The situation on the Ukrainian front will worsen around mid-May and early June, which will be a “difficult period”, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov warned on Monday, as fears of a new Russian offensive grow. .
Follow the latest information.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN POLAND? RUSSIA RESPONDS
The Kremlin says Russia will take steps to “guarantee” its security if Poland hosts nuclear weapons on its territory, with the Polish president raising the possibility in an interview.
“The military will of course analyze the situation and, in any case, will take all necessary retaliatory measures to guarantee our security,” Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the press.
DO NOT RELY ON THE UNITED STATES
The Europeans assure that they would continue to help Ukraine after the United States granted aid of nearly $61 billion to kyiv. “We must move forward, this is a crucial moment,” said this morning the head of Latvian diplomacy, Baiba Braze, upon her arrival in Luxembourg for a meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of the ‘European Union.
RETURNING TO SCHOOL ON THE METRO
LCI DOCUMENT – In Kharkiv, residents live under constant threat from Russian missiles and drones. A context pushing the town hall to open classrooms in five metro stations in the city during the start of the school year in September.
THE SITUATION ON THE FRONT WILL GET WORSE
The situation on the Ukrainian front will worsen around mid-May and early June, which will be a “difficult period”, warns Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, as fears of a new Russian offensive grow. “We think that a rather difficult situation awaits us in the near future. But we have to understand that it will not be catastrophic,” he said in a BBC interview.
The Ukrainian army is already going through a delicate period, facing a shortage of new recruits and ammunition due to significant delays in deliveries of Western aid, particularly American. Opposite, Russian troops, much more numerous and better armed, continue to push to the East and regularly claim the capture of small villages in Donbass.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN POLAND?
Poland is ready to welcome nuclear weapons on its territory if NATO, of which it is a member, decides to strengthen its eastern flank in the face of Russia’s deployment of new weapons in neighboring Kaliningrad and Belarus, says Polish President Andrzej Duda to the popular daily Fakt.
According to him, “Russia is increasingly militarizing the Kaliningrad enclave. It is in the process of transferring its nuclear weapons to Belarus”, two territories neighboring Poland. In June 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had transferred the first nuclear weapons to Belarus.
GREEN LIGHT FROM THE US CONGRESS
The US House of Representatives voted on Saturday in favor of new military and economic assistance for Ukraine. Next step: the vote, expected Tuesday, by the Senate.
UPDATE ON THE SITUATION
- Russia claimed Sunday the capture of Bogdanivka, between Bakhmut and Chassiv Yar, in eastern Ukraine. “Units of the ‘South’ group of troops have completely liberated the town of Bogdanovka (Russian name, Editor’s note) in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” assured the Russian Defense Ministry in a press release.
- Volodymyr Zelensky called on the American Senate to validate aid of 61 billion dollars to Ukraine, during an interview granted Sunday to the American channel NBC News. “We will have a chance of victory if Ukraine receives the weapons system it so badly needs, which thousands of soldiers so badly need,” the Ukrainian president said.
- Ukraine said on Sunday it had struck the Russian military ship Kommouna in annexed Crimea earlier in the morning. “The nature of the damage is being verified,” said the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on X. Launched in 1915, the Kommouna is one of the oldest Russian military ships still in operation. It is responsible for high seas rescues, sunken submarines or lost cargo.
WELCOME
Hello everyone, welcome to this live to follow the latest news around the war in Ukraine.
Russian and Ukrainian forces engaged in fierce fighting near the key town of Chassiv Yar (east) on Sunday, the day after the adoption by the American House of Representatives of new military aid to kyiv, which claimed for its part to have struck a Russian ship in Crimea.
The Russian Defense Ministry said at midday on Sunday that the town of Bogdanivka (east) had been “completely liberated. But by the end of the day, Ukrainian forces said they had “pushed back“the Russian army which”with the support of aviation, tried to improve its tactical situation”. A small town with fewer than 100 inhabitants before the war, Bogdanivka is less than 10 km from Chassiv Iar, a target town for the Russian army. Because Chassiv Iar itself is less than 30 km southeast of Kramatorsk, the main city still under Ukrainian control in the Donetsk region and an important rail and logistics hub for the Ukrainian army.
These fights come the day after the vote in Washington by the House of Representatives in favor of military and economic aid of nearly 61 billion dollars to kyiv. The bill still needs to be passed by the Senate and approved by US President Joe Biden, and only then can the long transport of aid to Ukraine begin.
In a difficult context, Ukraine claimed on Sunday to have attacked a Russian military ship in the Black Sea, where its forces have had more success so far. The Kommouna, responsible for rescues on the high seas (of sunken submarines or lost cargo) is one of the oldest Russian military ships, according to kyiv. Launched in 1915 and having participated in both world wars, it is even the oldest military ship still in service in the world, according to several military sites.
