Russo-Ukraine War - 10 June 2022 - Day 107

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A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

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One hundred and seven days of heroic opposition of the Ukrainian nation to the Russian military invasion lasts.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his address to the student community of leading British universities, stated : "the essence of the war that Russia is waging against us. Its goal is to erase our history, to erase our statehood, our identity, to deny our existence as such. To say that we never existed. That we are an artificially created people, as if we are not humans, but a variety of plants or a species of animals. To devalue our culture, to humiliate our language, to cross out our art. Our musicians, writers, philosophers, scientists, designers, inventors, all the great rulers and all the great warriors of Kyivan Rus’, Zaporizhzhian Sich, who existed, exist and will exist. Russia's goal is to erase all associations about Ukraine except the war. Ukraine without the past, without the bright moments of the present, and therefore without the right to the future.... Freedom is nearby. For Russia, it is dangerously close. It wants to destroy it. But it will lose. We are fighting for our future, they are fighting for someone else's past."

In the battle for the Donbas, the fight over Severodonetsk has entered a crucial stage. Ukrainian units are locked in a desperate struggle with Russian infantry and armour intent on taking the city, which is at the eastern end of a Ukrainian defensive pocket now in serious danger of being cut in two. While maintaining a grip on the city, Russian forces to the south of this salient are also slowly advancing north in an attempt to cut the roads leading to the town of Bakhmut.

To the north, Russian infantry and armour have been pushing south towards the strategically important towns of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, with their vital rail junctions, crucial for the movement of supplies and vehicles given the vast distances that the war in eastern Ukraine involves. These two Russian thrusts are designed to pinch this ever-narrowing pocket, squeezing it until Severodonetsk and Lysychansk are cut off from the rest of Ukraine, effectively surrounding and besieging the Ukrainian units caught in the Russian pincer.

The UK Ministry of Defence reported that fighting continues around Sieverodonetsk. Russia is again in control of most of the city, but its forces have made little progress in attempts to encircle the wider area from the north and south. Russia is struggling to provide basic public services to the population in Russian-occupied territories. Access to safe drinking water has been inconsistent, while major disruption to telephone and internet services continues. There is likely a critical shortage of medicines in Kherson, while Mariupol is at risk of a major cholera outbreak. Isolated cases of cholera have been reported since May. Ukraine suffered a major cholera epidemic in 1995, and has experienced minor outbreaks since, especially around the Azov Sea coast - which includes Mariupol. Medical services in Mariupol are likely already near collapse: a major cholera outbreak in Mariupol will exacerbate this further.

Spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Shtupun reported that in the Volyn, Polissya and Seversky areas, the situation has not changed significantly. In the Kharkiv direction, the Russians is trying to prevent the advance of units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine in the direction of the State Border. The Russians fired mortars, artillery and rocket-propelled grenade launchers at Ukrainian units in the areas of Kharkiv, Krynychna, Husarivka, Bayrak and Chepil. In the Slavic direction, Russians units are preparing to resume the offensive on the city of Slavyansk. The Russians fired artillery at the settlements of Dolyna, Chervona Polyana, Nova Dmytrivka, Hrushuvakha and Dibrivne.

In the Severodonetsk direction, the Russians is storming in order to establish full control over the city of Severodonetsk and create conditions for the blockade of Ukrainian units. The fighting continues. The Russians fired artillery at the settlements of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Ustynivka, Toshkivka, Zolote and Horske. In the Bakhmut direction, Russians fire activity was recorded near New York, Zolotoye, Vrubovka, Komyshuvakha, Berestov and Luhansk.

The Russians did not take active action in the Avdiivka, Kurakhiv, Novopavliv and Zaporizhzhya areas. They fired mortars, artillery and rocket artillery shells at the settlements of Avdiivka, Tonenke, Nevelske, Maryinka, Orikhiv, Opytne and Novobakhmutivka. The Russians launched air strikes using Su-25 aircraft near Marinka and Krasnohorivka and Ka-52 helicopters near Novobakhmutovka and Mi-8 near Oleksandropol. In the Novopavlovsk direction, the Russians strengthened the grouping of its troops. The Russians did not wage active hostilities in the Lyman direction, but continued to consolidate in the area of Svyatogorsk.

