Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 05-18-2024

Experts have jokingly called the A-22 a “flying brick,” but it has successfully delivered payloads deep inside Russia while retrofitted with advanced technology inside an unassuming aircraft.

In early April, a plane resembling an Aeroprakt A-22 Foxbat civilian plane could be seen hitting Russia’s drone plant and oil refinery in Tatarstan alongside a UJ-22 Airborne drone, 1,265 km away from Ukraine.

The Cold War instilled in many American politicians a craven stance toward Moscow’s belligerence. Experience shows that fear couched by pragmatism is a losing approach.

For those who don’t remember: Chicken Kiev (as it was spelled at the time), in the context of geopolitics, refers to an Aug. 1, 1991 speech by then-US President George H.W. Bush in the capital of what was still the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

The Berlin Wall had fallen nearly two years earlier; East and West Germany had only been reunified for eight months. Independence movements were stirring within the Soviet Union, particularly in the Baltic states and Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said Russia’s overnight drone strike damaged energy facilities in Poltava and Kharkiv regions, and “restrictions on industrial consumers” are to be expected on Saturday.

Electricity usage for industrial consumers is to be restricted between 7 p.m. and midnight on Saturday following Russia’s overnight drone strike on the Poltava and Kharkiv regions, reported Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure.

It added that there are no planned outages for household users at present.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• On 14 May 2024 the Ukrainian Military conducted attacks against Russian military targets on the illegally held territory of Crimea. Initial reporting suggests that elements of an SA-21 Air Defence missile battery at Belbek Airfield have been destroyed including a GRAVE STONE radar and launchers. Additionally, reporting indicates that at least two MiG-31BMFOXHOUND C aircraft have been destroyed on the ground.
• This is the fourth time in the last month that the Russian Air Defence in Crimea has suffered losses, with Ukrainian Armed Forces previously launching successful actions against Ai-Petri Air Defence Radar site on 12May 2024, and at Dzhankoy airfield on 16 April 2024, and 29 April 2024. The cumulative effect of these strikes has seen an overall degradation in the ability of Russia to defend the airspace around Crimea; while simultaneously demonstrating Ukraine's ability to impact Russian AirDefence operations.
• It is highly likely that this will lead to Russia having to disperse air assets to ensure survivability or risk losing more aircraft, while having to relocate Air Defence assets from elsewhere. The reduction of A-50U MAINSTAY aircraft coverage, and dispersal from Crimean airfields, will likely increase the flight hours and sortie rates of fighter aircraft patrols to gap-fill thecoverage, which will lead to increased maintenance issues for their fleets.

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The suspect has been identified as 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula, who fired five shots at the Slovak prime minister and hit him four times on Wednesday.

The suspect charged with the attempted murder of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico arrived Saturday in a court that will decide on pre-trial detention, an AFP video journalist said.

The man, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula, shot Fico after a government meeting on Wednesday.

A local official said Friday’s incident was “the second time in a row” that Russia shelled the village during aid distribution, though no casualties were reported this time.

Russian forces shelled the village of Nevs’ke in the Luhansk region on Friday “for the second time in a row” during humanitarian aid distribution, said a local official.

Artem Lysogor, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration (OVA) reported the incident on Telegram on Saturday morning, though he said there were no casualties in the latest incident.

Kharkiv Region Governor Oleg Synegubov added that Ukraine's armed forces had repelled two attempts to break through defenses overnight.

Nearly 10,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region since a ground attack launched by Russian forces on May 10, the regional governor said.

The assault may only be the first wave of a wider offensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation also does not rule out using Chinese vendors when the country can establish 5G connections after the war.

Implementing 5G networks across Ukraine will only be possible after the war, representatives from Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation told Kyiv Post.

Speaking at the Telecom Strategy Presentation on Wednesday, May 15, a ministry official said introducing 5G could affect military operations.  

What’s happening in North America? Many performers and cultural figures are traveling across the ocean to help raise money and awareness for Ukraine’s fight.

Let’s start by defining what “Cultural Front” really is in a broad sense as I see it. It’s a major push to keep Ukraine in the media, and to expand unity in support of Ukraine, particularly with a steady flow of funds and donations to Ukraine. This push is led by organizations, artists, performers, actors, athletes, musicians, and activists.

In the past two years, we’ve organized and hosted over 200 events, primarily concerts with top Ukrainian artists in North America. With the help of local and Ukrainian NGO’s they have contributed close to $1 million in funds to military and humanitarian needs.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said the two planes, leased to Ukraine for charter flights prior to the invasion through offshore companies, are worth €10 million in total.

Ukraine has nationalized two AN148-100E passenger airliners under Russia’s military-industrial conglomerate with an estimated worth of €10 million, reported the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

In a press release, the SBU said Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) granted the Ministry of Justice’s lawsuit “regarding the transfer to the income of Ukraine of the property of the sanctioned Russian corporation Rostec.”

The new law, which was adopted by the parliament in April, comes with a new set of restrictions and requirements for Ukrainian military-age males both domestically and abroad.

Ukraine’s new mobilization law to bolster the country’s manpower reserve came into force on Saturday, May 18.

The new law includes major changes to the country’s mobilization drive, the most notable of which is lowering the minimum age for conscription from 27 to 25 and replacing conscription with military training for men aged 18-25.

Despite Fico's pro-Russian stance, his ally slammed opposition politicians and "selected media" on Friday for labeling Fico as a criminal, dictator or Putin's servant before the attack.

The suspect charged with the attempted murder of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is expected on Saturday before a penal court that will decide whether to hold him in pre-trial detention.

The man, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old poet Juraj Cintula, fired five shots at Fico on Wednesday and hit him four times.

A report said Russia launched 13 Shahed kamikaze drones across multiple regions in Ukraine from Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Kursk, where all of them were destroyed by Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine destroyed all 13 Shahed drones Russia launched at Ukraine overnight, reported the Ukrainian Air Force. 

According to a Telegram announcement by Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleschuk, Russia launched the drones from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Kursk regions, where Ukraine managed to down all the drones in the Kharkiv, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

The Minister of Economy hinted at a mistake by the Ministry of Digital Transformation after an MP disclosed six companies whose employees could be legally exempted from mobilization.

After presidential party MP Oleksandr Fedienko disclosed the names of companies whose staff could be deferred from mobilization for six months, Ukraine’s Minister of Economy, Yuliia Svyrydenko, canceled the directive. In doing so, she hinted that the companies were added after the General Staff agreed to the list with the Ministry of Digital Transformation.

The original directive offered deferments for:

Moscow seized 278 square kilometers (107 square miles) of Ukrainian territory between May 9 and 15, according to AFP calculations based on data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Ukraine battled Thursday to "stabilize" the front line in the northeast Kharkiv region, where Moscow has made its largest territorial gains in 18 months after launching an offensive last week.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said more reinforcements had been sent to the area, and the Ukrainian army said it had partially halted Russia's advance.