June 19, 2022 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The US Department of Defense has published a full list of military assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Joe Biden administration.

As of today, the amount of military aid is about 6.3 billion dollars (about 189 billion hryvnias), of which 5.6 billion have been transferred since russia’s full-scale invasion. The Pentagon supplies Ukraine not only with heavy weapons, but also with equipment, ammunition, and medical supplies.

Artillery: 126 155-mm M777 howitzers and 260,000 shells to them; MLRS HIMARS and ammunition for them.

MANPADS and ATGMs: more than 1,400 portable anti-aircraft missile systems Stinger; more than 6,500 Javelin ATGMs; more than 20,000 other anti-armor systems.

Drones: over 700 Switchblade kamikaze drones; 121 Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems; Puma Unmanned Aerial Systems.

Transport: 108 tactical vehicles for towing artillery; 19 vehicles for evacuation of equipment; 200 M113 armored personnel carriers; hundreds of armored vehicles; unmanned coast guard ships.

Weapons, ammunition and equipment: more than 7,000 small arms; more than 50,000 rounds of ammunition; 75,000 sets of body armor and helmets; laser-guided rocket systems; M18A1 Claymore antipersonnel mines; C-4 explosive and equipment for obstacle clearing; secure communication systems; thousands of night vision devices, thermal imagery systems, optics and laser rangefinders; equipment for neutralization of explosive objects; chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear protective equipment; medical instruments and first aid kits; electronic jamming  equipment; field equipment and spare parts.

Radar: 22 counter-artillery radars; 4 anti-mortar radars; 4 air surveillance radars; radars for everyone.

Aviation: 20 Mi-17 helicopters.

The United States also funds the training, servicing and support of all supplies and the Ukrainian military, purchases commercial satellite imagery services for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and supplies two Coast Guard systems with Harpoon missiles.

The US Department of Defense plans to increase the supply of HIMARS multiple rocket launchers to the Ukrainian military. According to several officials, the United States intends to send four more MLRS to Ukraine as part of the next package of military assistance.

“The Department of Defense is still considering all options for sending four more HIMARS”, a Pentagon official said. According to him, the decision to transfer MLRS will be based “on Ukraine’s urgent needs”.

At this, the Biden administration added that in addition to MLRS, they are going to supply shells.

“We expect the fast transfer of more HIMARS and more guided projectiles”, the official said.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Borys Johnson thanked President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his reception in Kyiv on June 17 and said that the United Kingdom would never forget the dedication of the Ukrainian military, including those who died for the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state.

“Thank you, my friend President Zelenskyy, for receiving me in Ukraine yesterday”, Johnson wrote on Twitter on June 18.

“It was incredibly touching to walk along the streets of Kyiv with you once again, to pay tribute to your fallen soldiers, whose devotion, invincible courage and bravery we will never forget’.

“We will not forget the thousands of men, women and children who are killed every day in Putin's aggressive war. The United Kingdom will work tirelessly with our allies to bring lasting peace to the people of Ukraine”, Johnson said.

Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte called the war a threat to the security of his country.

“This war is ours. Let's agree on this. We are doing everything possible so that Ukraine can win”,  he said after a weekly government meeting.

“There are not many heavy systems. We are doing it because this  is our war. If something goes wrong and we allow putin to occupy Ukraine, what's next? In fact, it is a direct threat to our security”, Rutte added.

Former chief of the Polish National Security Bureau Stanislaw Koziej believes that his country could close the skies over Western Ukraine with missile defense systems. This is due to the fact that enemy shells often fall near the border.

According to the official, Warsaw has arguments to provide preventive insurance and inform the kKremlin.

“We have arguments to provide preventive insurance. If it (russia) does not stop attacking our border with long-range missiles, we will introduce missile defense over Western Ukraine within days”, said Stanislaw Koziey.

Olaf Scholz once again made a statement on military aid to Ukraine. The Federal Chancellor of Germany stressed that our state should be a priority now. He also stressed that different types of weapons will be in their supplies. Scholz said that all the equipment promised should come to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in time.

“You know that there is already a long list of customers who are waiting to receive it, even in two and three years. The specific things we can deliver now will be delivered after training. These weapons cannot be used without training”, the Chancellor said.

