Direct Text The War in Ukraine, Year 2, Day 38. Have the Ukrainians Surrendered? Wagner flag flies in center of city of Bahmut / Metropolis of Kiev placed under house arrest for two months / Russia UN Zelensky accuses his presidency of the Security Council of being an institutional failure.

Update 23:00 Russia begins spring recruitment

The first phase – the spring phase – of recruitment began today in Russia, will last until July 15 and is aimed at men between the ages of 18 and 27 who must do at least one year of military service. This was reported by the Rbk portal citing the decree of President Vladimir Putin. According to Rear Admiral Vladimir Simlyansky of the General Staff, about 147,000 of the 700,000 potential men were recalled, none of whom were called up to fight in Ukraine – he stressed. For the first time, calls from military district offices will now be routed electronically, the source said.

Update 22:20 Zelensky: Moscow’s UN The presidency is a corporate bankruptcy

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, opened the UN today. The Russian Federation leadership in the Security Council said that it demonstrates “the complete failure of such institutions,” UNIAN reported. “Today, a terrorist state at the UN. Yesterday, the Russian military killed another Ukrainian child, a 5-month-old baby, with hundreds of artillery shells every day,” the Kiev leader said in his usual evening video message. Minister Kuleba declared: “The Russian leadership of the UN Security Council is a slap in the face to the world”.

Two months under house arrest for the mayor

Metropolitan Pavel of Kyiv was placed under house arrest for two months by the Shevchenkovsky District Court in Kyiv, RIA Novosti reported, barring contact with metropolitan faithful. According to the SBU, the Ukrainian secret service, the metropolis is suspected of “inciting inter-religious hatred” and “justifying Russia’s aggression”.

Russia, UN chief: Depriving ourselves of the right to chair the Security Council is absurd.

In an interview with TASS, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia defined the idea of ​​taking away Moscow’s right to chair the Security Council (as requested by Kiev) as “simply absurd.” Among other things, the diplomat stressed that an exemption would be impossible without changes to the UN Charter.

A Wagner flag flies in the center of Bahmud

Wagner’s fighters planted their group’s flag atop a skyscraper near the center of the Ukrainian city of Bahmut. A video posted on a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel and geolocated by CNN shows a black flag, the hallmark of a private mercenary led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, flying over a building in the snowy city west of the river that runs through Bahmut.