THURSDAY 23 JUNE 2022
Article: Arrests in Ukraine
UKRAINE UPDATE
UKRAINE, THE LATEST, PODCAST, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
- Day 120
- Heavy shelling in the last few days. The eastern part of the Donbas is being destroyed. Ukraine has had to pull out of several hamlets.
- More shelling in Kharkiv.
- Precision artillery is now in Ukraine from the West. That’s good news, more long-range artillery. Germany is now supplying armaments.
- There is a growing resistance, a leader in a self-proclaimed region near Kherson (Chernobayevka) has had his car bombed. He was not, however, killed.
- Germany has an emergency gas plan. This involves reactivating the coal plants that were closed. Green politicians are having a hard time being the face of reopening coal plants. The government is requesting that people reduce their use of electricity. There is a big cut back of the gas coming through the Nordstream pipeline. Putin has made this cut back by almost 40%. He is putting pressure, conscious effort to squeeze the West. A further step would be to bring in rationing. Business lobbies are very much against this. If Putin continues to pressure the flows, this might be necessary.
- Some countries have already been cut off by Russia, but they are less dependent than Germany.
- German armaments are on the way.
- EU
- EU candidacy status for Ukraine and Moldova. The decision is expected today. Russia is not going to be able to take the entire Donbas. Then, there will be an operational pause and come back later. If in the meantime, both countries achieve EU status, will this call an end to it? Does the EU need a defense agreement?
- GRAIN
- Damage in Mykolaiv, grain storage. It’s difficult to work, to store the grain and to distribute it.
- There are talks but not much progress. There are still rocket attacks on the grain storage facilities. That doesn’t indicate progress.
- Grain prices are starting to ease.