Summary
It’s 2am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
- The Canadian senate passed prime minister Justin Trudeau’s budget on Thursday, allowing it to seize and dispose of assets sanctioned as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Canadian government will now be allowed to seize and dispose of assets of people and entities that have been sanctioned due to the invasion. The government will then be able to use the funds to support Ukraine.
- The European Council on Friday has approved 9 billion euros of financial aid to Ukraine. In a statement made by Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the European Council summit in Brussels, he said, “There is a war in Ukraine, and there is nothing to pay nurses, teachers, police, border guards, or many other public services.”
- Ukraine’s main domestic security agency said on Friday it had uncovered a Russian spy network involving Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach who was previously accused by the United States of being a Russian agent. The State Security Service (SBU) said Derkach, whose whereabouts were not made clear, set up a network of private security firms to use them to ease and support the entry of Russian units into cities during Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion.
- Over 3,000 dolphins in the Black Sea have died as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian scientists working in the “Tuzlovsky Lymans” reserve, a national nature park. NEXTA reports that the “work of sonar and explosions prevent them from finding food” and that dead dolphins have been increasingly found on the coasts of Bulgaria and Romania, in addition to Ukraine.
- It would require Ukraine a decade to rebuild infrastructure of its Black Sea ports, whose blockade by Russia is preventing global grain exports, according to Ukraine’s deputy agriculture minister. “For alternative routes, it would take 10 years of investment to try to build the necessary infrastructure to replace this Black Sea port infrastructure, which we spent about 20 years building, starting in 2000,” Taras Vysotskiy said on Friday.
- Russia has condemned the European Union’s decision to accept Ukraine and Moldova as membership candidates. Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry said, “With the decision to grant Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidate countries, the European Union has confirmed that it continues to actively exploit the CIS on a geopolitical level, to use it to ‘contain’ Russia,” referring to Russia’s sphere of influence within the Commonwealth of Independent States consisting of former Soviet states.
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Mass kidnappings have been occurring in Melitopol, said the mayor of the southeastern Ukrainian city. “More than 500 people have been abducted in the last four months,” Ivan Fedrov said, adding that mass kidnappings have resumed in the Russian-occupied territory last week.
- Russia has launched 70 missiles at Odesa since February 24, the southwestern city’s regional prosecution has said. According to the prosecution, the majority of the missiles have targeted residential areas and public utilities.
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as I hand the blog over to my colleagues in Australia who will bring you the latest updates on Ukraine. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you.
Footage has emerged of the ruins in central Popasna in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, Euromaidan Press reports.
After two months of intensive fighting against Russian forces, Ukrainian troops left the city in early May, leaving behind numerous buildings that have been destroyed by the Russian military.
Video of ruins of central Popasna, Luhansk Oblast
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) June 24, 2022
Ukrainian troops left the city on 8 May after two months of heavy fighting. Most of the buildings in the city have been destroyed by the multiple Russian artillery, rocket, missile, aircraft attacks.https://t.co/IkHelKzsO2 pic.twitter.com/TkV9xcXYX8
