WEBVTT - What's the latest in Ukraine? 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:05.400 Already and this is the daily This is the Daily OS. Oh, 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:06.880 now it makes sense. 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:17.320 Good morning, and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday, 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.720 the tenth of July. I'm zara, i'm emma. On Monday 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:24.560 local time, Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine. 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:27.479 Earth shattering blasts during the morning rush hour. 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.680 Really distressing scenes coming from Ukraine. 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:33.519 This is being called the worst missile attack since the 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:34.479 war started. 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.120 At the time of recording, the Russian strikes have killed 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.560 at least thirty six civilians, with many more injured. The 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:46.000 missiles damage residential building's infrastructure and the country's biggest children's hospital. 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:50.760 Russia has denied targeting civilian infrastructure. In today's deep dive, 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:53.599 we're going to explain the latest in this year's long 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:56.720 conflict and also what these latest round of attacks mean 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.360 for the region. Before that, though, em what's making heavy lines. 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:07.480 The federal government has appointed lawyer Gillian Siegel as Australia's 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:11.919 first Special Envoy to combat anti Semitism. Prime Minister Anthony 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:15.720 Alberizi said Seagull's role is designed to help Jewish Australians 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:20.319 feel safe and included in response to rising antisemitism, since 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:24.200 the Israel Hamas War began. Albanizi flagged the government would 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:27.639 also announce a special envoy for Islamophobia quote. 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:33.440 Shortly, a twenty one year old climate activist has been 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:37.199 released on bail after being sentenced to three months in prison. 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.680 This week, Laura Davey was convicted over her involvement in 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:45.319 blocking trains to Newcastle's Coalport. Davy pleaded guilty but has 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.600 appealed her sentence. The New South Wales Greens have called 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:52.120 for the state to repeal its anti protest laws. It's just, 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.720 as spokesperson said, no one should be in prison for 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:59.040 quote engaging in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience as part 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:01.160 of their political and moral objection. 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:07.680 Australia has partnered with countries including the US, UK and 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:11.440 New Zealand to accuse a Chinese cyber group of spying 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:16.760 on global organizations. The federal government's Australian Signals Directorate says 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:20.680 a Chinese state backed group has been repeatedly targeting domestic 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:25.680 cyber networks, including government organizations and businesses in the private sector. 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:29.160 It called the group advanced and said it remains a 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:32.280 threat to national and international networks. 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:39.320 In today's good News deforestation in Colombia has fallen to 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.679 a twenty three year low. Between twenty twenty one and 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.880 twenty twenty three, the Amazon region saw a sixty one 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:50.880 percent reduction in deforestation, meaning nearly twenty seven thousand hectares 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:55.440 of the Amazon rainforests has been saved. The Environment minister 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:59.480 said it's thanks to the country's deforestation containment plan, which 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:03.079 has exceed its targets by at least twenty percent. According 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:06.880 to the World Wildlife Fund, South America's Amazon contains nearly 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:13.280 a third of all tropical rainforests left on Earth. On 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:17.160 Monday local time, Russian strikes in Ukraine killed at least 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.760 thirty six civilians and injured one hundred and forty others. 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:25.160 The missile strikes hit five cities in Ukraine. The strikes 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:29.840 damaged residential buildings, they damaged infrastructure and also, and this 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:33.200 is what we have seen reported quite widely, the country's 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:38.320 biggest children's hospital. Russia has denied targeting this infrastructure, and 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.080 in particular when it comes to the hospital, Russian authorities 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.600 have claimed that the damage was caused by Ukraine Zara. 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.000 It's been quite a while since we've actually spoken about 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.520 Russia and Ukraine on the podcast. But of course this 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:54.680 conflict is ongoing. Can you give us a bit of 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:59.000 a background leading up to these latest missile strikes this week? 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:01.920 Yeah, absolutely, we were talking about it in the office. 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.880 And Russia's invasion of Ukraine was in twenty twenty two. 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.280 That's two years ago. You know, some people might not 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:11.840 have been adults when that happened, and so I do 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.760 think that a refresher on what exactly went on in 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.200 February twenty twenty two is very helpful. So it was 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:22.000 the twenty fourth of February when Russian President Vladimir Pudin 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:27.080 announced what he called a special military operation into Ukraine. 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.680 At the time, Pudin claimed that Ukraine was not just 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:34.000 a neighboring country. He claimed it was part of Russia 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:38.080 and therefore that was the I guess justification he used 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:42.040 for ordering troops in So Russian troops entered Ukraine from 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:46.719 multiple directions and attacked the capital Kiev. In response, Ukrainian 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:50.640 President Vladimir Zelenski said that the country would defend itself, 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:54.600 and over the last two years Ukraine has really sought 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:58.560 to take big chunks of its territory back, but in 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.800 recent months that our offensive has stalled. 