Speaker 1: Already and this is the daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,
Speaker 1: now it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday,
Speaker 2: the tenth of July. I'm zara, i'm emma. On Monday
Speaker 2: local time, Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine.
Speaker 1: Earth shattering blasts during the morning rush hour.
Speaker 2: Really distressing scenes coming from Ukraine.
Speaker 1: This is being called the worst missile attack since the
Speaker 1: war started.
Speaker 2: At the time of recording, the Russian strikes have killed
Speaker 2: at least thirty six civilians, with many more injured. The
Speaker 2: missiles damage residential building's infrastructure and the country's biggest children's hospital.
Speaker 2: Russia has denied targeting civilian infrastructure. In today's deep dive,
Speaker 2: we're going to explain the latest in this year's long
Speaker 2: conflict and also what these latest round of attacks mean
Speaker 2: for the region. Before that, though, em what's making heavy lines.
Speaker 1: The federal government has appointed lawyer Gillian Siegel as Australia's
Speaker 1: first Special Envoy to combat anti Semitism. Prime Minister Anthony
Speaker 1: Alberizi said Seagull's role is designed to help Jewish Australians
Speaker 1: feel safe and included in response to rising antisemitism, since
Speaker 1: the Israel Hamas War began. Albanizi flagged the government would
Speaker 1: also announce a special envoy for Islamophobia quote.
Speaker 2: Shortly, a twenty one year old climate activist has been
Speaker 2: released on bail after being sentenced to three months in prison.
Speaker 2: This week, Laura Davey was convicted over her involvement in
Speaker 2: blocking trains to Newcastle's Coalport. Davy pleaded guilty but has
Speaker 2: appealed her sentence. The New South Wales Greens have called
Speaker 2: for the state to repeal its anti protest laws. It's just,
Speaker 2: as spokesperson said, no one should be in prison for
Speaker 2: quote engaging in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience as part
Speaker 2: of their political and moral objection.
Speaker 1: Australia has partnered with countries including the US, UK and
Speaker 1: New Zealand to accuse a Chinese cyber group of spying
Speaker 1: on global organizations. The federal government's Australian Signals Directorate says
Speaker 1: a Chinese state backed group has been repeatedly targeting domestic
Speaker 1: cyber networks, including government organizations and businesses in the private sector.
Speaker 1: It called the group advanced and said it remains a
Speaker 1: threat to national and international networks.
Speaker 2: In today's good News deforestation in Colombia has fallen to
Speaker 2: a twenty three year low. Between twenty twenty one and
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, the Amazon region saw a sixty one
Speaker 2: percent reduction in deforestation, meaning nearly twenty seven thousand hectares
Speaker 2: of the Amazon rainforests has been saved. The Environment minister
Speaker 2: said it's thanks to the country's deforestation containment plan, which
Speaker 2: has exceed its targets by at least twenty percent. According
Speaker 2: to the World Wildlife Fund, South America's Amazon contains nearly
Speaker 2: a third of all tropical rainforests left on Earth. On
Speaker 2: Monday local time, Russian strikes in Ukraine killed at least
Speaker 2: thirty six civilians and injured one hundred and forty others.
Speaker 2: The missile strikes hit five cities in Ukraine. The strikes
Speaker 2: damaged residential buildings, they damaged infrastructure and also, and this
Speaker 2: is what we have seen reported quite widely, the country's
Speaker 2: biggest children's hospital. Russia has denied targeting this infrastructure, and
Speaker 2: in particular when it comes to the hospital, Russian authorities
Speaker 2: have claimed that the damage was caused by Ukraine Zara.
Speaker 1: It's been quite a while since we've actually spoken about
Speaker 1: Russia and Ukraine on the podcast. But of course this
Speaker 1: conflict is ongoing. Can you give us a bit of
Speaker 1: a background leading up to these latest missile strikes this week?
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, we were talking about it in the office.
Speaker 2: And Russia's invasion of Ukraine was in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: That's two years ago. You know, some people might not
Speaker 2: have been adults when that happened, and so I do
Speaker 2: think that a refresher on what exactly went on in
Speaker 2: February twenty twenty two is very helpful. So it was
Speaker 2: the twenty fourth of February when Russian President Vladimir Pudin
Speaker 2: announced what he called a special military operation into Ukraine.
Speaker 2: At the time, Pudin claimed that Ukraine was not just
Speaker 2: a neighboring country. He claimed it was part of Russia
Speaker 2: and therefore that was the I guess justification he used
Speaker 2: for ordering troops in So Russian troops entered Ukraine from
Speaker 2: multiple directions and attacked the capital Kiev. In response, Ukrainian
Speaker 2: President Vladimir Zelenski said that the country would defend itself,
Speaker 2: and over the last two years Ukraine has really sought
Speaker 2: to take big chunks of its territory back, but in
Speaker 2: recent months that our offensive has stalled.
