Ukraine War: Nine dead in attacks on Kharkiv
Created: 05/28/2022, 05:01
By: Tobias Utz, Lukas Zigo, Nail Akkoyun, Marvin Ziegele, Andreas Apetz, Lucas Maier
The situation in the Ukraine war is getting worse, both militarily and diplomatically: the news ticker on Friday, May 27th.
Heavy fighting for the industrial city of Sievjerodonetsk
: The shelling of the city increases significantly.
Russia plans "smaller encirclements"
: The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) sees a change in strategy.
Weapons shipments:
Belarus will supply Russia with weapons and tanks in the Ukraine war.
This ticker on the Ukraine war is over: You can read all current developments in this ticker on the Ukraine conflict.
+++ 10.30 a.m .:
According to reports, 1,500 civilians have been killed in the embattled Ukrainian city of Sievjerodonetsk (Luhansk region) since the Russian invasion began.
This is reported by the head of the local military administration, Olexandr Strjuk.
Numerous people have already fled the city: of the approximately 130,000 inhabitants, only a tenth is still there, according to Strjuk.
+++ 9.30 a.m .:
According to the latest assessment by the British Ministry of Defense, the Russian army is apparently using 50-year-old tanks in the Ukraine war.
This primarily affects the troops in southern Ukraine, for example around Mariupol.
The obsolete tanks are said to be "T62" models in particular, the ministry reports, citing British intelligence information.
The use of the 50-year-old tanks shows "Russia's lack of modern and combat-ready equipment".
The information cannot be independently verified.
The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope
View photo gallery
+++ 8.30 a.m .:
An “anti-Putin summit” is apparently planned in Lithuania on Friday.
An anonymous source gives the first details.
Update from Friday, May 27, 2022,
7:30 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of “genocide” in eastern Ukraine, while the Russian army intensified its attacks around the city of Severodonetsk.
In the Donbass, Russia is pursuing "an obvious policy of genocide," Zelensky said in his daily television address on Friday night (May 27).
The city of Kharkiv in northern Ukraine was again the target of attacks on Thursday, nine people died.
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Ukraine War: A Ukrainian soldier walks past a destroyed Russian APC tank near Kutuzivka, north of Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine.
© Mstyslav Chernov / dpa
The Russian offensive could make the Donbass region "uninhabitable," Zelenskyy said.
He accused Moscow of wanting to reduce Ukrainian cities to rubble.
"All of this, including the kidnapping of our people and the mass killing of civilians, is a blatant genocidal policy being pursued by Russia."
Ukraine war: Russia before "decisive battle" - situation in the east "very difficult"
+++ 17:52:
In the east of Ukraine, the Russian armed forces are apparently using a wide range of weapons on several fronts.
According to Ukrainian officials, the Ukrainian defense is said to be outnumbered and outgunned, CNN reports.
Several officials described the situation in eastern Ukraine as "very difficult" and admitted that Ukrainian units had to withdraw in some places.
The Russians have used short-range ballistic missiles, heavy artillery and tanks in eastern Ukraine in the bombardment of cities in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, it is said.
According to the Ukrainian National Police, civilians have been killed in attacks on 13 settlements in Donetsk.
The main goal of the Russian troops should be the capture of Sloviansk.
The town's mayor, Vadym Liakh, told CNN that half of the town was without water and "there would be no gas supply until the heating season".
Ukraine war: Russian soldier speaks about poor preparation
+++ 2 p.m .:
According to Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of the Ukrainian capital, 120 citizens of Kiev have already been killed since the Russian invasion began at the end of February.
Klitschko said more than 300 people were injured.
The mayor said this on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
+++ 1.30 p.m.:
A Russian soldier spoke to the Guardian about the Russian army's poor preparation.
The 21-year-old was initially stationed in Crimea before his unit was sent to war.
"They only told us about it at the very last moment, the night before the invasion," reports the young Russian soldier.
It is said that he was sent to the Ukraine war "completely unprepared".
