Updated June 22, 2022 at 2: 06 p.m. EDT|Published
June 22, 2022 at 2: 06 a.m. EDT
The fate of the eastern Luhansk region hangs in the balance as Russian forces intensify efforts to seize control. The Ukrainian government claims that Toshkivka (south of Lysychansk) was captured by Russia this week. It is being used to bomb the region. “Hellish battles” are ongoing in Severodonetsk, the regional governor said Wednesday, while Lysychansk is “constantly suffering from enemy fire.” The mayor of Severodonetsk says up to 8,000 people are still holed up in his city, while others have been transported to Russian-held areas.
Ukraine said it inflicted “significant losses” in an attack on Russian-occupied Snake Island in the Black Sea. Moscow said its forces repelled the attack, but a series of before-and-after satellite images released by Maxar appeared to show newly damaged and charred areas on parts of the island on June 21. Russia is fortifying Snake Island in order to protect its Black Sea defenses. This area has been blocked from grain exports by the Ukrainian naval blockade.
Microsoft launches effort to slow Russian propaganda on war, vaccines
Microsoft said Wednesday that it would do more to slow the spread of covert foreign government propaganda in the United States and other countries, starting with stories pushed by Russia to distort the war in Ukraine and to stir fear about coronavirus vaccines.
Brad Smith, the president of Microsoft, the maker of Windows software and Outlook email programs, would use more data, new analytics and additional staff to counter Russia’s success in distributing false narratives through government-owned and government-influenced media. Microsoft is a rare company because many computer users use its software daily.
South Korea’s Russian oil imports plunged in May
South Korea, Asia’s third largest buyer of Russian oil, continues to let Russian oil imports plunge. All of the country’s crude oil imports from Moscow in May were carried on a single Aframax cargo, customs data showed.
That marks an 84.3 percent drop in Russian crude imports from the same month last year — a dive that signals South Korea is on track to phase out Russian oil by the end of the year, industry sources say, according to an analyst insight from S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Putin lays wreath to honor WWII dead on anniversary of Nazi invasion
By David Walker11: 43 a.m.
Russian President Vladimir Putin laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union in 1941.
The anniversary, known in Russia as the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow, is also marked in Ukraine and Belarus. An estimated 26 million Soviet citizens died during World War II.
Russia declares area outside U.S. Embassy in Moscow ‘Donetsk People’s Republic Square’
Russia issued a decree proclaiming the area outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow “Donetsk People’s Republic Square,” state media reported, the latest move in a dispute over the area’s name.
The name references the Russian-aligned, self-proclaimed breakaway region in eastern Ukraine. This name refers to Russia’s self-proclaimed breakaway region of eastern Ukraine, which Moscow announced in May.
Ukrainian photojournalist ‘executed in cold blood’ by Russians, group says
There is evidence that Russian forces killed a Ukrainian photojournalist, along with a soldier accompanying him in a forest near Kyiv in March, Reporters Without Borders said in an investigation published Wednesday.
Maksym Levin, whom colleagues called Max, was found dead in April after friends lost contact with him in March. After reporting from the capital’s frontlines, the photojournalist, who was employed by organizations such as Reuters and the BBC, had lost contact with him in March.
Estonia protests Russian invasion of airspace as Baltic frictions rise
Estonia’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the alleged violation of its airspace by a Russian helicopter last week, in the latest sign of rising tensions between Baltic nations and Russia over the Ukraine conflict.
According to the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the incident took place near a border checkpoint in southeastern Estonia on June 18.
Russia suffered ‘significant losses’ in Snake Island attack, Ukraine says
Satellite images released by U.S. firm Maxar Technologies appear to bolster claims by Ukraine that it launched an attack on Russian-occupied Snake Island in the northwestern Black Sea.
In a post on Facebook, the Ukrainian military’s southern operational command said it dealt “significant losses” to Russian forces “with the use of various forces” but did not elaborate.
