War in Ukraine | The West steps up aid to Ukraine

Incessant bombardments, unsanitary conditions in Mariupol: faced with the evolution of the situation in Ukraine, dozens of countries have announced their readiness to provide more weapons. Meanwhile, Manitoba welcomed a charter flight of Ukrainian refugees on Monday.

Alice Girard-Bosse
The Press

Additional weapons to challenge the Russian army

The port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine is vital for wheat exports around the world, but still grapples with a Russian blockade. Denmark pledged on Monday to send Harpoon anti-ship missile launchers – built by Boeing – to help the city challenge the Russian navy.

These missiles are one of the most sophisticated systems equipping Western navies. Denmark is the only country to have acquired the modified version of this weapon which can be installed on trucks to enable coastal defence. The range of these missiles can range from 125 to 300 kilometers, depending on the version.

Twenty countries have also pledged to provide additional weapons to Ukraine, announced US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. “Many countries will donate much-needed artillery ammunition, coastal defense systems, tanks and other armor” for the Kyiv army, he added. “The West is helping and will continue to help, as long as Ukraine succeeds on the battlefield,” said Maria Popova, a professor in the Department of Political Science at McGill University.

Zelensky pleads for maximum penalties

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday called for maximum sanctions against Russia during a virtual speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. He believes sanctions must go further to stop Russia’s aggression, including an oil embargo, blocking all its banks and completely cutting off trade with Russia. He also pushed for the complete withdrawal of foreign companies from Russia to prevent supporting his war.

East bombed

The situation is becoming “more and more difficult” for the Ukrainian army in the east of the country, in particular in the city of Severodonetsk, which is bombed “24 hours a day”, according to the governor of the Luhansk region, Serguiï Gaïdaï. Last night, Russian forces also bombarded the Dnipropetrovsk region in southeastern Ukraine with rockets. Despite the few gains on the Russian side in recent days, the Russian army will “surely continue to fight for a long time”, analyzes M^me Popova.

heavy losses

In three months of battles, Russian forces in Ukraine have suffered a death rate similar to that suffered by the Soviet Union (USSR) during its nine-year war in Afghanistan, British military officials believe. They say the high casualty rate is due to poor tactics, limited air cover, a lack of flexibility and a command approach that reinforces failure and repeats mistakes. There is no overall assessment of the victims of the conflict, but Western sources mention around 12,000 Russian soldiers killed.

Mariupol in ruins

Rotting garbage, corpses, sewage strewn across the city: Mariupol mayor’s adviser Petro Andryushchenko said he feared an outbreak in the port city, pointing to unsanitary conditions made worse by the weather, and called for there to be a new wave of evacuations. M^me Popova, however, doubts that Russia is motivated to carry out the evacuations. “Russia is not particularly interested in the humanitarian aspect of this conflict”, summarizes the specialist.

Arrival of Ukrainian refugees in Canada

The first of three charter flights to carry Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion to Canada landed in Manitoba on Monday afternoon. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser says the three flights were to help bring about 900 Ukrainians for emergency stay in Canada. The second plane flight will leave for Montreal from Poland on May 29 and the third, bound for Halifax, will take off on June 2. These charter flights are in addition to the commercial options, subsidized by a special fund, offered to Ukrainians fleeing the war.

First war crime conviction

The first Russian soldier to be tried for a war crime since Russia invaded Ukraine was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on Monday in Kyiv for the premeditated murder of a civilian. The 21-year-old was accused of shooting a Ukrainian civilian in the head early in the war after being ordered to do so.

Russian currency arrives in Kherson

Meanwhile, Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine that quickly fell to the Russians at the start of the war, is preparing to add the ruble as a second official currency. However, the currency of Ukraine will remain present. “It proves that Russia considers the region as its territory and that its inhabitants should be ready to live like in Russia,” said Ms.^me Popova. The administration also indicated that a first office of a Russian bank will open “very soon” in Kherson and that “all entrepreneurs wishing to do so” will be able to open an account there.

Starbucks leaves Russia

For its part, the company Starbucks, which had temporarily closed the 130 establishments bearing its name in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, announced Monday that it had made the decision to leave the country definitively. The American coffee chain said it would continue to pay its approximately 2,000 Russian employees for six months and help them find new jobs. The multinational McDonald’s made the same decision last week.

With Lila Dussault, The PressAgence France-Presse, The Associated Press and The Canadian Press