The United States aims to be included in the ammunition plan approved by the European Union and so far reserved for the European arms industry. "Opening up the procurement and purchasing process to industries outside the European Union would make it possible to deliver much-needed supplies to Ukraine more quickly," a senior U.S. government official told ANSA. The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, summoned representatives of the transatlantic defense industries (therefore also US) to Brussels on the occasion of the Defense Ministerial in mid-May to look for possible synergies.
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, with plans to supply F-16 aircraft to Kiev, Westerners are "playing with fire." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Western countries' plans to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine an unacceptable escalation. "This is certainly an unacceptable escalation. I hope there are reasonable people in the West who understand this," Lavrov told Moscow. Kremlin. Putin'.
The Ukrainian army last night shot down 52 Iranian-made drones in the country's airspace, out of the 54 launched by the Kremlin's army on the eve of Kiev Day, when the capital celebrates the anniversary of its founding 1541 years ago with concerts, fairs and exhibitions. The Ukrainian Air Force announced the downing of Shaded launched from the Russian regions of Bryansk and Krasnodar indicating that the attack was carried out in several waves for 5 hours, as reported by RBC-Ukraine. According to non-definitive information, a 40-year-old man was killed in a district of Kiev and a woman was wounded. According to the capital's military administration, this is the largest air attack conducted by Russia since the beginning of the invasion. The attacks went on all night, with explosions felt not only in Kiev but also in numerous other cities. According to the Kiev Independent, air defense systems have remained active for a long time. The explosions were also recorded this morning in Zhytomyr.
During last night's Russian attacks on Kiev, some residents stood out onto balconies despite alarms shouting insults at Vladimi Putin and the slogan "glory to air defense," as reported by the Guardian.
ANSA Agency
Moscow, 'in Ukraine we still have to act very seriously' - World
Threatening tones of the Russian ambassador in London. And Lavrov, "Supplying the f-16 is an unacceptable escalation" (ANSA)
Also last night, the capital was shaken by explosions, and the authorities informed that "air defense is in action". On Telegram, the mayor of Kiev, Vitaly Klitschko, invited citizens to "stay in shelters. Don't neglect your safety. The night will be difficult." The air alarm went off around one o'clock in the morning local time (midnight in Italy), and was activated in most regions of the country. As a result of the attack in the Holosiivskyi district "debris fell on the territory of a gas station. Initially, three people were injured, according to preliminary data, one person died." This was reported by the military administration of the city on Telegram. In the district of Pechersk, a fire broke out on the roof of a 9-storey building due to falling drone debris.
The Russian army's air raids struck this morning at five Zhytomyr, in western Ukraine, as reported by the public broadcaster Suspilne. Nikopol, in the eastern region of Dnepropetrovsk, was also bombed overnight, regional
military chief Sergey Lysak said: "Six houses and two buildings were destroyed. The pipeline and power lines were damaged. There were no deaths or injuries - this is the main thing," he wrote on Telegram.
And on Telegram President Volodymyr Zelensky. writes: "The air defense forces of Ukraine: you hear the anti-aircraft alert differently than most people. Look up to destroy enemy missiles, planes, helicopters and drones. Every time you shoot down enemy drones and missiles, lives are saved. Our rescuers who are involved in eliminating the consequences of enemy attacks: do your best to save others. You are our heroes."
And after the massive use of Iranian-made Shahed drones in last night's attacks, Zelensky called on the Ukrainian Parliament to approve new 50-year sanctions against Iran because of its role in supplying Russia with drones and military equipment for the war. This was reported by the Kyiv Independent, citing a draft resolution presented to Parliament. The draft would reportedly include a total ban on trade with Iran, investment and technology transfer, as well as preventing the withdrawal of Iranian assets from the country.
For his part, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said on TV that "last night, during the massive Russian drone attack on Kiev, the air force participated in the shooting down of Iranian unmanned aircraft: the plane we use to shoot down drones in particular is not as effective as we would like. If we had an F-16, of course, with its powerful radar and weapons it would be able to perform its tasks in the sky one hundred percent of the time."
And the death toll rises to four for the Russian attack that hit a psychiatric hospital and a veterinary clinic on May 26 in Dnipro. This was reported by the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Sergiy Lysak, explaining that the remains of the bodies of three people who were missing have been identified.
"Sad news... The fate of three people who disappeared during a missile attack in Dnipro has become known. Unfortunately, they died. We have the results of the study of the body fragments found at the scene of the tragedy," the governor wrote on Telegram. "Among the victims is a 56-year-old doctor and a 64-year-old employee of the gutted health facility. And another 57-year-old employee of a nearby veterinary clinic. In total, that attack claimed the lives of four people."