Canada bolsters air defense, citing threat of ‘autocratic regimes’
The Canadian Department of National Defense said it will modernize its air defense capabilities “as autocratic regimes threaten the rules-based international order.”
The changes, which the department said were also spurred by climate change and concerns over the development of hypersonic weapons and advanced cruise missiles by “competitors,” will allow Canada to “strengthen our ability to deter and defeat aerospace threats by modernizing our air weapons systems,” it said.
Breakaway pro-Moscow region’s casualty rate reaches 55%, U.K. says
Casualty figures published this month by the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) highlight the “extraordinary attrition” experienced by pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, Britain’s Defense Ministry said in a Wednesday update.
Although Moscow has not released casualty figures since late March, the DPR said that 2,128 of its fighters had been killed and 8,897 wounded from the beginning of the year until June 16.
South Korea to establish mission to NATO
SEOUL — South Korea will establish a mission to NATO in Brussels, a national security adviser announced Wednesday, a move that signals growing ties between the country and the military alliance.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is set to attend a NATO summit in Madrid next week. Although South Korea country is not a member of the alliance, it was invited to the June 29-30 summit as an observer alongside Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Two key Luhansk cities under heavy fire as Russian forces advance
Severodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk, two of the few Ukrainian toeholds in the Luhansk region, continue to be battered by intense Russian shelling. The Ukrainian authorities claim that the next few days will determine the fate of the conflict. Western observers fear Russian advance could threaten the whole region.
Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian media Wednesday that Russian forces are redirecting more personnel and weapons to his region after having spent weeks pummeling Severodonetsk. According to Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk, 7,000 to 8,000 people are still in Severodonetsk, while many others have been transported to Russian-held cities. Stryuk said that it is difficult to convince those still there to leave, even though destruction continues.
Updates from key battlefields: Russian military advances from Luhansk’s south
Ukrainian authorities warn that the outcome of the war may largely hinge on battlefield development in the coming days. Russian troops advanced toward Ukraine’s few remaining strongholds after a strategic village was under attack by Russian soldiers.
Here are updates from across the country:
2: 58 a.m.
The Russian ruble hit a seven-year high against the U.S. dollar this week, outperforming many global currencies even as Russia has faced global economic and diplomatic backlash over the war. As of late Tuesday Eastern time, 1,000 rubles were worth about $18. 56 — the highest exchange rate for the ruble since June 2015. Although the ruble fell sharply in the early days of the invasion in February, it has risen steadily since early March, in part because of strict currency controls to stop the ruble from leaving the country, as well as skyrocketing fuel prices and Russia’s demands that its fossil fuels be purchased with the currency. The ruble’s rally comes amid forecasts that Russia will probably fall into a recession this year.
Biden administration reverses Trump-era rules on land mines
The Biden administration is banning the use of land mines by the United States across most of the globe, in a decision that reverses Trump-era rules allowing greater employment of the weapons that are blamed for killing thousands of civilians a year — most of them children.
The move, which the White House announced Tuesday, caps an extended internal review of a policy enacted in early 2020 that empowered military commanders to use the mines globally in certain situations.
2: 08 a.m.
Like a U.S. lawmaker whipping votes in Congress, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is opening his Rolodex this week and dialing leaders across Europe, lobbying for votes in favor of Ukraine’s candidacy to the European Union. Zelensky claimed that he had spoken with nine E.U. members on Tuesday. premiers — a third of the bloc’s members and “a marathon of phone conversations.”“We are increasing the number of those who stand for Ukraine’s candidacy,” Zelensky said in his nightly address. It is likely that the European Council will decide whether Ukraine should be granted E.U. This week, the European Council will decide whether to grant Ukraine E.U. status. Zelensky called this week’s summit “truly historic” and has tried to use his international influence to help Ukraine get through its accession process quickly. “I will do my best to ensure that the historic decision of the European Union is adopted,” he said. “This is important for us.”
Reis Thebault
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National and breaking news reporter
