Month: June 2022

The New Voice of Ukraine

Severodonetsk becomes a huge mass grave for Russian army and Kadyrovites

June 7, 2022

International observer Ivan Yakovina shared with Radio NV on June 6 what happened on the Luhansk axis over the past week, and how Russians have reacted to these developments. The following is an edited transcript of his briefing.

Read also: Russia may establish control over Luhansk Oblast in next two weeks, US think-tank says

According to Yakovina, the political leadership of Russia, namely Vladimir Putin, demands the capture of both Lysychansk and Severodonetsk in order to declare his full control over the Luhansk Oblast. In fact, Lysychansk and Severodonetsk make up — in his opinion — 10% of the entire region. The rest of the territory has been captured.

Putin needs a propaganda win, and therefore he wants his army to capture Lysychansk and Severodonetsk as soon as possible.

Since their encirclement (of Ukraine’s Joint Forces Operation) failed, Russia threw all its troops into a frontal assault, first on Severodonetsk.

This attack was quite successful. A few days ago, it was announced that 70-80% of Severodonetsk was captured, that the Ukrainian army was retreating, that it was evacuating across the Siverskyi Donets River to Lysychansk.

On June 4, reports began to appear that everything was not as bad as it seemed. And the day after, it became clear that the Ukrainian army had prepared an ambush there.

Read also: Russians continue assault on Severodonetsk, carry out airstrike on Lysychansk – regional governor

Ukrainian troops had prepared for the siege of Severodonetsk for a very long time, and roughly understood in which directions the attackers would go, they prepared — maybe they laid mines, maybe they set up ambushes.

The attackers were allowed into the city, and then this trap was snapped shut – and there they were all killed, and annihilated.

At first I didn’t really believe in this story, I thought it sounded too good to be true. However, I read [former FSB colonel, terrorist] Igor Girkin (Strelkov), and he says that the Ukrainian counter-offensive in Severodonetsk is indeed successful and developing. He said, “I don’t want to talk about the scale of the problems.” Obviously, the scale is quite serious.

Read also: Lysychansk 60% destroyed, says military administration head

Now the Russians are retreating from Severodonetsk in a panic. The Kadyrovites (the personal troops of Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov) are suffering heavy losses because they were let in for the first time… It was so important for Putin to capture Severodonetsk that he even let the Kadyrovites, whom he usually does not risk, who usually shoot only video clips — he let them fight. They suffered enormous losses there.

Generally speaking, it was a crushing defeat for the Russian army there.

Read also: Ukrainian forces launching effective counterattacks in Severodonetsk, US think tank says

Interestingly. Girkin said on June 5 that the “mopping up” of Severodonetsk was coming to an end, but now — “no, no, no.” He claims that the counter-offensive in Severodonetsk was organized by Polish and American troops. He claims: “It was Polish, American speech on the air.”

They cannot believe that the Ukrainians can organize such a serious offensive. They decided that it would not be so shameful for them to say that it was the Americans who annihilated them. Why would there be so many Americans? Of course, these are Ukrainians.

However, the fact remains that in urban conditions, the Ukrainian counterattack in Severodonetsk is going very well.

I don’t know what will happen next. I think that at some stage Severodonetsk will still have to be abandoned because it is located on the left bank of the Siverskyi Donets. It is really difficult to defend it, especially when the bridges are broken; it is very difficult to send reinforcements there. Therefore, I think that it will have to be left in order to save the army.

But considering that the garrison in Severodonetsk let the Russian troops along with the Kadyrovites have it with both barrels, because they were defeated there — this sounds very cool. Let’s hope it’s all true.

Read also: Ukrainian Army controlling Severodonetsk industrial zone, fighting underway, says Luhansk governor

The very fact that Severodonetsk has become a huge mass grave for the Russian army cannot but arouse some interest. An absolutely amazing, heroic story.

Here we see one very important nuance. Where the advantage of the Russian Federation dwindles in artillery, where artillery is not so important (artillery is used less in urban conditions, because you can hit your own people, and Russian artillery is not very accurate), the ability to conduct combat operations in urban conditions becomes important — with a machine gun, pistol, grenade launcher.

