Biden declares accord with Macron over Russian holdings at 16:40.
US President Joe Biden says he's got a deal with French President Emmanuel Macron on handling Russian assets. The plan involves using the profits from frozen assets to help Ukraine, but details are yet to be revealed.
16:23: Explosion in Belgorod, Russia, as drones get shot downThere are reports of an explosion in Russia's Belgorod region. Residents have shared videos of the incident on Telegram, according to the Russian-language channel Astra. A munitions depot in the Rakityansky district was said to have caught fire in the afternoon. The governor of the region had warned about rockets several times on Telegram. The Russian Defense Ministry said in the afternoon that several Ukrainian drones had been destroyed over the Belgorod region.
15:44: Russians accumulating troops near Chassiv Yar in UkraineRussian troops are allegedly positioned on the outskirts of Chassiv Yar in eastern Ukraine. For almost a week, the Russians have been trying to gather their forces in houses, reports the Ukrainian news outlet "Ukrajinska Pravda" and cites a military source. In the past week, there were over 1,500 bombardments, the source says. The Russians have destroyed numerous positions with multiple rocket launchers and guided air bombs to secure their supply lines along a road from Bachmut to Chassiv Yar. "And they started to advance, with [troops] under the protection of first-person view drones being collected," the Ukrainian source continues. "The city center is under our control," it adds.
14:57: Military: Pilots of Ukrainian open-cockpit aircraft visible through lens of Russian droneUkrainian pilots flying an open-cockpit aircraft are clearly visible in a video shared by the Ukrainian armed forces on Telegram. The aircraft, a Yak-52, is known for its use in air defense and was spotted in the Mykolajiw region. In the video, the pilots can be seen through the lens of a Russian drone. The co-pilot is said to have shot down the drone, according to the Kyiv Post and citing the military portal "Militarnyi." The information cannot be independently verified.
13:58: Russian warplane damaged by Ukrainian intelligence service drone attackThe Ukrainian intelligence service (HUR) claims credit for damaging a modern Russian combat jet, which was parked 600 kilometers from the border in southern Russia. A source from the HUR says the attack was carried out with a drone made in Ukraine. The defense ministry-affiliated military intelligence service is known for its daring operations on Russian territory and in Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine.
13:27: Kremlin plans to rename occupied territories as "Novorossiya"Russia intends to consolidate the occupied territories in four southeastern oblasts and on the Crimean Peninsula into a federal district called "Noworossiya." This was announced by the head of the regional military administration of Luhansk, Artem Lysohor, on Telegram. "The locals are not offered to choose a name because there is only one option - Novorossiya," Lysohor writes. He notes that such territorial entities do not have legal status. After the holidays, schoolchildren will learn local history based on a Russian textbook.
12:57: Permission to attack Russian territory boosts Ukrainian forcesA Ukrainian brigade commander confirmed that the permission to use Western weapons against Russia has "immediately affected" the course of hostilities, helping the Ukrainian armed forces. Commander Yuriy Fedorenko spoke about this in an interview with Radio NV. "We were given the opportunity to neutralize important targets like electronic reconnaissance, electronic warfare, air defense, and - what is particularly significant - the S-300 and S-400 systems that relentlessly attacked Kharkiv," Fedorenko said. From the military's perspective, the current permission from Western states constitutes "Step One." The expansion to Russian territory would be "Step Two."
12:35: Ukraine: 103 Russian attacks on settlements, 93 on infrastructure in one dayThe Ukrainian military reported 103 Russian attacks on settlements and 93 on infrastructure in Ukraine since yesterday. According to the report, Russia attacked ten oblasts. In the regions of Kharkiv, Kherson, and Izium, at least three people were killed, houses and a school were damaged.
12:09: Female representation in the Ukrainian army on the riseMore than 67,000 women currently serve in the Ukrainian army, mostly as soldiers. Despite the mobilization of recruits after the full-scale Russian attack in 2022 not targeting women, female members of the army have increased by 40%. Instead of their earlier roles as medics or cooks, many of these women are now willing to handle weapons, fire artillery systems, and operate drones. The government is now considering providing career opportunities for women.
