The European Union has fully transferred 1 billion euros to Ukraine from new package of macro-financial assistance. On Tuesday, August 2, said the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (Ursula von der Leyen).
“These funds will help Ukraine meet its immediate financial needs after an unprovoked and unjustified Russian aggression. A billion euros will strengthen Ukraine at a decisive stage,” she wrote. on Linkedin social network.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal announced the receipt of the first 500 million euros from this package to Ukraine the day before, noting that another 500 million euros are expected on August 2. According to the prime minister, these funds will help in “financing the priority budgetary needs.”
In total, the EU will allocate 9 billion euros to Ukraine
The decision to provide new macro-financial assistance was taken by the European Parliament and the EU Council on July 12, 2022. It is the first part of an exceptional macro-financial assistance package of up to €9 billion announced in the EC communication dated 18 May 2022 and approved by the European Council on June 23-24, 2022.
This billion euros adds to the support the EU has already provided to Ukraine in the first half of the year, including €1.2bn emergency loan. Thus, the total amount of macro-financial assistance provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the war has reached 2.2 billion euros.
The funds are provided to Ukraine in the form of long-term loans on favorable terms.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Over 90 percent of all buildings destroyed in Mariupol
Even at the beginning of the fourth month of the war, the Russian military continue to claim that they are striking exclusively at military infrastructure, as well as at the places of deployment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and imaginary “Ukrainian militants.” At the same time, most of the cities captured by Russia in the east of Ukraine – Mariupol, Rubizhne, Popasna, Severodonetsk – are almost completely destroyed.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Cemetery on the outskirts of Mariupol
Another Kremlin propaganda claim: the Russian army does not shell residential areas. According to the mayor of Mariupol, Vadim Boychenko, during the almost 80-day Russian siege, more than 22,000 inhabitants died from artillery shelling in the city, the city was destroyed by more than 90%.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
A blow to the theater in Mariupol
The next assertion of Russian propaganda is that the civilian population in Ukraine is not the target of the Russian army. On March 16, an air strike was carried out on the theater building in Mariupol, which was used as a bomb shelter. “Children” was written in large letters in front of the building, the inscription was visible in the pictures from space. As a result of the strike, about 600 people who were hiding in the theater died.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Destroyed residential buildings in Severodonetsk
Russian propaganda calls the war in Ukraine “liberation” of the local population from “Ukrainian Nazis”. In the coming days, Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region may be completely captured by Russia. Before the war, 100 thousand people lived in the city, of which, according to the Ukrainian authorities, 85 thousand left without waiting for their “liberation”.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Ukrainians flee from “liberation” in the west of the country or in Europe
The attitude towards the Russian “liberators” is also clearly shown by the flows of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war. In three months, about 13 million Ukrainians left their permanent place of residence, about 90 percent of them went to the regions of Ukraine controlled by Kyiv or to European countries (6.8 million people). According to the UNHCR, about 1.1 million Ukrainians left for Russia.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Russian shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant
Another assertion of Russian propaganda: the Russian army does not shell vital non-military infrastructure. However, on March 4, the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Energodar was shelled, then it was still under the control of the Ukrainian authorities. The administrative building of the power plant burned down.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Residents of Kherson protest against Russian occupation
The arrival of the Russian “liberators” was not welcomed by the inhabitants of the occupied Kherson region. Kherson saw numerous peaceful protests by local residents against the occupation in March and April. In April, local activists and city officials began to disappear in Kherson.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Kherson region is transferred to settlements in rubles
The authorities of the Russian Federation, including Putin, have repeatedly stated that the purpose of the “special operation” is not the occupation of Ukraine. But in the Kherson region, captured in early March, they announced the transition to Russian rubles from May 1. And from September, the region will completely abandon the hryvnia, the occupying authorities said. A similar situation is in the Zaporozhye region (in the photo – a supermarket in Melitopol).
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
“Non-occupation” of Kherson and Zaporozhye regions is accompanied by the issuance of Russian passports to residents
How Russia “does not plan” to occupy Ukraine: On May 25, Russian President Putin signed a decree on the simplified issuance of Russian passports to residents of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. On May 30, the first subdivision of the Russian Federal Migration Service opened in Melitopol. At the end of May, the heads of the Russian-appointed administrations of both regions announced that both regions “will take a course towards becoming part of Russia.”
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Humanitarian aid with propaganda added
Another sign of occupation: receiving humanitarian aid in Russian-occupied cities is impossible without forced familiarization with the programs of Russian state television channels. In the photo: a truck with a video screen broadcasting Russian TV, at the point of distribution of humanitarian aid in Mariupol.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Putin’s statements for residents of occupied Mariupol
… or with the statements of Putin, on whose orders the Russian military invasion of Ukraine was launched. In the photo: a van with a large TV screen on one of the central squares of Mariupol.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Russian Yunarmiya members at the monument to the victims of World War II in Mariupol
Another sign of Russian occupation is the guard of honor of the Yunarmiya, an organization that does not exist in Ukraine, with Russian, Soviet and “DPR” flags at the monument to those killed in World War II in Mariupol.
Author: Sergey Gushcha
