Ukraine Daily

Friday, July 15

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

Blood is seen on the steering wheel of a car heavily damaged in Russia’s missile attack on the city of Vinnytsia on July 14. (Getty Images)

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Death toll in Russian missile attack on Vinnytsia rises to 23, including 3 children. According to the State Emergency Service, 66 people, including three children, were injured as a result of the July 14 attack on downtown Vinnytsia. Five people are in critical condition. According to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, the Kalibr cruise missiles that hit Vinnytsia were launched from a Russian submarine located in the Black Sea.

Zelensky asks partners to recognize Russia as terrorist state. No other state in the world poses such a terrorist threat as Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an evening address after a missile attack killed at least 23 people, including three children, in Vinnytsia.

Ukraine’s First Lady commemorates little girl killed by Russian missile in Vinnytsia. Olena Zelenska published a post about a child saying that she recognized the girl after reading the news. “We met this wonderful girl while recording a Christmas video. A bright, sincere, joyful child who grew up in love. Look at her alive, please. I cry with her loved ones,” Zelenska wrote. Russian missile strikes on a civilian building and a cultural center in Vinnytsia on July 14 killed at least 23 people, including three children.

OSCE: Russia uses torture chambers, civilians as human shields in Ukraine. A new report by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) details violent acts committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine between April 1 and June 25. The report noted several particularly brutal cases, including rape and gang rape of children in front of family members, summary executions, and torture of civilians in torture chambers, all of which constitute crimes against humanity.

Official: Guerrillas set sunflower oil refinery on fire in Mariupol. Petro Andriushchenko, an aide to the mayor of Russian-occupied Mariupol, published a video of Satellite, a sunflower oil refinery, on fire. He added that the Mariupol resistance is growing.

Interior Ministry: Russia strikes civilian objects over 17,000 times. According to First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Yevhen Yenin, Russians have carried out 17,314 strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine and only about 300 on military targets since the beginning of Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine. He added that almost 22,000 criminal cases had been filled on the ground of war crimes committed by Russian military personnel and their accomplices.

Mayor: Explosions reported in Mykolaiv. Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych reported early on July 15 that at least 10 explosions have been heard in the city. He urged residents to remain in shelters.

Naftogaz requests freeze on debt payments. Ukraine’s state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz asked its creditors to defer debt payments until July 2024. They made a proposal on July 11, saying that Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine left them short of money as customers could not pay their bills. Bondholders will have up to July 21 to vote on the proposal.

Read and listen to our exclusive stories

The Russian missile strike on Vinnytsia hit civilian infrastructure in the city’s center, killing at least 23 people and injuring 117. The number of casualties has yet to stabilize. Local prosecutor says victims “burned alive.” Read our on the ground report here.

With Russia currently occupying over 20% of Ukraine, many Ukrainians are risking their lives to escape to Ukraine-controlled territory. In our latest podcast, we are joined by the Kyiv Independent’s Head of Investigations Anna Myroniuk, who shares the story of one family’s escape from Kherson Oblast. Listen to the podcast here.

The human cost of Russia’s war

Zelensky: Ukraine has awarded 3,500 soldiers posthumously since Feb. 24. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has awarded 23,000 servicepeople, including 3,500 posthumously, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an evening address. He added that 157 soldiers, including 75 posthumously, had been awarded the title of a hero of Ukraine - the highest national award.

Death toll in Chasiv Yar missile strike rises to 48. The State Emergency Service said it had pulled 48 bodies out of the rubble, including a child. The Russian missile strike hit a five-story apartment building in the city of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk Oblast, on July 9. Nine people have been rescued. The rescue operation is finished.

General Staff: Russia has lost 37,870 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on July 14 that Russia had also lost 1,667 tanks, 3,852 armored fighting vehicles, 840 artillery systems, 247 multiple launch rocket systems, 109 air defense systems, 188 helicopters, 219 airplanes, 681 drones, and 15 boats.

International response

EU condemns Russian missile attack on Vinnytsia. The European Union’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said that Russia’s “barbaric behavior” must stop immediately. Regular and repeated targeting of civilians by Russian troops is a war crime, Borrell tweeted. The comments come in the wake of Russian missile strikes on a civilian building and a cultural center in Vinnytsia that killed at least 23 people.

Latvian parliament: Russian gas supply to be suspended in 2023. On July 14, the Parliament of Latvia introduced new amendments to the Energy Law, stipulating a ban on Russian natural gas beginning on January 1, 2023.

German firm seeks to exchange 30 armored vehicles for weapons supplies to Ukraine. A spokesman for German arms maker Rheinmetall said that 30 Marder infantry fighting vehicles are being modernized to prepare them for the exchange. The spokesman added that Rheinmetall can easily increase the number of Marders to 100 as part of the exchange scheme. The aim is to hand over the vehicles to other countries, which could then supply their own weapons to Ukraine under a deal with Germany, the spokesman said. Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said that the planned sales of Marder vehicles would soon be approved by the German government. “We are in daily contact with the Chancellery, there are will and pressure there,” he said.

45 countries join Dialogue Group on Accountability for Ukraine. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office will lead a group created at the Ukraine Accountability Conference in the Hague. The group will coordinate national and international initiatives for documenting crimes and achieving accountability for international crimes. “Despite Ukraine demonstrating that it can carry the burden of investigations and judicial accountability of crimes, we have to consider the scope and magnitude of these crimes, justice for victims can only be achieved together with the international community,” Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said at the conference.

Germany to allocate additional 2.4 billion euros in aid to Ukrainian refugees. German Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said that his country will earmark an additional 2.4 billion euros in social benefits for Ukrainian refugees in the country. He added that about 800,000 people from Ukraine have already found asylum in Germany, 30% of whom are under 14 years old.

In other news

Read our latest opinions by Eugene Czolij on why Canada must not lift sanctions while Russia commits genocide in Ukraine and Dmytro Naumenko who talks about how the West remains a critical factor in Ukraine’s energy security.

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