Ukraine war: Putin will probably have to give up next target - Turkey wants to evacuate Mariupol fighters
Created: 05/15/2022, 04:48 am
By: Astrid Theil
Russia's troops experience further setbacks in the Ukraine war.
There is even talk of a Putin putsch.
The news ticker.
The
head of Ukraine's military
intelligence service believes that August will see a "tipping point" in the war.
Withdrawal from Kharkiv: Putin will probably have to give up his next war goal.
Turkey has agreed to evacuate the Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol.
This
news ticker on the military battles in the Russia-Ukraine war
is continuously updated.
Update from May 14, 8:54 p.m .:
Russian troops are said to be forcing Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol to take off their Ukrainian license plates.
As the
Kyiv Independent
wrote, citing local media reports, the civilians are said to be attaching Russian license plates to their vehicles.
However, this information cannot be independently verified.
Update May 14, 7:15 p.m.:
Turkey has offered to evacuate the last Ukrainian soldiers defending Mariupol.
As reported by the
Kyiv Independent
, Ibrahim Kalin, a government spokesman for Turkey, told Reuters that the offer has been made.
The wounded would be taken to safety across the Black Sea.
The Kremlin has not yet agreed to the offer.
Smoke rises from the Azovstal Steelworks.
Russia has announced a ceasefire and a temporary withdrawal of its own troops to continue evacuating civilians from the besieged steel mill in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
© Alexei Alexandrov/dpa
War in Ukraine: Ukrainian soldiers have slowed down Russian advances in the east
Update from May 14, 3:15 p.m .:
According to their own statements, the Ukrainian troops have slowed down the Russian advance in the east of the country.
As the governor of the Lugansk region, Serhiy Gajday, announced on Saturday, the Ukrainian soldiers repelled the enemy's attempts to cross a river and thus encircle the city of Severodonetsk.
In the north, Russian forces are said to have withdrawn from the city of Kharkiv, which had been a priority for Moscow, according to Ukrainian sources.
"Fierce fighting is currently going on on the border with Donetsk region, on the side of the city of Popasna," Gaiday said.
According to the governor, the Russian troops suffered heavy losses in soldiers and weapons.
"An entire Russian battalion refused to attack because they saw what was happening," the governor said.
This was reported by the Ukrainian side, who allegedly intercepted phone calls.
Aerial photos showed dozens of destroyed armored vehicles on the riverbank, as well as wrecked pontoon bridges.
The British Ministry of Defense confirmed that Russian troops suffered heavy casualties after Ukrainian forces repulsed their attempt to cross the river.
The maneuver speaks "for the pressure under which the Russian commanders are to advance their operations in eastern Ukraine".
The ministry stated that the Russian armed forces "have not made any significant progress despite the concentration of their forces in this area".
Finland and NATO: Russian military maneuvers in the Baltic Sea
Update from May 14, 1 p.m.:
Two days after Finland announced that it wanted to join NATO, Russia held extensive military maneuvers around the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.
SU-27 fighter jets were also used in this military exercise.
This is reported by the Interfax agency, citing the Russian Baltic Sea fleet.
During the maneuver, an air raid on Kaliningrad was simulated.
The destruction of enemy aircraft was practiced.
The Russian province of Kaliningrad with the city of the same name is located on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania.
Donetsk: Russia reports up to 100 "destroyed" Ukrainian soldiers
Update from May 14, 12:30 p.m .:
According to its own statements, Russia fired on several command posts and two ammunition depots in the Donetsk region during the Ukraine war.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in Moscow on Saturday that 23 units of military equipment were also disabled and up to 100 Ukrainian fighters were "destroyed".
In addition, 18 command points and 543 military positions were fired at with rockets and artillery on Saturday night.
The Donetsk region was the focus of the attacks.
An ammunition depot belonging to the Ukrainian armed forces in the Cherson region is said to have been destroyed.
The Russian side previously announced that it was in control of this region in southern Ukraine.
Russian air defenses also shot down a total of 13 Ukrainian drones in the eastern regions of Kharkov, Luhansk and Donetsk, Konashenkov said.
These statements cannot initially be verified independently.
Ukraine War: Russia suffers heavy casualties
First report from May 14, 10 a.m.:
Kiev – Russia is losing more and more soldiers in the Ukraine war.
Almost every day, the Ukrainian General Staff publishes statistics on the death toll of Russian military personnel.
Contrary to many expectations, Vladimir Putin* spoke in his speech on May 9 of "heavy losses" that Russia had suffered in the Ukraine war.
However, the figures published by the Kremlin are far below those of the government in Kyiv.
In a recent interview with
Sky News
, the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, emphasized that the strength of the Russian army is a myth.
The troops are much more a "horde of people with guns".
Many soldiers would leave their positions and give up their equipment in artillery battles.
Nevertheless, Budanov did not speak of an early victory of the Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine war: Ukrainian intelligence chief expects “turning point” of war at the end of August
In his estimation, there will be fighting for several more months.
However, he expects a "turning point" in the second half of August.
Budanov expects the end of the war towards the end of the year.
"We know their plans, mostly when they are made," emphasized Budanov in an interview.
The Ukrainian army knows everything about the "enemy".
The Ukrainian leadership currently sees the beginning of a “third phase” of the Russian war of aggression.
Viktor Andrusyw, adviser in the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, explained on television on Saturday night that the first phase was an attempt to overrun Ukraine "in a few days".
In a second phase, the Ukrainian troops were to be surrounded and crushed.
Ukraine war: "The coup in Moscow has begun"
"And they didn't manage that either," emphasized Andrusyw.
In the new "third phase" the Russian troops would prepare to defend the territory gained so far.
"It shows that they want to make a long war out of it," Andrusyw said.
Apparently, the Russian government thinks that it can force the West to negotiate and thus force Ukraine to give in.
Regardless of the assessment of the further development of the Ukraine war, Kyrylo Budanov emphasized that there would soon be a change of political power in the Kremlin.
"The coup in Moscow has started," Budanov said in an interview with
Sky News
.
He also answered the question of whether a state empire in Russia was being prepared with an unequivocal “yes”.
Ukraine war: rumors about Putin's health: cancer and other diseases
In an interview with Sky News
, Bundanov finally spoke
about Putin's allegedly very poor state of health.
The Russian President suffers from cancer and other diseases and is therefore “very ill”.
It was in poor “mental and physical” condition.
The Kremlin has not yet taken a position on this latest information.
Budanov's and Andrsyw's statements cannot be independently verified.
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