement in the Arria-formula meeting on “The Destruction of Cultural Heritage as a Consequence of the Russian Aggression against Ukraine” - “According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture more than 380 cultural sites have been damaged or destroyed. Churches, museums, memorials – including the Babyn Jar Holocaust Memorial Site –, archives and libraries are affected. The extent of destruction shows that Russia is following a deliberate strategy to erase Ukrainian statehood, culture and history. This has been laid out in statements by President Putin himself.“
Volunteer fighters from Ukraine's neighbours get less media coverage than Westerners but are making a greater difference, says Oxford Analytica. Two more UK nationals are being prosecuted by the unrecognised Donetsk republic in south-eastern Ukraine, which has already sentenced to death two UK nationals and one Moroccan fighting for Ukraine. Captured Westerners have seized media attention, but in number and military significance they are eclipsed by volunteers from Belarus, Georgia, the Russian North Caucasus and other post-Soviet regions. Smaller numbers have volunteered for the Russian side. What next? Ideological commitment and past military training makes volunteers from various post-Soviet regions particularly valuable to the Ukrainian war effort. If captured, they will suffer harsh treatment in Russian hands. Their future, depending on when the war ends, is uncertain: they may fear being denied citizenship rights, and some may join insurgent movements elsewhere.