When his unit got into a firefight with the Ukrainian troops, surrender was the only option: “It was our first confrontation with the enemy;
we hadn't even fired a shot.
They ambushed us and we couldn't fight back.
We had to surrender.” After 45 days in Ukrainian captivity, the 21-year-old was exchanged.
Ukraine war: Olaf Scholz warns of "greatest famine in decades"
+++ 12.45 p.m .:
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke about the “brutal war” in Ukraine and expressed his personal concerns for the future.
The Chancellor warned of the food crisis resulting from the Ukraine conflict: "If we don't take quick and decisive countermeasures here, we are threatened with the world's worst famine in decades".
Ukraine is one of the world's largest grain exporters.
The country recently supplied 14 percent of the quantities of wheat, barley and corn traded on the world market.
Ukraine is also a supplier of rapeseed and sunflower oil.
+++ 11.45 a.m .:
According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Vladimir Putin has already missed all strategically important goals in the Ukraine war.
"A capture of all of Ukraine by Russia seems further away today than it was at the beginning of the war," said Scholz in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Ukraine war: Russia shows video of Iskander-K missile launch
+++ 11.30 a.m .:
The Kremlin has released video footage of the launch of an “Iskander-K” rocket.
The ballistic missile was aimed at a "military target" in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
This is reported by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
+++ 10.30 a.m .:
The Bundeswehr frigate “Mecklenburg-Vorpommern” is intended to strengthen NATO’s northern flank in the future.
The warship will be integrated into the rapid reaction forces over the next few months, the naval command said on Thursday (May 26).
There are 22 soldiers on board, including crew members from Slovakia.
+++ 9.30 a.m .:
After Putin’s defeats in Kiev and Kharkiv, the “Battle for Sievjerodonetsk” is said to be decisive for the outcome of the Ukraine war.
According to Matthew Schmidt, associate professor of national security and politics at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, "Putin needs a win."
The pressure on the Russian President has grown extremely.
A new sense of achievement is now essential.
"They are throwing all the power they have into this battle," Schmidt told the Washington Post.
Whether it's enough for a win remains to be seen.
Due to the many setbacks and injuries, the Russian army is struggling with personnel problems.
In Sievjerodonetsk, Putin was forced to resort to motley "Frankenstein squads," according to Schmidt.
The makeshift regiments consisted of soldiers from different units and were not coordinated with each other.
Ukraine war: Russia abducts thousands
+++ 08.00 a.m.:
Around 19,000 people are said to have been kidnapped from Ukraine to Russia within the past 24 hours.
The Kremlin announced this as a success story, it was the rescue of the people.
"Despite all the obstacles set up by Kyiv, in the last 24 hours 18,927 people, including 2,058 children, were evacuated from dangerous areas of the Donbass republics and Ukraine to the Russian Federation without the involvement of the Ukrainian authorities," the Russian colonel general said Michael Mizintsev, according to the state news agency Tass.
Mizintsev, who is responsible, among other things, for the supposed "coordination of humanitarian measures" in Ukraine, is described as Vladimir Putin's "favourite general" according to consistent media reports.
He also apparently has another nickname:
+++ 7:00 a.m .:
Ramzan Kadyrov, ruler in Chechnya and Putin supporter, has threatened Poland with an attack.
The Nexta medium published a video on Wednesday (May 25) in which Kadyrov can be seen.
In it he says: “I am interested in Poland.
After Ukraine, if there is an order, we will show what we can do in six seconds.
Better take your weapons from the mercenaries,” Kadyrov said.
Chechen troops have been involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine since late February.
According to media reports, they are extremely brutal in doing so.
War in Ukraine: Russian army is said to launch attacks on 40 cities
+++ 6:00 a.m .:
The Ukrainian military reports a major attack by Russia on the Donbass.
"The occupiers shelled more than 40 towns in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, destroying or damaging 47 civilian facilities, including 38 houses and a school.
As a result of this shelling, five civilians died and 12 were wounded,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced on Facebook on Thursday morning.
