Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 05-17-2024

While EU envoys did not yet specify the measures that will apply to the outlets, Russian media sanctioned over propaganda, such as Sputnik and RT, in previous rounds lost broadcasting rights.

Four Russian state media outlets will be added to the European Union’s blacklist, while other measures for the 14th sanctions package against Moscow are still in the early stages of discussion following a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday (15 May).

“Four Kremlin-linked propaganda networks [have been] added to the sanctions list: Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestija and Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova said.

Ukraine’s recent counterattacks have netted prisoners, none of whom have much good to say about Russian army service as they are given no choice but to fight.

Recent interviews of newly captured Russian prisoners of war tell of an army that not only imposes tough discipline and harsh conditions but is led by commanders who seem not overly concerned with keeping their troops alive.

In recent months Russian ground attacks have generally applied a tactic that launches groups of infantry traveling on board 5-15 armored vehicles towards Ukrainian defensive positions. Once close to the defenders, they dismount and dig in. Russian soldiers interviewed in recent days have said that retreat from these positions is forbidden. According to at least one account, soldiers that try to withdraw have been executed.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin said Ukraine is to blame for the renewed Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region since Moscow’s goal was to stop cross-border shelling.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin told Chinese reporters that Russia’s renewed offensive on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region is Kyiv’s fault.

Speaking to local reporters during his latest trip to China, Putin said the goal of the renewed offensive – which saw thousands of Russian troops intensifying assaults on border towns and villages and seizing over 200 square kilometers of land – is to stop cross-border shelling from Ukraine.

A plan to use windfall revenue earned from Russia's frozen assets in Europe, about $300 billion, to help Ukraine's war effort will be backed by the G7.

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven major democracies meeting in Italy next week will back a European Union plan to use the income from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine’s war effort, an Italian Treasury official said on Thursday (16 May).

Italy, which holds the rotating presidency of the G7, will also try to revive an international deal on how to share taxing rights on large corporations which the United States is struggling to ratify in Congress, the official, who declined to be identified by name, told a media briefing.

Seoul and Washington have accused North Korea of sending arms to Russia. Experts suggest that the recent spate of testing may involve weapons intended for deployment on battlefields in Ukraine.

North Korea fired multiple suspected short-range ballistic missiles Friday, Seoul said, hours after leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister denied widespread allegations that Pyongyang is shipping weapons to Russia.

The launches are the latest in a string of ever more sophisticated tests by North Korea, which has fired off cruise missiles, tactical rockets and hypersonic weapons in recent months, in what the nuclear-armed country says is a drive to upgrade its defences.

A Russian investigative news site says there has been an epidemic of sexual abuse on children in Russia committed by what it ironically terms returning “heroes of the Northern Military District.”

There have been numerous reports of convicted criminals who were released after fighting in Putin’s war in Ukraine reoffending on their return from the so-called special military operation.

The New York Times cited the independent media outlet Verstka in April, which found that at least 190 violent crimes were carried out by pardoned Wagner recruits in 2023. These included cases of murder, attempted murder, violent assaults, rape, robbery and drug-related offenses.

Host Alina Hrytsenko interviews Michael Bociurkiw, on Europe's political changes due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Macron’s “sovereign Europe,” and Germany's Bundeswehr reforms

In an exclusive interview with Kyiv Post, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister discusses plans for an integrated defense system model, collaborative projects with NATO, and ministry deregulation.

Part Two of the Kyiv Post interview with the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine for Institutional Development

In this two-part interview, Deputy Defense Minister Haider talked with Kyiv Post about tackling a top to bottom revamp of the institutions of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, with changes involving extensive modernization, reciprocal collaboration with partner nations in NATO, and de-bureaucratizing the military servicemember obligations.

The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Synehubov, said Russian forces were trying to surround the town, adding, "It is not just dangerous to be there, but impossible."

Russian forces have started to "destroy" the Ukrainian town of Vovchansk and all but 200 of its residents have fled due to fighting, the region's governor said Friday.

