WAR IN UKRAINE: June 20, 2022
Ukraine now appears firmly on the path to become a member of the European Union. However the process could still take years and Kyiv will be expected to take firm steps to battle corruption.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 120
Ukraine's bid to join the European Union could bring "greater hostile activity" from Russia as the EU considers whether the country should be formally considered for candidate status, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. “It’s obvious that we should expect Russia to step up its hostile activity demonstratively this very week.”
NYT: Russia used over 210 types of ammunition banned under international treaties in Ukraine. A New York Times investigation examined over 1,000 photos and identified over 2,000 munitions used by the Russian army in Ukraine, an absolute majority of which were unguided. More than 330 weapons analyzed by NYT appeared to have been used on or near civilian structures - Kyiv Independent
Russia forcibly deports 300,000 Ukrainian children. Russian state-controlled news agency Interfax reported, citing the Russian military, that more than 1.9 million Ukrainians have been forcibly deported to Russia since the start of the invasion, over 307,000 of them children. An earlier figure has placed the number of Ukrainian children forcibly deported at around 200,000. In all, well over one million Ukrainians are believed to have been transferred to Russia - including to isolated areas of the Far East.
Ukraine’s forces remain on the defensive in the eastern Donbas region, where fighting continues in Sievierodonestsk. Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, said Russia was massing forces in an attempt to take full control of the city after weeks of fighting but maintained that “all Russian claims that they control the town are a lie”. “They control the main part of the town, but not the whole town,” he told Ukrainian television - The Guardian
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, says Russia's blockade of millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain is a "real war crime.” He added: “It is inconceivable - one cannot imagine that millions of tonnes of wheat remain blocked in Ukraine while in the rest of the world people are suffering hunger.”
The UK announced a new wave of sanctions, including on the Russian Chidren's Rights Commissioner involved in the barbaric treatment of children in Ukraine. Lvova-Belova has been accused of enabling 2,000 vulnerable children being violently taken from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and orchestrating a new policy to facilitate their forced adoptions in Russia. Today’s sanctions also hit Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, sanctioned for his support and endorsement of Putin’s war
European Union leaders must decide this week whether to grant Ukraine official EU candidate nation status. This is a critically important moment for Ukrainians that will also shape the future direction of the entire continent.
Granting EU candidacy would signify European solidarity with Ukraine in its bloody struggle against Russian aggression. It would also mean that Ukraine must adopt EU reforms that will finally eradicate systemic corruption and dismantle the country’s rotten oligarchy.
Read the full Atlanic Council Ukraine Alert analysis here