Read also: French journalist killed after evacuation vehicle in Luhansk Oblast comes under Russian fire

Under these conditions, we see that the Ukrainians are much more successful than the Russians. The Russians retreat and scatter.

This is important because with American supplies of artillery, the Russian advantage in it will soon come to naught. I think that will take a couple of months. And then a serious war will begin: soldier against soldier in settlements where the invaders stand no chance.

The Conversation

Global arms industry getting shakeup by war in Ukraine – and China and US look like winners from Russia’s stumbles

Terrence Guay, Clinical Professor of International Business and Director, Center for Global Business Studies, Penn State – June 7, 2022

Russia’s war in Ukraine is upending the global arms industry.

As the U.S. and its allies pour significant sums of money into arming Ukraine and Russia bleeds tanks and personnel, countries across the world are rethinking defense budgets, materiel needs and military relationships. Countries that historically have had low levels of defense spending such as Japan and Germany are bulking up, while nations that purchase most of their weapons from Russia are questioning their reliability and future delivery.

My research in this area suggests that, however this war eventually ends, the repercussions for the global defense industry, and for the countries whose companies dominate this sector, will be enormous. Here are four takeaways.

1. Russia will be the biggest loser

Russia’s general sales pitch for its weapons has been they’re “cheaper and easier to maintain than Western alternatives.” This is why Russia accounted for 19% of the world’s arms exports from 2017 to 2021, second only to the U.S., which had 39% of the market.

However, this pitch may no longer be effective for many countries that have seen Russian equipment losses and failures in Ukraine.

To date, the U.S. estimates Russia has lost almost a thousand tanks, at least 50 helicopters, 36 fighter-bombers and 350 artillery pieces, according to Business Insider. Thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed, with estimates ranging from about 15,000 to as high as 30,000, and Russia is still unable to control Ukraine’s airspace.

The situation has become so dire that there are reports that commanders are trying to preserve equipment by forbidding troops from using them to evacuate wounded soldiers or to support units that have advanced too far.

Russia’s offensive weapons have also proved disappointing. Its missile failure rate – the share that either failed to launch, malfunctioned mid-flight or missed their target – may be as high as 50% to 60% due to design flaws and outdated or inferior equipment.

These problems, along with the Russian military’s slow progress achieving any of President Vladimir Putin’s stated objectives, have raised serious doubts among the country’s traditional customers for weapons exports. Russia sells almost 90% of its weapons to just 10 countries, including India, Egypt and China.

What’s more, Russia’s ability to replace these equipment losses has been hampered by economic sanctions, which bars key foreign components like circuit boards. And Russia will almost certainly need to replace its own military hardware before it exports anything abroad.

That means that even countries that want to keep buying Russian tanks and fighter jets will have to wait in line or turn elsewhere to fulfill their defense needs.

2. Russia’s loss is China’s gain

The country that will likely see the greatest gains from Russia’s displacement as a major arms supplier is China.

In recent years, the country has taken a 4.6% share of the global arms trade, putting it in fourth place behind France’s 11%. At the same time, seven of the top 20 global defense companies in terms of revenues earned from defense sales are Chinese, signaling the sector’s big ambitions.

Currently, the Chinese government buys most of its weapons and vehicles from these domestic arms makers, but China has the capacity to export more military products abroad.

For example, China is already the world’s largest shipbuilder, so exporting more naval ships is a natural next step. The country is expanding its niche role in drone technology and attempting to leverage modernizing its air force with domestically built aircraft to increase exports.

At the moment, only three of the world’s 40 biggest arms importers – Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar – buy a majority of their weapons from China. That could change if China takes advantage of Russian weakness to position itself as a reliable national security, economic and political partner – a core feature of its Belt and Road Initiative.

China is not capable of supplanting U.S. and European weapons, which are considered “top shelf” because of their high quality and price. But China may well fill the market niche that Russian arms makers dominated, thereby increasing Beijing’s role as a major weapons exporter – and gaining the political and economic benefits that accompany that.

One of China’s biggest challenges will involve proving that its weapons work well in live combat situations.

3. American arms makers will also be big winners

U.S. weapons manufactures dominate the global arms industry. The Ukraine war will likely ensure this stays that way for some time.

