UKRAINE UPDATE, 3:00 PM

16 APRIL 2022

NYT:

• The Russians are claiming that they have seized Mariupol except for a steel plant near the port.  They are saying that the only chance of the remaining Ukrainian military surviving is to surrender.
• Zelensky acknowledged that the Ukrainian forces only controlled a small part of the port city.
• Targets throughout Ukraine were pounded on Saturday in what is thought to be retaliation for the sinking of the flagship.
• The shelling is also thought to be preparation for the attack in the east.
• Russians targeted a Kyiv tank factory where the missiles were produced that sank the Moskya.
• “Russia is ambling toward a major default on its foreign debt…”
• The legal question about the default is over who decides if a nation has defaulted if sanctions have curbed the ability to pay.
• A missile slammed into a shopping mall in Kharkiv.
• The UN warned that closures of ports on the Black Sea could trigger a global food catastrophe “that yields starvation, mass migration and political instability.”
• Ukraine’s silos are brimming with grains that in a normal year help feed 400 million people around the world.
• Zelensky has said that in an attempt to control occupied areas, Russians are hunting down anybody ever associated with the Ukrainian military or government.  In the eastern Zaporizhzhia region alone, Russia’s forces have kidnapped more than 30 local government leaders.
• Ukrainians say that the Russians are trying to cover up the evidence of war crimes in the areas they occupy.
• There are estimated to be more than 100,000 civilians still in Mariupol.
• Russia has barred Boris Johnson from visiting Russia.

UKRAINE WORLD @ukraine_world (One of the best sources of information out there).  They are on twitter and have podcasts and a website.  I was listening to their podcasts before this all started.  Fascinating.  If you have the time, go back and listen to the prior podcasts where they talk about Zelensky and Ukrainian politics.

• “Separatists” in the Donbas were drafting 16-year-olds.
• Another Russian major general killed and buried in St. Petersburg.
• Britain is ready to provide further military aid to Ukraine.
• Some 400,000 people have reentered Ukraine since the 24 February, many of them evacuated previously.
• Russians are preparing a referendum in Kherson around May 1 to May 10.
• Near Kherson, Russians are distributing leaflets saying that they are fighting the “Kyiv Regime.”  They also say that Russians do not wage war against civilians.
• “Ukraine asks Europe for weapons.  Europeans support the call for their governments.  Europe gives Ukraine weapons, not the ones asked for.  Weapons take too long to arrive.  Democracy won’t win from playing this game.  Ukraine needs weapons.”
• The Mayor of Lozova (between Kyiv and Kharkiv) calls on town’s citizens to immediately leave via the 17:30 train to Khmelnytskyi.