"All of Ukraine is ours"
Moscow makes its intentions crystal clear
Hello and welcome to your weekly briefing on Ukraine.
I’m writing this newsletter at 2 p.m. at a bookstore in downtown Kyiv, waiting for my breakfast order and sipping on coffee because I am yet to fully wake up. It was another sleepless, deadly night in Kyiv. Russia killed at least 7 people and injured dozens. The death toll will likely grow because the first responders are still going through the rubble of an apartment building that was directly hit by a Russian missile.
On mornings like this, I think about the poem written by a Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, who was killed by a Russian strike on Kramatorsk in 2023:
Air-raid sirens across the country
It feels like everyone is brought out
For execution
But only one person gets targeted
Usually the one at the edge
This time not you; all clear.
I’m here to summarize the past week’s news for you and unfortunately, it’s much of the same story. An attack against Kyiv last Monday killed 28 people and injured at least 170. One of the people killed was a 62-year-old American from Oregon, who was angered by the Donald Trump administration’s reversal of American support for Ukraine and came in May to volunteer, according to the New York Times. One Russian missile struck a residential building, completely leveling one of its nine-storey sections and killing dozens of residents. Many other residential buildings were damaged across Kyiv, including a kindergarten and a dormitory of a local university. It was the deadliest Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital this year.
That night, my family didn’t go to the shelter. We bet on the air defence for the sake of our daughter’s uninterrupted sleep and curled up on the floor mattress in our corridor. A few hours into the attack, I woke up from a loud swoosh sound that was unfamiliar. My husband, who stayed awake the entire night, said it was a missile hurtling nearby.
The growing intensity and frequency of Russian attacks are extremely worrying, and I dread the thought of it only getting worse throughout the summer. Russia is probably trying to bomb Ukraine into submission, exhausting the population to make the Ukrainian government capitulate and accept Moscow’s peace terms. This tactic hasn’t worked before and I don’t see how it could now.
Masks off. The Kremlin was once again unequivocally clear about its imperialistic goals in Ukraine. Speaking at an economic forum in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin said Russians and Ukrainians were “one people”, and that “all of Ukraine was (Russian)”“There’s an old rule,” Putin went on, “that wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, that’s ours.” The Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom was equally frank in his interview with CNN: “We don’t see any necessity to stop (the war),” he said. "For Ukraine, there is a choice: either they will take our conditions right now… or we will continue this drive and Ukraine will have to surrender under much worse conditions.” The anchor, Christiane Amanpour rightfully pointed out to the Ambassador that this sounded more like capitulation than a negotiation.
G7 drama. The Group of Seven gathered in Canada for their annual two-day summit on Monday, with the war between Israel and Iran on top of everyone’s mind. A meeting between Trump and Zelensky was on the books for Tuesday, but it didn’t happen. Trump departed a day early, saying he did “everything” he had to at the G7 and needed to attend to more pressing matters back home. Financial Times reported that Trump left early in part due to his frustration with Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to Greenland. While present, Trump lamented Moscow’s expulsion from the group, saying it was insulting to Putin. “Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in,” Trump told reporters, even though Stephen Harper, not Justin Trudeau, was Canada’s Prime Minister when Russia was kicked out in 2014 after invading Ukraine. “I would say that was a mistake because you wouldn’t have a war right now”. Sigh. Also, for the first time in years, there was no joint statement from G7 regarding Ukraine, reportedly because of American resistance.
Other stories I’m following…
From Politico, Latvia ramps up crackdown on Russian citizens with real estate purchase ban AND Baltic countries team up on mass evacuation plans as Russian threat grows
From The Economist, This week’s NATO summit will be all about placating Donald Trump
From the Wall Street Journal, Europe Sees Its Own Ports as Vulnerable in Standoff With Russia
I’ll be back later this week.
Cheers,
— Yours Ukrainian
Thank you Anastasiia for your reports and links to other articles. Yes, the mask is off. But for all who understand how the russian regime "works", the mask has been off for years. Biden was too timid, too much in the past where russia is concerned, and now we in the US have a russian asset in the regime and many russia supporters alongside pushing the poisonous propaganda. A majority of Americans however do support Ukraine's fight and want Ukraine to win. Now it is necessary for Nato to stop acting stupidly, recognize russia has declared war on the west and act with conviction and courage by bringing Ukraine into the alliance. The truth is that Ukraine is doing the fighting and dying for all Nato countries. Providing materiel is critical. Standing up to russia physically is not without risk. Not doing so is also not without risk. I'm not sure back-slapping Rutte is up to the moment. I hope I am wrong. May you and your family remain as safe as possible during these times. 🇺🇦🌻
Looking at the history of the founding of both Ukraine and Muscovy, the founding of Kyiv predates Moscow by at least 3 centuries in the written records, and depending on the source you use, more like 6 centuries, so my conclusion would be that 'all of Russia belongs to Ukraine". Which is pretty silly, like saying that it all belongs to Sweden because it was the Swedish Vikings who first settled Kyiv.
Regarding the incessant nightly bombing, I think it would make sense for Ukraine to begin bombing Moscow, especially the Kremlin as Ukraine avoids taking civilian lives. And there must be power stations in or around Moscow, not to mention Moscow's ring road and airports, all of which are important to the war effort. I wonder if Zelenskyy and Syrsky are being too cautious about bringing the war right into Moscow.
Honestly, if someone interrupted my sleep and then my morning coffee, there would be war.