Moscow launched a surprise ground assault into northeast Ukraine last week, advancing on several settlements including Vovchansk, just five kilometers (three miles) from the border.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief said Moscow has extended the front of active combat operations by almost 70 kilometers attempting to force Kyiv to use its reserves.

Russian troops have extended the front line of active combat operations by almost 70 kilometers in the Kharkiv region to force Ukraine to use additional brigades from the reserves, according to Ukraine’s Armed Forces (AFU) Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky.

Due to complications in the situation in eastern Ukraine, Col. Gen. Syrsky has been working for several days in a row with the units directly  engaged in combat operations in Kharkiv region.

Sources within the Ukrainian special services told Kyiv Post that this special operation proved that the Russians were unable to defend their main naval bases in occupied Sevastopol and Novorossiysk.

Sources within the special services have told Kyiv Post that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense (HUR) are behind the massive drone attack on Russian regions.

The drone attack targeted significant locations in occupied Sevastopol in Crimea, as well as the cities of Tuapse and Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar Krai (Territory) of Russia.

While the amount might seem colossal at first glance, it is far from enough compared to the $486 billion needed to fully restore what’s been ravaged by Russia’s invasion.

To help locals rebuild their homes, the Ukrainian government has spent Hr.4.5 billion ($1.1 billion) on structural repairs and Hr.5.3 billion ($1.3 billion) on compensation for destroyed houses under the eRecovery program.

The data was provided by Ukraine’s Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine upon Kyiv Post’s request.

A poll conducted in April 2024 indicates more than 70 percent of Russians support ending the war in a few days, but the figure drops to 30 percent if the territories captured by Moscow are returned.

Most Russians support the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine but would only approve of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to end it if the territories seized by Moscow were not returned.

A Levada poll from April of this year shows that 71 percent of Russians would support Putin’s decision if he decided to end the military conflict with Ukraine “this week,” compared to 70 percent in October 2023. However, if Putin decided to end the conflict on the condition of returning the so-called annexed territories, less than a third of Russians would support his decision – 30 percent (in October 2023 – 34 percent).

British historian Timothy Garton Ash used the prize money from his book to help provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with badly needed drones and night-vision equipment.

In early May, Timothy Garton Ash won Canada’s prestigious 2024 Lionel Gelber Prize for his book “Homelands: A Personal History of Europe.” The renowned British historian and Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford donated the prize money of 50,000 Canadian dollars (about $36,600 US) to the Ukrainian military.

Ash came to Ukraine to hand over – together, with the “Come Back Alive” Foundation – equipment worth a total of about $70,000 to the fighters of the 409th Separate Rifle Battalion of the 22nd Mechanized Brigade.

On Thursday, Putin arrived in China on a two-day visit as Moscow is seeking more support from President Xi Jinping for the war effort in Ukraine following multiple rounds of Western sanctions.

Despite Western calls on China to cut its support for Moscow's war against Ukraine by limiting supplies of dual-use materials and weapons components to Russia, Beijing has no interest in dropping its backing for President Vladimir Putin, analysts say.

While China does not want to upend its ties with the West, and insists it is not sending lethal weapons to Moscow, Washington has stressed that Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without Beijing.

Ukraine’s SMEs see exporting as an alternative to a substantially reduced market inside the country.

Small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to enter external markets have reportedly signed about 500 export contracts as part of the “My Export” program.

The initiative is a collaboration between Oschadbank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Ukraine’s leading private postal service Nova Poshta, and the Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office. The latter belongs to the National Project for Entrepreneurship Development “Diia.Business” under Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation.

Several locations in Russia as well as occupied Crimea were struck by Ukrainian drones in one of the most significant attacks on Russian petroleum producing facilities to date.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced a massive overnight drone attack on Russian regions, during which “more than 100 Ukrainian drones” were allegedly intercepted in the south of the country, over occupied Crimea, and the Black Sea.

