Australian media ABC News published a report about a bakery in Donetsk region. The bread factory in Kostyantynivka is one of two large enterprises from the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk region that still bake bread. Despite constant shelling and fuel shortages, despite the departure of part of the workers and even despite the temporary occupation of the mill in Lyman, where the plant purchased flour, Oleksandr Milovʼs enterprise did not stop producing bread and now bakes approximately 17,500 loaves per day. The factory has adapted to the war routine: during the day, its buildings look abandoned, work begins at 7 PM ― and early in the morning, hot bread is loaded into cars to be transported around the region to shops, most of which close by noon. Half of the bread is bought by the Ukrainian military, the rest is delivered by the company to Donbas towns and semi-abandoned villages. The article is richly illustrated and one of the photos shows a hole in the carʼs windshield. This is the result of shrapnel that hit the car of one of the companyʼs drivers, Vasyl Moiseyenko, a few weeks ago. The man is already of retirement age, but says that despite the danger, he will not leave his job: "Someone has to do it." However, after the shrapnel incident, his wife Anna now accompanies him on all trips.
Reuters tells how water became a weapon in the Russian war with Ukraine. Now the Russians are blackmailing by allegedly undermining the Kakhovka HPP, before that they destroyed the dam on the Ingulets River, which led to the flooding of hundreds of households and ecological problems in the river. However, the most tangible crime related to water is the destruction of the water intake for Mykolaiv from the Dnipro River. Local residents interviewed by Reuters consider it an act of genocide: they are forced to wait for imported water or buy bottled water, which most cannot afford. The authorities have filled the water main with water from Southern Buh and this solves part of the problem: the yellowish water flowing from the taps can be used for technical needs. However, drinking it is harmful, and even worse, this water is salty and spoils the cityʼs sewage system. Now it is regularly breached ― however, until the territory where the water intake is located is freed, the city does not see any other way out of the situation than to use water from Siversky Dinets. Numerous requests to Russia to allow the use of Dnipro water have been ignored: Reuters suggests that this is Russiaʼs symbolic response to Ukraineʼs termination of water supplies to the temporarily occupied Crimea after the start of Russian aggression.
The war in Ukraine has had a significant impact on American farmers, Voice of America reports. Prices for most food have increased by tens of percent ― now wheat, soybeans, and corn are getting a little more expensive every day. However, costs have also increased significantly, in particular fuel prices. The war and restrictions on the supply of Russian gas and oil are also to blame for this, the publication states.
Politico tells about how Ukrainian Internet providers work in the face of attacks on the Ukrainian power grid. Most of the market players have already purchased generators and batteries. However, in the case of long-term power outages, their power will not be enough ― for example, one of the largest Internet providers in the Kyiv region, Best, admits that it will be able to maintain the network for only six hours. The leadership of Ukrainian settlements is actively asking for the provision of Internet connection: yes, the Association of Ukrainian Cities has asked the government for 10 billion hryvnias for the purchase of generators that would provide access to the network. One and a half billion have been received so far. "During the occupation of Buchа by the Russians, the world learned about the horrors that took place there thanks to the Internet. This is an online war, and access to the network must always be available," says Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk. Starlink is not relied on in Ukrainian cities: it is used mostly by the military, and there are too few to cover the needs of civilian terminals.