References to Nazism in articles about Ukraine on Russian web sites surged to “unprecedented ranges” when Russia invaded the nation, in keeping with a New York Instances report.
All through the warfare, Vladimir Putin has falsely claimed that Ukraine is run by “neo-Nazis” and that Russia is making an attempt to “liberate” and “de-nazify” the nation. Ukraine’s democratically elected chief, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is Jewish, and lots of of his kinfolk had been killed within the Holocaust.
Based on the Instances, Russian media has been instrumental within the unfold of false claims and propaganda within the warfare, together with articles that falsely declare Ukrainian Nazis have used civilians as human shields and are planning the mass homicide of Russians. References to Ukrainian Nazism in Russian articles have remained excessive because the day Russia’s invasion started.
“You see it on Russian discussion groups and in feedback Russians are making in newspaper articles,” Jeffrey Veidlinger, a College of Michigan professor, advised the Instances. “I feel many Russians really consider this can be a warfare in opposition to Nazism.”
Russia has engaged in a harsh crackdown on each Russian and international unbiased information shops since invading Ukraine, and handed a legislation that media shops have warned criminalizes unbiased journalism.
The president of Belarus has claimed, with out offering proof, that Ukraine tried to strike navy services on Belarusian territory earlier this week.
Reuters, citing the state-run Belta information company, reported that Alexander Lukashenko stated Ukrainian armed forces tried to strike services in Belarus three days in the past, however that the missiles had been intercepted. He claimed Ukraine was trying to impress Belarus, and that his nation doesn’t plan to intervene within the battle.
Belarus, a detailed ally of Russia, has supported the warfare, permitting Moscow to make use of the territory to wage its warfare in opposition to Ukraine. Vladimir Putin just lately pledged to ship Belarus nuclear-capable missiles in “the approaching months” and supplied to supply upgraded warplanes.
Final week, Ukraine stated that missiles from Belarus hit a border area in its territory.
The Ukrainian navy didn’t instantly touch upon Lukashenko’s claims.
I’m Dani Anguiano and I’ll be bringing you the newest developments within the warfare in Ukraine over the subsequent few hours
CNN stories on the volunteers deep within the japanese Ukrainian forest sleeping in earthen dugouts, primed and able to defend in opposition to the Russian navy.
Maxym is certainly one of them, dwelling in a wooded encampment not removed from Slovyansk, along with his comrades who make up Ukraine’s territorial defence. These are non-professional troopers, most of whom signed up within the early days of Russia’s invasion in February.
He says he thinks typically of his pregnant spouse, again dwelling in Kharkiv, and their unborn son.
We’ll kick them out of right here, and he’ll comprehend it: that we didn’t simply stand right here doing nothing. It’s our land, they usually don’t have any proper to come back right here.
Not lengthy after CNN’s go to, a cluster strike closely wounded among the troopers.
Demonstrators gathered on the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland right this moment to protest in opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At the moment thus far…
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Right here’s the place we stand:
- Russian forces are persevering with to realize “minor advances” within the strategic metropolis of Lysychansk in japanese Ukraine, with air and artillery strikes persevering with within the district, British intelligence says. Ukrainian forces in all probability proceed to dam Russian forces within the south-eastern outskirts of the japanese Ukrainian metropolis, in keeping with the newest UK Ministry of Defence report.
- Russia’s defence ministry has stated its forces destroyed 5 Ukrainian military command posts in Donbas and within the Mykolaiv area, in keeping with Russian state media. Three weapons storage websites had been additionally destroyed within the Zaporizhzhia area in south-east Ukraine, the ministry was quoted as saying. These claims haven’t been independently verified.
- The UK authorities has condemned the exploitation of prisoners of warfare after two extra British males held by Russian proxies in east Ukraine and charged with “mercenary actions” might face the loss of life penalty. Andrew Hill of Plymouth and Dylan Healy of Huntingdon had been reported to have been charged with “forcible seizure of energy” and present process “terrorist” coaching, in keeping with a state information company in Russian-controlled Donetsk.
- A Briton and a Moroccan man sentenced to loss of life by pro-Russia officers in Russian-controlled east Ukraine have appealed in opposition to their sentences, Russian state media reported. The supreme courtroom within the self-proclaimed Donetsk Folks’s Republic has acquired appeals from attorneys for Brahim Saadoun and Shaun Pinner, in keeping with the Russian state-owned information company Tass. One other Briton sentenced to loss of life by the Russian proxy courtroom, Aiden Aslin, had not but submitted an attraction, Tass stories.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, right this moment. My colleague, Jane Clinton, will probably be right here shortly with all the newest from Ukraine. Thanks.
Ukrainian prisoners of warfare have detailed their experiences of torture and abuse whereas within the fingers of Russian forces, whereas their households have described weeks of not understanding whether or not their family members had been useless or alive as “hell on earth”.
