Victory Chronicles
-DAY 139

Above: Ukrainian forces hit a large ammo depot in Nova Kakhovka, a key transportation hub under enemy occupation in southern Ukraine.  Witnesses reported that the detonation lasted several hours.  Photo via TopNews Australia

WAR HIGHLIGHTS: RUSSIAN TERRORISM

Above: Life for Ukrainian children is heartbreaking.  Photo via New York Times

• Russian terror on civilians continues unabated while Kremlin sycophants and propagandists spread lies.  The enemy deliberately strikes residential, cultural and civic infrastructure with warplanes, artillery and missiles including types outlawed by international courts. Dozens are dead in Chasiv Yar, Kharkiv and other towns across the east.
• The race is on for the supply and training on HIMARS which are currently being used by Ukrainian forces to take out ammo depots and command headquarters with precision.  In the last two weeks, Ukraine has blown up at least twenty enemy ammo depots including a spectacular megablast in Nova Kakhovka yesterday.

Analysts expect that the tiny Kremlin despot is anxious to take all of Donetsk Oblast and will soon start an all-out assault to take utterly destroyed towns and villages of

IRAN HELPS A FRIEND IN NEED

Above: Iranian Ababil 3 and Atlas drones.  Photo via MIL.IN.UA

• US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that Russia asked Iran and Iran agreed to supply Moscow with “hundreds” of unmanned aerial vehicles, including combat ones, for the war in Ukraine. Iran also intends to train the Russian military to use these drones as early as this month.
• The paranoid despot from Moscow will visit Tehran next week to visit both Iran’s leadership and Turkey’s president.  The war against Ukraine and peace talks on Syria are on the agenda.

RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES: BLACK SEA BLOCKADE

Above:  The Black Sea is divided into several exclusive economic zones.  Three countries – Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey – are NATO members.  Map via EJIL Talk

• Ankara reported Monday that Turkish President Recep Erdogan spoke with both President Zelensky and the tiny Kremlin despot about breaking the Russian blockade of the Black Sea that is preventing Ukraine from exporting millions of tons of grain.  Mr Erdogan stated, “The time has come for the UN to take action on the plan to form safe corridors through the Black Sea for the export of grain.”

BOYCOTT RUSSIA: EU SLOW-WALKING 7th SANCTIONS PACKAGE

Photo via Middle East Eye

• Despite Ukraine’s and other allies’ urgent calls in mid-June for the EU to adopt further sanctions on Russia, the EU hasn’t seriously considered the matter to date. An EU spokesperson said that the package should be debated in the coming weeks.  Items in the package may include restrictions on gold imports, measures to fix previous sanctions and further listings of individuals and entities.

BOYCOTT RUSSIA: GLOBAL PRICE CAP ON RUSSIAN OIL?

Above: Greenpeace activists want the world to understand that gorging on fossil fuels fund wars around the globe.  Photo via Greenpeace

• A senior US Treasury official said a proposal being explored by several of the world’s leading economies to cap the price of Russian oil exports would be crucial for preventing another global price spike as high as USD 140 a barrel.
• Backers of the price-cap plan would set a limit for Russian oil just high enough to give Moscow an incentive to keep exporting, somewhere in the range of USD 40-60 a barrel. Closing the tap on Russian oil completely would be economically and politically dangerous in a world beset with inflation and hot Russian war.
• “The world has never witnessed such a major energy crisis in terms of its depth and its complexity,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said at a global energy forum in Sydney.
• “The whole energy system is in turmoil following the February invasion of Ukraine by Russia, at the time the biggest oil and natural gas exporter and a major player in commodities,” Ms Birol said.