UKRAINIAN WORLD CONGRESS

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DAY 159

Victory Chronicles
-DAY 159

August 1,2022

BLACK SEA BLOCKADE: 1st GRAIN SHIP LEAVES UKRAINIAN PORT ODESA

Above:  The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni was the first ship to leave a Ukrainian port under the newly-brokered deal with Turkey, the UN, Ukraine and the enemy state.  Photo via BBC

  • Ukrainian and Turkey officials announced that a ship had left Odesa laden with 26 thousand tons of corn early on Monday, the first since the kremlin began blockading Ukraine’s Black Sea Exclusive Economic Zone in February.
  • The ship is expected to arrive in Turkish waters for inspection on Tuesday.  If all goes as planned, the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni would then travel to the port of Tripoli in Lebanon.  More shipments are planned over the coming weeks.
  • Over the weekend, Lebanese officials seized a Syrian ship carrying stolen Ukrainian grain that was docked at a Tripoli port. The Embassy of Ukraine to Lebanon explained that, “Russians loaded the ship with grain in the temporarily occupied Crimea on July 27. The ship carries barley taken from the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.”  According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture, russia has already stolen several hundreds of thousands of tons of Ukrainian grains from Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson Oblast.

ARM UKRAINE: MARS II MULTIPLE ROCKET SYSTEMS AND MORE HIMARS IN COUNTRY

Above: Three long-awaited German MARS II long-range multiple rocket launch systems have arrived in Ukraine.  Photo via Ukrainska Pravda 

  • Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov confirmed on Monday that a delivery of MARS II artillery rocket systems from Germany has arrived in country.  Germany originally said in late June that the Ukrainian military would receive the MARS II MLRS after Ukrainians completed training in Germany. The UK has promised to deliver three systems.
  • According to specifications by its manufacturer Kraus-Maffei Wegmann, MLRS MARS II can hit targets at a range of up to 70 km (43 miles), depending on the type of ammo. It can be used to destroy troops and equipment, air defenses, command posts and communications and to lay minefields.
  • Also on Monday, the US delivered four additional HIMARS. Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeted, “We have proven to be smart operators of this weapon.”
  • The kremlin blames the West for the war in Ukraine because they supply arms to the defender and threatens to expand its territorial gains to push Ukrainian forces out of range of russia’s border.  It will be remembered that the tiny dictator claimed that russia hasn’t yet begun to fight.

kREMLIN’S UTTER INCOMPETENCE

Above: “How would you like to see Ukraine’s relations with Russia?” Showing changes over time since April 2008, the light blue line is for closed borders between Ukraine and russia,  orange is for open borders and dark blue is for Ukraine and russia to be one country.  Chart via KIIS

  • Social research conducted by the prestigious Kyiv International Institute of Sociology from July 6 to 20 based on a random sample of cell phone numbers in all regions of government-controlled Ukraine showed dramatic changes in Ukrainian attitudes towards its northern nemesis.  Even after the 2014 invasion, but prior to the full-scale military attack on a peaceful neighbor in 2022, 48% of Ukrainian supported friendly relations with russia, but that is now down to 11%.
  • According to the study’s authors, “The results of the latest sociological studies show that in various aspects Ukrainians are finally saying goodbye to the Russian Empire…After February 2022, the aggressiveness of the Russian leadership and ‘ordinary’ Russians, together with the atrocities of the Russian army, buried the idea of ‘friendly’ and ‘comfortable’ relations. Not only at the level of Ukraine as a whole,… but also in all regions this opinion absolutely prevails. Regardless of region or language, Ukrainians seek to isolate themselves from Russia.”

UA TO EU: NEW PROSECUTOR GENERAL AND SAPO HEAD

Above: Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office in Kyiv.  Judicial reform is key to EU membership accession progress.  Photo via TSN

  • In an interview with European Pravda, the Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon stated that she believes the EU will start accession talks with Ukraine when it institutes the seven blocks of reforms mandated by the European Commission, although the EU is under no obligation to start negotiations at any time.
  • Ms Fajon emphasizes the process may take a long time, but would be faster if there is political will in the EU and commitment in Ukraine. “Of course, you can always question if there is a political will on the side of the EU governments. Today, it is high. But I cannot say whether it will last long,” she added.
  • The Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine Matti Maasikas noted that appointing Oleksandr Klymenko as the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office last week delivered on one of the recommendations that accompanied the EU candidate status.
  • Mr Klymenko was appointed by Ukraine’s new Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin who was appointed just hours before Mr Klymenko.  Mr Kostin replaces Iryna Venediktova who was dismissed last month amid allegations of  mismanagement of certain intelligence functions.

RUSSIAN WAR CRIMES: MURDERING POWS

Above: The General Prosecutor of Ukraine published this graphic on Monday tallying the enormous number of russian war crimes under investigation.  Graphic via Office of Prosecutor General

  • On August 1, the new prosecutor general’s office tweeted, “We all have seen a torture of Ukrainian prisoner of war as well as the shelling of Olenivka detention facility. It is our common obligation to see that everyone who is involved in these crimes do not evade responsibility, – Andrii Kostin at a meeting with G7 Ambassadors.”
  • The prosecutor general’s office was referring to gruesome torture videos circulated by orcs last week of torture and murder of a Ukrainian POW as well as the apparent murder of Azovstal defenders in orc custody that was covered up by russian fire bombing of the detention facility.

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