WAR IN UKRAINE: May 31, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 97
A 32-year-old French journalist was killed in the Donbas region from shrapnel from a Russian shell aimed at the armoured evacuation vehicle he was riding in. Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff of the all news channel BRM-TV was with other fixers and journalists at the time. A France-24 reporter said he’d replaced a Ukrainian reporter who’d planned to be part of the convoy. The death brings the total number of Ukrainian and foreign journalists killed during the current phase of the war to over two dozen.
European Union leaders have agreed on a plan to block more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports. But in a sign of EU weakness and division, pipeline imports will be exempt from the sanctions.
Russian forces have entered the city of Severodonetsk, as they continue their attempts to capture the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. One of the region's governors says that the bombardment of the industrial centre is so intense that they have given up counting the casualties - BBC. Separately, Ukrainian media reporting from the crucial city of Sloviansk, which Russian combatants held briefly in 2014, that at least three people were killed, six wounded; seven residential buildings and school were damaged - citing Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk Regional Military Administration.
US President Joe Biden said he won't send rockets to Ukraine that could reach Russia amid CNN reporting that the US is preparing to approve advanced, long-range rocket systems for Ukraine. The Russians have warned the US would “cross a red line” if it supplies the systems. Kyiv has been begging for longer range multiple launch rocket systems that can counter Russian weapons
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs slams the Reuters news agency for calling occupied territories “pro-Moscow” and the theft of Ukrainian grain “exports. The report quoted the Russian news agency TASS (Reuters later changed headline to ‘Russian-controlled Kherson region’). Ironically Reuters struck a content deal with TASS in 2020, but terminated it earlier this year due to Ukraine war. Still, by any journalistic standard, this slant by Reuters is a real head scratcher. The incident has triggered a social media storm in Ukraine against the UK-based news agency.
In chilling and twisted remarks, Russia State Duma Deputy Defense Committee Chairman Vladimir Shamanov says Russia has horrific plans for Ukraine, government leaders and journalists. “When the war ends Ukraine will be left with nothing.” He added that Russia has initiated talks wtih China for international, Nuremberg-style war crimes trials.
Listen to the Global Impact Show interview with UK-based Ukrainian academic Olesia Khromeychuk about the war in Ukraine and the strong impact over the decades of Ukrainian women. Click here