Ukraine announced that it had hit a Russian arms depot in the occupied Kherson region in the south of the country overnight. The Russian occupation authorities accuse kyiv of hitting houses and causing numerous victims. Franceinfo takes stock of the assessment of the situation in Ukraine, on the 139th day of the war.
A Ukrainian strike against an ammunition depot
Some 52 Russian soldiers perished and “a warehouse with ammunition” was destroyed in Nova Kakhovka, about 70 km from Kherson, a city of 290,000 inhabitants, said Ukrainian military officials responsible for the south of the country. Videos viewable on social media show a smoke mushroom forming after the strike. The Kherson region has been largely occupied by Russian forces since their invasion of Ukraine on February 24, although the Ukrainians are leading a counterattack there.
“There are no military targets here”however reacted the head of the military-civilian administration installed in this city by the Russian forces, for whom “dozens of houses were affected”. He denounced an attack on Telegram “cynic with high-precision missiles”.
The Russian forces for their part bombarded Mykolaiv, another large city in the south, 19 of their missiles having hit several civilian buildings, injuring 12, according to the governor of this region. On the eastern front, artillery fire was heard in the center of Bakhmout, a major target for Moscow, in the Donetsk region.
2.7 billion euros in aid to Ukraine
EU finance ministers on Tuesday approved €1 billion in new financial aid to help Ukraine cope with the consequences of the war, the first tranche of a €9 billion package announced in May by the European Commission. This amount brings to 2.2 billion euros the total macro-financial assistance of the 27 to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion of the country at the end of February.
Kyiv says it needs $5 billion a month to keep its economy running. The United States will for its part pay a new tranche of economic aid amounting to 1.7 billion dollars. This payment brings to 4 billion dollars the economic aid provided by Washington to kyiv since the beginning of the conflict.
Tens of thousands dead
There is no overall assessment of the civilian victims of the conflict. The UN has tallied nearly 5,000 confirmed dead, including more than 300 children, but acknowledges that the true number is likely much higher. For the city of Mariupol (southeast), which fell in May after a terrible siege, the Ukrainian authorities evoke some 20,000 dead, without providing evidence.
Militarily, Western security sources now speak of 15,000 to 20,000 Russian soldiers killed. Ukrainian forces are losing around 100 soldiers every day, according to kyiv. No independent statistics are available.
Millions of displaced or refugees
More than six million Ukrainians are internally displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They join the approximately 5.5 million Ukrainians registered as refugees in other European states since the start of the invasion.