August 24, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Ukraine's Independence Day this year is a somber one, with President Volodymyr Zelensky, first lady Olena Zelenska and other dignitaries paying tribute to those who have been killed in military action since Russia invaded the country six months ago.

For all that the West can reasonably pat itself on the back for its initial response to the crisis, things are about to get much harder.

Across Europe, citizens are starting to feel the cost-of-living crunch across the continent — which comes as many European countries have already played host to thousands of Ukrainian refugees.

Against this backdrop, it is hard for political leaders to justify spending money and energy supporting a country far away, especially when some of their citizens may feel that they've been generous enough as it is.

Multiple Western officials told CNN of their concern that at some point, political leaders might decide the best thing is to broker for a peace deal and undercut the Ukrainian preferred end game, which is forcing Russian forces back to the previous borders.

Political upheaval in the West: This will be critical, she pointed out, as many key allies also go through turbulent political periods at home. Italy will hold an election, the United Kingdom will have a new Prime Minister and the United States will hold midterm elections that may determine the rest of President Joe Biden's first term in office.

Most officials acknowledge that no one has a clue on how this conflict ends. And while most would like to see Ukraine achieve its goals of standing up to Putin and forcing him out of their country, their true resolve has yet to be fully tested.

Data from the UK's Office for National Statistics shows that June marked the first month on record in which the United Kingdom did not import any fuel from Russia

Britain vowed in March to phase out all imports of Russian oil by the end of the year, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, in the hopes that the move would help choke Moscow of a key revenue stream it needs to keep its economy afloat and its war effort humming along.

Russia was the UK's largest supplier of refined oil in 2021, accounting for 24.1% of all imports. Moscow also supplied 5.9% of the UK's crude oil and 4.9% of the the country's gas imports.

The national statistics office said that there were no imports of refined oil, crude oil, gas or coal, coke and briquettes from Russia

Imports down too: June also marked the lowest level of Russian imports to the UK since records began in 1997, falling to $39 million from more than $2 billion in January 2022.

While sanctions likely contributed to the plummeting number of Russian goods heading to the UK, authorities said "self-sanctioning, whereby traders voluntarily seek alternatives to Russian goods," may have also contributed to the decline.

At least 972 children have been killed or injured since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, according to UNICEF.

Russell pointed to the deep distress that many children across Ukraine may be experiencing in the wake of violence, plus the devastation the war has brought on the country's education system.

"The start of the school year in just over a week’s time is a stark reminder of how much children in Ukraine have lost. Ukraine’s education system has been devastated by the escalation of hostilities across the country. Schools have been targeted or used by parties, resulting in families not feeling safe to send their children to school," she said Monday.

Russell called for a ceasefire, saying children need safety, stability, and support. "All children need to be in school and learning, including children caught up in emergencies," she said. "But more than anything, Ukraine’s children need peace."

Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports pushed grain prices to record highs this year, with more than 20 million metric tons of wheat and corn trapped in the port city Odesa for months.

Amid a worsening global food crisis, Moscow and Kyiv signed a grain export deal brokered by the UN and Turkey in July. Since August 1, dozens of ships loaded with grain have left Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

On Thursday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said there were signs that global food markets were beginning to stabilize in the wake of the agreement.

Here's a look at the fluctuation in wheat prices since the war began:

Six months have passed since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, a war that by any conventional measure has been a calamity.

Cost to Russia: By the Pentagon's latest reckoning, the invasion has cost Russia between 70,000 and 80,000 troops killed and wounded. Even if that estimate is on the high side, it's fair to extrapolate that Russia has probably seen more troops die in half a year's fighting in Ukraine than the Soviets lost over a decade of war in Afghanistan.

Public approval: But any comparisons of Putin's Russia to the waning days of the USSR are premature. The majority of Russians have — if not overtly — supported the war, or have silently acquiesced to his campaign of imperial restoration.

The Kremlin leader's ratings have been unaffected by the war. Both state pollster WCIOM and the independent polling agency Levada-Center routinely put Putin's approval ratings above 80% since February 24. A WCIOM survey in June found that 72% of Russians were likely to support Putin's "special military operation," the official euphemism for the war in Ukraine.

Censorship and support: Some of the numbers could reflect the power of Russia's state propaganda — and the government's swift censorship, shutting down the remnants of Russia's free press after the invasion.

But that doesn't mean no information is getting out about Russia's disastrous losses in Ukraine; it's just that the country's relatively well-off middle classes have likely been insulated from the war's toll.

The regions with the highest numbers of documented casualties are the poorer, so-called "ethnic republics" of Dagestan and Buryatia, according to the Russian independent news site Mediazona, which was labeled a "foreign agent" last year by Russian authorities

By contrast, casualties from Russia's two wealthiest and most populous cities — Moscow and St. Petersburg — have been relatively low, it reported.

Read the full analysis here.

The head of Ukraine's military urged the country's troops to continue fighting in an Independence Day video published on his Facebook page.

In the video Zaluzhnyi asks: "How can one feel independence? Those who fight for it know its taste. It is the taste of the soil that eats into the skin. The taste of blood and death permeates the air.

"Independence has a voice. This is the voice of the ancestors. They died in battles, in gulags, bloated from hunger, and paved the roads of empires with their bones. It is the cry of mothers who are burying their children ... the voice of our children, who did not choose the time and place of birth, but who had to live during the great war."

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday issued a message congratulating the people of Ukraine on their Independence Day.

Lukashenko wished the Ukrainians "a peaceful sky, tolerance, courage, strength and success in restoring a decent life."

Some context: Belarus is an ally of Russia and the country was used as a launch point for the invasion of Ukraine in February. The country is host to a wide variety of Russian weaponry and Ukrainian officials have reported an increase in the deployment of Russian missiles at an airbase in Belarus in recent weeks.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says the country was "reborn" on the day Russia invaded six months ago.

Speaking in an emotional video message to mark Ukrainian Independence Day on Wednesday, Zelensky harked back to Feb. 24, when he said Ukrainians had to "prove our words with deeds."

"On this day, the second all-Ukrainian referendum actually took place. Again — the main question. Again — a decisive choice. But this time it was necessary to say "yes" to independence not in the ballot, but in the soul and conscience," he said.

Independence Day: Zelensky paid tribute to Ukrainians celebrating Independence Day, listing the various ways they have mobilized to assist their country from fighting on the front lines to raising funds for the war effort.

He had previously warned Ukrainians to take extra caution on Independence Day, emphasizing in his nightly address Tuesday that "hideous Russian provocations and brutal strikes are possible."

Long war: In his address Wednesday, the President spoke to the lengthy nature of the war, remarking that Ukraine has been "holding on for six months." 

"Every new day is a new reason not to give up. Because, having gone through so much, we have no right not to reach the end," he said.

Crimea vow: Finally, Zelensky vowed to restore Ukrainian rule in Crimea — which was annexed by Russia in 2014 — and the Russian-occupied Donbas region "whatever the path may be," reiterating undertakings given during Tuesday's Crimea Platform summit.