The Ukrainian army repelled 10 enemy attacks, destroyed four tanks and four drones and killed 62 "enemy soldiers".
Update from Thursday, May 26, 5:15 a.m .:
The Russian army is apparently preparing for a battle for the city of Sievjerodonetsk, in the west of the Luhansk region.
The oblast is located in eastern Ukraine's Donbass, where Russia has been assembling troops for another offensive for days.
The US think tank "Institute for the Study of War" analyzed in the situation report on Thursday morning (May 26) that conspicuous troop movements around Sievjerodonetsk can currently be observed.
It is possible that Russia could attack the city before cutting off Ukrainian lines of communication on the ground - which appears to be standard military action.
This is reported by the Kyiv Independent news portal with reference to the institute.
The rapid attack on Sievjerodonetsk was probably carried out in order to "maintain the pace after sending a significant part of its personnel, artillery, aircraft and logistics to the front," analyzes the ISW.
So far, Russia has had to accept heavy losses in the Ukraine war.
The Ukrainian general staff now assumes that almost 30,000 soldiers have died.
Logically, the Kremlin quotes significantly lower numbers.
+++ 9:00 p.m.:
According to the Kiev general staff, the heavy Russian shelling of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievjerodonetsk (see update from 8:30 a.m.) continued throughout the day.
The Ukrainian military leadership said the city and nearby towns would be attacked with artillery and from the air.
The Ukrainian General Staff also reported attacks on the villages of Berestove, Lypove and Nyrkove.
These are behind the Ukrainian defenders on the strategically important road to Bakhmut.
Ukraine war: Putin visits soldiers
+++ 8:00 p.m .:
Vladimir Putin visited soldiers for the first time who were injured in military operations in Ukraine.
The Russian President chatted with several soldiers about their hometowns and family situation at a Moscow military hospital, as seen on Russian television.
"These people who risk their health, their lives for the people and children of Donbass, for the good of Russia, they are all heroes," Putin said at a meeting with government officials.
+++ 6.30 p.m .:
The governor of the Russian border region of Belgorod has accused Ukraine of renewed shelling.
A young man was injured in the village of Zhuravlyovka, Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote in the Telegram news service.
In view of the tense situation, the entire village had actually been evacuated a few weeks ago, the governor continued.
It was initially unclear why the young man was still there.
War in Ukraine: Heavy fighting for the industrial city of Sievjerodonetsk
+++ 3.15 p.m .:
The Ukrainian presidential administration reported on Wednesday “heavy fighting” around the industrial city of Sievjerodonetsk in the eastern Luhansk region.
A senior military official said shelling of the city had increased "exponentially".
Six civilians were killed and eight injured in the fighting.
CNN reports.
"Russian troops are very close, they can already fire mortars," said Serhiy Haidai, head of the military administration of the Luhansk region.
“The fighting took place on the outskirts of the city yesterday.
[Russian] forces are transferred here from different regions – from Kharkiv, Mariupol, even from Donetsk, in order to advance to the Luhansk region at any cost.” He added that the current week is particularly important.
"If they don't succeed by Saturday or Sunday, they will run out of breath and the situation will stabilize, at least for us."
Ukraine war: Tanks "are urgently needed" - Belarus supplies weapons to Russia
+++ 1.30 p.m .:
Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenk has confirmed that his country is supplying weapons and tanks to Russia.
Belarusian weapons are therefore not only in demand domestically, but also in Russia.
The two countries have set up joint programs to circumvent Western sanctions that make arms sales more difficult.
The Eastern European radio station Radio Svaboda reports on this.
Golovchenk stressed that the Russian armed forces needed the weapons "very urgently".
Reports of supply bottlenecks and Russia's poor equipment in the Ukraine war have been piling up for weeks.
Ukraine war: Russia bombs train stations and factories - with "high-precision missiles"
+++ 11.45 a.m .:
According to Russia, it attacked a Ukrainian engine plant and several train stations during the heavy air raids last night.
