Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 05-10-2024

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

Ukraine says it has repelled a Russian armoured attack in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, after Moscow's forces launched an incursion across the border and sought to break through defensive lines. Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov said Russian reconnaissance groups had tried to penetrate the border, adding that "not a single metre has been lost". The local head in Vovchansk said the town had come under heavy attack from the early hours of Friday and civilians were being evacuated. Russian forces are said to be preparing a summer offensive in Ukraine in the coming weeks, possibly even seeking to capture the regional capital Kharkiv. But Ukrainian military figures are adamant that Russia does not have the resources to do so. - BBC

At the Bucha Journalism Conference today in the Kyiv Oblast town known for brutality of Russian forces, speakers identified a number of urgent needs for the Ukrainian media sector - including support for local and regional media. In an opening address, Ukrainska Pravda editor Sevgil Musaieva reminder journalists the need to focus on verifying the facts as well as protecting one’s own safety

Intense fighting continues as Russian forces attempt an offensive on the eastern front. Washington announced a new $400 million military aid package for Kyiv hours after the offensive began.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday there were "heavy battles" along the entire front line after Russia launched a major ground offensive on the country's northeast.

"There are heavy battles along the entire front line," Zelensky said in a post on social media after hearing a report from his commander-in-chief. "We discussed defensive actions and strengthening our positions in the Kharkiv region," he added.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (HUR) said on Friday, May 9 that its maritime drones were probably the most effective weapons against the Russian fleet.

Andriy Yusov, the HUR spokesperson, said during a telethon that Ukrainian Magura V5 maritime drones have occasioned $500 million worth of damage to the Russian Black Sea Fleet and its experts continue to improve the drones to inflict even greater damage.

Yusov called the Magura V5 drone the main and best weapon available to Ukraine to fight the Russian Navy. He believes that the secret of the Magura drone’s success lies in the combination of the skill of its Ukrainian manufacturers, the targeting intelligence provided by the HUR and the professionalism of Group 13 special unit operators which has created a unique means of destroying the enemy fleet, its weapons, and personnel.

An unnamed senior Ukrainian military source revealed that Russian forces aim to push Ukrainian troops back up to 10 km to establish a buffer zone, but Kyiv’s forces are resisting.

President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Defense Forces of Ukraine successfully halted the Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region on Friday morning.

Speaking at a press conference with Slovak President Zuzana Chaputova, he said Ukrainian forces repelled the Russian attack using artillery fire.

Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov was once rumored to have permitted corruption during road construction, but parliament being asked to dismiss him came as a surprise for many.

It took less than a day for the news about the possible sacking of the deputy prime minister for infrastructure to result in a successful voting in the parliament. Many sources who spoke to Kyiv Post were surprised by how it turned out – even the minister himself, as he stated in his public Facebook post. 

On May 9, lawmakers also voted for the sacking of the agrarian minister Mykola Solskyi, who faced charges of illegal land acquisition from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). 

The wounded Ukrainian paratroopers were hiding with residents in the occupied Luhansk region for more than a year, receiving medical treatment – until a Russian soldier helped extract them.

A Russian soldier helped Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) conduct special operation “Prapor” [Flag] to extract two Ukrainian paratroopers from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.

Last summer, the Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Navy received information about two Ukrainian paratroopers born in 1993 and 1997, who were seriously wounded at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion and ended up in the occupied territory, in a town in Luhansk region, where they were treated.

It’s time that sanctions were imposed targeting Iran’s ballistic missile program and designating its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.

On April 13, the world witnessed yet another escalation of Iranian violence, when the Islamic Republic launched a direct attack against Israel, using hundreds of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles.

While the attack failed to achieve any military objectives, because Israel and a coalition of countries shot down almost all the incoming drones and missiles, it most definitely served as the strongest demonstration yet of what the Iranian regime wishes to achieve and the threat it poses to the free world.

Poland’s defense minister told a private radio station on Thursday that Warsaw was planning to strengthen its defenses on the borders with Belarus and Russia.