The Ukrainian administration is intending to establish a national repository to keep a close watch on areas tainted with explosives and mined zones. Their primary objective is to identify, in real time, the status of decontamination in such areas. Particularly significant for farmers, this information is crucial to know whether their land is still polluted or has already been purified. Despite the conclusion of the war, there will continue to be many hazards in the war-torn country. As security expert Gustav Gressel observes, "We have North Korean ammunition from the 50s, with a dud rate of over 30%, which indicates the extent of the post-war situation in Ukraine."
35% of Germans support the reinstallation of the draft army. As revealed by the market research institute YouGov's poll for "Welt am Sonntag," 28% of respondents approve of it fully, and another 32% partially. However, 32% are not in favor of it either entirely (18%) or partially (14%). Conscription was suspended in 2011. With the recent Russo-Ukrainian conflict, there have been intense discussions on how to increase the German military (Bundeswehr) substantially.
For the first time, Ukrainian military intelligence claims success in damaging Russia's most sophisticated fighter jet, the Su-57. An attack on an airfield in southern Russia's Astrakhan region resulted in the aircraft's destruction. The Su-57 is the latest Russian fighter plane, capable of carrying missiles, and a few of them have been deployed in combat.
Based on a study by the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW), 30,000 Russian soldiers are mobilized each month, with some being deployed to bolster the Eastern Ukrainian front. The ISW highlights that this force will not suffice to execute an extensive offensive on multiple fronts over the summer. The reserves, who would act as the initial or second line in an attack, are still inadequate for such a large-scale operation.
The United Nations has reported that at least 174 Ukrainian civilians were killed in May, making it the month with the highest number of civilian casualties in a year. The UN cites the violence in the Kharkiv region resulting from intense attacks by Russian troops as the major contributor to this high number. More than half of the casualties were recorded in this region.
Russia aims to train officers in the occupied areas of Ukraine, according to a report by the Kyiv Post. The Ukrainian special forces claim that Moscow is offering courses for officers' training, specifically focusing on electronic warfare, involving radar or jamming devices. These devices are currently being employed by the Russian army so extensively that many Western precision-guided missiles fail to reach their targets.
The Ukrainian General Staff reports 1,270 casualties on the Russian side, including the death or injury of 1,270 soldiers, in the recent 24-hour period. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian General Staff estimates that the total number of Russian losses is now in excess of 518,000. Over the past 24-hours, 26 Russian tanks, 26 tractors, 60 artillery systems, and two air defense systems have been destroyed, as well as 37 drones.
The Ukrainian front line in the north, near Kharkiv, is currently containing the Russian onslaught. They have been gathering troops on the northeastern border of Ukraine for a while, and the town of Wowtschansk near Kharkiv has faced heavy bombardment. Although a substantial attack is expected in this region soon, Ukrainian forces are currently succeeding in stopping the Russian advances.
NATO is considering deploying a high-ranking civilian representative in Kiev, responsible for overseeing the NATO aid to Ukraine. This would resemble the NATO's role in Afghanistan during its two-decade presence there. With some NATO member states unlikely to agree to start membership negotiations at the forthcoming NATO summit, the organization has begun exploring options short of such a commitment. This includes establishing a role for a permanent NATO representation in Kiev and making the support to Ukraine more reliable.
The Ukrainian government is altering its approach to cooperating with arms manufacturers. Their objective is to establish more direct agreements between Ukraine and the weapons industry. Deputy Defense Minister Dmytro Klimenkov inked a deal with a Bulgarian company over the weekend, as per the news portal "Ukrinform." Klimenkov announced that this gives them the opportunity to acquire modern weapons from the manufacturers, expediting the modernization of the Ukrainian military.
Austrian Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner has weighed in on the situation, expressing her displeasure with Germany, France, and the United States for enabling Kiev to employ Western weapons on Russian soil. She is happy that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has dismissed the prospect of deploying NATO troops to Ukraine. Tanner declined to comment on the need for Ukraine to defend itself from shelling emanating from the Russian border. "As a militarily neutral nation, it is not our prerogative to render judgment in these matters," she said.
