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LAST UPDATE | 3 Jun 2022
UKRAINE HAS MARKED 100 days since Russia’s invasion with fighting raging across the east of the country, where Moscow’s forces are tightening their grip on the Donbas region.
The sombre milestone came as Kyiv announced Moscow was now in control of a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea and parts of Donbas seized in 2014.
After being repelled from around the capital, President Vladimir Putin’s troops have set their sights on capturing eastern Ukraine, prompting warnings the war could drag on.
Some of the fiercest fighting is now centred on Severodonetsk in the Donbas region, 80% of which the Russians have seized, but Ukrainian forces are putting up stiff resistance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country’s military would fend off the Russian invasion.
“Victory will be ours,” Zelenskyy said in a video marking the 100 days.
It included Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and presidential advisor Mykhaylo Podolyak, recalling an impromptu message they posted outside government buildings at the onset of the war, vowing to remain in the country.
Fighting is raging across the east, where Moscow’s forces are tightening their grip on Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Former boxer Volodymyr Klitschko, brother of Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, said that Ukrainians “don’t want another 100 days of war” and called for continued “pressure on Putin’s regime”, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Yes, we need weapons so that we can defend our common values. But we must wage war on the Russian economy so that Russia will finally leave Ukraine in peace,” Volodymyr Klitschko said.
“We must economically isolate Russia from the world.”
Ukraine’s foreign ministry released a statement in English saying international help for the country was “the best investment in peace and sustainable development of all mankind”.
The ministry also called for a special court to investigate war crimes in the country, saying: “Russian criminals should be brought before the Tibunal in the same way as it was with the leadership of Nazi Germany.”
Shmyhal earlier said the war was pushing his country closer to Europe while Russia was moving towards “isolation from the developed world”.
Luhansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said on Telegram that “for 100 days, they have been levelling everything”, accusing the Russians of destroying hospitals, schools and roads.
“But we are only getting stronger. Hatred of the enemy and faith in our victory make us unbreakable.”
Since Russia’s 24 February invasion, thousands of people have been killed and millions forced to flee, while Zelenskyy says up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers are dying every day on the battlefield.
Severodonetsk’s Azot factory, one of Europe’s biggest chemical plants, was targeted by Russian soldiers who fired on one of its administrative buildings and a warehouse where methanol was stored.
‘Shelling getting stronger’
Ukrainian troops were still holding an industrial zone, Gaiday said, a situation reminiscent of Mariupol, where a huge steelworks was the southeastern port city’s last holdout until Ukrainian troops finally surrendered in late May.
The situation in Lysychansk – Severodonetsk’s twin city, which sits just across a river – also looked increasingly dire.
About 60% of infrastructure and housing had been destroyed, while internet, mobile network and gas services had been knocked out, said the city’s mayor Oleksandr Zaika.
“The shelling is getting stronger every day,” he said.
In the city of Sloviansk, about 80 kilometres from Severodonetsk, residents said there were constant bombardments by Russian troops.
“It’s very difficult here,” said paramedic Ekaterina Perednenko, 24, who only returned to the city five days ago but realises that she will have to leave again.
“Shooting is everywhere, it’s scary. No water, electricity or gas,” she said.
And in Mykolaiv in the south, Russian shelling killed at least one person and injured several others, Ukrainian military officials said late Thursday.
Financial squeeze
Led by the United States, Western nations have pumped arms and military supplies into Ukraine to help it survive the onslaught.
Bridget Brink, the new US ambassador to Kyiv, promised Thursday that the United States would “help Ukraine prevail against Russian aggression,” after presenting her credentials to Zelensky.
Earlier this week, the United States announced that it was sending more advanced Himar multiple rocket launch systems to Ukraine.
The mobile units can simultaneously fire multiple precision-guided munitions at targets up to 80 kilometres away.
They are the centrepiece of a $700 million package that also includes air-surveillance radar, ammunition, helicopters and vehicles.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Washington of “adding fuel to the fire,” although US officials insist Ukraine has promised not to use them to strike inside Russia.
Beyond sending arms to Ukraine, Western allies have also sought to choke off Russia’s financial lifeline in a bid to get Putin to change course.
Ramping up an already long list of embargoes, the United States blacklisted Putin’s money manager and a Monaco company that provides luxury yachts to Moscow’s elite.
Across the Atlantic, EU nations agreed new sanctions that would halt 90& of Russian oil imports to the bloc by the end of the year.
Oil move disappoints
Russia warned that European consumers would be the first to pay the price for the partial oil embargo.
Major crude producers agreed to boost output by about 50% more a month in an effort to calm an overheated market and ease pressure on inflation.
But the move disappointed investors, and prices rose following the announcement.
The war risks triggering a global food crisis, as Ukraine is one of the world’s top grain producers.
It was already translating into higher costs for essentials from cereals to sunflower oil to maize, with the poorest among the hardest hit.
The head of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall, is to visit Russia today for talks with Putin.
The visit is aimed at “freeing up stocks of cereals and fertilisers, the blockage of which particularly affects African countries”, along with easing the Ukraine conflict, Sall’s office said.
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Before and shortly after the invasion started, Russian propaganda was saying that their second-best army in the world would take Kyiv in 3 days and if Europe stood in their way, their tanks would reach the English Channel in one week.
One hundred days later, they are still fighting in the east of Ukraine. All thanks to the heroism of Ukrainian soldiers, desire to live in a truly democratic society and the support from so many countries in the world.
Glory to Ukraine, and glory to its heroes! Thanks to all who support Ukraine in its fight for survival.
@Clay Pigeon: from 2nd best army in the world to 2nd best army in Ukraine
@Clay Pigeon: all while launching a major counter offensive in the Kherson region, if they can retake Kherson city it’s worth more than a small bit in the east. That can wait till Ukraine have enough troops and equipment ready to launch a large scale offensive kicking Russia out.