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.680 Zara, I wanted to ask you about the death toll 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.200 from this conflict. As you mentioned, it's been well over 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:13.720 two years the counteroffensive that Ukraine mounted. You know, it 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.600 seemed that there was a lot of positive momentum for 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.960 the Ukrainian side in that initial response, but as you mentioned, 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.520 that seems to have slowed or slipped in recent months, 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.400 a lot more destruction on the ground in Ukraine. Do 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:30.479 we have a sense of how many lives have been lost? 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.039 Yeah, it's a good question, and I think it's really 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:37.400 difficult because I think that this really highlights the limitations 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.839 of any newsroom, which is that, especially when it comes 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:45.400 to foreign conflict, we are very heavily reliant on global 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:48.560 bodies like the UN or local forces to give us 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.600 numbers because we obviously can't be on the ground. We're 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:55.440 a small newsroom, and in this case, those numbers just 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:58.560 aren't very readily available. So the latest update we have 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.400 from the Rush Ukraine war is actually from February of 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.560 this year, so over six months, and yeah, that is 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:07.479 quite surprising. 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.480 Long time ago, especially in a quickly evolving conflict. 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:15.799 Exactly, so when the UN posted that update, they confirmed 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.280 around ten thousand civilian deaths in Ukraine at that time, 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:23.760 but obviously, when there is so little information, experts are 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.720 considering that the toll is likely a lot higher than that. 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.200 The UN also hasn't provided a recent update at all 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:34.080 on Russian civilian deaths, So we have that number when 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:37.320 it comes to Ukrainians, but we don't have that number 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.080 when it comes to any Russian civilian deaths. 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:43.200 Does that have more to do with kind of Russia's 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.320 the nature of Russian media as being state controlled? 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.160 Yeah, I mean there's obvious difficulties. As you said, it 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:53.120 quite tightly controlled media environment there, but it does become 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:56.720 very difficult to paint an accurate picture of the destruction 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.840 when we have kind of very little insight into it. 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:02.440 And so over the course of the past few years, 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.760 we've had this constant drum of conflict playing out on 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:10.880 an international stage with no real signs of any diplomatic 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:15.640 conclusion or peaceful end in sight. But there was a 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:19.320 big escalation in this conflict on Monday. Can you tell 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:19.800 us about that? 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.880 As you said, I think that drum is a kind 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.440 of accurate way to describe it, which is that it's 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:29.200 just gone on and on, and I think that there 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:31.080 is a lot to be said about the way that 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:34.760 the media covers ongoing conflicts. I think that, you know, 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:40.080 compassion fatigue and news fatigue especially sets in, and that 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.160 it's very easy for people who are not directly affected 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.800 to turn away or to not engage as deeply as 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.880 they might have back in twenty twenty two. But also 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:52.800 there is this sense that it has just been going 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.560 on in kind of a very similar fashion for quite 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:58.560 a while, as you said, though that did change on 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.760 Monday when there was quite a significant escalation with these 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:06.840 Russian strikes. So what we understand is that Russia sent 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:12.400 forty long range missiles towards Ukraine, and that Ukraine managed 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:16.120 to shoot down thirty of those, but obviously there were 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.400 still remaining missiles. It was quite remarkable. They landed in daytime, 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:21.960 so there's quite a lot of vision. You know, usually 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.920 you see kind of things through the sky it's pitch black. 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.760 This was daytime, so there's a lot of vision of it. 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.960 And these missiles hit a number of Ukrainian cities and 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:34.800 as we said at the top, have killed at least 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.160 thirty six people at the time of this recording. 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.480 So these missiles hit multiple Ukrainian cities, but a lot 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.120 of the kind of global outrage about this story has 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.800 focused in particular on a hospital that was hit two. 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:52.080 Yeah, so that hospital in Kiev has been the focus 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:55.400 of a lot of coverage. Two people have died at 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:59.840 the time of recording at that hospital. It's a children's hospital, 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.000 it's the biggest children's hospital in Ukraine, and there is 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:05.880 quite significant damage that has been done as a result 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:09.839 of those missiles, according to local doctors on the ground. 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.960 All of those patients have now been evacuated from the building, 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:15.600 and there was quite a lot of vision of young 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.640 cancer patients being escorted out of the building. But it's 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:22.920 being reported that the two people who died were a 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:26.640 doctor and another adult, and not any children. Yeah. 