According to a statement from the Russian ministry, 51 drones were destroyed over occupied Crimea, 44 over the Krasnodar region, six over the Belgorod region, six over the Black Sea, and one over the Kursk region.

The head of police investigations in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region reported that "35 to 40" people were being held captive and that Russia was interrogating them.

Ukraine accused Russia on Thursday of capturing dozens of civilians in the border town of Vovchansk and using them as "human shields" as Moscow wages a new offensive there.

The head of police investigations in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region said on television that "35 to 40" people were being held captive and that Russia was interrogating them.

Confession, communion and Kalashnikovs: it’s one-stop shopping right on the church grounds for Russian children training to rid the world of those pesky NATO-and-gay-infested Ukrainians.

The Elisabeth Church in Opalikha, Moscow region is offering military training classes run by veterans of the war in Ukraine, for which schoolchildren as young as 12 years old can enroll.

A report in the Moscow Times has drawn attention to an announcement – which first appeared in March, posted on the website and Telegram channel of the Moscow region’s Krasnogorsk city administration – offering military survival courses.

The NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe told journalists that he had been in very close contact with his Ukrainian colleagues, expressing confidence that they "will hold the line."

Russia does not have sufficient forces on the ground to make a major breakthrough in Ukraine after launching an offensive in the Kharkhiv region, a top NATO commander said Thursday.

"The Russians don't have the numbers necessary to do a strategic breakthrough... more to the point they don't have the skill and the ability to do it," US General Christopher Cavoli, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told journalists.

Hungarian journalists, based on internal documents they have obtained, said the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade lied about a 2022 Russian hack report by denying the incidents.

Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has been lying about a March 2022 report on Russian cyberattacks by denying its authenticity, reported Hungarian news outlet 444.

In 2022, the ministry referred to the claims as “campaign lies” when questioned by 444, where the latter cited a detailed investigation by another Hungarian news outlet, Direkt36, whose report said Russian hacking activities have been ongoing for at least a decade and compromised high-level access.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian officials reported that Ukrainian forces are stabilizing the situation along the northern border in Kharkiv Oblast and that the tempo of Russian offensive operations in the area continues to decrease.
• Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister Ihor Klymenko reported that Russian forces have executed civilians and taken civilians captive in Vovchansk.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin likely views Russia's relationship with the People's Republic of China (PRC) as decisive to his effort to further mobilize the Russian economy and defense industry to support a protracted war in Ukraine.
• Putin also used his meeting with Xi to promote known Kremlin narratives feigning interest in peace negotiations and a diplomatic resolution to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
• Russian forces are reportedly able to conduct fixed-wing drone reconnaissance deep in the Ukrainian rear due to Ukraine's lack of air defense interceptors.
• Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted successful drone strikes against a Russian defense industrial plant in Tula City on the night of May 15 to 16.
• Russian missile strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure since March 2024 have likely caused long-term damage to Ukrainian energy infrastructure and repeated energy blackouts.
• A Russian insider source, who has previously accurately reported on Russian military command changes, claimed that senior Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) officials are vying for the position of Chief of the General Staff.
• Kremlin and Georgian officials promoted established Kremlin information operations alleging that the West is orchestrating protests against Georgia's "foreign agent" law in order to overthrow the Georgian government.
• Turkey and Russia are reportedly exploiting European Union (EU) sanctions regulations to export Russian oil to the EU, allowing Russia to continue to receive significant oil revenues to fund its war effort in Ukraine.
• Russia reportedly launched a satellite as part of its program to develop a nuclear anti-satellite weapon in the weeks before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, likely as part of Russian preparations for a future confrontation with NATO.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Lyptsi, Vovchansk, Kupyansk and Donetsk City.
• Several Russian opposition media outlets reported on May 16 that Russian State Duma Defense Committee Chairman Andrei Kartapolov rejected a bill that would grant deferment from mobilization to certain Russian civilians, likely to support ongoing and future crypto-mobilization efforts.