Ukraine war: Russia probably makes tactical mistakes - missile attack on Lviv
Created: 05/15/2022Updated: 05/15/2022 15:04
By: Kim Hornickel, Tobias Utz, Daniel Dillmann, Andreas Apetz
The military situation in the Ukraine war is coming to a head: the news ticker on Sunday, May 15th.
Rocket attack on Lviv:
Bombing after days of pause
Russian offensive in Donbass behind plan:
Russia loses a third of its ground combat troops in the Ukraine war.
Russia uses phosphorus bombs
: Steelworks in Mariupol apparently shelled.
All the latest news and developments in the Ukraine conflict in our news ticker.
+++ 2.45 p.m .:
According to a report, Russia makes tactical mistakes in the Donbass.
This was analyzed by the think tank “Institute for the Study of War”.
Specifically, it is about the failed attempt by Russian soldiers on Wednesday (May 11) to build a pontoon bridge over the River Siversky Donets.
That "showed a startling lack of tactical flair," the report said.
The think tank also notes that the planned referendum in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson is causing "considerable confusion within the Russian leadership at various levels".
Ukraine War: Missile attack on Lviv
+++ 1:00 p.m .:
According to Ukrainian information, the Russian armed forces in the Lviv region (Lemberg) in the west of the country fired at military infrastructure again after a break of days for the first time (see update from 8:30 a.m.).
After the attack, nothing is known about dead or injured, said the head of the military administration, Maxym Kosyzkyj, on the Telegram news channel.
The extent of the destruction is being investigated.
An object near Javoriv - presumably around the military training area there - is said to have been completely destroyed.
There was a rocket attack in Lviv.
This photo from the city is from April.
© Matthew Hatcher/SOPA/ZUMA/dpa
Ukraine War: Russian offensive in Donbass behind plan
+++ 11.45 a.m .:
The Russian armed forces have lost a third of their ground combat troops deployed in Ukraine in February.
According to British intelligence experts, this is exacerbated by the loss of crucial material for bridge construction and reconnaissance.
"Russian forces are increasingly constrained by destroyed resupply capabilities, persistently low morale and reduced combat effectiveness," the British Ministry of Defense's daily Ukraine War Intelligence Update tweeted.
Despite initial progress at the beginning, Russia did not make any substantial territorial gains in the past month (see also update from 10.25 a.m.).
Ukraine War: Russia uses phosphorus bombs
+++ 10.40 a.m .:
Russia apparently fired phosphorus bombs at the Azov steelworks in the port city of Mariupol.
Mariupol city council deputy Petro Andryushchenko spoke on Telegram that “hell has come to earth”.
Such incendiary bombs cause devastating damage.
Their use is prohibited.
+++ 10.25 a.m .:
The British military intelligence services see the Russian offensive in Donbass far behind the original schedule.
"Under the current conditions, it is unlikely that Russia can dramatically accelerate its advance in the next 30 days," the British military said in its situation report on Twitter.
+++ 8.30 a.m .:
Ukrainian authorities report a rocket attack in the Lviv region.
According to the local governor Maxim Kosizki, military infrastructure was hit.
According to Kosizki, it is still unclear whether people were killed or injured.
The extent of the destruction has yet to be determined.
Lviv is located in western Ukraine not far from the Polish border.
+++ 6:00 a.m .:
Russian and Ukrainian forces continue to fight fiercely in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
As the Ukrainian military announced in an update on Facebook, the situation remains difficult but is under control.
By late Saturday evening, soldiers repulsed 12 attacks in the Donbass region, destroying eight tanks, five artillery systems, nine armored fighting vehicles and six drones.
Ukraine war: According to Zelenskyy, the situation in the Donbass is very difficult
Update from Sunday, May 15, 2:00 a.m.: According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the situation in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass remains “very difficult” for Ukraine.
The Russian troops tried to show "at least a certain victory" there, said Zelenskyj in his daily video speech on Sunday night.
That seems “particularly crazy” on the 80th day after the invasion.
Russian troops are concentrating their attacks on eastern Ukraine after failing to advance towards Kyiv.
Selenskyj was confident: "Step by step we are forcing the occupiers to leave our country."
+++ 10 p.m.:
Other residents of the destroyed Ukrainian city of Mariupol apparently managed to escape.
A convoy of 500 to 1,000 cars from Mariupol has been allowed to enter Ukrainian-controlled territory, Petro Andryushenko, an adviser to the Mariupol mayor, wrote on Telegram.
They are on their way to Zaporizhia, the first major Ukrainian city behind the front.
Ukraine-News: Russia hardly registers notable gains
+++ 8:00 p.m .:
Although the fighting in eastern Ukraine continues with unrestrained severity, the Russian armed forces were unable to gain ground, according to Ukrainian information.