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.400 I think when we hear these stories, you know, the 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.040 immediate attention is focused on the death toll, But as 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:36.079 you mentioned, this is infrastructure that's been damaged, vital infrastructure, 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.600 a children's hospital, no less, And some of that kind 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.840 of global shock, I guess is tied to this idea 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.920 of the rules of war and international treaties or agreements 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:49.839 and rules of engagement. And I think any time you 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.599 see a story like this. You know, you understand the 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:56.320 interest around the world, so we know how the world 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:59.440 has responded. How did Ukraine respond to this attack. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.200 So it's interesting that you frame it that way because 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.800 a lot of the Ukrainian leadership's response was about the 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.640 rest of the world and was about their responsibility. So 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:15.160 shortly after the attack, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski said, we 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:18.600 will retaliate against these people. We will deliver a powerful 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:21.720 response for our side to Russia. For sure. The question 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:25.480 to our partners is can they respond? So he added, 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:29.000 mere concern doesn't stop the terror. Compassion is not a weapon. 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:31.839 It is necessary to shoot down Russian missiles. It is 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.760 necessary to take strong steps that will not leave any 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.400 security deficit. So there he's throwing it back to the 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:42.040 allies of Ukraine and to the rest of the international community. 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:45.199 We've heard quite often over the kind of course of 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.959 the last six or so months, Zelenski saying, don't forget 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.680 about us. We need your assistance, we need your funding, 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.439 we need your weapons and your aid. And so there 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:57.920 again he's really reiterating that call domestically as well. We 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.280 had Kiev's mayor also declared the ninth of July as 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:02.240 a day of mourning. 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:08.320 So some very strong language from Ukrainian officials, Zelenski strongly 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:12.320 condemning Russia, the call out to Western democracies and other 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:17.120 countries to do their bid and support Ukraine. What about Russia, 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.760 have they responded to these accusations that the attacks were 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:22.360 led by their forces. 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:26.559 Yeah, so we haven't heard directly from Vladimir Putin, the 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:30.880 Russian president. There's been no public statement issued by him 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:33.960 right now. I'm sure that will change in the days 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.000 to come. We have heard though from Russian authorities that 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:42.559 they deny targeting any civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, and particularly 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.880 on the matter of the children's hospital, they are blaming 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.120 the damage there on a Ukrainian air defense missile. So 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:52.719 remember I said earlier that Ukraine has said that it 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.319 shut down some of those missiles. So here Russia is 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.560 alleging that the damage at that hospital is a result 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:00.840 of the actions. 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.280 Okay, so we've touched a little bit already on the 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.240 kind of global response, but can you tell us a 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.440 bit more about the international community and the official response 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:11.200 around the world. 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.360 So we had what I would call a fairly swift 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:19.600 condemnation from the international community. The UN condemned the attack, 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:24.400 with a spokesperson for Secretary General Antonio Guterrez calling the 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:28.840 reports of a hospital attack particularly shocking. The UN Security 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:33.120 Council will now hold an emergency meeting to discuss the strikes, 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:35.240 and I think we've spoken a number of times on 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:39.079 this part about what's available to that Security Council when 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:43.640 it comes to acting against certain countries. So it'll be 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:45.760 interesting to see what happens there and if there are 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.679 any kind of sanctions or anything that comes out of that. 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.720 There was also some pretty strong language from the EU's 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.600 top diplomat. He posted on x and I'll just quote here. 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:00.800 He said, Russia keeps ruthlessly targeting Ukrainian civilians. All responsible 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:04.280 for Russian war crimes will be held to account. Back 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:07.520 here in Australia, we had Foreign Minister Penny Wong who 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:11.599 said Russia's missile attacks on several Ukrainian cities, including a 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.640 Kiv children's hospital, are abhorrent. We condemn the targeting of 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:20.199 civilian infrastructure, including hospitals. Australia continues to support the people 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.000 of Ukraine in the face of Russia's illegal and immoral war. 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:26.599 Zara, thank you so much for taking us through that. 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:30.800 Of course, we will continue to talk about this ongoing 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.160 conflict here on the podcast and over on the Daily OS. 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:36.920 Thank you so much for joining us on the Daily OS. 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:39.760 If you learned something from today's episode, don't forget to 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.000 hit subscribe so there's an episode waiting for you every 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:46.160 weekday morning. We'll be back tomorrow. Until then, have a 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:46.800 great day. 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.120 My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:57.160 Bunjelung Kalgotin woman from Gadigal Country. The Daily oz acknowledges 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:59.360 that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:03.200 Gadigal people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torrestrate 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:06.160 island and nations. We pay our respects to the first 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:08.680 peoples of these countries, both past and present.