Updated June 8, 2022 at 2: 09 a.m. EDT|Published
June 7, 2022 at 2: 00 a.m. EDT
This live coverage has ended. For Wednesday’s live updates, click here.
Ukrainian soldiers in Severodonetsk, the eastern city under continuous Russian bombardment, are holding their positions despite relentless shelling, and troops are “doing their utmost to defend the city,” its mayor, Oleksandr Stryuk, said Tuesday. The situation remains “difficult,” he said, and “the fighting is not fading.”
He issued the update a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine has “every chance” of winning the battle for Severodonetsk, even though analysts and officials say Russia controls a significant part of the city. Zelensky also warned that Moscow was preparing to take Zaporizhzhia in the southeastern part of Ukraine, which would allow Russian troops easier access to the center.
Aerial photographs from across eastern Ukraine revealed the destructive path Russia’s invasion has cut through that part of the country, where fighting has been focused for several weeks. The satellite images show fields full of artillery craters, city blocks reduced to rubble and a 130-foot bomb scar.
Here’s what else to know
- Zelensky told his country to prepare for a brutal winter amid fuel shortages.
- The global economy may be headed for years of weak growth and rising prices, the World Bank warned, with fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine aggravating the slowdown.
- The Kremlin announced more travel bans targeting notable Americans, including several top airline executives and Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen. This is mostly symbolic.
- European Council President Charles Michel told the United Nations on Monday that Moscow was creating a global food crisis by weaponizing Ukraine’s grain exports, prompting the Russian ambassador to walk out of the meeting.
- The Washington Post has lifted its paywall for readers in Russia and Ukraine. Telegram users can subscribe to our channel.
Kyiv asks for more rocket systems as Kremlin warns of potential strikes in Russia
Ukraine says it needs 60 multiple-launch rocket systems to have a chance at defeating Russia, suggesting the number pledged by the West so far may be inadequate, along with access to sophisticated air defenses to help protect vulnerable citizens from relentless shelling.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told the Guardian that 60 launchers would stop Russian forces “dead in their tracks.” Forty would slow them down with heavy casualties, he said, while 20 would increase Russian casualties but leave the battlefield outcome little changed.
The United States and Britain recently announced plans to provide Kyiv with multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), which can hit targets up to 50 miles away. Washington is dispatching four M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS, though Ukrainian troops need at least three weeks of training to use them, the Pentagon said. Britain has confirmed it would send an unspecified number of M270 launch systems to Ukraine.
U.S. starts moving superyacht owned by Russian oligarch
The United States secured a significant victory in Fiji’s high court when a judge ruled that a $325 million superyacht owned by a Russian oligarch could be seized by American authorities, adding a success to the Justice Department’s campaign to punish Russian billionaires for the war in Ukraine.
The Amadea, owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, was already in route to the United States shortly after the ruling, the Associated Press reported. According to reports, the court lifted an earlier stay that prevented the United States from seizing yacht Amadea.
“The United States is deeply grateful to the Fijian police and prosecutors whose perseverance and dedication to the rule of law made this action possible,” Anthony Coley, director of public affairs for the Justice Department said Tuesday.
The seizure comes about a month after the agency requested Fiji officials for permission to take the yacht after the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Kerimov as part of a group of Russian oligarchs who it says profited from the Russian government through corruption and suspect activity, including the occupation of Crimea. According to the Treasury Department, Kerimov is an official of Russia and was a member in good standing of Russia’s higher chamber of parliament.
Removal of the yacht from Fiji’s waters was in the public interest because it was costing the Fijian government “dearly,” according to a review of the decision by Voice of America.
Chief Justice Kamal Kumar said the Amadea “sailed into Fiji waters without any permit and most probably to evade prosecution by the United States of America,” according to AP.
Russia claims to have reopened road, rail links to Crimea
Russia’s Defense Ministry claims to have reestablished road and rail links to Crimea, the peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, passing through areas of eastern Ukraine now under its control.
According to an official readout of a call hosted by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the military and Russian Railways have restored “full-fledged traffic between Russia, Donbas, Ukraine and Crimea on six railway sections.”
More than 27,000 tons of goods have been handed over to civilians since the transport links were restored, the Defense Ministry said in the readout, posted on the Russian Defense Ministry’s official Telegram page.
