Ukraine probably shoots down fighter jet with Russia general - Putin takes old military out of pension

Created: 05/25/2022, 04:51

By: Cindy Boden, Stephanie Munk, Christoph Gschoßmann

Despite the ongoing Ukraine war, Russia remains confident of victory.

Ukraine is now using artillery from the West.

News ticker.

• Escalated Ukraine conflict

  : Due to a lack of soldiers?

  Russia is preparing to abolish the age limit for military service

• After three months of war, Russia is confident of victory: All goals set by Putin have been achieved, "it can't be any other way"

• General killed: Ukraine claims to have shot down a Russian general in a fighter jet.

• This

  news ticker on military events in the Ukraine war

  is continuously updated.

Russia announces safe sea passage from Mariupol from Wednesday

Update from May 24, 9:42 p.m .:

According to military information, Russia wants to set up a safe sea passage from the conquered Ukrainian port of Mariupol towards the Black Sea from Wednesday.

The mine-cleared route through the Sea of ​​Azov is 115 nautical miles (213 kilometers) long and 2 nautical miles wide and navigable from 8:00 a.m. local time (7:00 a.m. CEST).

This was announced by the Ministry of Defense in Moscow on Tuesday evening.

At the same time, the damaged port infrastructure of Mariupol will be repaired.

The last Ukrainian defenders of the city laid down their weapons at the end of last week, and Mariupol itself has been largely destroyed.

According to Russian information, around 70 foreign ships from 16 countries are still stuck in the ports controlled by Ukraine on the Black Sea coast.

The Russian Navy will also set up a daily safe corridor there on the coast, it said.

However, there remains a residual danger for the countries bordering the Black Sea from drifting Ukrainian mines that have broken loose.

According to Ukrainian sources, the danger comes from the Russian Navy and its mines.

Western countries are demanding that Moscow allow safe grain exports from Ukraine through the port of Odessa.

Russians are said to have captured a city in the Donetsk region

Update from May 24, 6:32 p.m .:

In eastern Ukraine, according to both sides, Russian troops have conquered the small town of Svitlodarsk in the Donetsk region.

According to reports in the Ukrainian media, the head of the municipal military administration, Serhiy Hoshko, confirmed statements by the pro-Russian separatists on Tuesday.

Ukraine's largest coal-fired power plant is located near Svitlodarsk.

Earlier, the separatists reported about the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the area who were threatened with encirclement.

At the same time, the storming of the city of Lyman began in the northern Donetsk region, the separatists said.

The Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that Russian troops, supported by artillery and air force, attacked the city.

The General Staff made no comment on the situation in Svitlodarsk.

BBC: General of the Russian Air Force shot down

Update from May 24, 4:55 p.m .:

According to a report by the British broadcaster

, a general in the Russian Air Force was shot down and killed in eastern Ukraine.

Major General Kanamat Botashov's plane was hit by a Stinger missile over the small Donbass town of Popasna on Sunday (May 22), the British broadcaster reported.

Botashov would be the highest-ranking Russian air force officer killed since the beginning of the aggressive war against Ukraine.

also read

"Civilization may not survive": star investor Soros criticizes Putin and Merkel

"Increasingly feverish and unstable": Ex-secret service agent reports of "chaos" surrounding Putin

Ukrainian media reported the shooting down of a Russian Su-25 fighter jet on Sunday.

As the BBC now reports, citing several sources, Botashov was in the cockpit.

The pilot's death has not been officially confirmed.

According to Ukrainian sources, he would be the ninth Russian general to die in the war.

A Russian Su-25 fighter jet flies over Ukrainian airspace in the direction of Kharkiv.

The Russian general who was killed was apparently also in such a machine.

© IMAGO/RIA Novosti

The officer, who came from the Caucasus, was considered an excellent aviator.

However, he was released from the army and placed in reserve in 2013 after the crash with a Su-27.

As it turned out, he had flown the fighter jet without the necessary certification.

At that time, Botashov was able to save himself with an ejection seat.

It is not clear how the general was deployed in Ukraine.

However, according to the media, a covert mobilization of military personnel who have been retired has been going on in Russia for months.

At least nine Russian reserve officers over the age of 50 are said to have died during the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine War: Russia apparently damaged 600 hospitals in attacks

Update from May 24, 3:48 p.m .:

According to Ukrainian information, 600 hospitals have already been destroyed or damaged in the Ukraine war.