The world’s five largest arms companies are all American: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics. In fact, half of the top 100 producers of arms are based in the U.S. Twenty are European. Only two are Russian – despite the country being the world’s second-largest source of arms.

The massive amounts of weapons being transferred from the U.S. to Ukraine will keep American arms makers busy for some time to come. For example, the U.S. has transferred about one-third of its stock of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, and it will take three to four years for the Raytheon-Lockheed Martin joint venture to replace them. The US$40 billion aid package recently signed by President Joe Biden includes $8.7 billion to replenish U.S. weapons stocks.

The companies’ soaring stock prices are a sign investors believe profitable days are ahead. Lockheed Martin’s stock price is up over 12% since the invasion began – with most of the gains occurring in its immediate aftermath. Northrop Grumman has jumped 20%. At the same time, the broader stock market as measured by the S&P 500 has slumped about 4%.

4. More countries will become arms makers

The flipside to this is that some countries that relied on others for their defense needs may seek to become more self-sufficient.

India, which relied on Russia for almost half of its weapons imports in recent years, is realizing that Russia will need most or all of its production capacity to replace tanks, missiles, aircraft and other weapons used or lost in Ukraine, with less leftover for export.

That means India will need to either source spare parts for vehicles and weapons from other former Russia arms customers such as Bulgaria, Georgia and Poland, or build up its own defense industry. In April, India announced it would ramp up production of helicopters, tank engines, missiles and early airborne warning systems to offset any potential reduction in Russian exports.

Concerns about Russian reliability are also growing. In May, India canceled a $520 billion helicopter deal with Russia. While there are reports U.S. pressure played a role, it also seems to be part of the government’s strategy over the past few years to build its own domestic defense industrial base.

Brazil, Turkey and other emerging market countries have also been developing their own defense industries over the past two decades to reduce their reliance on arms imports. The Ukraine war will accelerate this process.

Putin likely didn’t expect to shake up the global arms market with his effort to annex Ukraine – or cause the decline of his country’s weapons sector. But that’s just one more way his war is causing a geopolitical earthquake.

Reuters

Russian auto sales plunge 83.5% in May, another historic dive

Reuters – June 6, 2022

Cars drive along a highway in Moscow, Russia, May 17, 2017 with Moscow International Business Center also known as “Moskva-City” in the background. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

June 6 (Reuters) – Car sales in Russia plunged 83.5% in May to another historic low, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said on Monday, as Western sanctions have decimated Russia’s auto industry with parts shortages and spiralling prices.

Russia sent troops to Ukraine on Feb. 24, and sales of new cars have been falling since March as sanctions blocked main supply chains. Last month, only 24,268 vehicles were sold, AEB said. A year earlier, sales were six times greater.

Top western carmakers led by Renault (RENA.PA) either suspended operations or left Russia since sanctions took effect. The country’s car industry depends on global supplies, and the shortage of parts has shrunk production volumes several times since Feb. 24.

According to Russian statistic agency Rosstat, car prices have jumped nearly 50% since the start of the year, slamming demand in a country where household incomes have declined while inflation has been hovering near 20-year highs.Advertisement · Scroll to continue

AEB did not provide a forecast for the Russian auto market performance this year. In April, it forecast new car sales in Russia to fall by at least 50% in 2022.

Business Insider

Russian general killed in Ukraine after personally leading an attack, in sign that Russia is running out of colonels to do it, state journalist says

Sinéad Baker – June 6, 2022

• A Russian general was killed in Ukraine, a Russian state-media journalist and Ukraine’s military said.
• The general had led an attack himself “as if” there was no colonel to do it, the journalist said.
• Russia has lost a high number of generals in the three months since it invaded Ukraine.

Another Russian general was killed in the fighting in Ukraine, a Russian state journalist and Ukraine’s military said.

Alexander Sladkov, a journalist with Russian state-owned media, reported Maj. Gen. Roman Kutuzov’s death in a Sunday Telegram post. Sladkov did not say when or where it happened.

Ukraine’s military also said that Kutuzov was killed, but did not provide any details, the BBC reported.

