Zelensky welcomed with military honours as he visits Germany
Bakhmut is “unlikely” to fall to Russian mercenary troops in the next two days, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has said
The Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is in ruins after months of intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
“Bakhmut has still not been taken,” Prigozhin said in a voice message posted on Telegram. “Bakhmut is unlikely to be taken either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”
“There is a quarter known as the ‘Airplane’ – it is like an impregnable fortress from a bed of multi-storey buildings in the southwest of Bakhmut, where incredibly heavy battles are going on.”
Russia has been trying to capture Bakhmut since last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, but Ukrainian defenders have held out.
If Russia took the city, it would provide a stepping stone to advance on two bigger cities it has long coveted in the Donetsk region: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
It comes as deputy Ukrainian defence minister Hanna Maliar said Kyiv’s forces are repelling attempts by Russian forces to recapture land they have lost around Bakhmut.
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‘Putin will pay price for illegal invasion of Ukraine,’ says foreign secretary
UK foreign secretary James Cleverly tweeted: “Putin will pay the price for his illegal invasion of Ukraine. Today we’re increasing economic pressure – cracking down on Russia’s theft of Ukrainian grain and the remaining revenue sources that support its military machine.”
Martha Mchardy19 May 2023 10:27
0ver 480 children killed in Ukraine and hundreds missing
More than 480 children have been killed in Ukraine and hundreds more as missing, according to Ukraine authorities.
At least 482 children have been killed and more than 1,461 have been injured, according to the prosecutor general’s office.
Of the children injured, 979 had serious injuries, while 401 under-18s are missing at the moment, the National Police of Ukraine said.
“It is impossible to establish the exact number of injured children due to active hostilities and the temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine,” said Ukrainian government-run website Children of War.
Martha Mchardy19 May 2023 10:01
Woman badly wounded as Russia strikes Zelensky’s hometown
A 64-year-old woman has been badly wounded after Russia launched a new wave of overnight air strikes on Ukraine early on Friday, setting ablaze several buildings in president Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown.
Another man was injured and buildings were set alight after Russian air strikes hit the city of Kryvyi Rih where president Zelensky grew up.
“Several explosions occurred in (the central Ukrainian city of) Kryvyi Rih. The enemy hit a private industrial enterprise. Several buildings caught fire at once,” the president’s office said in a statement.
Ukrainian authorities offered little detail about what had been struck except for the damage in Kryvyi Rih, the steel-producing city where Zelensky grew up.
“A 64-year-old woman was injured. She was hospitalised in a serious condition,” the president’s office said. “The enemy attack caused a fire in the administrative building. It has already been extinguished.”
A 45-year-old man also received light injuries, it said.
Air raid sirens also blared across the capital and most of the country as people slept. In Kyiv, the night sky was lit up as air defences searched for drones.
The Ukrainian military said it had shot down three of six cruise missiles, and 16 of 22 attack drones that were fired. The figures implied an unusually high proportion of the Russian missiles and drones attacks had not been intercepted.
Kyiv attributes the recent increase in the frequency of air strikes to Moscow’s concerns about an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive aimed at recapturing land occupied by Russia in the south and east.
Ukrainian authorities do not report hits on critical infrastructure or military facilities. Russia reports its air attacks as successful strikes on its intended targets.
Martha Mchardy19 May 2023 09:54
G7 leaders says Ukraine has budget support for 2023 and early 2024
Group of Seven (G7) leaders on Friday said they had ensured that Ukraine had the budget support it needs for this year and early 2024 as they renewed their commitment to provide financial and military support in its fight against Russia.
“Today we are taking new steps to ensure that Russia’s illegal aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine fails and to support the Ukrainian people in their quest for a just peace rooted in respect for international law,” they said in a statement at the G7 summit, which kicked off in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Friday.
Martha Mchardy19 May 2023 09:49
India’s Modi to meet Ukraine’s Zelensky on sidelines of G7 summit
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of G7 summit in Hiroshima, broadcaster CNN-News 18 reported on Friday.
Martha Mchardy19 May 2023 09:39
Derailed Crimea train will ‘increase Kremlin’s concerns about ability to protect key infrastructure’ in city
The Kremlin’s concerns about its ability to “protect key infrastructure” in the annexed Ukrainian city of Crimea have been enhanced after a train derailed yesterday, the UK’s ministry of defence (MoD) has said.
Russia claimed “interference from outsiders” caused a train to derail near the capital of Crimea Simferopol yesterday, blocking the only railway track into the port of Sevastopol of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet (BSF).
In an intelligence update posted on Twitter, the MoD said the incident will “disrupt deliveries of supplies and potentially also weaponary” to Russia’s BSF.
“Any sabotage in this sensitive area will further increase the Kremlin’s concerns about its ability to protect other key infrastructure in Crimea,” the update continued.
The peninsula plays a “vital” role in “enabling Russia’s war in Ukraine,” according to the MoD.
The peninsula has been under Russian control since it was illegally annexed in 2014, but Ukraine has said it will fight to take it back.
Martha Mchardy19 May 2023 09:38
‘Rare’ Russian drone found by Ukrainian soldier in Luhansk
A ‘rare’ Russian drone has been uncovered by a Ukrainian soldier in Luhansk, Ukraine’s ministry of internal affairs has said.
A video shows a Ukrainian soldier finding an Eleron-3 drone, according to reports.
The drones are reportedly used by Russia for aerial reconnaissance and short-range surveillance, but Ukraine has not captured many.
In a video shared online, the soldier said: “I managed to capture this new Russian drone relatively unscathed.
“Therefore, I consider the hunt to be successful, and interesting data from this drone was transferred to the relevant authorities of the Defence Forces of Ukraine.”
Martha Mchardy19 May 2023 09:24
Ukraine says Russia trying to recapture land around Bakhmut as Kyiv repels attacks
Russian forces are trying to recapture land they have lost around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut but Kyiv’s forces are repelling the attacks, deputy Ukrainian defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Friday.
Russian forces have gained some ground inside the city itself, but they do not control it and fighting rages on, Maliar said in televised comments.
Martha Mchardy19 May 2023 09:05
Ukraine’s Zelensky to meet Arab League leaders in Saudi Arabia
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is on his way to the Arab League meeting in Saudi Arabia, a source familiar with the meeting told Reuters.
Zelensky will then travel on to the G7 meeting in Hiroshima in Japan from the Saudi city of Jeddah on a French government plane.
Martha Mchardy19 May 2023 08:48