According to Russian media outlet Tass, the defense minister also said a mainland road connection between Crimea and the rest of Russia had been established. His claims could not be independently confirmed as he didn’t give any specific location.
According to the Institute for the Study for War, a Washington-based think tank, Shoigu announced that the road connection runs from Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia to Crimea, passing near the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol and through Berdyansk and Melitopol — cities that are all occupied by Russian forces.
Ukraine has not yet commented on the Russian claims.
Update from Ukraine’s key battlefields: Kyiv’s troops holding out in key eastern city
More than 100 days into the war, Ukrainian and Russian troops remain mired in heated combat for Severodonetsk, the Luhansk area’s largest city where Kyiv still retains some control. The city is central to Moscow’s goal of capturing Donbas, an area of eastern Ukraine that encompasses the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Here are some updates from across the country:
Severodonetsk: Russian forces have probably established control over most of Severodonetsk’s residential areas and conducted assaults against Ukrainian positions in the industrial zone in the past 24 hours, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank. The institute said the situation in the city “remains fluid.” The city’s mayor, Oleksandr Stryuk, said Tuesday that Ukrainian troops are holding their positions amid constant shelling, “doing their utmost to defend the city.” Russia claims to control 97 percent of the region where the city is located.
Elsewhere in Donbas: Images collected by U.S. satellite company Maxar Technologies show the destructive path of Russia’s invasion in Luhansk and Donetsk, as it has trained it attacks on the eastern provinces in recent weeks — with cratered fields and entire city blocks pulverized. A set of pictures taken in Rubizhne just across the street from Severodonetsk shows parts of the destroyed city.
Zaporizhzhia: President Volodymyr Zelensky this week warned that Moscow is preparing to seize this major southeastern city that would give Russian troops better access to the center of Ukraine. Ukraine appealed for the International Atomic Energy Agency (UN secretary general) to help “liberate” the nuclear power station in Kharkiv, which has been under Russian control since March.
Kharkiv: A Russian airstrike has killed two people and injured six others in the Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, the regional governor, said via Telegram on Tuesday.
Mariupol: The Russian military said Tuesday that the ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk, which Moscow’s forces recently captured, have been demined and are ready to ship grain. Officials in Ukraine have expressed concern that the city’s demolished water system and bodies, along with garbage littering the streets, could lead to cholera epidemics.
Snake Island: British officials said that after the loss of the Russian warship Moskva in April, Moscow probably moved air defense assets — including SA-15 and SA-22 systems — to Snake Island in the western Black Sea to protect naval vessels in the area. Officials added that Russia’s actions on the island contribute to a maritime blockade, and are hindering Ukrainian trade including grain exports.
Mary Ilyushina and Kim Bellware contributed to this report.
Satellite photos show dramatic destruction across eastern Ukraine
Entire city blocks pulverized. The fields are covered with so many artillery marks that it is hard to count. A 130-foot bomb scar beside rows of flattened buildings.
These scenes from eastern Ukraine, visible from the air and captured by a U.S.-based satellite company, illustrate the destructive path that Russia’s invasion has cut across this part of the country, where fighting has been focused for several weeks and the bombardment feels relentless.
The firm, Maxar Technologies, collected the images June 6 from the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, which together make up the Donbas region, along with the neighboring Kharkiv oblast. The latest batch of photos shows extensive devastation, just like the previous batches.
In a set of before-and-after pictures, the city of Rubizhne appears at relative peace in March. It is now a barren wasteland as shown in Monday’s photograph. It is now covered in rubble, where once stood a group of buildings. The city’s roofs have been removed from their structures and it is difficult to recognize.
Rubizhne is just up the road from Severodonetsk, where Russian and Ukrainian forces are engaged in intense street fights.
Near the small village of Dovhenke, in the far-southeast corner of the Kharkiv oblast, just across the border with Donetsk, a pair of images shows the scale of Russia’s attacks. One image shows a large area covered with hundreds of artillery shells. In another, a stand of buildings has been leveled and a massive cavity measuring 40 meters in diameter, or about 130 feet, can be seen nearby.
6: 10 p.m.