Germany is working to make Ukraine the first in line to receive. In particular, these are multiple launch rocket systems. Scholz also said that Germany would hand over an air defense system.

The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denys Monastyrskyi stated that the West may provide Ukraine with underwater drones in the near future. They will help to effectively clear water bodies from explosive objects.

According to the Minister, the procedure of demining under water is very complicated and slow due to the fact that there is almost no visibility.

“I must say that most bodies of water today are dangerous. There will be a long demining where the fighting took place. This requires special equipment of which we have very little”,  said Monastyrskyi.

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On June 18, Lithuania banned the transit of EU-sanctioned goods between Kaliningrad region and other regions of russia. Up to 50% of the range of goods, including construction materials, metals and products manufactured in the region, were banned.

The plenary session of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering) in Berlin decided to limit russia's role and influence in this international organization. In particular, the representatives of the russian federation will not perform managerial or advisory functions, nor will they participate in decision-making on setting standards, peer review processes, management and membership in the FATF, reads the  FATF statement.

Since June 3, the European Union in the national settlement depository (nsd) has blocked foreign securities of russian residents for  more than 6 trillion rubles – complained the first deputy chairman of the central bank chistyukhin. Sanctions against the nsd have banned russian investors from all transactions with their foreign securities placed in the structure of the moscow stock exchange. In the nsd, the situation is seen as emergency. Before sanctions, more than 1,650 securities of international, mostly American, companies were available to russian investors.

For russians, trips to European countries have become longer and more expensive. Due to the complexity of logistics and a significant reduction in the number of carriers still conducting   at least some flights, the cost of tickets to EU countries has almost doubled in six months. Under such circumstances, tourists are forced to increase the duration of trips and the timing of their planning. Today, only 10% of russians can travel to European countries as compared to 2019, when they freely used this opportunity.

There is another high-profile corruption scandal in the russian armed forces, due to which the prosecutor general’s office of the russian federation proposed to hold a closed trial in the case of fraud and corruption in the supply of equipment to the armed forces. The main defendant is the former deputy chief of the general staff of the rf armed forces, general arslanov, who is accused of fraud and bribery. The case also includes the former chief of the department of orders to improve the technical basis of the management system of the russian federation, colonel kutakhov and a former military representative yakovlev, who is accused of fraud. Excluding the receipt of multimillion-dollar bribes, it is a theft of 6.7 billion rubles when purchasing radio stations and other equipment for the armed forces. This secret trial is taking place against the background of confusion with the real state of supplying putin's army with basic things, including underwear and toilet paper. On June 14, the acting commander of the 41st army, colonel korotkevich, asked the mayor of novosibirsk loktev to “provide all possible assistance to forces and units of the 41st army conducting a special operation in Ukraine, Luhansk and Donetsk regions”.  In particular, the second army of the world needs 5,000 pairs of socks, 2,000 T-shirts, 2,000 underpants, 1,000 packs of moist toilet paper, 1,000 handkerchiefs, 500 rolls of toilet paper, and 1,000 mosquito repellents, 100 kg of waffles, 100 kg of sweets, 1,000 packs of cigarettes with a filter, 1,000 boxes of matches, 5,000 sterile bandages.

Ex-head of “rosvooruzheniye” ogaryov was found dead in own cottage in a suberb of moscow.

After the introduction of international sanctions against russia, personal hygiene companies lost the necessary type of cellulose. Annually, 150,000 tons of necessary cellulose were imported to russia from the United States, Finland, Brazil, Sweden, France, Belgium and South Korea. Even if we manag  to achieve localization of 70-80% due to the transition to russian cellulose (the quality of which is very questionable), still rubber, Velcro, superabsorbent and glue remain imported, said the commercial director of “drailok technologies” zaitseva. Since March, prices for pads and diapers have increased by an average of 20-40%, she said.

russia and belarus have been suspended from beach soccer Euroleague 2022. The teams are excluded from the competition – they are not among the participants, the list of which is published on the website of the International Beach Soccer Federation (BSWW).

Glory, a kickboxing organization, has revoked the title and terminated the contract with world champion russian vakhitov for his support of the attempted occupation of Ukraine.