@Clay Pigeon: But no thanks to global efforts to pursue a negotiated peace settlement. This is how it must end but no will on the part of EU or US to make it happen. Yannis Varifuokis has some excellent analysis on this.
@Clay Pigeon: bomb Moscow
@Clay Pigeon: I wasn’t aware. Have you sources/links to where Russian propaganda said that the tanks would reach the English Channel within a week? Thanks.
It’s a pity Ukraine didnt agree to the Minsk agreement. This war probably wouldn’t have started. Now they will probably lose a juicy chunk on their country.
@Irishman7: Would it have worked? They were given a guarantee in the Budapest Agreement in the late 90s that Russia (and US) would respect their territory.
It’s been an awful 100 days for them (and going back to 2014) but given how many expected the country to be conquered in weeks and Zelensky paraded in Moscow for ’war crimes’ it’s definitely gone far better than even hoped for.
A key part of the rebuild should also be changing their railway gauge to match the rest of the Continent, that way they can export via Poland and reduce the impact of naval blockades, not to mention deny Russia easy use of their rail network during the next invasion,
@Irishman7: Pretty clear they should never have given up their nukes.
@Irishman7: Another anonymous twitter account with 1 follower parroting Russian talking points.
No agreements with Russia are worth anything. Ukraine gave up its nukes in an agreement that Russia would respect its territory. It ripped that up when it annexed Crimea and sent weapons and men into eastern Ukraine stoking up conflict there.
Democratic Western countries need to quadruple weapons deliveries to the Ukrainians. Then quadruple that. Brutal autocratic kleptocracy must be destroyed now, and Russia freed from little sick putin for good
@ProtectKyiv: plus one. Slava Ukraine.
@ProtectKyiv: what happens to those weapons when Ukraine can’t hold out?
The country is destroyed with its people scattered across Europe. The peace will bring a permanent loss/restoration of the east to Russia and Nato/US weapons installations throughout the western portion.
I doubt even the neo-Nazi Azov battalion, now in a Russian prison camp, are calling for more and bigger weapons.
As the old fascist slogan goes ‘Glory to the Heroes’ even though they have caused the country to be blown to glory.
@Bramley Hawthorne: “The country is destroyed with its people scattered across Europe.”
I note your use of the 3rd person as if the country destroyed itself through no one else’s fault but the country itself.
However, the country was invaded by its neighbor and there is a mounting body of evidence that Russia’s plan was to destroy Ukraine as a country and identity and subjugate its people.
For them to surrender means at best mass imprisonment and at worst death so yes, they should be calling for more weapons because their very survival depends on it.
@Bramley Hawthorne: You must be a friend of Vladmir! Go back to sleep or go comfort your boss, he’s not happy at the moment as his plans are not going as planned! Slava Ukraine!
@Bramley Hawthorne: back to the bot factory with you
@Brian Henoll: he needs to go back to the factory, the spectacular phuckw1t can’t even bot properly.
@Bramley Hawthorne: The now marginalized experts in the field are left talking about who really gains from such a protracted war. To hit the nail on the head – official US policy is to protract the war to weaken Russia. The eventual outcome or the innocent lives lost is irrelevant. Look at the Soviet Afghan war. A diplomatic solution is effectively blackballed so they shall fight to the last Ukrainian. PS Azov stopped being called Neo Nazis in western media and are now hailed as altruistic heroes in western media. Stick to the script man!!!
The divisions caused by nationalism are horrific, British imperialism know all about the tactic of divide and conquer as we have experienced…. likewise US imperialism saw its chance in the Ukraine and have succeeded in using the nationalist Ukrainians to fight their proxy war against Russia. They are sending billions of dollars of arms which the used Ukraines will be paying for ever. Now poor Europe will be buying more expensive US gas and food…. None of this would have happened if a fraction of the money spent on war was spent on developing intercultural friendship and understanding…..
@Seán Ó Briain: the simple and easy to understand discourse is that as set by our very one dimensional media…. baddies Russia, goodies …the rest. The answer as in all westerns is a shoot out… guns ,guns and more guns…..and bigger guns…
@Fergus Quinlan: And not one mention of Russia by yourself who started this and who have levelled cities and murdered thousands of civilians.
@Fergus Quinlan: get thee gone bot
@Killian O’Sullivan: the point is …..Russia had to act to defend its people…. when Zelenskyy goaded by US imperialism ignored the Minsk agreement and said they would not take Russia security concerns to account…
@Fergus Quinlan: zelensky wasnt ukranian president in 2014 when russia invaded initially.
@Fergus Quinlan: “baddies Russia”
Correct. Russia invaded Ukraine. Russian soldiers are raping women, committing summary executions of civilians and deliberately targeting residential buildings. They have killed thousands of civilians and wiped entire towns and cities off the map.
Stop your nonsense.
@Seán Ó Briain: try understand how British imperialism operated in the past……and how US imperialism works now. …think of Julian Assange rotting in Belmarsh Prision while Edward Snowden walks free in Moscow…..
@Fergus Quinlan: in fairness this is a case of Russia clearly being the bad guy. Are we seriously meant to believe that the country led by a man who poisons and assassinates anyone who criticises or comes anywhere near challenging him is the hero against an alleged Nazi government ran by a Jewish comedian.
@Fergus Quinlan: Chomsky has good ideas on this
Most of the comments about this are hilarious
We in Ireland still remember the donations from the Choctaw and the Turkish sultan during the Famine.
People remember those friends who had your back when you’ve been knocked down.
The Irish people should do everything possible to support Ukraine at this time.
@Cian Martin: What about the people of Yemen?
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