WEDNESDAY 22 JUNE 2022

UKRAINE UPDATE

UKRAINE: THE LATEST, THE TELEGRAPH Podcast, 6/22/22

On Twitter at @cjjohns1951

“Everything that can burn is on fire.”

• “It’s been very violent.”  The Donbas is still getting an “absolute pounding.”
• Extreme pressure on Sieverodonetsk. 
• Forces of the DPR have lost 55% of its original strength. 
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• Snake Island
• Ukrainians are conducting a counter-attack on Snake Island.  Extensive damage to the island.  Ukrainians claim to have attacked and damaged an anti-aircraft system.  The Russians are denying the severity of the attack.
• Ukrainians are using western weapons in the attack. 
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• Lithuania.  EU sanctions prevent the transport of some Russian goods.  Threats are that ordinary Lithuanians will be affected.  The response will not just be diplomatic, say the Russians.  The word that was used was “practical measures.”
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• Boris Johnson has made a statement about any peace that might come out.  He is urging other countries not to push the Ukrainians to accept a sub-par deal.   
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• There has been a delivery of German weapons.  There have been criticisms that Germany has been very slow in supplying weapons.  
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• Drones. 
• A drone flew inside Russia a significant distance from the front lines.  Crashed into an oil refinery.  Significant damage.  It could be a drone captured from Russia and returned to it.  The Russian air defense may have mistaken the drone for one of theirs.  Could be a false flag, unlikely.
• A smaller drone crashed in northeastern Turkey.  This type of drone can be up in the air for hours.  The drones can go wrong. 
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• Mariupol.  What life is like in Mariupol, occupied by Russians.  Article in the Daily Telegraph.  Warehouses that used to house fruits and vegetables now  house corpses.  They are surrounded by flies.  Hunger is an increasing problem. 
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• People are concerned that the West will forget about them.  They are living with the possibility of death every day.  A man who worked as a hospital clown before the war is working to get people out and cheer them up.  There is a lack of supplies and medical supplies.  “Everyone’s doing their best.”  People are dying because of a lack of trained medics.
• Marlene Dietrich: “I miss what people are like when they are trying to be brave.”
• Elderly people have nowhere else to go.  Disabled people have special problems.  One woman, 92, said: “I just want to die.”
• Separatists are being sent into the war by the Russians without equipment, body amour.  Ukrainians were having to fire on these men and then Russians knew where they were.  What a cynical tactic.
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• What is the state of information in Poland (where one of the reporters is after leaving Ukraine)? 
• The Poles are worried about the proximity of the military action.  When you cross the border, you are immediately away from the intense environment of Ukraine.  It’s very hard to imagine what it’s like on the ground in Ukraine once you leave.
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• Ukraine has been so good about putting out information during the war.  When Macron and Scholtz came, Ukrainians appreciated the attention.  They want to stay in the headlines, to let people know that they are in this for the long run.  There was concern that there would be pressure on Zelensky about a peace deal.  The public mood is very much against that.
• They don’t think Putin would stop there no matter what you give him.
• There were jokes about Johnson being jealous about Macron kissing Zelensky on the cheek.
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• Yesterday there was a report that Ukraine had detected spies, one a business leader and one a senior government official.  In Kyiv, they were imparting information to the Russians.  They were detained.  At the start of the war, there were thought to be sleeper agents looking for Zelensky.  There is still this hunt on for these people who are providing information to Russia.  They are using online gaming to get information to Russia.  There is a big effort by the Russians to keep these people going.
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•  Final thoughts: Snake Island effort by Ukraine.  There is an uptick on violence.  That island is critical. 
• The message on the ground is please don’t forget about us.

On Twitter cjjohns1951