Volodymyr Zelensky: “Ukraine is destroyed on the West’s money. You pay Russia for hydrocarbons”
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready for talks on ending the war when the “other side” will be ready to end it: “I’m not looking for a balance in order to somehow agree on something. We know exactly what we are doing”.
In an interview with German broadcaster ZDF, Zelensky said time is not working for his country in the current conditions. “There should be no doubt. We must act, because time works for your enemy, not for us,” he added. He noted that the Russian state makes enough money on energy resources to destroy them in the war.
According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, Russia earned EUR 93 billion in revenue from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the war. The EU imported 61% of this, worth approximately 57 billion EUR. The largest importers were China (EUR12.6bn), Germany (EUR12.1bn), Italy (EUR7.8bn).
Azot enterprise and high-rise buildings smashed
The enemy is leveling the Azot enterprise and high-rise buildings to the ground. In addition, all three bridges leading to the city were destroyed. Russian troops destroy high-rise buildings and the enterprise with artillery fire Nitrogen in Severodonetsk. This was announced on June 14 by the head of the Lugansk regional military administration, Sergei Gaidai.
According to him, the assault on the city continues, the enemy is destroying multi-story residential buildings and industrial facilities to the ground.
Ukraine struggles to get Western assistance
Mykhailo Podolyak, a leading adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, laid out a shopping list to tackle the main equipment shortages and repel Russian forces that are pounding Ukrainian soldiers with heavy artillery barrages in the eastern Donbas region.
“Being straightforward — to end the war we need heavy weapons parity,” Podolyak said on Monday, detailing what that meant in a tweeted list that included 1,000 155mm howitzers, 300 multiple-launch rocket systems and 500 tanks.
Three hundred MLRS would roughly amount to half the US existing stock. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) the US army has 363 Himars truck rocket artillery and 225 M270 tracked launchers, and the US Marines have a further 47. The UK has 35 of its version of the M270s.
The U.S. authorities plan to disburse around $1.5 billion to Ukraine every month to maintain the functioning of the Ukrainian government, U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Dereck Hogan, ex-U.S. Ambassador to Moldova, said.
“We've already committed a billion dollars for that going through mechanisms to be able to deliver assistance, direct budget support. We've got more in the pipeline. Roughly $1.5 billion per month over the next four to five months,” Hogan said during a workshop at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Risk of global confrontation requires measures
The world’s nuclear arsenal is set to increase over the next decade as states modernize weapons stockpiles and sharpen the role nuclear weapons play in their military strategies, an arms research group said in a report this week.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released on Monday its annual overview of international security and global arms production, warning that the post-Cold War decline in nuclear arsenals appeared to be ending.
Children without childhood, subject to propaganda and violence
As of June 14, several dozen children who were deported to Russia by the Russian military have already been returned to Ukraine, said Irina Vereshchuk, head of the MinWOT.
“Today we are looking for these children, we are trying to make lists. Each repatriation on our part is a real special operation,” Vereshchuk said.
Vereshchuk called on international institutions to help Ukraine. “No time to waste. After all, now the Russian Federation uses children for anti-Ukrainian propaganda, and then they are going to be adopted,” the minister said.
Ukraine, part of European family
The European Commission will recommend granting Ukraine official status as an EU candidate country, according to several officials familiar with deliberations that took place during a debate among commissioners on Monday.
Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have pleaded for official recognition as an EU candidate country, saying the designation would provide an incalculably precious wartime morale boost. They have repeatedly noted that since the Maidan Revolution of 2013-14, Ukrainian citizens have repeatedly risked their lives — and indeed thousands have now perished — fighting for a free, democratic future in the EU.
Recognizing Ukraine as a candidate country ultimately requires the unanimous approval of the 27 heads of state and government on the European Council, who are expected to take up the question at a summit meeting in Brussels next week. Officials and diplomats said that at least three countries were still opposed (allegedly Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany).