They took measures to continue the offensive in the direction of the Lyman - Slavyansk. They fired near Dronivka and Serebryanka. The Russians were defending in the South Bug direction. The Russians continued to improve the fortification equipment of the second and third lines of defense, and carried out camouflage measures. The situation in the Bessarabian direction has not changed significantly.

In the waters of the Black and Azov Seas, the Russians were focusing efforts on blocking civilian shipping. In the Black Sea, the carriers of the Caliber naval base cruise missiles are ready for use.

Units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to inflict significant losses on Russians troops and maintain a stable defense in all directions. It is increasingly difficult for the Russians to replenish units that have suffered losses as a result of the war on the territory of Ukraine. The Russians are trying to solve the problem of recruitment by promising favorable financial conditions and the introduction of short-term contracts for military service. It is said the Russians themselves call such contracts "one way".

The official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov , during a briefing, spoke about the strikes on the positions of the Ukrainian army inflicted by the Russian Armed Forces. According to him, over the past night, high-precision missiles at the Dnepr military airfield destroyed aviation equipment of the Ukrainian air forces. In addition, near Kharkov, they hit an enterprise where weapons and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were restored. Also hit were two command posts, five firing positions of Ukrainian artillery, five depots of missile and artillery weapons and ammunition, and 27 areas of concentration of manpower and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Russian aviation hit 46 such areas and destroyed more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers, six tanks, four field artillery pieces, and two Grad installations. Artillerymen and missilemen hit 62 command posts, 138 artillery firing positions, as well as 303 areas of concentration of manpower and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. More than 350 soldiers were killed, 7 armored vehicles, two Grad installations, 5 field artillery guns and mortars, 16 special vehicles, as well as 11 warehouses of rocket and artillery weapons, ammunition and fuel were destroyed. Russian air defense systems managed to shoot down two aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force: Su-25 and MiG-29, as well as five Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles.

Boris Rozhin, editor-in-chief of the Kassad information and analytical center, believes that Ukrainian units with a total size of 60-70 thousand people will not be able to restrain the advance of the RF Armed Forces and allies to Slavyansk. At the same time, the military affairs specialist stated that, by the nature of the ongoing operation, the public has the opportunity to make sure that global and thoughtless offensives by Russian troops are not expected, the Public News Service reports.

Now, as he explained, a classic artillery offensive is underway, Ukrainian nationalists are being crushed, and only then is a gradual advance and occupation of settlements carried out. “This is done in order to minimize our own losses and maximize the losses of the enemy,” Rozhin emphasized. “It’s clear that the Kyiv regime is concentrating troops in residential, industrial buildings, but as we saw in Severodonetsk, this does not stop the advance of our units.”

In addition, the expert noted that the positions of the RF Armed Forces are being strengthened for a further breakthrough. And this strategy, according to him, showed itself well near Popasnaya, Svyatogorsk and some other zones. “There is a potential Severodonetsk cauldron, where everything essentially hangs on one supply route, and if it is cut, then the tactics of small cauldrons will start. After that, the APU will have supply problems. It is clear that they will continue to resist, trying to slow down the advance of our troops in order to prevent encirclement. But one way or another, we will cut off the communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and squeeze them out of their positions," Rogozhin summed up.

Imposing sanctions on Russia and sending more weapons into Ukraine are not the ways to address the ongoing conflict in the country, CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin said. "The Russian invasion of Ukraine was a big mistake and should not have happened. And, unfortunately, a lot of people are suffering because of it. But the sanctions are not the way to deal with that. And pouring more weapons into the conflict is not a way to deal with that either," Benjamin said.

Benjamin also said she disagreed with people that say Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO. "I don't think that's good for the rest of the world, because it means that Russia feels insecure, feels threatened and we have the conflict that we have now," Benjamin said.

"We were against its expansion from the original 13 countries that formed it, we're against Finland and Sweden joining, we think that's only further antagonizing Russia. So I think it's a bad development and we stick to our idea that NATO should be disbanded," Benjamin added.