"The occupiers are maintaining the greatest activity in the Slobozhanske and Donetsk areas," the General Staff said in its evening situation report on Saturday (May 14).
And further Russian military actions are to follow: According to this, the Russian troops are preparing attacks on the cities of Sievjerodonetsk, Soledar and Bakhmut and more battalions are being transferred to the front.
In the Kharkiv region in north-eastern Ukraine, Russian troops are trying to hold their own defensive positions and control important communication routes, it is said.
In the south of the country, the armed forces continued to occupy Snake Island.
The Ukrainian general staff reported that the air defenses had been strengthened there.
The island at the mouth of the Danube Delta has been heavily contested in recent days.
Ukraine-News: In the war conflict, Ukraine is counterattacking
+++ 18:50:
According to its own statements, Ukraine is conducting a counter-offensive against the Russian army.
As the Tagesschau reports, the fighting in the region near the city of Izyum continues.
So far, Russia has occupied the Ukrainian city, but now the Ukrainians are fighting back, as Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Sinegobov said.
“Our forces went on a counteroffensive there.
The enemy is withdrawing on some fronts.” The area is a key axis of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Ukraine-News: War damage increases in the billions
+++ 17:26:
Around 23 percent of the Ukrainian train network has already been destroyed by Russian attacks, said the Minister of Infrastructure in Ukraine, Oleksandr Kubrakov on Saturday (May 14).
According to the news portal The Kyiv Independent, Kubrakov has so far expected damage to 6,300 kilometers of track.
And not only the train connections in Ukraine suffer from the bombing.
23,573 kilometers of road and more than 300 bridges were already destroyed during the Ukraine war, the politician told the news portal.
The Ukrainian leadership estimates the amount of the damage at 90 billion dollars so far.
+++ 1:45 p.m .:
The Russian army has apparently installed an anti-aircraft system on the “snake island” in the Black Sea.
This is reported by the Kyiv Independent news portal with reference to information from the Ukrainian task force.
Russia is now trying to “protect the fleet from possible damage”.
The "Snake Island" is considered to be very competitive, as it is considered the gateway to the Black Sea coast.
Ukraine-News: Russia starts military maneuvers
+++ 1:15 p.m .:
On Saturday afternoon, Russia is holding military maneuvers around the Russian Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.
The Kremlin announced this on Thursday after reports circulated about Finland's possible NATO membership.
The Interfax news agency reports, with reference to information from the Russian Baltic Fleet, that "SU-27" fighter jets, among other things, were used in the military maneuvers.
It said it destroyed several planes in a simulated airstrike on Kaliningrad.
+++ 12.30 p.m .:
After experts had already reported that the Ukrainian army had won the fighting in Kharkiv, the Russian armed forces are now withdrawing from the region.
According to the Ukrainian general staff, the Russian soldiers are now concentrating on guarding supply routes.
At the same time, Russian soldiers continue to conduct artillery and air strikes on the Ukrainian troops.
They are trying to weaken troops and destroy fortifications, according to the Ukrainian General Staff.
The information cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine War: The winner of the "Battle of Kharkiv" is probably certain
+++ 11.30 a.m .:
Russian and Ukrainian troops have been fighting in the Kharkiv region for weeks.
This could now come to an end.
The think tank Institute for the Study of War reports that Ukrainian forces "won the battle for Kharkiv."
As a result, the encirclement of Russia has been breached, according to defense experts.
The US-based think tank's claims cannot be independently verified.
+++ 10.45 a.m .:
Petro Andryuschtschenko, City Councilor in Mariupol, gave Telegram details of the situation in the port city, which had been under siege for weeks.
"The cruelty of the enemy is increasing," it said in a statement.
According to consistent media reports, Russia continues to shell the Azovstal steelworks.
There are attacks on the ground and in the air, said Andryushchenko.
He also published a video on Telegram that is supposed to show the attacks on the plant.
Ukraine-News: Battalion apparently refuses offensive
+++ 10:00 a.m .:
The Ukrainian General Staff reports that numerous Russian attacks in the Donbass have been repelled.
Many tanks, artillery systems and transport vehicles were destroyed in the process.
However, there are still fights.
The information cannot be independently verified.
Meanwhile, in the Luhansk region, there is apparently an uproar in the Russian military: local authorities from the city of Rubizhne are reporting that an entire battalion is said to have refused a military offensive.
In his statement, the governor of the Luhasnk region, Serhiy Haidai, referred to intercepted radio messages from the Russian soldiers.
Again, this information cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine-News: Daily 50 houses destroyed in Luhansk region
+++ 09.30 a.m .:
According to the governor of the Luhansk region, Russian bombings destroy around 50 residential buildings every day.
