“A death trap for Kremlin forces” – Ukraine at war, June 3 update

After Russia carried out waves of drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy structure over the weekend, the national grid operator announced daily energy restrictions, while its largest energy company specified the amount of energy that every large municipality would need.

Starting Monday at midnight, electricity consumption caps for industrial and domestic consumers will be in force across the country, Ukrenergo said in a statement. The supply of electricity to critical infrastructure will not be limited, he said.

If the imposed limits are exceeded, regional distribution companies can reinstate cut-off times if necessary, the press release said. The nation’s largest power company, DTEK, attempted to give estimates on how much the average home or business would need to cut.

“The ceilings allocated by Ukrenergo will be sufficient to cover 80% of needs in the Ukrainian capital, 68% in the Kiev region, 74% in the Odessa region and 84% in the Donetsk region,” the spokespersons said. word of DTEK on social networks. media.

On Saturday, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said Russian missiles hit power facilities in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kirovohrad and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, while Ukraine’s hydropower plant regulator Ukrhydroenergo said reported that the Russian strikes seriously damaged equipment. in two unspecified HPPs. DTEK said the Russian strikes seriously damaged two unspecified thermal power plants.

“Ukrainian officials also reported damage to critical infrastructure and energy facilities in the oblasts of Kharkiv, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Odessa and Kherson, as well as the city of Zaporizhzhia,” reported the Institute for the Study of war (ISW). In addition to electrical infrastructure, the attacks also affected civilian infrastructure and cultural heritage centers.

Such Russian airstrikes have caused more than $1 billion in damage to Ukraine’s energy sector, Reuters reported, leading to the loss of 8,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of power generation capacity.

Halushchenko told a parliamentary session that Ukraine was currently in talks with the European Union to increase the amount of energy the country can import from it. Currently, Ukraine cannot simultaneously import more than 1,700 MWh of electricity from the EU.

Video shows Russian humiliation of Ukrainian prisoners

The Human Rights Commissioner of the Ukrainian Parliament, Dmytro Lubinets, alerted the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to new abuses against Ukrainian prisoners of war, in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

“Video showing Russian soldiers mistreating Ukrainian prisoners of war is spreading on the Internet,” Lubinets wrote. “Early reports indicate that this happened on the Kharkiv front, where the Russians are trying to carry out offensive actions. The video shows beatings, humiliation, threats and an imitation of a shooting. Unfortunately, such treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war is not an exception but a habitual tactic of the occupiers.”

“I have sent official letters to the ICRC and the UN to document the facts of the abuses. This will be a new addition to the evidence base for the future court against criminals,” Lubinets added.

kyiv’s successful strikes on Crimean air defenses could indicate F-16 missions are next, UK analyst says

In an article published Sunday titled “In Crimea, Ukraine beats Russia,” The Economist writes that the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 has become “a death trap for Kremlin forces.”

“Ukraine has already demonstrated the ability of Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missiles supplied by Britain and France, as well as its own cleverly designed maritime drones, to strike Russian warships, especially large vessels of war. Ropucha landing ships used as military transports, most of which were destroyed. Ukrainian drones and missiles could have put out of action up to half of the formidable Black Sea Fleet,” estimates the British weekly.

“But today, Ukraine is using a lethal combination of increasingly sophisticated ATACMS and drones to systematically degrade Russian air defenses in Crimea, strike air bases from which Russian interceptors fly, and strike logistical targets and critical economics. (British strategist) Sir Lawrence (Freedman) believes that the focus on crippling the Russian air defense network could also be part of preparation for the imminent arrival of the first batches of F-16 fighter jets from of Europe.”

The generals cited by the magazine said that Russian forces and assets present on the peninsula have “nowhere to hide” since surveillance follows their every movement, and that the Kerch bridge is “destined to failure” since the Ukrainian forces will destroy it when the time comes.

Meanwhile, US online newspaper Business Insider published a video report over the weekend describing how Ukraine’s successful attacks on the Black Sea Fleet have “transformed modern warfare”:

As Belgium restricts Ukraine’s use of donated F-16s, the Netherlands gives carte blanche

One by one, Western allies who once limited the use of their kyiv-donated missiles on targets within Ukraine’s borders have recently eased those restrictions; more recently, Germany and the United States.

Now the question became: what about the upcoming F-16 multirole fighter jets? This issue alone will create certain complications in kyiv’s military planning.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo clarified last week that his country’s military aid could only be “used by the armed forces on Ukrainian territory”, including the highly anticipated F-16.

“Everything that is stipulated in the agreement, military equipment, military equipment, must be used by the armed forces on the territory of Ukraine, we signed such an agreement,” De Croo said at a conference of joint press alongside President Volodymyr Zelensky.

(ISW analysts noted this weekend that “it is unclear from De Croo’s statement, however, whether Belgium will allow Ukraine to use F-16s supplied by Belgium to carry out strikes on Russian territory from Ukrainian airspace.)

Dutch officials, on the other hand, have expressed no such limitations. Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said Friday that her country’s administration had not placed any restrictions on Ukraine’s use of the supplied F-16s and that Ukraine could use them “at- on or on Russian territory” as long as Ukraine complied with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter and international rules. humanitarian law.

The ISW noted: “Article 51 of the United Nations Charter provides, inter alia, that “nothing in this Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against” a member state of UN – a reminder that Ukraine’s strike on Russian territory in the context of the Russian invasion is part of Ukraine’s inherent right of self-defense.

“Continued variations in Western governments’ F-16 policies will force Ukraine to determine which aircraft Ukrainian forces can or cannot use to carry out certain strikes, complicating Ukraine’s ability to plan and to carry out air operations using F-16s. »