WAR IN UKRAINE: June 1, 2022
An elderly woman walks past a burning building after shelling in the city of Lysychansk in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on May 30.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 98
The head of the Luhansk regional military administration says Russian troops control most of the city of Syevyerodonetsk but fears that Ukrainian forces will be surrounded are unfounded - RFE/RL
Leaders of the 27 EU member states have agreed a new sanctions package that cuts more than two-thirds of the bloc's imports of Russian oil. However the effectiveness of western sanctions as a deterrent to Russia is still being hotly debated in many quarters. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the European Union sanctions against Moscow but called the delay “unacceptable.” A Ukrainian commentator, Peter Zalmayev, told France 24 that generally sanctions have a “poor track record” and that the only way to deter Russia is through a military success.
Around 15,000 suspected war crimes have been reported in Ukraine since the war began, with 200 to 300 more reported daily, its chief prosecutor said. Some 600 suspects have been identified and 80 prosecutions have begun, Iryna Venediktova told reporters in The Hague. The list of suspects includes "top military, politicians and propaganda agents of Russia", she added - BBC
Efforts to pursue "Russification" are gathering pace in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces, REF/RL reports. They include mobile TV units showing Russian news channels on big screens, summer schools that are preparing children for the Russian school curriculum, and a move to institute Russian rubles and Russian passports. Video report here. Meanwhile, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the United States is “concerned about steps Russia is taking to attempt to institutionalize control over sovereign Ukrainian territory, particularly in Ukraine’s Kherson region.” He added: “In Kherson specifically, multiple reports indicate Russian forces have forcibly removed legitimate Ukrainian government officials and installed illegitimate pro-Russia proxies.” The approach to Russify newly-occupied areas is straight out of the playbook used by Russian-backed combatants in Luhansk and Donetsk in 2014 and onwards. Residents who are deemed sympathetic to the Ukrainian state have faced harsh treatment.
Russia stole half a million tons of grain, trying to sell it. In his latest video address, President Volodymyr Zelensky also said that Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s ports prevents the country from exporting about 22 million tons of grain, creating a threat of famine in countries dependent on the grain - Kyiv Independent
Final thought of the day…
“…wars are transformative. China’s offer of a “no limits” partnership to Russia may have been decisive in Putin’s decision to risk the invasion. His war is an assault on core western interests and values. It has brought the US and Europe together, for the moment. It should be decisive for Europe’s attitude to China: a power that supports such an assault cannot be a trusted partner. The march towards totalitarianism in both of these autocracies must also widen the global split - Martin Wolf writing in the Financial Times