[Korrespondent] 23:20 Russian military publics reported an alleged Ukrainian air attack on a military airfield in Morozovsk, Rostov Region. Local authorities said that air defense shot down a Ukrainian missile.
23:16 At Ramstein, they agreed on new military assistance packages for Ukraine, as well as on the training of pilots on the F-16. Read more about the results of the meeting in the material Coalition F-16 and air defense systems .
23:14 Spain will transfer four more Leopard 2A4 tanks and a new batch of infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, the country's Ministry of Defense said. Madrid will also hand over the M113 infantry fighting vehicle to Ukrainian defenders.
22:57 Biden officially announced the replacement of the head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff: Charles Brown will replace Mark Milley.
22:24 South Korea is one of the largest producers of weapons in the world, in particular, artillery shells. The country has long refused to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, citing its relationship with Russia, but that seems to have come to an end. Read more in the material New supplier .
22:18 The Russian Foreign Ministry threatens that Russia will withdraw from the grain deal if the Russian Agricultural Bank is not connected to SWIFT and there is no progress "on other systemic problems."
22:12 The United States will soon announce a new $300 million military aid package to Ukraine, Reuters writes. It is assumed that it will mainly include ammunition, in particular, GMLRS guided missiles for HIMARS installations.
21:06 The British Parliament adopted a resolution recognizing the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as a genocide of the Ukrainian people.
21:03 Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anushauskas at the Ramstein meeting announced a new military assistance package for Ukraine, which will include anti-drone equipment, ammunition, dry rations, etc.
20:52 The head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, believes that Ukraine is capable of liberating all the territories occupied by Russia, but this will not happen in the short term. He also stressed that while the fighting continues, support for Ukraine will continue.
20:16 The Russians destroyed the dam of the Karlovsky reservoir with their shelling - the villages of Galitsinovka, Zhelannoe-1 and Zhelannoe-2 were under the threat of flooding, said the head of the Donetsk OVA Pavel Kirilenko. According to him, operational and rescue services were ready for this and have already begun to act according to a well-defined algorithm. Communities located in the zone of alleged flooding have been warned. If necessary, the evacuation of the civilian population will begin.
20:12 Denmark and the Netherlands will lead the European coalition to train Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 , Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said after the 12th meeting in the Ramstein format. He added that Norway, Belgium, Portugal and Poland also offered to contribute. "We expect more countries to join this initiative soon," Austin said.
19:50 The counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was being prepared for about five months, said US Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland. She stressed that Washington is helping Kyiv build security and military power in such a way that they are a sufficient deterrent for the Russian Federation so that it cannot start a new war in the future. Nuland is also convinced that Ukraine has everything to move towards EU membership.
19:34 The National Guard announced the destruction of one and the defeat of another Russian Su-25 attack aircraft in the Zaporozhye direction. The planes tried to inflict defeat on the positions of the Ukrainian defense forces.
19:29 Prigozhin ordered his mercenaries to leave Bakhmut. The militants allegedly hand over their positions to the regular Russian army. In order to build a political career in Russia, Prigozhin needs to emerge from Bakhmut as a “winner,” experts say. More details - in the material Wagner leaves Bakhmut: what does it mean .
19:08 Russian troops militarized the island of Dzharylgach, which they connected on May 19 with the occupied mainland of the Kherson region in the Lazurny area. The invaders deployed about 300 Russian servicemen and 15 foreign-made boats on the island, which were taken from the local population, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.
18:59 Zelensky, after meeting with Swedish Defense Minister Paul Jonsson, thanked for the decision to join the international tank coalition in support of Ukraine and transfer ten Leopard-2 tanks and for leadership in the formation of the CV-90 BMP coalition.
18:55 US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said that at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Ukraine can hope for a "more clear" statement of "what we have already said."
18:41 The Russian reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs was damaged as a result of an attack by Ukrainian naval drones in the Black Sea, UP reports, citing sources in military circles. The interlocutor of the publication confirmed the authenticity of the video, which was circulated on social networks: “It didn’t sink, but there was a hit, there is significant damage to the hull and equipment. Now the Russians are hastily repairing it.”
18:32 Lukashenka said that the transfer of nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus has begun. He recalled that the movement is taking place within the framework of agreements with the Russian Federation on the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
17:38 Western allies within the framework of the Ramstein format have already transferred military assistance to Ukraine totaling $65 billion, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said before the next meeting. He stressed that military support to Ukraine will continue, and training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets will begin in the coming weeks.
17:04 The Russians fired on the police, who were taking a family with four children out of the village of New York, Donetsk region. This is the second time in ten days that Russian troops have hit the White Angels. According to preliminary data, the police received a shell shock, the 14-year-old girl was slightly injured, the National Police reported.
16:27 A video has appeared on the network of how a Ukrainian unmanned boat hits the reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.
16:23 Sweden will allow Ukrainian pilots to undergo basic training on JAS 39 Gripen fighters , Defense Minister Paul Jonsson, who is on a visit to Kiev, said.
