Kaliningrad, Kharkiv and Luhansk: 21 June 2022

What did the war look like on 21 June 2022, when fighting, sanctions and information control all appeared in the same day's reports? The answer was a conflict being pushed on several fronts at once, with threats against a NATO neighbour sitting alongside shelling and territorial losses inside Ukraine.

Threats over Kaliningrad

On 20 June, the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry demanded that Lithuania immediately reverse new restrictions on shipments of Russian goods to Kaliningrad. It called the restrictions unprecedented and illegal, and suggested Moscow could take actions to protect its national interests. Panic buying was reported the same day in the Russian exclave, where Governor Anton Alikhanov called for calm.

On 21 June, Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian Security Council, went further. He warned that Lithuanian citizens would feel pain over the ban on transit of Russian goods to Kaliningrad through Lithuania. He said Russia's response in the near future could have a serious negative impact on the population of Lithuania. The escalation in tone over two days was clear: from a diplomatic demand to a warning aimed at ordinary people.

Luhansk: more ground lost

On the battlefield, the Luhansk front continued to shift. On 20 June, pro-Russian forces of the Luhansk People's Republic claimed to have taken Toshkivka, described as a key town 25 km south of Sieverodonetsk. On 21 June, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai confirmed that separatist forces had captured Toshkivka. He also said Russian forces had taken the towns of Pidlisne and Myrna Dolyna, south of Lysychansk.

These reports followed a claim on 19 June by Russia that its forces had captured a district on the outskirts of Sieverodonetsk. Russia also said that day that it had launched Kalibr cruise missiles at a command centre in Dnipro, killing several Ukrainian generals and officers. Taken together, the reports showed pressure building around the Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk area.

Kharkiv under fire

The north-east was also under strain. On 19 June, Ukraine said Russian forces were advancing on the city of Kharkiv. On 21 June, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Synyehubov reported that Russian shelling had killed 15 civilians in and near the city. The civilian toll in a single day underlined that the war was not confined to the Donbas front.

Strikes at sea and in Odesa

The fighting also reached the Black Sea. On 20 June, Ukrainian forces fired missiles at a Chornomornaftogaz drilling facility off Crimea, injuring three workers, with seven others missing. Russia responded with missile strikes on Odesa in retaliation for the attack. The same day, a second American volunteer fighter was reported to have died in Ukraine after triggering a landmine.

The information front and wider costs

On 21 June, Russia blocked access to the website of The Daily Telegraph on the orders of the Prosecutor-General, after accusing the newspaper of disseminating false information about the war in Ukraine. The step added a foreign outlet to the list of those cut off from Russian audiences.

The war's reach beyond Europe was visible too. On 20 June, Cape Verde announced a budget of $85 million to combat the effects of the war, which had raised the prices of gasoline and food. Nine per cent of Cape Verdeans were facing a food crisis.

What the day showed

The reports from 21 June 2022 and the days before it described a war whose consequences ran well past the front line. Territory in Luhansk was changing hands, civilians in Kharkiv were being killed by shelling, and strikes were crossing between Crimea's waters and Odesa. Meanwhile, the dispute over rail transit to Kaliningrad had pulled Lithuania into direct confrontation with Moscow's rhetoric, and Russia was restricting foreign reporting at home. Few of these threads were resolved that day; each simply tightened.