Russia-Ukraine War: That happened on Friday night (May 27)

Enlarge image

A self-propelled howitzer fired by pro-Russian troops in the direction of Sieverodonetsk (photo from May 24, 2022)

Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / REUTERS

What has happened in the past few hours

The Ukrainian army is

under severe pressure in the far

in the Luhansk region on Thursday

, the Ukrainian General Staff said in its evening report.

However, the attack on the city and its suburb Borivske was unsuccessful.

In another nearby village, in

, the Russian side had achieved partial success, sources said.

The Russian troops tried to

limit the mobility of the Ukrainian troops by

The Seversky Donets River flows through the contested area.

The major cities

and

are currently

in the east.

But there are also fights in the rear of these cities, which means that Ukrainian troops are threatened with being cordoned off.

On the northern side of this possible pocket, the city of

, confirmed Presidential Advisor Oleksiy Arestovych on Ukrainian television.

According to general staff information, Ukrainian positions south of Lyman are now being shelled.

On the southern side of the

pocket, there were battles for the towns of Komyshuvahka, Nirkove and Berestove.

Here, too, it was said that the attacks had been repelled.

However, the Russians achieved a partial success near Pokrovske.

The military information was not independently verifiable.

According to military circles, Ukraine is also observing that Russia is regrouping troops in its border areas of Belgorod and Voronezh.

This means that further attacks on the Ukrainian regions of

and

are to be feared.

That's what Ukraine says

Ukrainian President

has lamented the Europeans' hesitation in imposing sanctions on Russia.

"Ukraine will always be an independent state and will not break up," he said in his evening video address.

The question is what price Ukraine has to pay for its freedom - and what price Russia has to pay for the senseless war.

Zelenskyj asked why the

is taking so long to adopt a

package.

Russia still earns billions from energy exports, and not all Russian banks have yet been sanctioned.

How long will Ukraine have to fight to get the weapons it needs, he asked.

"The ongoing offensive of the occupiers in the

could make the region deserted," Zelenskyy said.

Cities would be destroyed, people killed or kidnapped, he said.

He called this "a blatant policy of

The catastrophic development could still be stopped if the world treated the war as if it were confronted with the same situation as Ukraine.

The Ukrainian

to Germany,

, accuses Chancellor

(SPD) of lacking leadership and disregarding Ukrainian interests.

Kiev had hoped to hear from Scholz's speech at the

which very specific steps the traffic light wanted to take to massively support Ukraine, says Melnyk of the "Bild" according to a preliminary report.

"Unfortunately, that was a non-existent report, especially with regard to the immediate delivery of

from Germany to smother the massive Russian offensive in the Donbass," said the ambassador.

There were also no encouraging signals to the Ukrainians on the subject of EU membership.

That says Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

has accused Ukrainian President Zelenskyy of a

.

The West also supports Zelenskyy in this attitude, Lavrov told the Arabic-language branch of the state television channel RT.

The president of the attacked Ukraine had previously said he would only negotiate directly with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and only if Russia withdrew to the pre-February 24 borders.

According to media reports, Lavrov also warned the West against supplying

Ukraine with

This would be a "serious step towards an

," the TASS news agency quoted the minister as saying.

He hopes that sensible people in the West will understand this, according to the RIA news agency, citing Lavrov: "There are still a few there."

International Reactions

According to a media report, the

is considering sending advanced

to Ukraine.

The US-made weapons systems could fire missiles hundreds of kilometers away, CNN reported, citing several officials.

A new military aid package could be announced as early as next week.

Ukraine asked for these types of weapons, it said.

However, the US government has been hesitant because of fears that Ukraine could use the missile systems for attacks on Russian territory.

The question arises whether this could lead to a Russian retaliation, according to CNN.

(Read more here).

In the coming month, a large

under the leadership of the USA .

In addition to 14 NATO countries such as Germany, the partner countries Sweden and Finland would also take part in the maritime exercise

, said the spokesman for the US Department of Defense, John Kirby, on Thursday (local time) in Washington.

is the host of the maneuver this year, which is planned from

.

Sweden and Finland have applied for NATO membership because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The maneuver has been taking place regularly in the Baltic Sea region since 1972.

Kirby said Baltops 22 would involve 45 naval units, 75 aircraft and around 7,000 troops.

The maneuver "provides a unique training opportunity to strengthen joint responsiveness," which is critical to security in the Baltic Sea region.

Among other things, amphibious operations, anti-submarine warfare, air defense, mine clearance, explosive ordnance disposal, as well as diving and salvage operations would be practiced.

Soldiers from Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, Great Britain and the USA are involved.

Economic Reactions

According to the US government, it assumes that a possible

would only have minor consequences for the US and global economy.

The country is already

, says White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.

In the past few days, the United States has allowed an exemption to expire that has previously allowed Russia to continue making payments to creditors despite the sanctions.

This now threatens a payment default.

The US government has rejected

Russia's call to

on grain release

.

"It is Russia that is actively blocking the export of food from Ukrainian ports and increasing world hunger," said Jean-Pierre.

There would be tons of grain stored in silos in Ukraine and on ships that could not be shipped because of the Russian naval blockade.

The sanctions would prevent neither the export nor the necessary monetary transactions.

There is currently no discussion about lifting sanctions.

humanitarian situation

Refugees

from the Ukraine in Germany are obviously very interested in

.

This is determined by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).

rights have already been granted

within a few weeks , as "Die Welt" reports in advance.

"We have well-trained participants who learn with great enthusiasm," says Benjamin Beckmann, head of the BAMF integration course department, the newspaper.

What is happening today

• The meeting of the

  G7 ministers for climate, energy and environment

  in

  Berlin

  ends.

  The publication of the final declaration is planned for the afternoon.

  Russia's invasion of Ukraine had triggered an energy crisis - and could lead to a climate-damaging renaissance of fossil fuels

bbr/dpa/Reuters