16:12 An air defense system went off over the Belgorod region - an UAV was allegedly shot down on approach to the city, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
15:57 Ukraine transfers defense purchases to the model of NATO member states, Reznikov said. According to him, now the Defense Procurement Agency will deal with the purchase of weapons and equipment. It is assumed that such changes will allow more efficient use of budgetary funds and reduce the delivery time of goods for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
15:33 Finland will provide Ukraine with another package of military assistance in the amount of 109 million euros, the country's Ministry of Defense announced. It will include ammunition and anti-aircraft weapons.
15:31 Zelensky said that he had met with Swedish Defense Minister Paul Jonsson: "Important, priority issues: the aviation coalition, the situation on the front line, the necessary weapons, the peace formula, Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration, support for Sweden. Every day we become even stronger."
15:28 Podolyak explained that the counter-offensive is not one event that will begin at a specific hour of a specific day, "these are dozens of different actions to destroy the occupying forces of the Russian Federation in various directions, which have already taken place yesterday, are taking place today and will take place tomorrow." According to Podolyak, the intensive destruction of the enemy's logistics support is also a counteroffensive.
14:51 The Coordination Headquarters clarified that out of 106 soldiers returned from captivity, 68 were considered missing. Among the released are 98 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, of which 21 are Teroboronists, seven border guards and one representative of the State Special Transport Service. Russia also handed over the bodies of two foreigners and a Ukrainian woman.
14:25 Ukrainian intelligence notes the loyalty of the local population to the Russian rebels in the Belgorod region, said Andrei Yusov, spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense. According to him, the recent events were so unexpected for the Russian Federation that they disoriented it. "There is panic, chaos and uncertainty on the part of the occupying authorities," Yusov said. He also suggested that the actions of Russian volunteers in the Belgorod region could lead to a chain reaction in other regions of the Russian Federation with the involvement of even more people.
14:18 Ukraine returned 106 soldiers from the Bakhmut direction from Russian captivity - eight officers and 98 soldiers and sergeants, Yermak said. He specified that many of them were considered missing.
13:43 The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a law on fines of up to 1 million rubles or arrest for up to 15 days for distributing maps or images "challenging the territorial integrity of Russia."
13:26 For the first time in 30 years, Russia postponed an international air show near Moscow "for security reasons," Kommersant writes, citing sources.
13:08 Russia does not allow 28 ships to enter the Yuzhny port in the Odessa region, which is a violation of the obligations of the Russian side under the grain initiative, US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said.
12:59 The creation by Russia of a new "elite" strike aviation group Storm will not change anything on the front line, Yuri Ignat, speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, is convinced: "Every day, every day, 20-30 of their aircraft actually hang in the air. I don't understand why they it's... I guess it's more for the purpose of propaganda, to prove something to your people. How can you plan an air attack differently? Whatever you call the group, the technique remains the same."
12:17 Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said that in the suburbs of Bakhmut, the enemy replaced Wagner units with regular army units, while Wagnerites still remain in the city itself. Ukrainian troops control the outskirts of the city in the southwestern part in the Airplane area. In the Bakhmut direction, the enemy is trying to stop the advance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine along the flanks with artillery shelling, pulling up additional units for reinforcement.
In general, the Russians are now conducting an offensive in several directions - Avdeevsky, Maryinsky, Limansky, Kupyansky and Bakhmutsky. On Avdeevsky and Maryinsky, enemy attacks were repulsed, on Limansky the Russians took a break over the past day and did not attack, on Kupyansky there are battles - the enemy is attacking, trying to seize a bridgehead for further advancement, suffering losses.
12:13 Speaker of the Eastern Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Cherevaty could not confirm the withdrawal of Prigozhin’s mercenaries from Bakhmut, however, he stated that for the third day the enemy had reduced the intensity of attacks, but continued shelling from cannon artillery, and air strikes were also carried out on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "We note a decrease in attacks. Perhaps this is due to their regrouping," he added.
11:47 Yermak said that he had a video conversation with the Minister of Enterprise and Production of Italy, Adolfo Urso, and discussed plans for the implementation of the agreements reached by Zelensky with Prime Minister George Maloney during his visit to Rome.
11:18 Chinese Special Representative for Eurasia Li Hui will visit Moscow tomorrow, Lavrov will receive him, the "Ukrainian settlement" will be discussed, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
11:02 At the Bugach station in Russian Krasnoyarsk, two relay cabinets were on fire, the situation did not affect the movement of trains. The press service of the railway reported that the fire started due to "the intervention of unauthorized persons."
10:45 Russians fired at Raigorodka in the Svatovsky district of the Lugansk region - two people were killed, among them a 16-year-old teenager, said the head of the OVA Artem Lysogor. The fate of another person remains unknown.
