Date—May 30, 2022 (evening)

For more information, 

subscribe on Telegram channel

Stories

1. Belarus to start military drills near Ukrainian borders in June. Belarusian military official Andrei Krivonosov said that starting on June 22, Belarus will hold military exercises in the Gomel region, near the Ukrainian border. (Source: NV).

2. Haidai: French journalist killed during evacuation effort in Luhansk Oblast. According to Serhiy Haidai, Russian forces shelled an armored evacuation vehicle, killing French reporter Frédéric Leclerc Imhoff, who was covering the effort. The evacuation was suspended, the governor added. (Source: Telegram).

War

1. General Staff: Russian troops withdraw from Mykolaivka in the Kherson region. They suffered significant losses and had to remove from the village due to a successful offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. (Source: TKI).

2. Kyrylenko: Insignificant ammonia leak reported in Donetsk region. According to Pavlo Kyrylenko, a branch of the ammonia pipeline Tolyiatti—Odesa was damaged due to active hostilities, and a cloud of ammonia is moving towards Bakhmut, Donetsk region. The leak may affect five settlements in the oblast, including Hladosove, Dacha, Mykolaivka Druha, Otradivka, and Opytne. There is no danger to the city of Bakhmut, the governor added. Rescuers are working in the area. (Source: Telegram).

3. Russia’s National Guard soldiers refuse to come back to fight in Ukraine. Anonymous officials in the National Guard in Krasnodar Krai that Russian soldiers who had participated in the invasion of Ukraine in February-April refused to come back to war. According to the report, one of the reasons for the refusal was the low pay. (Source: Svoboda).

Economy, Social life, and Culture

1. Putin signed a decree simplifying the process of obtaining Russian citizenship for Ukrainian children without parental care. Andriy Yermak, head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, earlier said, citing Russian sources, that Russia forcibly deported 232,000 Ukrainian children onto its territory since the start of the full-scale invasion. He added that over 2,000 of the children are either orphaned or separated from their parents. (Source: TKI).

2. Mayor Oleksandr Zinkevych reports: “Mykolaiv‼ ️ Artillery shelling‼ ️ 17:40. Explosions are heard in the city. Stay away from windows!” (Source: Telegram).

3. First Russian soldier to be tried for rape in Ukraine. The Prosecutor General’s Office said it had completed the first investigation of rape during Russia’s war in Ukraine. According to the investigation, a Russian soldier broke into a house in a village in Brovary District, Kyiv Oblast, in March, killed a man, and, along with a comrade, repeatedly raped his wife. The case was sent to court. (Source: Telegram).

Military Help

1. The USA won’t send Ukraine rocket systems able to reach Russia. U.S. President Joe Biden said on May 30 that the U.S. would not send Ukraine rocket systems that could reach Russia. Ukraine earlier urged the West to provide it with longer-range weapons. It was not clear whether Biden referred to the systems Ukraine had requested. (Source: Reuters).

Invasion Damage

1. Five settlements in the Donetsk region are without water supply following Russian shelling. According to local water management company Kramatorsk Vodokanal, the list includes Yasna Poliana, Yasnohirka, Shabelkivka, Oleksandrivka, and Sofiivka. The company added that vehicles will deliver water if necessary starting on May 31. (Source: UP).

2. Andriushchenko: Mariupol official reports Russian ‘filtration camps’ near the Estonian border. Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the Mariupol mayor, said Russia used the “filtration camps” near its border with Estonia to prevent Ukrainians who had been forcibly deported to Russia from escaping to Estonia. According to the official, Mariupol residents who were in such a camp said that the conditions there were much harsher compared to “filtration camps” in the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. (Source: Telegram).

3. Mariupol City Council: Real civilian death toll in the occupied city may be higher than the previously-estimated 22,000. The local authorities said that the Russians have already buried 16,000 people in mass graves and communal workers have buried another 5,000 as of mid-March. (Source: Telegram).

Foreign news

1. Russia’s Gazprom halts gas supplies to the Netherlands. Since the Dutch gas trader GasTerra refused to pay the Russian energy monopoly in rubles, Gazprom said it will halt gas supplies to the country for the next four months starting on May 31. In total, the Netherlands won’t receive 2 billion cubic meters of Russian gas. (Source: GT).