WAR IN UKRAINE: July 14, 2022
The global travel chaos has apparently tied up humanitarian aid destined for Ukraine. I spotted several boxes shipped by SkyTeam partners Delta and KLM sitting unclaimed in the baggage arrivals hall of Warsaw Chopin Airport.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 141
The Ukrainian military says it destroyed Russian equipment, ammunition depots in the south. Operational Command “South” reported that it killed 30 Russian soldiers and destroyed two ammunition depots, one howitzer, Uragan multiple rocket launcher, and four armored and military vehicles - Kyiv Independent
Ukraine's infrastructure minister thinks a deal can be done to free up exports of Ukrainian agricultural products blocked by Russia. "I hope we will achieve some results, some practical results very soon," Oleksandr Kubrakov told the BBC. "I hope we will see this green corridor appear in the Black Sea." That so-called green corridor would create a safe path for shipping to and from Odesa, clearing mines from a specific section of sea. There had been fears it would take months, even years to demine the channel, but Mr Kubrakov says it can be done much faster. "I think it will take weeks, not months," he said.
Unpublished poll shows 30% of Russians support immediate end of war against Ukraine. Russian independent media Meduza reported that it had acquired access to an unpublished poll ordered by the Kremlin and conducted in late June. The survey showed that 57% of the polled Russians support the continuation of the war against Ukraine - Kyiv Independent
Russian troops are exhausted: that could give Ukraine an opportunity. The US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Sunday that Russian ground troops were in the middle of an operational pause to "rest, refit, and reconstitute." That could give Ukraine's army time to prepare to defend the parts of Donetsk it still holds; chiefly the industrial belt running south from the city of Sloviansk. Read the full CNN analysis here
Chaos at airports is delaying humanitarian aid shipments to Ukraine. I saw several hundred kilos of aid shipped by the Ukraine Foundation via SkyTeam partners KLM and Delta sitting at delayed baggage claim at Warsaw Chopin Airport (I was there to retrieve my own delayed baggage shipped by Air Canada). The numerous boxes, marked ‘priority’ (photo above) had been shipped from Seattle via Amsterdam to Warsaw. A baggage agent clerk just shrugged his shoulders when I pointed out that the boxes contained aid destined for Ukraine; they were among hundreds I saw stored in the congested baggage claim area. In its website, the Oregon-based Ukrainian Foundation says its main goal is to send medical supplies and military safety equipment to Ukraine.
Required reading…
“It has become commonplace to observe that Ukraine is mired in a “long war” — one that could last for years, according to NATO’s secretary general. That could well be correct. The war, after all, has already lasted nearly five months and continues to grind on. But I fear that by so readily accepting that there is no end in sight, we might be giving in to fatalism and defeatism. Instead of becoming resigned to a never-ending war, the West should be focusing on how to shorten the conflict by enabling Ukraine to win.”
Read the full Washington Post Opinion article by columnist Max Boot here