Warsaw’s Minister of National Defense, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, said his government was working on plans to strengthen its defenses on the borders with Belarus and Russia, in an interview on Poland’s Radio ZET on Thursday, May 9.

When asked by the station’s Bogdan Rymanowski if Poland should start building bunkers, ditches and trenches on the border with Belarus and Russia [Kaliningrad], the minister replied that Warsaw has plans underway already.

In this new episode of Talking Substance host Alina Hrytsenko talks to Valeriy Yakovenko, co-founder of DroneUA, an international system integrator of unmanned solutions.

The modifications make the missile more difficult to shoot down and maximizes the damage it inflicts on civilian targets, but Kyiv brought one down which had been manufactured only a few weeks before.

Russia has upgraded what many consider to be its best cruise missile by almost doubling the size of its warhead to improve its effectiveness against buildings. This according to information by Ukraine’s military media on Thursday, May 9 following examination of recovered missiles debris.

The Kh-101 cruise missile (NATO: AS-23 Kodiak) is considered to be the Russian Federation's premier long-range strike weapon, which can be fitted with either a conventional or nuclear warhead. The 6 meter-long missile flies at tree-top height at a speed of 700-900 kph, designed to evade air defenses using programmable flight paths over ranges up to 3,000 km. The missile has been widely used by Moscow's forces in Ukraine and Syria along with the Soviet-era Kh-55 missile.

According to Ukraine’s Justice Minister, Denys Maliuska, over ten thousand prisoners and men with criminal records of conscript age could be mobilized, but exact numbers are difficult to predict.

From 10 to 20 thousand men of conscript age, who are currently convicted and in prison, as well as men with criminal records, could be mobilized to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska said in an interview with BBC Ukraine.

Commenting on the law which allows mobilization of convicts, Maliuska said, “I think ten thousand possibly would be involved [and sent into the armed forces – ed.], maybe a little bit more.”

Following his inauguration, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the decree on his ambitious national development goals, which extend until 2030 and beyond.

Unlike in the West, where politicians tend to publish their aims if they are elected as a manifesto before the election, Putin’s Russia does so after the event by way of an Executive Order or decree. This year’s offering has the title: “On the National Development Goals of the Russian Federation until 2030 and for a Longer Term until 2036.” It replaces the 2020 version and consists of 11 paragraphs and many sub-paragraphs which lay out the President’s specific goals and targets that came into force on the day it was signed.

But don’t worry, I’m not going to go through it line-by-line, but just pick out some of the highlights and comment on their veracity. If you’re really interested, you can find the full text in the original Russian here or a (Google) translation here.

Leonid Nezvlin recounts how he became one of Putin’s first victims in the Russian president’s rise to the top of the “mafia state” and how he combats him today.

Leonid Nezvlin is an accomplished businessman, philanthropist, publisher, and author. Though born in Russia, Nezvlin has been an outspoken advocate for Ukraine – something that has gained him many enemies. In the new book, Putin’s Mafia State: A Story of Corruption, Control, and the Failure of Democracy in Russia, Nezvlin and others lay out how Russia went so totally out of control – and what we should expect next.

Ukraine’s Minister for Economic Development, Trade, and Agriculture, Yuliya Svyrydenko, said that there was growing foreign interest in the country’s defense industry.

Many foreign investors are interested in the development of the Ukrainian defense industry, the minister of the economy said during the Second International cities and regional summit in response to a question from Kyiv Post’s correspondent.

“What interests most investors? Many are attracted to our defense-industrial complex. They all understand that the war in Ukraine is providing a great opportunity to really test technologies and [defense related] innovations,” she said.

Analysis of a White House press conference reveals a blatant manipulation of video and sound to turn an exchange about Gaza into a Russian propaganda message.

On May 8 a video appeared on X (formerly Twitter) of an exchange at a White House press conference held on the previous day. The video, posted by @Sprinterfactory, with nearly 600,000 views, showed an unidentified journalist asking White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre a question.

