Ukrainian authorities said on Friday that its missiles had hit a Russian navy tugboat transporting soldiers and weapons to Snake Island in the Black Sea, while Britain said 15,000 millionaires were trying to leave Russia, while the European Commission recommended Ukraine be granted EU candidate status.

Maxim Marchenko, the governor of the Odessa region (southwest of Ukraine), said that Ukrainian missiles hit the boat "Vassily Bekh", which was transporting soldiers and weapons to the Ukrainian Snake Island (Zmini), occupied by Russia (140 km south of Odessa) since the beginning of the war between the two countries. Moscow and Kiev.

The Ukrainian Naval Command said that two "Harpoon" missiles hit a Russian warship, and added that the boat was carrying a "TOR" anti-aircraft air defense system.

🇺🇦 Army hit a vessel of 🇷🇺 Black Sea Fleet "Vasiliy Bekh" while it сarried ammunition, weapons and troops to Zmiiny island (occupied 🇺🇦 territory) as well as an TOR anti-aircraft missile system.


Another occasion to sing a line from the Scorpions song: "I follow the Moskva…" pic.twitter.com/M8RgZbL5t2

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 17, 2022

The Harpoon missile is one of the weapons that Western countries supplied to Kyiv in the past few weeks to counter the ongoing Russian offensive since the end of last February.

The Black Sea Fleet of the Russian army is imposing a blockade on Ukrainian ports, which has halted the movement of navigation to and from the territorial waters of Ukraine.

Also in southern Ukraine, Vitaly Kim, the governor of the Mykolaiv region, said that at least two people were killed and 20 others wounded in Russian shelling on residential neighborhoods south of the city of Mykolaiv, 100 km northwest of the Russian-occupied city of Kherson.

Russia has been targeting the city of Mykolaiv continuously since the start of the war, seeking to achieve progress in southern Ukraine, and the Ukrainian forces were able to repel the attempts of the Russian forces to advance towards the city.

Donbass battles

In eastern Ukraine, Sergey Gaidi, governor of the Lugansk region, told CNN that the evacuation of the Azot plant in the city of Severodonetsk is impossible due to the continuous Russian artillery bombardment of the industrial area.

The Azot plant where Ukrainian forces are holed up in Severodonetsk is under constant Russian bombardment (European)

Ghaidi added that if anyone leaves the factory, the risk of being killed will be very high, pointing out that there are more than 560 civilians inside the factory, 38 of whom are children.

On the other hand, Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted medical sources in the city of Lyschansk, adjacent to the city of Severodonetsk, that 6 civilians were killed yesterday, Thursday, 4 of them in the bombing of the cultural center that was housing a number of residents who refused to leave the city, and two people were killed in another targeting of a neighborhood. Residential buildings in Lyschansk, which have been under heavy bombardment for several weeks.

In a related context, a British military intelligence report stated that it is likely that the Russian forces continued their attempt during the past 24 hours to restore momentum on the Popasna axis, through which they seek to besiege the city of Severodonetsk from the south.

For weeks, Russian forces and separatist forces in the Donbass region, which includes the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, have focused their efforts on completing control over all parts of Donbass, in which the separatists declared two independent republics from Ukraine years ago, which Russia recognized days before launching the war on Ukraine in late February last February.

rich russians

On the other hand, the British Ministry of Defense said - today, Friday - that data indicates that thousands of millionaires are trying to leave Russia, and it is likely that the continued exodus of Russian businessmen and wealthy people will affect its economy as a result of the exacerbation of the long-term damages of the war.

The ministry stated that "immigration requests indicate that 15,000 Russian millionaires are already trying to leave Russia," and added that the motives of these wealthy people are related to their opposition to the ongoing war in Russia, as well as their desire to avoid the financial repercussions of the tight Western sanctions on Russia, which have been imposed successively since the start of the war on February 24 last.

For weeks, European countries, the United States and Canada have targeted wealthy Russians close to the ruling circle in Moscow with a series of sanctions, as part of a policy of tightening sanctions on the Russian leadership for waging war on its neighbor Ukraine.

Von der Leyen: Granting Ukraine the status of a candidate country with conditions before the start of accession negotiations with the European Union (Reuters)

In the European Union capital, Brussels, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recommended - today, Friday - to give a membership candidate to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. for the union.

Negotiations for Ukraine's membership of the union are expected to take years, as Kyiv is required to implement broad reforms in several areas, including the fight against corruption.

According to Transparency International, Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, ranking 122nd out of 180 countries.

European summit

The European Commission's recommendation paves the way for EU leaders to approve it at a summit to be held next Thursday and Friday in Brussels, which will represent a moral boost for Ukraine as it faces the Russian attack.

And yesterday, Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, during their first visit to Kyiv since the start of the war, said Ukraine belongs to the "European family."