Speaker 1: Zara, I wanted to ask you about the death toll
Speaker 1: from this conflict. As you mentioned, it's been well over
Speaker 1: two years the counteroffensive that Ukraine mounted. You know, it
Speaker 1: seemed that there was a lot of positive momentum for
Speaker 1: the Ukrainian side in that initial response, but as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: that seems to have slowed or slipped in recent months,
Speaker 1: a lot more destruction on the ground in Ukraine. Do
Speaker 1: we have a sense of how many lives have been lost?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good question, and I think it's really
Speaker 2: difficult because I think that this really highlights the limitations
Speaker 2: of any newsroom, which is that, especially when it comes
Speaker 2: to foreign conflict, we are very heavily reliant on global
Speaker 2: bodies like the UN or local forces to give us
Speaker 2: numbers because we obviously can't be on the ground. We're
Speaker 2: a small newsroom, and in this case, those numbers just
Speaker 2: aren't very readily available. So the latest update we have
Speaker 2: from the Rush Ukraine war is actually from February of
Speaker 2: this year, so over six months, and yeah, that is
Speaker 2: quite surprising.
Speaker 1: Long time ago, especially in a quickly evolving conflict.
Speaker 2: Exactly, so when the UN posted that update, they confirmed
Speaker 2: around ten thousand civilian deaths in Ukraine at that time,
Speaker 2: but obviously, when there is so little information, experts are
Speaker 2: considering that the toll is likely a lot higher than that.
Speaker 2: The UN also hasn't provided a recent update at all
Speaker 2: on Russian civilian deaths, So we have that number when
Speaker 2: it comes to Ukrainians, but we don't have that number
Speaker 2: when it comes to any Russian civilian deaths.
Speaker 1: Does that have more to do with kind of Russia's
Speaker 1: the nature of Russian media as being state controlled?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's obvious difficulties. As you said, it
Speaker 2: quite tightly controlled media environment there, but it does become
Speaker 2: very difficult to paint an accurate picture of the destruction
Speaker 2: when we have kind of very little insight into it.
Speaker 1: And so over the course of the past few years,
Speaker 1: we've had this constant drum of conflict playing out on
Speaker 1: an international stage with no real signs of any diplomatic
Speaker 1: conclusion or peaceful end in sight. But there was a
Speaker 1: big escalation in this conflict on Monday. Can you tell
Speaker 1: us about that?
Speaker 2: As you said, I think that drum is a kind
Speaker 2: of accurate way to describe it, which is that it's
Speaker 2: just gone on and on, and I think that there
Speaker 2: is a lot to be said about the way that
Speaker 2: the media covers ongoing conflicts. I think that, you know,
Speaker 2: compassion fatigue and news fatigue especially sets in, and that
Speaker 2: it's very easy for people who are not directly affected
Speaker 2: to turn away or to not engage as deeply as
Speaker 2: they might have back in twenty twenty two. But also
Speaker 2: there is this sense that it has just been going
Speaker 2: on in kind of a very similar fashion for quite
Speaker 2: a while, as you said, though that did change on
Speaker 2: Monday when there was quite a significant escalation with these
Speaker 2: Russian strikes. So what we understand is that Russia sent
Speaker 2: forty long range missiles towards Ukraine, and that Ukraine managed
Speaker 2: to shoot down thirty of those, but obviously there were
Speaker 2: still remaining missiles. It was quite remarkable. They landed in daytime,
Speaker 2: so there's quite a lot of vision. You know, usually
Speaker 2: you see kind of things through the sky it's pitch black.
Speaker 2: This was daytime, so there's a lot of vision of it.
Speaker 2: And these missiles hit a number of Ukrainian cities and
Speaker 2: as we said at the top, have killed at least
Speaker 2: thirty six people at the time of this recording.
Speaker 1: So these missiles hit multiple Ukrainian cities, but a lot
Speaker 1: of the kind of global outrage about this story has
Speaker 1: focused in particular on a hospital that was hit two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that hospital in Kiev has been the focus
Speaker 2: of a lot of coverage. Two people have died at
Speaker 2: the time of recording at that hospital. It's a children's hospital,
Speaker 2: it's the biggest children's hospital in Ukraine, and there is
Speaker 2: quite significant damage that has been done as a result
Speaker 2: of those missiles, according to local doctors on the ground.