Germany aims to increase the reserve force of its armed forces, the Bundeswehr, significantly. Plans to strengthen the reserve force, which should also match the capabilities of active troops in combat, were discussed by General Lieutenant Alexander Hoppe, Deputy Inspector General and responsible for reservist affairs, during a Berlin conference. Their goal is to have roughly 60,000 reserve personnel who are assigned to specific tasks and skilled for them.
The German government is reportedly uneasy about French President Emmanuel Macron's proposal to station European soldiers in Ukraine to train Ukrainian forces on-site in the future. "The training within the EU is secure, while the risk that training facilities in Ukraine could be assaulted compromises the effectiveness of such training," a secretive EU document, accessed by the "Welt am Sonntag," suggested. The German government reportedly voiced strong security apprehensions at a meeting of European defense ministers on May 28.
The Ukrainian army has encountered 76 skirmishes over the most recent 24 hours. The most threatening confrontation occurred at the Pokrovsk Front, where the Russians allegedly attempted to breach the lines from Ocheretyne to Yevhenivka and Novooleksandrivka.
Following the emergence of graffiti of a soldier's coffin in Paris, three individuals from Moldova are in pre-trial detention. Investigators are probing the possibility of foreign influence. On Friday, graffiti featuring a coffin and "French soldier in Ukraine" was sprayed onto building facades in the French capital. On Saturday, the trio of Moldovans were apprehended, each carrying paint cans and stencils. Just days before, coffins with the message "French soldiers in Ukraine" were stationed at the Eiffel Tower. Three individuals were also apprehended, including a German.
According to the United Nations, May marked the month with the highest number of civilian casualties in Ukraine since mid-2023, with at least 174 innocent people perishing. Ukraine has accused Russia of deliberating bombing residential regions adjacent to the front line to force evacuations. Moscow, however, asserts that they do not target civilians.
An ambulance driver suffered injuries after Russian soldiers dropped explosives from a drone onto the ambulance, according to Ukrainian reports. The assault happened in the village of Biloserka, south of the country, where the governor of the Oblast Kherson wrote about the incident.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin estimates that 90% of the returning Ukrainian prisoners of war were subjected to various forms of torture, including physical and sexual violence, during their captivity. "The initial screening of our returning military prisoners - a casual conversation with them - indicates that up to 90% of our nationals confronted various forms of torture, including physical, sexual, and psychological abuse," divulged the Prosecutor General.
President Zelenskyy declared that the Russian offensive on Charkiv failed.
Looking at things from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's point of view, the Russian military hasn't achieved much in their attack around Charkiv. During his nighttime speech, the Ukrainian leader shared his conversation with Chief Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi about the ongoing conflicts on the frontline. He emphasized that a major victory for Ukraine is the fact that Russian troops didn't carry out their operation in Charkiv. "We're doing our best to keep them at bay and destroy the invading Russian units that are creating havoc in the Charkiv area," he said. Zelenskyy also mentioned that reinforcements have been sent to bolster the defenses in Charkiv and more will be sent. However, he acknowledged that the situation in the Donezk region remains challenging.
Read also:
- Following the announcement of a deal between Biden and Macron to use profits from frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine, there are growing concerns about Russian military operations near Chassiv Yar, with Ukrainian sources reporting over 1,500 bombardments in the past week.
- President Zelenskyy praised the Ukrainian military after Russian drones were shot down over Ukraine and a Ukrainian pilot was clearly visible in the lens of a Russian drone, highlighting the importance of military operations and cyberwarfare in the Ukraine conflict.
- In response to an attack on Russian territory by Ukrainian intelligence, Russia is planning to consolidate occupied territories into a federal district called "Novorossiya," indicating that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is far from over.
- With support from Western nations, the Ukrainian army has reportedly damaged over 26 Russian tanks, 60 artillery systems, and two air defense systems in the past 24 hours, contributing to Volodymyr Selensky's declaration of the failure of the Russian offensive on Charkiv.