"High-precision air and sea-launched missiles destroyed the production halls of the Motor Sich factory, which builds aircraft engines for the Ukrainian armed forces, including unmanned drones," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.
According to him, the railway station of the urban settlement of Pokrovske in the Dnipro region was also hit by rockets.
The aim here was a troop transport of reservists who were on their way to the Donbass region.
Several command posts and telecommunications centers in the Bakhmut area and a logistics center in the Soledar area were attacked near the front, Konashenkov said.
The Air Force and Army Aviation have meanwhile killed more than 300 Ukrainian soldiers and disabled 46 military vehicles.
This information could not be verified independently.
Ukraine war: "There is heavy destruction" - Russia launches further airstrikes
+++ 9.45 a.m .:
Ukrainian administrative authorities reported Russian rocket attacks on the east-central Dnipro region and the south-eastern Zaporizhia region on Wednesday.
The Russian military is said to have fired four cruise missiles at Zaporizhia, according to the Zaporizhia Regional Council.
A rocket was shot down by the city's air defenses, it said.
In an update, the council added that at least one person had been killed and three people injured.
In addition, 62 buildings in residential areas were damaged in the attacks.
In a separate statement on Wednesday, Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the Dnipro regional military administration, said there had been constant air raid alerts throughout the night.
"The enemy fired three missiles at Kryvyi Rih this morning," Reznichenko said.
“An industrial company was hit.
There is heavy destruction.
We are in the process of clarifying the information on the victims.”
Ukraine war: Russia launches next offensive
+++ 8.30 a.m .:
According to information from Kiev, the Russian troops have gone on the offensive in eastern Ukraine and are fighting heavy battles for the city of Sievjerodonetsk.
"With the help of artillery support, the Russian occupiers are launching an attack on the village of Sieverodonetsk, fighting continues," the Ukrainian General Staff said in its situation report on Wednesday morning.
In addition to Sievjerodonetsk, the nearby town of Lyman is also a target of the Russian attacks.
Here, too, the ground offensive is supported by airstrikes and artillery.
In addition, the General Staff reported fighting from the Bakhmut area southwest of Sievjerodonetsk.
Russian troops attacked the villages of Komyschuvahka, Jakowliwka and Troitzke, but retreated again after losses.
In the Avdiivka area there was continuous artillery fire on the defenders' positions.
+++ 8.15 a.m .:
Due to heavy losses in the Ukraine war, the Russian army is now apparently changing its strategy in Donbass.
The US think tank "Institute for the Study of War" gives new details in an analysis.
Ukraine war: Russian troops apparently planning “small encirclements”
+++ 7.45 a.m .:
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) issued an update on the situation of the combat operations in Ukraine.
"The Russian armed forces have probably given up their efforts to encircle large Ukrainian formations in eastern Ukraine," the institute said.
Accordingly, the Russian troops would "instead try to reach smaller encirclements and concentrate on Severodonetsk".
This shift in strategy allows for gradual advances, but at the cost of abandoning several planned advance lines and deep encirclement of Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine.
Update from Wednesday, May 25, 7:15 a.m .:
According to the authorities, the city of Zaporizhia was hit by several rockets early on Wednesday morning.
"Today, May 25, at 05:13, Russian forces fired four ballistic missiles at Zaporizhia," the oblast administration announced on its Telegram channel.
One of the missiles was intercepted by air defenses.
The rescue workers are on site to get an idea of the situation, the damage and possible victims of the attack.
War in Ukraine: Almost 4,000 civilian casualties in three months – UN publishes balance sheet
+++ 9 p.m.:
The war in Ukraine has been raging for three months now.
On February 24, Russia began its attack on the neighboring country.
The United Nations have now published a summary of the number of victims.
According to tagesschau.de, the UN Human Rights Office quoted the majority of the civilian casualties as a result of the attack with explosive weapons with a broad impact.
This includes attacks with heavy artillery, for example.
The numbers at a glance:
Civilians killed:
at least 3942
Injured civilians:
at least 4591
Source: UN Human Rights Office
However, the dark figures are likely to be significantly higher in the information.
