Russia launches its fourteenth May attack on kyiv, one dead

2023-05-28 06:15:04

Cover image: Ukrainian soldiers hug as they go to rest at the front line near Bakhmout, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 27, 2023. Libkos / AP

Russia launched a fresh airstrike on Ukraine overnight Saturday-Sunday, targeting the capital, Kyiv, for the fourteenth time this month, Ukrainian officials said in the early hours of Sunday. According to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, the city’s air defenses destroyed more than 40 drones.
Ukrainian security services carried out the attack on the Crimean bridge and ships in Sevastopol in October 2022. In a television interview, Vassyl Maliouk, the head of the Ukrainian security service (SBU), returned on Saturday to the attack on the Crimean bridge and that of Russian ships in Sevastopol in October 2022. This last attack was a planned special operation and carried out by the SBU in collaboration with the Ukrainian navy, he explains. But Vassyl Maliouk believes that it is still too early to give details of the operation against the Crimean bridge, so as not to provide additional data to the Russians.
Ukraine is ready to launch its counter-offensive, according to one of the country’s top security officials. Ukraine’s attempt to retake occupied territory in the east and south-east of the country is “ready to start” and could start “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week”said in an interview with the BBC on Saturday Oleksi Danilov, the secretary of national security and defense of Ukraine.
Ukrainian crews begin training on M1 Abrams. Some 400 Ukrainian servicemen have started training in Germany in the operation and maintenance of US M1 Abrams tanks, according to the New York Times, which quotes the Pentagon. Washington has promised thirty-one Abrams tanks and has planned a training program for Ukrainian troops that should last ten to twelve weeks.
kyiv asks Germany for cruise missiles. Ukraine has sent an official request to the German government for deliveries of Taurus-type air-to-surface cruise missiles, with a range of at least 500 kilometers, according to the German defense ministry. Due to its range, it would be able to hit targets far behind the current front line in eastern Ukraine.
Tehran accuses Volodymyr Zelensky of criticizing Iran to obtain more weapons. Iran on Saturday accused the Ukrainian president of criticizing the country in a bid to get more aid and weapons from the West in the conflict against Russia. Iranian diplomacy was reacting to a video released on Wednesday in which the Ukrainian leader calls on the “Iranian people” to pressure his government to move away from the “Russian Terror” and stop delivering drones to carry out large-scale attacks in Ukraine.
Russian forces continue their attacks on Bakmut, but “overall offensive activity has decreased”according to the Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister. “Yesterday and today there were no active battles, neither in the city [de Bakhmout] nor on the flanks”, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister said on Telegram on Saturday. Hanna Maliar added that Russian troops were instead shelling the outskirts and approaches to Bakhmout. “The decrease in enemy offensive activity is linked to the fact that troops are replaced and that they regroupcontinued the Deputy Minister. The enemy tries to reinforce its own capabilities. » The Ukrainian troops, for their part, “hold firmly” the heights that overlook Bakhmout to the north and south, as well as part of the periphery, explained M^me Painter.