About 100 clinics could not be rebuilt, said the board member of the Ukrainian Medical Association Andriy Basylevych at the German Medical Association in Bremen.

Many medics were killed or wounded.

Medical care is severely affected.

"Women have to give birth under unacceptable circumstances." At the same time, the workload has doubled or tripled.

Injuries not only to soldiers, but also to civilians, women and children need to be treated, said the Lviv medicine professor.

He thanked the German medical profession for humanitarian aid.

From Germany, as an important nation, he demanded the delivery of heavy weapons and anti-aircraft weapons.

Germany can also help set up orthopedic workshops in Ukraine, because many people have lost limbs.

Western institutions should also give doctors from Ukraine assistantships or internships so that they can return home better educated, said Basylevych.

Ukraine war: Kuleba speaks of "biggest battle since World War II"

Update from May 24, 2:55 p.m .:

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba calls for faster military aid from the West in view of the heavy Russian attacks in the east.

"It's too early to conclude that Ukraine already has all the weapons it needs," Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

"The Russian offensive in Donbass is a merciless battle, the largest on European soil since World War II."

In particular, his country needs multiple rocket launchers and long-range artillery quickly.

Kuleba wrote in another tweet that he had also spoken to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the phone about the delivery of heavy weapons.

Ukraine War: Due to a lack of soldiers?

Russia is preparing to abolish the age limit for military service

Update from May 24, 2:30 p.m .:

Russia is preparing to abolish the age limit for military service.

That emerges from the agenda of the Moscow Duma, Russia's lower house, for Wednesday (May 25).

According to the bill, only Russian citizens between the ages of 18 and 40 can enlist in the army under the current provisions, while foreign nationals can enlist between 18 and 30 years.

However, it is important for the use of weapons "with high precision" to bring "highly specialized specialists" to the army, the explanations continue.

Apparently, the idea of ​​lifting the age limit is being considered.

The aim of this measure is to attract specialists in the fields of medical support, engineering and communication.

During its offensive in Ukraine, the Russian army suffered heavy material and human losses, although Moscow never quantified them.

In April, Russia launched the Spring Call, which aims to draft around 134,500 young people.

However, the authorities said the recruits would not be sent to the front.

Update from May 24, 1:44 p.m .:

According to Ukrainian information, four civilians were killed in a rocket attack on the old town of Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region.

"The Russians are chaotically and continuously bombing the regional center," writes the governor of the region, Serhiy Haidai, on the Telegram news service.

All four dead would probably have lived in the same apartment complex.

Information was also received that Russia had bombed an elementary school in the small town of Hirske.

The information has not been independently verified.

Putin confidante on Ukraine war: "All the goals set by the President will be achieved, it can't be otherwise"

Update from May 24, 1:20 p.m .:

After three months of war against Ukraine, Russia is still confident of victory despite setbacks.

"Despite the extensive Western aid to the Kiev regime and the sanctions pressure on Russia, we will continue the special military operation until all tasks are completed," Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday, according to the Interfax agency.

Shoigu repeated the claim that Russia felt compelled to carry out the attack "to protect our people from genocide and also to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine".

Deputy head of the National Security Council Nikolai Patrushev said: "All the goals set by the President will be achieved.

It can't be any other way, because the truth, including the historical one, is on our side.” At the same time, the former intelligence chief, who is one of Putin's closest confidants, prepared his compatriots for longer-lasting fighting.

"We're not chasing any deadlines," he told the tabloid

.

Russian President Vladimir Putin watches military exercises through binoculars.

© Alexei Nikolsky/dpa

War in Ukraine: Apparently around 200 bodies discovered in the basement of a residential building in Mariupol

Update from May 24, 11:55 a.m .:

Around 200 bodies were apparently discovered in the basement of a residential building in Mariupol.

This is announced by Anton Gerashchenko, adviser in the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, via Twitter.

"Another mass grave in Mariupol - about 200 bodies were found in the basement of an apartment building," he writes.

The Russian soldiers tried to force the local population to remove the bodies, but they refused.

The information has not been independently verified.