Speaker 2: All of those patients have now been evacuated from the building,
Speaker 2: and there was quite a lot of vision of young
Speaker 2: cancer patients being escorted out of the building. But it's
Speaker 2: being reported that the two people who died were a
Speaker 2: doctor and another adult, and not any children. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think when we hear these stories, you know, the
Speaker 1: immediate attention is focused on the death toll, But as
Speaker 1: you mentioned, this is infrastructure that's been damaged, vital infrastructure,
Speaker 1: a children's hospital, no less, And some of that kind
Speaker 1: of global shock, I guess is tied to this idea
Speaker 1: of the rules of war and international treaties or agreements
Speaker 1: and rules of engagement. And I think any time you
Speaker 1: see a story like this. You know, you understand the
Speaker 1: interest around the world, so we know how the world
Speaker 1: has responded. How did Ukraine respond to this attack.
Speaker 2: So it's interesting that you frame it that way because
Speaker 2: a lot of the Ukrainian leadership's response was about the
Speaker 2: rest of the world and was about their responsibility. So
Speaker 2: shortly after the attack, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski said, we
Speaker 2: will retaliate against these people. We will deliver a powerful
Speaker 2: response for our side to Russia. For sure. The question
Speaker 2: to our partners is can they respond? So he added,
Speaker 2: mere concern doesn't stop the terror. Compassion is not a weapon.
Speaker 2: It is necessary to shoot down Russian missiles. It is
Speaker 2: necessary to take strong steps that will not leave any
Speaker 2: security deficit. So there he's throwing it back to the
Speaker 2: allies of Ukraine and to the rest of the international community.
Speaker 2: We've heard quite often over the kind of course of
Speaker 2: the last six or so months, Zelenski saying, don't forget
Speaker 2: about us. We need your assistance, we need your funding,
Speaker 2: we need your weapons and your aid. And so there
Speaker 2: again he's really reiterating that call domestically as well. We
Speaker 2: had Kiev's mayor also declared the ninth of July as
Speaker 2: a day of mourning.
Speaker 1: So some very strong language from Ukrainian officials, Zelenski strongly
Speaker 1: condemning Russia, the call out to Western democracies and other
Speaker 1: countries to do their bid and support Ukraine. What about Russia,
Speaker 1: have they responded to these accusations that the attacks were
Speaker 1: led by their forces.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we haven't heard directly from Vladimir Putin, the
Speaker 2: Russian president. There's been no public statement issued by him
Speaker 2: right now. I'm sure that will change in the days
Speaker 2: to come. We have heard though from Russian authorities that
Speaker 2: they deny targeting any civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, and particularly
Speaker 2: on the matter of the children's hospital, they are blaming
Speaker 2: the damage there on a Ukrainian air defense missile. So
Speaker 2: remember I said earlier that Ukraine has said that it
Speaker 2: shut down some of those missiles. So here Russia is
Speaker 2: alleging that the damage at that hospital is a result
Speaker 2: of the actions.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we've touched a little bit already on the
Speaker 1: kind of global response, but can you tell us a
Speaker 1: bit more about the international community and the official response
Speaker 1: around the world.
Speaker 2: So we had what I would call a fairly swift
Speaker 2: condemnation from the international community. The UN condemned the attack,
Speaker 2: with a spokesperson for Secretary General Antonio Guterrez calling the
Speaker 2: reports of a hospital attack particularly shocking. The UN Security
Speaker 2: Council will now hold an emergency meeting to discuss the strikes,
Speaker 2: and I think we've spoken a number of times on
Speaker 2: this part about what's available to that Security Council when
Speaker 2: it comes to acting against certain countries. So it'll be
Speaker 2: interesting to see what happens there and if there are
Speaker 2: any kind of sanctions or anything that comes out of that.
Speaker 2: There was also some pretty strong language from the EU's
Speaker 2: top diplomat. He posted on x and I'll just quote here.
Speaker 2: He said, Russia keeps ruthlessly targeting Ukrainian civilians. All responsible
Speaker 2: for Russian war crimes will be held to account. Back
Speaker 2: here in Australia, we had Foreign Minister Penny Wong who
Speaker 2: said Russia's missile attacks on several Ukrainian cities, including a
Speaker 2: Kiv children's hospital, are abhorrent. We condemn the targeting of
Speaker 2: civilian infrastructure, including hospitals. Australia continues to support the people
Speaker 2: of Ukraine in the face of Russia's illegal and immoral war.
Speaker 1: Zara, thank you so much for taking us through that.
Speaker 1: Of course, we will continue to talk about this ongoing
Speaker 1: conflict here on the podcast and over on the Daily OS.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us on the Daily OS.
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Speaker 1: weekday morning. We'll be back tomorrow. Until then, have a
Speaker 1: great day.
Speaker 2: My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 2: Bunjelung Kalgotin woman from Gadigal Country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 2: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Speaker 2: Gadigal people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torrestrate
Speaker 2: island and nations. We pay our respects to the first
Speaker 2: peoples of these countries, both past and present.