The governor of the Kaluga region reported that the fire has now been extinguished, and the extent of damage to the enterprise’s infrastructure is being assessed.

In Russia’s Kaluga region, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) targeted the Pervyi Zavod plant, engaged in oil refining, resulting in a fire, as reported by the region’s governor, Vladyslav Shapsha.

Initially, Russian Telegram channels reported several powerful explosions in the Dzerzhinsky district near the Polotnyany Zavod station around one o’clock in the morning of Friday, May 10. The operation of anti-aircraft defense was suggested.

Two members of Russian military units accused of committing war crimes against civilians in Ukraine were seen standing behind Russian President Vladimir Putin during Thursday’s Victory Day parade.

Two military officers who saw combat in Ukraine and whose units were accused of committing war crimes against civilians, were seen to be standing behind Russian President Vladimir Putin during Thursday’s Victory Day parade in Moscow.

As reported by Russian news outlet Agency. News, the individuals were identified as Senior Lieutenant Chalym Chuldum-ool and Major Boris Dudko.

Slovakia's border guard service said 338 Ukrainians were detained and released in the first four months of the year - compared to 166 over the same period in 2023.

Slovakia said Thursday the number of Ukrainian military-age men making irregular crossings has more than doubled in a year ahead of a new mobilisation law being applied in Ukraine.

The border guard service said 338 Ukrainians were detained and released in the first four months of the year -- compared to 166 over the same period in 2023.

President Zelensky issued separate decrees releasing Zaluzhny from military service and granting him the right to wear a military uniform.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Valery Zaluzhny, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), as ambassador to Great Britain by decree.

The document reads, “To appoint Valery Fedorovych Zaluzhny as extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”

The video shows a Bradley hit on a Russian armored vehicle, said to be the T-80 tank, using a standard BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile system.

Fighters of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) reported on Telegram the destruction of a Russian T-80 tank using a TOW anti-tank missile fired from an American Bradley infantry fighting vehicle.

“Bradley infantry fighting vehicle against the Russian T-80 tank!” read the caption to the released video.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin used his May 9 Victory Day speech to relitigate his belief that the West is attempting to erase the Soviet Union's contributions to defeating Nazi Germany during the Great Patriotic War (Second World War), a grievance that is at the core of Russia's adversarial perceptions of the West.
• Putin seized on a recent meeting with the commanders of several frontline Russian formations to portray himself as an informed and effective Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, aware of the intricacies of the frontline situation and involved in finding solutions to issues that plague Russian forces.
• Putin surrounded himself with a number of foreign officials at the Victory Day parade, likely in order to posture himself as an effective statesman capable of galvanizing an alternative coalition to the power structures of the collective West.
• Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed that the Moldovan government is engaged in a Nazi-like "genocide" in Moldova — a notable inflection in Kremlin officials' rhetoric about Moldova that is likely meant set conditions for a Russian effort to secure control over Moldova and not just some of its regions.
• The leaders of the pro-Kremlin Moldovan Victory opposition electoral bloc attended the Victory Day parade in Moscow, further indicating that the Kremlin intends to use these actors to destabilize all of Moldova and attack Moldova's democracy and EU accession process.
• Russian forces have markedly increased the rate of ground attacks in eastern Ukraine over the past month, likely reflecting current battlefield conditions and the intent of the Russian military command to secure gains before the arrival of Western military aid to the frontlines.
• Russian border guards are withdrawing from much of Armenia as Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan continues to face domestic backlash for decisions regarding Nagorno-Karabakh.
• The Kremlin may seek to capitalize on opposition outrage in Armenia to punish Pashinyan for increasingly pulling away from Russia.
• Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) conducted long-range drone strikes against Russian oil depots and refinery infrastructure in Krasnodar Krai and the Republic of Bashkortostan on May 9.
• Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Avdiivka and Donetsk City.
• Russian forces continue to struggle with discipline in their ranks, with some Russian soldiers reportedly killing other members of their units.