The US newspaper the Hill spoke to former prisoners of warfare and their households about what life was like for these captured by Russian forces since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.
One former prisoner of warfare, Igor Kurayan, 55, stated he was overwhelmed and given electrical shocks throughout weeks in Russian captivity.
Russian troopers twisted and lower his fingers utilizing pliers and metallic chopping scissors, Kurayan stated. Different prisoners had been overwhelmed so badly they died, he added.
A translator for Kurayan advised the paper:
Every single day he could be known as out for the torturing they usually needed him handy over his pals.
Anzhelika Todorashko, 32, stated her mom, 52-year-old Viktoria, was captured in February for her work with the Ukrainian military. She was transported to Russia the place she stated she was given electrical shocks, photographed bare, given little meals and water, and heard screams from different prisoners asking for loss of life, Todorashko stated.
Russian troopers would humiliate prisoners, Todorashko stated, along with her mom telling her that prisoners needed to maintain their fingers above their head for hours a day. In the event that they dropped their fingers they’d be overwhelmed, she stated. Troopers additionally shaved the heads of the ladies and suffocated others.
Her mom was launched weeks after being imprisoned and brought to a Ukrainian hospital, the paper writes.
Ukraine military says Lysychansk is ‘not encircled’
The Ukrainian military has rejected claims that Russian-backed separatists and Russian forces have surrounded the important thing japanese metropolis of Lysychansk.
Ruslan Muzytchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Nationwide Guard, stated on Ukrainian tv:
Combating rages round Lysychansk. (However) fortunately the town has not been encircled and is below management of the Ukrainian military.
A spokesperson for the pro-Russian separatist forces earlier advised Russian state media that Lysychansk was “fully encircled”.
Rescue staff have recovered as many as 29 physique fragments amid the rubble of lethal Russian missile strikes on a purchasing centre within the Ukrainian metropolis of Kremenchuk, Ukraine’s state emergency service stated.
No less than 19 folks had been killed on Monday after two Russian X-22 cruise missiles hit a crowded purchasing centre in Kremenchuk, officers stated. Authorities estimate there have been between 200 and 1,000 folks inside on the time of the assault.
In a Fb submit, Ukraine’s state emergency service stated:
On 2 July, at 13:25 in Kremenchuk, particles removing works had been accomplished on the Amstor purchasing centre, which was destroyed by missile assault on 27 June.
Greater than 60 folks had been injured within the assault, together with 26 individuals who had been hospitalised, it stated.
It added:
29 physique fragments have been detected because the starting of the work.
Russian-backed separatists say they’ve ‘fully’ encircled Lysychansk – stories
Russian-backed separatists stated they’ve “fully” encircled the important thing metropolis of Lysychansk in japanese Ukraine, in keeping with Russian state media.
Andrei Marotchko, a spokesperson for the pro-Russian separatist forces, advised Russian state-owned information company, Tass:
At the moment the Luhansk fashionable militia and Russian forces occupied the final strategic heights, which permits us to substantiate that Lysychansk is totally encircled.
These claims haven’t been independently verified.
Lysychansk represents the final pocket of Ukrainian resistance to Moscow’s forces within the Luhansk area, and has been below fixed Russian artillery bombardments and airstrikes for weeks.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk area, wrote on Telegram:
Non-public homes in attacked villages are burning down one after the other. With such a excessive density of shelling, we solely have time to shelter the injured. Fires concurrently in a number of locations. We barely have time to eradicate large-scale fires in Lysychansk.
Our Lorenzo Tondo and Andrew Roth have the total story of the UK international workplace’s condemnation of Russian “exploitation” of prisoners in Ukraine:
The UK authorities has condemned the exploitation of prisoners of warfare after two extra British males held by Russian proxies in east Ukraine and charged with “mercenary actions” might face the loss of life penalty.
A spokesperson for the British International Workplace launched an announcement after the information that Andrew Hill of Plymouth and Dylan Healy of Huntingdon had been reported to have been charged with “forcible seizure of energy” and present process “terrorist” coaching, in keeping with a state information company in Russian-controlled Donetsk.
“We condemn the exploitation of prisoners of warfare and civilians for political functions and have raised this with Russia,’’ the assertion stated. “We’re in fixed contact with the federal government of Ukraine on their circumstances and are totally supportive of Ukraine in its efforts to get them launched.”
Hill, who was recognized as a father of 4 from Plymouth, has been paraded on Russian tv in a number of clips, together with one which aired final month with the headline: “Unique – earlier than the execution.”
Within the clip, he appeared to have been knowledgeable that he could face felony fees, saying that he was being “detained right here as a suspected mercenary”.
Hill, who’s reported to have beforehand served within the Lancaster regiment of the British military, was first proven on Russian tv after his seize in late April. Within the video, the 35-year-old seemed to be severely injured, along with his head bandaged and his left arm in a forged and supported by a sling.
