Date—June 9, 2022

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Stories

1. “Currently, the situation is quite difficult for Ukraine. But it may have some prospects. What is happening now? There is a volley transition to NATO standards and NATO weapons,” said Valery Ryabykh, editor of Defense Express. If we take the history of the transformation of the same Eastern European countries that joined the Alliance soon, their process is more lenient. Because they still have various models of Soviet weapons. They have been gradual over the years, establishing new means of communication and systems that support management standards. But with the T-72 tank, no matter what you call it, Polish or Czech modernization, the caliber does not change, and in principle, this caused problems primarily due to differences in these standards. This is a heavy burden on any logistics, including Soviet nomenclature shells and NATO nomenclature shells. Now we have this problem. We have it all primarily due to the rapid transition because we do not have time to solve any issues of such a gradual adaptation. And, of course, the Ukrainian armed forces and the Ukrainian defense industry are adapting to this on the fly. For example, getting the same Western-style technique is not even half the battle. It’s a quarter. Because of any method, armament has its life cycle, including its daily maintenance, seasonal maintenance, the need to recover from combat damage, and repair. There is a constant need for modernization and technological improvements so that this equipment can be competitive on the battlefield. This is happening to us now because we are solving these problems in such a volley at all levels. And this applies to the armed forces, which must simultaneously provide a process of training and combat operation of transferred weapons, and the logistics system must provide this equipment with all the necessary components, supplies, and more. It is required to train personnel, not only those who will use it in combat conditions but also those who will serve. Also, the defense industry must address issues of cooperation with manufacturers of these weapons to gain access to technological processes for the maintenance of this equipment, as well as various components and more. That’s why it’s such a volley transition, which, I can’t remember, is happening in the world so fast. (Source: NV).

War

1. “According to the results of this day, the 105th day of a full-scale war, Severodonetsk remains the epicenter of confrontation in the Donbas. We defend our positions and inflict significant losses on the enemy. This is a very fierce battle, very hard. Perhaps one of the most difficult of this war. In many ways, it is there that the fate of Donbas is now being decided,” President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address. According to the President of Ukraine, on June 8, he signed a decree awarding 285 Ukrainian service members. 68 of them were awarded posthumously. (Source: Telegram).

2. ISW: In Svyatogorsk, where various sources have been talking about the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops in recent days with a high degree of certainty, there may still be fighting – but there is no exact information about this. It is unclear whether the Russian forces ultimately captured Svyatogorsk. Geolocated videos show Ukrainian forces firing artillery and man-portable anti-tank systems at Russian heavy artillery in eastern Svyatogorsk on June 6-7. The NASA FIRMS program (Satellite Fire Detection Program) has observed abnormally high temperatures in the western part of Svyatogorsk in the last 24 hours. Perhaps they point to the indirect fire of the Russians on the remaining Ukrainian forces in the village. As in the previous report, American experts again note that in the Severodonetsk-Lysichansk region, the Russians are trying to outflank Ukrainian positions to avoid a head-on assault on Lysychansk with the crossing of the Seversky Donets. In Severodonetsk, the Ukrainians use the tactics of “flexible” defense, trying to inflict losses on the enemy rather than hold the whole city. (Source: BBC).

Opinions

1. The secrecy and closeness of the Ukrainian authorities in dealing with the United States force the military to learn about what is happening from other countries and from Zelensky’s public comments. Because of the incomplete picture, the United States assesses Ukraine’s prospects in the war as more optimistic than European countries. The dosing of information is a conscious step by Ukraine, which does not want to talk about weaknesses, as this may cause a slowdown or restriction in the supply of weapons. The US Department of Defense Intelligence Agency considers the number of losses of the Ukrainian army almost equal to the losses of the Russian armed forces. But, according to an unnamed senior US official, intelligence has less confidence in the Ukrainian death toll. (Source: NYT).

Economy, Social life, and Culture

1. The Eighth Administrative Court of Appeal banned the Opposition Bloc in Ukraine. The court ruled on June 8. According to him, the property of the political force and all its branches is transferred to the state. The decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court. “Chesno” analyst Ihor Feshchenko said the court hearing was formally open, but journalists were not allowed to respond to a motion to broadcast the trial, so “the reasons for the Opoblok’s ban will be known only after the full text of the decision is published.” The meeting lasted about an hour and a half. The Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada in the CCU Olga Sovgirya wrote that the decision was made in accordance with the law banning pro-Russian parties. (Source: NV).

Invasion Damage

1. Since the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation has filed almost 480 cases of cooperation between Ukrainian citizens and Russia that attacked it. She said that in more than 100 cases, formal suspicions have already been served, four indictments have been submitted to the court, and three have already been sentenced. All three convicts are Ukrainian soldiers who switched to Russian service during the capture of Crimea in 2014, then participated in the February 24 invasion and were taken prisoner. One, a captain who served in the field communications radio center, received 15 years for high treason, the second, the commander of a tank company – 14 years, the third, a sergeant – also 14 years. Sapyan also confirmed that the State Bureau of Investigation had just opened a treason case against the mayor of Svyatogorsk, which had just been abandoned by the Ukrainian troops, Volodymyr Bandura, who made accusations against the Ukrainian military in a video.  (Source: Telegram).

Foreign news1. Under a new package of sanctions, Canada has banned advertising and public relations agencies from working for Russian oil and gas companies. A new round of sanctions includes a ban on services exports, including engineering and accounting, to Russia’s oil, gas and chemical industries. The new sanctions ban 28 Canadian consultants, including technical and management consultants and advertising agencies, from working in Russia’s oil, gas, and chemical sectors, which account for about 50 percent of the country’s revenue. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Canada imposed sanctions on more than 1,070 individuals and legal entities from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. (Source: GN).