Sladkov said: “The general had led soldiers into attack, as if there are not enough colonels,” according to a translation by the BBC. “On the other hand, Roman was the same commander as everyone else, albeit a higher rank.”

The BBC reported that Sladkov is a reporter with the state-owned Russia 1. Reuters and the The Moscow Times reported that he works for a Russian state-owned outlet, but they did not specify which one.

Russia’s military has neither commented on Kutuzov nor confirmed if he died.

Russia has lost a high number of generals in its invasion of Ukraine.

James Stavridis, a former NATO supreme allied commander for Europe, said on May 1: “In modern history, there is no situation comparable in terms of the deaths of generals … Here, on the Russian side, in a two-month period, we’ve seen at least a dozen, if not more, Russian generals killed.”

It is not clear exactly how many Russian generals have been killed, and Russia has only acknowledged the deaths of a few generals.

The UK’s defense ministry said last month that senior Russian commanders had been drawn into the battlefield due to the problems Russia’s army has faced in its invasion.

“Difficulties in command and control, as well as faltering Russian performance on the front line, have drawn senior commanders onto the battlefield, likely to take personal leadership of operations,” it said.

Experts also told Agence France-Presse in March that generals may have been taking a more active role, and hence putting themselves at more risk, in a bid to motivate their troops as Russia’s invasion stalled.

Business Insider

Ukrainian students hold graduation dance in front of the ruins of their school destroyed by Russian strikes

Jake Epstein – June 6, 2022

• Ukraine’s foreign ministry shared a video of students performing a “prom waltz” during the war.
• The dance took place on a basketball court in front of a bombed-out school in Kharkiv.
• Russian troops previously used the school as an outpost, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.

With a backdrop of shattered windows and scorched walls, a handful of Ukrainian students stood in front of the rubble of their school — and danced.

In a 45-second-long video taken by Ukraine’s public broadcaster and posted to Twitter on Monday by Ukraine’s foreign ministry, students could be seen performing “their prom waltz” in front of their bombed-out school in the country’s second-largest city Kharkiv.

The students could be seen in the video doing a coordinated dance to a slow song. Behind them, a Ukrainian military vehicle sits next to a collection of troops.

Onlookers standing on the court could be seen using their phones to film and take photos before the footage cuts to a close-up view of the demolished school. 

Students of School #134, Kharkiv, danced their prom waltz against the backdrop of the ruins of their Alma mater.
Heavily damaged days after #Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, the school later became the last outpost for #Russian occupiers in Kharkiv.
🎥Suspilne pic.twitter.com/de7yYQy1Mt

— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) June 6, 2022

The school was destroyed just days after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February and later became an “outpost” for Russian troops, the foreign ministry said in its tweet.

“Today, #Ukrainian alumni in #Kharkiv should happily celebrate their prom. Instead, they danced a graduation dance in the courtyard of their school, which was destroyed by the #russian MLRS,” Inna Sovsun, a member of Ukraine’s parliament and the country’s former deputy education minister, said in a tweet.

Throughout Russia’s 14-week-long war against Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin’s forces have routinely targeted schools — among other civilian areas like hospitals and shelters — across the country.

Business Insider

Russian forces left piles of excrement in every office of the Chernobyl nuclear plant before they retreated, Ukrainian workers say

Taiyler Simone Mitchell – June 6, 2022

• Russian forces began their withdrawal from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster site in March.
• But Ukrainian workers are now discovering what they left behind — including human feces.
• “The poop was the icing on the cake,” the deputy director of the Chernobyl Ecocenter, said.

Russian forces may have evacuated the Chernobyl nuclear plant, but they destroyed the premises leaving behind mounds of defecation in each office, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Hundreds of Ukrainian workers were held hostage for weeks throughout the Russian occupation. Now workers are moving to clean up the site following the Russian troops’ withdrawal in late March after being affected by “significant doses of radiation.“

Aleksandr Barsukov, the deputy director of the Chernobyl Ecocenter, told The Journal that they have found spray-painted conference rooms, smashed computer screens, and 100 liters of high-quality vodka.

“The poop was the icing on the cake,” Barsukov said.

Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 Soviet nuclear disaster, was seized on the first day of the war for a total of five weeks.

