What did 100 days of war look like?

What does a country say to itself on the hundredth day of a war? On 3 June 2022, Ukraine's answer came in a video address that was sad but resolute. President Volodymyr Zelensky, appearing alongside Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and his adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, reaffirmed that Ukraine would win. Zelensky said Ukrainians had been defending their country for 100 days and that victory would be theirs.

The human toll

The International Committee of the Red Cross offered a measure of what those days had cost. It said the scale of destruction after only 100 days was beyond comprehension. Its director-general, Robert Mardini, noted that a third of the population had been forced to flee in that short period.

The danger was visible on the road as well. On 3 June, two Reuters journalists were injured and their driver was killed when their vehicle was attacked on the way to Sievierodonetsk. The perpetrators had not been identified.

The fight for Sievierodonetsk

Sievierodonetsk was the focus of the battle in the east. On 1 June, fighting for control of the city continued, although Serhiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, reported that Russian forces already controlled 80% of its territory. Also on 1 June, Russian shelling of the Sviatohirsk Lavra monastery killed three civilians.

In the south, there was a counterpoint. On 2 June, Ukrainian officials said the Armed Forces of Ukraine had recaptured 20 settlements in Kherson Oblast.

Weapons arrive on the agenda

The days before the hundredth were marked by a run of pledges of foreign military aid. On 1 June, Germany said it would send the IRIS-T air defence missile system following a Ukrainian request for heavy weapons. The same day, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the United Kingdom had agreed to send more M270 multiple launch rocket systems and to train Ukrainian troops to use them. On 2 June, the United Kingdom announced it would send the M270 systems. Sweden, also on 2 June, announced further aid that included anti-ship missiles, anti-tank guided missiles and rifles for the Ukrainian Ground Forces.

Moscow reacted sharply to the arms flow. On 1 June, Russia said the US decision to supply advanced long-range rocket systems and munitions could widen the conflict and risked direct confrontation. It accused Washington of purposefully and diligently adding fuel to the fire.

Grain and the wider world

The war's reach extended beyond the battlefield. On 3 June, in Sochi, Vladimir Putin met Senegal's president, Macky Sall. According to the Kremlin, they discussed the food and grain crisis, which was linked to Russia's blockade of Ukrainian grain, as well as economic and humanitarian cooperation.

Taken together, the reports from 3 June 2022 and the days around it show a war with several fronts at once: a symbolic milestone marked in public, a costly struggle for eastern cities, a Ukrainian push in the south, and a widening argument over weapons and food supplies.