According to tagesschau.de, news from the contested areas often arrives with a delay, and some information still has to be confirmed.
War in Ukraine: Russia attacks country's largest chemical plant
+++ 19:25:
In the Luhansk region, Russia attacked the chemical plant "Azot".
On Tuesday morning (May 24), the area in the city of Severodonetsk was shelled, said the head of the regional military administration, Serhiy Haidai.
The attack reportedly killed four people.
The information has not yet been independently confirmed.
There are said to be several air raid shelters on the site of Ukraine's largest chemical plant.
The industrial plant no longer poses a threat, since operations were already terminated at the start of the Russian attack.
In March, the operator informed the news portal pravda.ua that it had also removed all the remaining substances from the factory.
Ukraine War: General shot down over Donbass
+++ 18:25:
According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, a Russian Su-25 fighter jet was shot down over the small town of Popasna in the Donbass.
The shooting is said to have happened on Sunday (May 22nd).
According to a report by the British news channel BBC, Major General Kanamat Botashov was in the fighter jet.
Botashov is said to have died in the Stinger attack.
This has not yet been officially confirmed.
It would be the highest-ranking Russian air force officer to have been killed in the Ukraine war, according to the Tagesschau.
Ukraine war: “demonization” of Russia – officer makes serious accusations against West
+++ 16.45:
In the Ukraine war, 600 hospitals have already been destroyed or damaged.
100 of them are irreparable.
This was reported by Andriy Basylevych, board member of the Ukrainian Medical Association, on Tuesday (May 24) at the German Medical Association in Bremen.
Many doctors were also killed or wounded.
According to Basylevych, the medical conditions in the Ukrainian clinics are catastrophic.
+++ 16.15:
Russian forces have apparently conquered the city of Svitlodarsk in Donetsk Oblast.
This was officially announced by the head of the local military administration, Serhiy Hoshko, on Tuesday morning, as reported by the news portal Kyiv Independent.
A Russian flag was hoisted there on the city council building.
The information cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine-News: Belarus is massing forces at the border
First report from Monday, May 23, 2022, 9:28 a.m.:
Kiev – The former Soviet Republic of Belarus, which has not yet actively participated in the Russian-Ukrainian war, is pulling together armed forces at the border, according to information from Kiev.
"The Belarusian armed forces are conducting increased reconnaissance and have set up additional units in the border area," the Ukrainian General Staff said in its situation report on Monday morning (May 23).
Accordingly, the danger of rocket and air attacks on Ukraine from Belarusian territory remains.
The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko did not take part with his own troops in the war against Ukraine that Russia started at the end of February.
However, Russian troops were allowed to use the country as a staging area for the attack.
Kyiv therefore does not see Minsk as neutral and fears that Belarusian soldiers could potentially intervene in the conflict on the part of Russia.
Lukashenko, who is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Monday, has always denied such intentions.
Ukraine-News: Russia defends positions
Bei den Kämpfen in der Ostukraine selbst gibt es nach Angaben des Generalstabs wenig Veränderungen: Im Norden von Charkiw versuchen die Russen ihre Positionen zu verteidigen, weiter südlich bereiten sie demnach eine neue Offensive gegen die Großstadt Slowjansk vor. Beim Versuch, die Ortschaft Dowgenke westlich der strategisch wichtigen Straße zwischen Isjum und Slowjansk einzunehmen, sei das russische Militär aber zurückgeschlagen worden, hieß es.
According to Ukrainian data, the night's attacks in the direction of Sieverodonetsk and Bakhmut were also unsuccessful.
In the area of Avdiivka, Kurakhove, Novopavlivka and in the direction of Zaporizhia, hostilities have abated, said General Staff Spokesman Olexandr Stupun.
A total of eleven enemy attacks were repelled.
Because of the high losses, Russia now has to reactivate the decommissioned "T-62" tanks in order to equip reserve units.
The information could not be independently verified.
(marv/tu/nak/lz/lm/aa with dpa/AFP)