After disturbing the soil, soldiers “panicked at the first sign” of radiation illness, which “showed up very quickly,” Ukrainian state power company Energoatom told The Guardian. The outlet reported that the panic led to the troops pulling out of the region.

“When the invasion started, the front guards got a call to fall back because a huge flow of Russian troops were coming,” said Julia Bezdizha, a spokeswoman for the plant, told WSJ. “They fled mainly because it was very dangerous to stay and engage in heavy combat because of the heavy radiation.”

Russian forces had also seized Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Zaporizhzhia, at the start of the war. The occupation of the plants had some concerned about a nuclear reaction and increased radiation levels.

The exact impact on Russian soldiers is currently unknown, but troops were reported to have dug trenches in radioactive soil and moved about the plant without protective gear.

Radiation exposure can impact an individual’s health in many different ways — including acute radiation syndrome, cancer, and mental distress — according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Yevhen Kramarenko, head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management, said at a press conference in April that it’s unclear how radiation levels in the area have been impacted by the Russian forces.

But, he adds, “we believe very soon [the Russians] will feel the consequences of radiation that they have received. Some of them will feel it in months, some of them in years.”

“But anyway, all of the servicemen who were there will feel it at some point,” Kramarenko continued.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war against Ukraine began on February 24 and is ongoing.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

USA Today

I prosecuted Nazis at Nuremberg. Here’s how to go after Putin and his thugs.

Ben Ferencz – June 5, 2022

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has caused immeasurable suffering and destruction. Already, extensive documentation indicates the Russian military is responsible for widespread war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Indiscriminate attacks on civilians, sexual and gender-based violence, executions and other international crimes committed in Bucha, Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and many other locations are now being investigated so that the direct perpetrators and architects of these crimes can be prosecuted.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general has taken prompt action, opening 15,000 investigations so far into these atrocities. The international community’s response toward justice and accountability has also been swift and focused, with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and war crimes prosecutors in at least 10 countries making significant efforts to open investigations.

Putin’s other war: Russians like me are fleeing a totalitarian crackdown at home

I know firsthand of the magnitude of efforts required to put war criminals on trial. Seventy-five years ago, I put 22 Nazi officers on the stand for their role in killing more than a million men, women and children in cold blood in towns and villages across Eastern Europe.

The legacy of Nuremberg – of which I am the last living prosecutor – is to have shown the world that it is possible to form a court that prosecutes heads of states, who are often immune to the rule of law, for extreme, wide-scale crimes.

I have spent my life working to deter atrocities

Before heading to Nuremberg, I served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Infantry, and I was sent to the concentration camps as American forces were liberating them, to collect evidence of the war crimes.

Columnist Connie Schultz: The Ukrainian girl who sang ‘Let It Go’ from a bomb shelter gave us all hope

The ground was covered with dead bodies and people almost dead, their eyes pleading for help. It was horror. Sadly, the evils that I saw there, and that I sought to correct at Nuremberg, are still with us today.

My life’s work has consisted of trying to deter the types of atrocities I prosecuted in Nuremberg. This is why I believe that, in addition to prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity, it is also critically important to prosecute the crime that was called “the supreme international crime” by the International Military Tribunal, which tried 21 of the most important surviving leaders of Nazi Germany: the crime of aggression.

Whole world watching: Russians’ war crimes will be documented. And prosecuted.

Russia’s unprovoked military attack on Ukraine is the clearest and most egregious instance of the crime of aggression in decades, and building a solid case against President Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian officials is feasible, as shown by a model indictment published by the legal advocacy group Open Society Justice Initiative.

This is also the most straightforward basis on which to prosecute Putin because the crime of aggression focuses on state leaders, whereas in cases of war crimes or crimes against humanity, prosecutors must prove the linkage between the crimes carried out on the ground in Ukraine and faraway commanders in Moscow.

To prosecute Putin, we need a unique court

Ukraine announced a joint investigation team with prosecutors from Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland that focuses, in part, on gathering evidence toward Russia’s crime of aggression. Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia joined the JIT as well.

While the ICC has joined the JIT and opened an investigation into crimes committed in Ukraine, because of a limitation in its statute, the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the crime of aggression committed by Russian nationals.