Zelensky warns of a harsh winter amid fuel shortages — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told his country to prepare for a brutal winter. In most parts of Ukraine, the temperatures drop in October. They often fall below freezing the following months. In his evening address Tuesday, Zelensky said his government is “setting up a headquarters to prepare for the next heating season.”He said Ukraine will not sell its gas and coal abroad, instead saving it for domestic use, and he has directed his energy minister to prioritize the rebuilding of power plants damaged during Russia’s invasion. “In the current situation due to Russia’s aggression,” Zelensky said, “this will indeed be the most difficult winter of all the years of independence.”
Reis Thebault
,
National and breaking news reporter
World Bank warns of weak growth, with Ukraine war an aggravating factor
The global economy may be headed for years of weak growth and rising prices, a toxic combination that will test the stability of dozens of countries still struggling to rebound from the pandemic, the World Bank warned Tuesday.
The bank slashed its annual global growth forecast to 2.9 percent from January’s 4.1 percent and said that “subdued growth will likely persist throughout the decade because of weak investment in most of the world.”
Fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has aggravated the global slowdown by driving up prices for a range of commodities, fueling inflation. Global growth this year will be roughly half of last year’s annualized rate and is expected to show little improvement in 2023 and 2024.
The Ukraine war could fracture global trade and financial networks, and soaring food prices could spark social unrest in importing countries.
4: 40 p.m.
No confirmation of cholera — A World Health Organization spokesperson told The Washington Post on Tuesday that it has not yet received word of a confirmed or suspected case of cholera in Mariupol. Although the organization is having difficulty getting in to Mariupol, it has been working with partners on the ground. Russian authorities now running the city recently imposed a quarantine, according to an exiled local official. The exiled local official said that the Russian authorities had recently imposed a quarantine on the city. He didn’t elaborate and could not independently verify his statements.
Reis Thebault
,
National and breaking news reporter
Mayor of Severodonetsk says situation remains ‘difficult’
The mayor of the embattled city of Severodonetsk said Tuesday that the situation there remains “stable” but “difficult” under relentless Russian bombardment as Russia claims to control 97 percent of the region where the city is located.
Ukrainian forces “are holding the city,” Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk told Ukrainian television, “but the fighting is not fading.” He added, “Our armed forces are doing their utmost to defend the city.”
Russia Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu painted a different picture, claiming that Russian forces have nearly total control of the Luhansk region, Voice of America reported.
Shoigu also alleged that nearly 6,500 Ukrainian troops have been taken as prisoners, including 126 in the last five days, according to the outlet.
Stryuk said Russian troops were massing in the city that has become a key battleground in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Moscow would be able to seize Severodonetsk, a symbol of its victory in the Donbas’s Luhansk region bordering Russia.
He estimated that between 10,000 and 11,000 people remain in Severodonetsk, others among its prewar residents having already fled or been evacuated.
“Our heroes hold their positions in Severodonetsk. Fierce street fights continue in the city,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address to the nation late Monday. He added that nearby Lysychansk and other eastern cities face Russian strikes and remain “the hottest points of confrontation today.”
Ukraine wants Israel’s Iron Dome defense system
Ukraine wants to buy Israel’s mobile all-weather air defense system known as Iron Dome as well as its antitank missiles to aid in the war against Russia.
Yevgen Korniychuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, told reporters at a news conference in Tel Aviv that he would like to see Israel follow through on its pledged support for Ukraine by offering military assistance, claiming that the United States wouldn’t oppose the transaction, the Associated Press reported.
“We need the military-technical support, we need the Iron Dome,” he said, according to USA Today. “That will allow us to save our civilian women and children from the shelling of the Russian missiles.”
Korniychuk criticized Israel for its response to the war, citing its lack of action to provide military assistance, its decision not to treat Ukrainian soldiers in its medical facilities and the absence of updates about the war in Israeli media, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“I want the Israeli government to move away from its comfort zone and get back to reality,” Korniychuk said, according to the outlet.
Last week, Israel rejected a U.S. request that Germany be allowed to deliver Israeli-licensed Spike antitank missiles to Ukraine, the AP reported.
Israel has been cautious in providing military assistance to Ukraine as it has attempted to maintain relationships in Kyiv and Moscow, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Korniychuk stressed that Ukraine is not seeking a handout but a chance to buy items that could save more of its civilians, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“We are not begging you for help,” the paper quoted him as saying. “We do believe that on the moral side, Israel has to take the part of the rest of the western world and help Ukraine with all possible means.”