The city has been heavily fought over in recent weeks and is now under Russian occupation

Update from May 24, 11:35 a.m .:

According to Ukrainian information, Russian President Vladimir Putin was said to have been the target of a failed assassination attempt shortly after the start of the war.

The head of the Ukrainian secret service said in an interview.

You can read details about the alleged assassination attempt on Putin in this article.

Ukraine war: Ukraine is now fighting with modern artillery from the west - and praises its effectiveness

Update from May 24, 10:46 a.m .:

According to a military spokesman, the Ukrainian troops are now “successfully” fighting in the Ukraine war with newly delivered artillery systems from the West.

After Ukraine initially used its own Soviet-era howitzers, it has been able to use modern artillery systems from allied nations at the front for a few weeks - including M777 howitzers supplied by the USA, army spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk told the AFP news agency.

These have already proved very helpful in combat, he said.

"For the Ukrainians shooting the M777, it's like switching from a steam engine to an electric car," said Pletenchuk, who works with the military administration of the Mykolayiv region.

He did not comment on where the weapons were used.

On April 22, 2022, M777 self-propelled howitzers destined for Ukraine in the fight against Russia are loaded at a Californian air base.

© IMAGO/US Marines

"These systems are already being used by the Ukrainian armed forces and they are being used very successfully," he said.

"Our enemies are very sad about this, as well as about the high effectiveness of this artillery." The availability of Western weapons improves Ukraine's tactical and strategic position, according to the Ukrainian army spokesman.

Ukraine is receiving artillery, anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank weapons, among other things, from the US and European countries to better defend itself against Russian invaders.

Ukraine war: Russia apparently gains territory in Donbass

Update from May 24, 9 a.m.:

According to British intelligence services, Russia has made some local progress in its offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow has significantly increased the intensity of its activities in the Donbass and is trying to encircle several cities there, the British Ministry of Defense said in an update on Tuesday morning.

However, this is only part of Russia's mission to bring the entire Donbass region under its control.

The Ukrainian resistance is strong.

If the front line in the Donbass shifts further west, it is likely to pose further logistical difficulties for the Russians, according to British intelligence.

Ukraine war: Russia tries to "eliminate everything alive" in Donbass - consultant believes Mariupol goal has been achieved

First report:

Kiev - According to the Ukrainian government, the Russian armed forces are trying to seize key positions in eastern Ukraine with heavy bombardments.

The situation in the Donbass is even "extremely difficult" because the Russians are trying to "eliminate everything alive," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday night (May 24).

Russia is trying to encircle the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.

The Ministry of Defense reported fierce fighting around Bakhmut.

Ukraine war: 'We've reached a point where we're about to make evacuations mandatory'

Destroyed trams stand in a depot in Mariupol, an area under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine, May 21.

© Alexei Alexandrov/dpa

The fall of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region would give Russian troops control of a crucial hub that currently serves as the command center for much of Ukraine's war effort in the east.

"We have reached a point where we are in the process of making evacuations mandatory," said the head of Bakhmut's military administration, Serhiy Kalian.

The governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Gajday, on the other hand, reported that the shelling in Severodonetsk was so heavy that evacuations were impossible.

"Such a density of shelling will not allow us to calmly gather people and take them," he explained on Telegram.

You can read reactions from Germany to the Ukraine war in this news ticker.

War in Ukraine: Ukrainian defense adviser sees main objective in Mariupol achieved

Another focal point so far in the Ukraine war: Mariupol.

Despite the fall of the port city, an adviser to the Ukrainian defense minister sees the main military objective there as having been achieved.

“The main goal was achieved in Mariupol.

It was to hold back the Russian groups (...) more than 20,000 Russian soldiers.

And that was made possible thanks to the heroic deeds of the Mariupol defenders and the defenders who were later in Azovstal," said Yuriy Sak on Tuesday in the ARD "Morgenmagazin".

As a result, the Russian troops would not have been able to conquer other areas in eastern Ukraine.

Azovstal's soldiers would have given Ukrainians time to regroup and receive more military aid from their international partners.

"From this perspective, the goal was achieved," says Sak.

The last Ukrainian fighters at the Azov steelworks in Mariupol surrendered last week.

A journalist loyal to the Kremlin is said to have announced the location of a mortar on TV.

Shortly thereafter, the gun was destroyed, according to Ukraine.