Unspeakable cruelty: I saw Russians as victims of ignoble leaders. Then came the rage of their war in Ukraine.

Prosecuting the crime of aggression will require a unique court capable of handling such a trial, characterized by two crucial features:

First, it must be capable of circumventing legal immunities that could apply to Putin and other top officials. This would be the case for international courts and those formed with the support of the international community, where such immunities do not apply. Experts supporting the formation of a tribunal rightly prioritize options for an internationally backed court to prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression.

Second, such a court must have substantive real and perceived legitimacy. An internationally backed tribunal, such as through the United Nations General Assembly, would bolster impartiality and independence, which could be reinforced by ensuring that Ukrainian and international prosecutors and judges play a meaningful role. Such a tribunal could also include a broader mandate to cover war crimes and crimes against humanity cases not handled by the ICC.

Humanitarian efforts: My dad and I went to Poland and Ukraine to help refugees, including teens just like me

That is why states must come together to join the Ukrainian government in supporting the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Putin and his inner cadre for the crime of aggression. This would provide a powerful demonstration of the international community’s resolve to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to insist that acts of aggression be prosecuted.

Ben Ferencz, 102, is the last living prosecutor at Nuremberg. He was chief prosecutor for the United States in the Einsatzgruppen case, which charged 22 Nazi officers with murdering more than a million people across Eastern Europe. The Associated Press called it “the biggest murder trial in history.”

Politico

Russia says strikes on Kyiv destroyed tanks donated by West

Associated Press – June 5, 2022

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia’s defense ministry said a barrage of airstrikes on Ukraine’s capital destroyed tanks donated by the West and other armor in an attack on Sunday that shattered five weeks of eerie calm in Kyiv, as President Vladimir Putin warned the West about supplying long-range rocket systems to Ukraine.

Putin said that Moscow would hit targets “we haven’t yet struck” if it went ahead with such deliveries. It wasn’t immediately clear if Putin was referring to new targets within or outside Ukraine’s borders.

Russian forces pounded railway facilities and other infrastructure early Sunday in the capital, Kyiv. Ukraine’s nuclear plant operator, Energoatom, said one cruise missile buzzed the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear plant, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) to the south, on its way to the capital — citing the dangers of such a near miss.

There was no immediate confirmation from Ukraine that the Russian airstrikes had destroyed tanks.

Kyiv hadn’t faced any such strikes since the April 28 visit of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. The early morning attack triggered air raid alarms and showed that Russia still had the capability and willingness to hit at Ukraine’s heart since abandoning its wider offensive across the country to instead focus its efforts in the east.

The strikes appeared aimed at thwarting the resupplying of Ukrainian fighters, a rising concern in Moscow.

In a posting on the Telegram app, the Russian Defense Ministry said high-precision, long-range air-launched missiles were used. It said the strikes destroyed on the outskirts of Kyiv destroyed T-72 tanks supplied by Eastern European countries and other armored vehicles located in buildings of a car-repair business.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 has led to untold tens of thousands of civilian and troop deaths, driven millions from their homes, sparked vast sanctions against Putin’s government and allies, and strangled exports of critical wheat and other grains from Ukraine through Black Sea ports — limiting access to bread and other products in Africa, the Middle East and beyond.

In a television interview on Sunday, Putin lashed out at Western deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, saying they aim to prolong the conflict.

“All this fuss around additional deliveries of weapons, in my opinion, has only one goal: To drag out the armed conflict as much as possible,” Putin said, alluding to U.S. plans to supply multiple launch rocket systems to Kyiv. He insisted such supplies were unlikely to change much for the Ukrainian government, which he said was merely making up for losses of rockets of similar range that they already had.

If Kyiv gets longer-range rockets, he added, Moscow will “draw appropriate conclusions and use our means of destruction, which we have plenty of, in order to strike at those objects that we have not yet struck.”

The missiles hit Kyiv’s Darnytski and Dniprovski districts, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app, punctuating the Kremlin’s recently reduced goal of seizing the entire Donbas region in the east. Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces for eight years in the Donbas and established self-proclaimed republics.

In recent days, Russian forces have focused on capturing the city of Sievierodonetsk.