Ukraine asks energy agency to ‘liberate’ Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, director says
Ukraine has appealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations secretary general to “liberate” the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that has been held by Russian forces since March, according to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.
In an interview Tuesday with CNN’s Becky Anderson, Grossi said Ukraine had “effectively invited, indeed appealed to me … to liberate the nuclear power plant” after Grossi had faced criticism earlier Tuesday from Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator, which saw a potential IAEA visit to the plant as validating Russian occupation of the facility.
The energy operator also accused Grossi of lying about Ukraine’s requesting a visit from him, CNN reported.
“The Ukrainian government has requested us to come to perform an obligation,” Grossi said. The IAEA must conduct these inspections in Ukraine. It is not a matter of wanting or wishing; it is an obligation.”
Grossi dismissed the accusation that an IAEA visit would legitimize the Russian occupation, saying that a visit there would take place under the same agreement that Ukraine had with the nuclear agency and not under an agreement with the Russian Federation, according to the outlet.
The nuclear plant hasn’t been inspected in a while, according to Grossi, who said it contains a lot of nuclear material that needs to be reviewed.
Grossi told BBC World Service Radio that an agency trip to the plant would be undertaken out of a contractual obligation and would not be “a courtesy visit.”
Theater returns to Kyiv as cultural life tentatively resumes
Theater is back in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, with tickets for performances selling out over the weekend.
The Theater on Podil reopened its doors in Kyiv’s old town for the first time since the war began, the Associated Press reported, as residents and actors try to resume normal cultural life.
“We were wondering how it would be, whether spectators would come during the war, whether they think at all about theater, whether it’s of any interest,” said actor Yuriy Felipenko. “And we were happy that the first three plays were sold out.”
The theater can hold an audience of up to 253 people and will be opening with a small production of “The Jay’s Wing,” a play about a woman reliving old loves. The theater’s website, however, notes that all spectators and staff must evacuate to shelters if an air raid is announced during the play — a reminder of the state of war that still grips Ukraine.
A fellow actor in the production, Kostya Tomlyak, said he had hesitated to perform amid war but that the number of people returning to Kyiv had persuaded him to tread the boards once again. He said, “You live your life even though there’s war.” “The main question is how actors can be helpful.”
Two dead after Russian strike on Kharkiv, governor says
A Russian airstrike has killed two people and injured six others in the Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, the regional governor, said via Telegram on Tuesday.
Synegubov said Russian forces directed heavy shelling at residential and commercial areas as well as critical infrastructure. The reported damage included a private home and 20 cars, along with fields that were ignited by the blasts.
It was unclear if the two deaths were Ukrainian fighters or civilians. According to Synegubov, both deaths occurred in Dergachi.
“Attempts to advance in the direction of Dovhenke and Dolyna continue in the Izyum area,” the governor said, and praised Ukrainian soldiers for holding the line and giving the Russian forces “an adequate rebuff.”
“The enemy suffers heavy losses in manpower and equipment,” he added.
As Ukraine’s second-largest city and also situated in the east, Kharkiv is one of the most strategically important areas for each side. The region endured heavy shelling in the early months of the war before Russian forces were pushed back in mid-May.
Why does Russia want to capture Severodonetsk?
The eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk has emerged as a focal point of Russia’s war in Ukraine in recent weeks. As Ukrainian forces attempt to stop Russia from capturing the whole city, fierce fighting continues.
Russian forces have pounded Severodonetsk with artillery, wreaking immense damage as part of a scorched-earth assault in the east that is inflicting massive casualties on Ukrainian forces. Russian troops stormed the centre of the city last week, fighting Ukrainian soldiers in the streets.
Serhiy Haidai, the regional governor of Luhansk, said Monday that Ukrainian troops remained in control of the city’s industrial zone but that the situation had “worsened for us.” Oleksandr Stryuk, the mayor of Severodonetsk, said Tuesday that the city was being “leveled” by Russian strikes but that Ukrainians held out hope they could retake the city.
The city is key to Moscow’s aim of capturing Donbas, an area encompassing the eastern Ukrainian regions (oblasts) of Luhansk and Donetsk. According to the British Defense Ministry, Russia has consolidated its forces in Severodonetsk. According to the ministry, Russian forces are likely to take Luhansk over the next two weeks. However, this will come at a high cost.
Here’s what to know about the strategic city.