Serhiy Haidai was referring to the area of the cities of Hirske and Popasna.
This is reported by the news portal Kyiv Independent.
The information cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine-News: Referendum planned in Kherson
+++ 9:00 a.m .:
A referendum in the southern Ukrainian city of Cherson is becoming increasingly likely.
According to an assessment by the British Ministry of Defense, Russia is planning to annex the area in this way.
The latest situation report, which is based on an assessment by the British secret service, states that such a referendum is very likely to be manipulated.
The result - a clear majority for secession from Ukraine - is already predictable.
The situation report cites the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula as an example of the manipulation of referendums.
Ukraine-News: Parliamentarian warns of supply shortages in the army
+++ 8.15 a.m .:
Oleksandra Ustinova, Ukrainian parliamentarian, warned in Washington about the supply situation of the Ukrainian military.
"It's hell," she said of the situation at the front.
"We're losing a lot more men now than when the war started," Ustinova said, according to CNN.
The situation on the battlefield is "far worse" than at the beginning of the Ukraine war.
"We can't win this war with Soviet equipment because A. Russia has a lot more Soviet equipment, B. we can't get ammunition for it anywhere, and C. Russia just has more people and more troops," she stressed.
Ukraine-News: Zelenskyy government sees "third phase"
+++ 7.45 a.m .:
The government in Kiev now sees the Ukraine war in the “third phase”.
In "phase one" Russia tried to overrun Ukraine "in a few days", explained Viktor Andrusyw, adviser in the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, on Friday.
In the second phase, the Russian army tried to encircle the Ukrainian armed forces: "And they didn't manage that either," said Andrusyw.
Now, in the third phase, the Russian military is trying to defend the territory it has gained so far.
"It shows that they want to make a long war out of it," Andrusyw said.
Ukraine News: Russian Military Strength a “Fake”
+++ 7.15 a.m .:
According to Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenyky, the image of Russia’s military as the “invincible, second largest army in the world” has already turned out to be a “fake”.
As he told the Unian news agency, the heavy casualties are proof of that.
“They [the army;
Note d.
Red.] threatened to dismantle NATO, but has already failed in two villages in the Sumy region (in north-eastern Ukraine)," said Arestovych.
However, the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service assumes that a change of power is imminent in Russia.
+++ 06.30 a.m .:
Russian troops have apparently injured several civilians in the Donetsk region.
There was also one death, as Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Friday.
There had been Russian shelling in several settlements.
Ukraine-News: USA announce military maneuvers in Europe
Update from Saturday, May 14, 5:30 a.m.:
According to the US Department of Defense, the Ukrainian armed forces can continue to hold their own against the offensive by Russian troops in Donbass.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Friday evening that there was "tough" and "effective resistance" in the east of the country.
According to Kirby, around 105 battalions of the Russian army are currently on site.
The Pentagon spokesman also announced that US troops stationed in Europe will soon “rotate”.
This is about 100,000 armed forces.
What Kirby meant by that, he left open.
However, he was referring to Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd.
Ukraine-News: Russia moves troops - fear of attacks on neighboring countries
+++ 12.45 p.m .:
In the Transnistria region, near the border with Ukraine, there have been attacks again.
Nobody was injured, but the authorities now fear that the Ukraine war will spread to neighboring countries.
According to the authorities, there had been two attempted attacks in the regional capital Tiraspol in the breakaway region of Transnistria in the Republic of Moldova, which is supported by Moscow.
On Friday morning (May 13), a man threw a firebomb at a building near an oil storage facility.
A little later, two Molotov cocktails were thrown at a military office in the center of Tiraspol, the Interior Ministry of the self-proclaimed Transnistria Republic said.
The self-proclaimed republic on the border with Ukraine broke away from Moldova in 1992 after a brief war with Chisinau.
Since then, around 1,500 Russian soldiers have been stationed there.
First report from Friday, May 13, 8:45 a.m.:
Kiev – The Ukraine war has been going on for over two months.
But the invasion of Russia has stalled.
A bitter struggle is raging, especially in the east of the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has therefore begun to send units from Syria to the Donbass.
This is reported by several US media.
A number of Russian soldiers have been stationed in Syria since 2015.
According to the news portal Newsweek, their number is said to have been over 63,000 at times.
Moscow had once sent the troops to support ruler Bashar al-Assad in the civil war in Syria.
A large part of the associations based there were relocated by plane to the border with Ukraine.
According to the Moscow Times, the units are now ready to intervene in the war in the east and south-east of the country.
Newsweek, in turn, reports that the Kremlin is even willing to completely abandon army airports in Syria and hand them over to Iranian security forces instead.
(aa/dil/tu/kh with dpa/AFP)