A billowing pillar of smoke filled the air with an acrid odor in Kyiv’s eastern Darnystki district, and the charred, blackened wreckage of a warehouse-type structure was smoldering. Police near the site told an Associated Press reporter that military authorities had banned the taking of images. Soldiers also blocked off a road in a nearby area leading toward a large railway yard.

The sites struck included facilities for the state rail company, Ukrzaliznytsia, said Serhiy Leshchenko, an adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, on Telegram.

Energoatom said a Russian cruise missile came dangerously close to the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant at 5:30 a.m., seemingly tearing toward Kyiv. It said the missile “flew critically low” and that Russian targeters “still do not understand that even the smallest fragment of a missile that can hit a working power unit can cause a nuclear catastrophe and radiation leak.”

Russian strikes have repeatedly targeted railway facilities, seemingly aimed at slowing the provision of weapons to Ukrainian forces on the front lines. The cruise missiles appeared to have been launched from a Tu-95 bomber flying over the Caspian Sea, the Air Force Command said on Facebook. It said air defense units shot down one missile.

Elsewhere, Russian forces continued their push to take ground in eastern Ukraine, with missile and airstrikes carried out on cities and villages of the Luhansk region, with the war now past the 100-day mark.

Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said on Telegram that “airstrikes by Russian Ka-52 helicopters were carried out in the areas of Girske and Myrna Dolyna, by Su-25 aircraft – on Ustynivka,” while Lysychansk was hit by a missile from the Tochka-U complex.

A total of 13 houses were damaged in Girske, and five in Lysychansk. Another airstrike was reported in the eastern city of Kramatorsk by its mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko. No one was killed in the attack, he said, but two of the city’s enterprises sustained “significant damage.”

On Sunday morning, Ukraine’s General Staff accused Russian forces of using phosphorus munitions in the village of Cherkaski Tyshky in the Kharkiv region. The claim couldn’t be independently verified.

The update also confirmed strikes on Kyiv, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday. It wasn’t immediately clear from the statement which infrastructure facilities in Kyiv were hit.

The General Staff said Russian forces continue assault operations in Sievierodonetsk, one of two key cities left to be captured in the Luhansk region of the Donbas. The Russians control the eastern part of the city, the update said, and are focusing on trying to encircle Ukrainian forces in the area and “blocking off main logistical routes.”

The U.K. military said in its daily intelligence update that Ukrainian counterattacks in Sieverodonetsk were “likely blunting the operational momentum Russian forces previously gained through concentrating combat units and firepower.” Russian forces previously had been making a string of advances in the city, but Ukrainian fighters have pushed back in recent days.

The statement also said Russia’s military was partly relying on reserve forces of the Luhansk region.

“These troops are poorly equipped and trained, and lack heavy equipment in comparison to regular Russian units,” the intelligence update said, adding that “this approach likely indicates a desire to limit casualties suffered by regular Russian forces.”

Far from the battlefield, Ukraine’s national soccer players are hoping to secure a World Cup spot when the team takes on Wales later Sunday in Cardiff.

On the diplomatic front, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was heading to Serbia for talks with President Aleksandar Vucic early this week, followed by a visit to Turkey on Tuesday, where the Russian envoy is expected to discuss Ukraine with his Turkish counterpart.

Turkey has been trying to work with U.N. and the warring countries to help clear the way for Ukrainian grain to be exported to Turkish ports, though no deal on the issue appeared imminent.

A Ukrainian presidential adviser urged European nations to respond with “more sanctions, more weapons” to Sunday’s missile attacks.

Mykhailo Podolyak referenced remarks Friday by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said Putin had made a “historic error” by invading Ukraine, but that world powers shouldn’t “humiliate Russia” so that a diplomatic exit could be found when the fighting stops.

“While someone asks not to humiliate, the Kremlin resorts to new insidious attacks,” Podolyak tweeted. “Each of such terrorist attacks must face a tough response from European capitals: more sanctions, more weapons.”

Ukrainian officials have denounced the remark, and have criticized France and some other European countries for continuing to speak to Putin and talking about diplomatic solutions instead of working to push Russia out of Ukraine militarily.