WAR IN UKRAINE: June 25, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 125
UN Chief: There's real risk of multiple famines this year due to Russia's war in Ukraine. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world is facing an unprecedented global hunger crisis. "The war in Ukraine has compounded problems that have been brewing for years: climate disruption; the Covid-19 pandemic; the deeply unequal recovery," he said. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification the U.N. uses, millions of people in 37 countries are on the brink of famine due to Russia's blockade of grain exports from Ukraine - Kyiv Independent
Ukrainian forces have been ordered to withdraw from Severodonetsk, according to the top regional official - BBC
Russia on Friday said the decision by European Union leaders to accept Ukraine and Moldova as membership candidates would have negative consequences and amounted to the EU’s “enslaving” neighboring countries. Although it could take years for the countries to join the European bloc, the decision to accept them as candidates is a symbol of the EU’s intention to reach deep into the former Soviet Union, reports Reuters. Separately, the Portuguese Prime Minister said that Ukraine's integration into the EU could lead to its destruction, not strengthening, and could even become a trap for Ukraine itself if consistent decisions are not made.
The Pope has said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was partly “provoked” by Nato but denied he is backing President Putin. The comments, made in an interview with the Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica conducted last month and published recently, echo those the Pope made in April, when he suggested that Nato had “facilitated” Russian wrath; drawing accusations that he was giving credibility to Putin’s narrative of the war - The Times of London
A car bomb has killed a Moscow-imposed official in Ukraine's southeastern city of Kherson, which is occupied by Russian troops. Expect more of these acts of defiance in areas occupied by Russian forces.
A new U.N. report warned that there are 20 areas of the world where hunger is expected to worsen this summer. Ukraine is the most recent addition to nations facing hunger. The war has taken a country that was once the world's breadbasket to now a place where millions need food aid.
Most Ukrainian refugees head west to escape the Russian advance, aiming for Ukrainian-held lands or the safety of the EU. But some have done the unthinkable and have risked all to travel via Russia to third countries. Read here
Mila Kunis responds to the war in Ukraine by raising millions of dollars to aid those who are suffering Read the CNN article here
Henry Kissinger has just turned 99, but age has not slowed him one bit in the respect he can muster for an autocrat such as Vladimir Putin. Nothing else can explain why, addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, he advocated that the best road to peace in Ukraine is to officially cede Crimea to Moscow, which it seized in 2014, and give it de facto control of Ukraine’s eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Read the full feature article here
Mid summer rains have started in most of Ukraine. As usual this is bad news for farmers who are starting or in the process of harvesting winter wheat, barley and rapeseed. However, it's usually good news for many other Ukrainians who have been waiting for the wild mushroom season to begin.
But since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started Feb. 24, going to the woods in liberated Ukraine to gather mushrooms and wild berries has become a more deadly pastime for many years to come, writes my friend Bohdan Chomiak from just outside Kyiv:
The summer mushroom season is usually accompanied by numerous cases of mushroom poisoning. In a typical year there are three to four mortalities and a couple of hundred poisonings from picking and eating poisonous mushrooms. This year in addition to losses related to culinary cravings the mushroom season will bring fatal consequences from personnel mines, unexploded ordinance and booby traps left behind by Russian invaders.
To illustrate the danger of going to the woods in 2022, the following news from the Sumy Regional Military Administration: June 23 A police car exploded on a mine while patrolling the territory in the Okhtyrka district, and two officers were injured. Later, a second explosion was heard at the site where the technicians and investigators were working. As a result, five more people were injured.