“I need to go dwelling, to my homeland, to my household, to my youngsters,” he stated within the latest clip, which appeared to have been filmed below duress. “I simply need to go dwelling. I’ll inform them the reality.”
The opposite man, Dylan Healy, is reported to have been working in Ukraine as a humanitarian support volunteer.
Two extra Britons and a Moroccan man had been sentenced to loss of life on equivalent fees by the authorities in Russian-controlled Donetsk.
Russian forces proceed to pound Ukrainian stronghold of Luhansk, says governor
The governor of Luhansk (see additionally 08:57) says that Russian forces are pounding the town of Lysychansk in an try and carry down the final stronghold of resistance within the japanese Ukraine province.
It comes after weeks of Ukrainian fighters making an attempt to defend the town to keep away from it falling to Russia as close by Sievierodonetsk did per week in the past.
The Russian defence ministry claims to have taken management of an oil refinery on the outskirts of the town in latest days.
However the governor, Serhiy Haidai, stated on Friday that preventing on the facility continued.
At the moment, on Telegram, Haidai stated: “Over the past day, the occupiers opened hearth from all accessible sorts of weapons.”
A sequence of latest assassination makes an attempt focusing on pro-Russian officers suggests a rising resistance motion in opposition to Russian-backed authorities occupying elements of southern Ukraine, in keeping with US officers.
The resistance might develop right into a wider counterinsurgency that will pose a major problem to Russia’s potential to manage captured Ukrainian territories, CNN has cited officers as saying.
There have been three assassination makes an attempt focusing on pro-Russian officers over the previous two weeks within the metropolis of Kherson, which has been occupied by Moscow’s forces since early on in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Officers say there doesn’t look like a central command behind these acts of resistance, however the assaults have elevated in frequency, notably within the Kherson area.
The US doesn’t consider that Russia has sufficient forces in Kherson to successfully management the area, one US official stated. Michael Kofman, director for Russia research on the Middle for Naval Analyses, stated:
I feel Russia goes to have vital challenges in making an attempt to ascertain any form of steady administration for these areas, as a result of probably collaborators – extra distinguished ones – are going to be assassinated and others will probably be dwelling in worry.
Earlier this week, the director of US nationwide intelligence, Avril Haines, stated the Kremlin “faces rising partisan exercise in southern Ukraine”.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zekenskiy, has condemned Russian missile assaults close to the port of Odesa that authorities stated killed not less than 21 folks.
Russians flattened a part of the condo constructing in Serhiivka whereas residents slept, hours after Russian troops deserted the Black Sea outpost of Snake Island. Zelenskiy stated the assaults had been a “acutely aware, intentionally focused Russian terror”.
The Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has dismissed fears that western international locations are experiencing “Ukraine fatigue”.
Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, warned in opposition to what he known as “Ukraine fatigue” setting in all over the world after visiting Kyiv. Jonhson stated:
When Ukraine fatigue is setting in, it is rather necessary to point out that we’re with them for the lengthy haul and we’re giving them the strategic resilience that they want.
Podolyak, who can also be head of Ukraine’s delegation workforce, tweeted:
Neglect about ‘Ukraine fatigue’. The world will not be bored with supporting Ukraine. The world is bored with Russian fuel blackmail, synthetic crises, inflation, political assassinations, chemical weapons, terror and fixed brazen lies.
Neglect about “Ukraine fatigue”. The world will not be bored with supporting 🇺🇦. The world is bored with Russian fuel blackmail, synthetic crises, inflation, political assassinations, chemical weapons, terror and fixed brazen lies. Bored with Putin’s private “complexes”.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) July 2, 2022
UK condemns exploitation as captured Britons might face loss of life penalty
The UK authorities has launched an announcement following the information that two extra Britons held by Russian proxies might face the loss of life penalty after being charged with preventing as mercenaries.
Britons Andrew Hill of Plymouth and Dylan Healy of Huntingdon had been reported to have additionally been charged with “forcible seizure of energy” and present process “terrorist” coaching, in keeping with a state information company in Russian-controlled Donetsk. The report was sourced to an nameless official and has not been confirmed.
A spokesperson for the British International Workplace stated:
We condemn the exploitation of prisoners of warfare and civilians for political functions and have raised this with Russia.
We’re in fixed contact with the federal government of Ukraine on their circumstances and are totally supportive of Ukraine in its efforts to get them launched.
Russia’s defence ministry has stated its forces destroyed 5 Ukrainian military command posts in Donbas and within the Mykolaiv area, in keeping with Russian state media.
Three weapons storage websites had been additionally destroyed within the Zaporizhzhia area in south-east Ukraine, the ministry was quoted as saying.
The ministry stated the Russian air pressure had struck a Ukrainian weapons and gear base at a tractor manufacturing facility in Kharkiv, in northeast Ukraine.
These claims haven’t been independently verified.