Lysogor said that the village of Raigorodka is located in a zone of active hostilities, but the Russians do not allow local residents to leave. Thus, they create a front line of defense in the form of a human shield, and already behind the people they put "dragon's teeth".
10:24 Russia and Belarus signed an agreement on the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus. Shoigu said that control over non-strategic nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus remains with Russia, the decision to use it too.
10:21 The Wall Street Journal writes that South Korea, after prolonged resistance and requests from Washington, allegedly began secretly transferring hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to Ukraine. Shipping is via USA. Seoul's stance has changed since President Yoon Seok-yeol's visit to Washington last month, when the two sides issued a joint security declaration.
10:15 Prigozhin said that PMC Wagner began withdrawing its units from Bakhmut. According to him, they will leave the city before June 1.
10:13 The United States believes that one of the military or intelligence agencies of Ukraine is behind the attempted drone attack on the Kremlin, NYT writes, citing Biden administration officials. At the same time, they cannot confirm that Zelensky or people from his entourage knew about this. The drones were assessed to have carried few explosives, which was more of a symbolic threat.
10:07 In Ukraine, they are preparing a bill on punishment for men who illegally left during the war, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine: "I think that after the end of the war, the state will do everything to remind every citizen that he did during the war. I mean those who crossed the border illegally. I think it will be the law."
09:48 In the Belgorod region, near the village of Kalinino, Yakovlevsky district, 23 km from the border with Ukraine, a FAB-500 bomb was found. According to the Telegram channel Shot, this happened on the evening of May 24, around 20:00. The area has now been cordoned off and there are no casualties or damage.
09:29 In the Dniester district of the Chernivtsi region, as a result of the fall of UAV debris during a night attack, a fire broke out in a garage, three residential buildings were damaged. The debris damaged two power lines, disconnected 140 subscribers. People were not injured, said the head of the OVA Ruslan Zaparanyuk.
09:15 The counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has already begun, the military is conducting separate operations, Podolyak said on the air of the Italian TV channel Rai 1: "The counteroffensive has been going on for several days. A full-scale war has stretched for 1.5 thousand kilometers along the border with Russia."
08:53 The FSB stated that it allegedly prevented a terrorist attack against nuclear power facilities in the Russian Federation, which was planned by the "special services of Ukraine." According to the agency, Ukrainian saboteurs, allegedly on the eve of Victory Day, attempted to undermine more than 30 power lines of the Leningrad and Kalinin nuclear power plants, which should have led to a shutdown of nuclear reactors and disruption of the normal operation of the nuclear power plant. Two citizens of Ukraine were detained, another citizen of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, who is in Belgium, was put on the wanted list.
08:34 The first training program for Ukrainians on the F-16 will be launched in Britain, writes Foreign Policy, citing sources. It is assumed that the Ukrainians will be trained by a coalition of countries, which will include Norway and the Netherlands. According to the publication, 20 pilots who speak English will undergo basic ground training, after which training on fighter jets will begin.
08:27 In the Donetsk region over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, one civilian was killed (in Chasovoy Yar), six more were injured. In the Kherson region, four people were injured, according to the IVA.
08:21 At night, the Russians launched a missile attack on the village. Tsirkuny of the Kharkov region: a rocket, previously S-300, hit the ground, people were not injured, said the head of the OVA Oleg Sinegubov. Also during the day, the enemy shelled the settlements of Kharkov, Kupyansky, Bogodukhovsky and Chuguevsky districts.
08:12 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of May 25.
- personnel - about 205,260 (+500) people liquidated,
- tanks - 3795 (+3),
- armored combat vehicles - 7432 (+8),
- artillery systems - 3359 (+20),
- MLRS - 570 (+0),
- air defense systems - 327 (+0),
- aircraft - 309 (+0),
- helicopters - 296 (+0),
- UAV operational-tactical level - 2907 (+36),
- cruise missiles - 1015 (+0),
- ships/boats - 18 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tankers - 6148 (+2),
- special equipment - 444 (+4).
08:07 At night, the Russians fired 36 Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 strike drones across Ukraine, all of them were destroyed , the Air Force command reported. Probably, the enemy intended to attack critical infrastructure and military installations in the western regions of the country.
07:53 The Russian army is concentrating its main efforts on the Kupyansky, Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions. There were 28 clashes in the indicated sectors of the front, the General Staff reported in the morning report .
07:38 At night in the Nikolaev area air defense forces destroyed three enemy attack UAVs Shahed-131/136, reported OVA.
06:20 "Governor" of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev said that another drone attack was repelled at night: two UAVs were allegedly shot down in the Kacha area, several more drones were jammed and planted by electronic warfare. According to him, no objects in the city were damaged.
05:06 At night, the Russians again attacked Kiev from the air, according to preliminary data, with Shahed drones. The attack was massive, the enemy continues to use the attack tactics in several waves with intervals between groups of attacking drones, said Sergey Popko, head of the KGVA. All detected air targets moving in the direction of Kyiv were destroyed.