Live text – short and concise on the highlights of Russia’s war in Ukraine on May 19. For the third month in a row, Ukraine has been heroically defending its land against the aggressor’s invasion.
23.39. Azov militants have finally signaled that the regiment is still under Azovstal. More here.
22:34. The US Congress approved a $ 40 billion aid package for Ukraine on Thursday. The package will include military, humanitarian and economic funding, including $ 6 billion to help strengthen Ukraine’s air defense and armor. “Help is on the way, really important help. Help that could ensure the victory of the Ukrainians,” said Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate. With the approval of this package, US aid to Ukraine has grown to about $ 54 billion.
21:54. Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office on Thursday demanded the life sentence be handed down to the first Russian soldier to stand trial in Ukraine for war crimes. The prosecutor’s office has asked the court to sentence 21-year-old Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin to life in prison for killing 62-year-old Ukrainian civilian Oleksandr Shelipov in the Sumy region on 28 February. Shishimarin pleaded guilty in Kiev’s Solomyanka District Court on Wednesday and asked the victim’s widow to be forgiven on Thursday
20:53. US President Joe Biden expressed strong support for Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO on Thursday, while their leaders pledged to allay Turkey’s concerns. Biden met with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalen Andesson and Finnish President Saul Niniste at the White House on Thursday and said he would submit the two countries’ requests to join NATO to the US Congress for ratification. The President of the United States said that Finland and Sweden would make NATO stronger and that was the most important thing, and stressed that the United States fully supported the accession of Finland and Sweden to the alliance. “Sweden and Finland have strong democratic institutions, strong armies and strong and transparent economies, as well as a strong moral understanding of what is right,” Biden said. “They meet all NATO requirements,” he said.
20:03. At least 12 people have been killed and more than 40 injured in the Severodonetsk shooting of Russian troops on Thursday, the head of the Luhansk district administration said Serhiy Hayai. He pointed out that Russian troops had indiscriminately fired heavy weapons on the city. Severodonetsk, home to more than 100,000 people before the war, is one of the main targets of Russian troops, hoping the enemy will take control of the entire Donbass.
19:03. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday he was confident that Sweden and Finland would soon join NATO, despite Turkey’s objections. Even if Turkey continues to block Sweden’s accession, no separate proceedings will be initiated against Finland, Stoltenberg said.
“Sweden and Finland have applied together. We see this as a collective procedure,” the NATO Secretary General said.
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18:21. US fast food giant McDonald’s has started selling its business in Russia. McDonald’s has been operating in Russia for 30 years, but has decided to leave the Russian market in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Alexander Govor, a McDonald’s licensee who operates 25 restaurants in Siberia, has agreed to buy all 850 McDonald’s restaurants in Russia. Govors has also agreed to continue to employ 62,000 people currently working at McDonald’s restaurants in Russia for at least two years. The transaction amount is currently kept secret.
17:27. At least 231 children have been killed and 427 injured in various attacks in Russia since the start of the war, Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said on Thursday. The Ukrainian authorities report that bombings and shootings have damaged 1828 educational establishments, 171 of which have been completely destroyed.
16.39. The European Union’s (EU) budget must be supplemented by a tax on the profits of energy companies and the confiscated assets of Russian oligarchs, according to a resolution approved by the European Parliament (EP) on Thursday. MEPs who have supported the resolution point out that existing instruments, such as the SURE and NextGenerationEU programs or the EU’s budgetary flexibility system, are not enough to mitigate the negative effects of war and sanctions on the EU.
15.46. Russia on Thursday announced the expulsion of five diplomats from the Portuguese embassy in Moscow in response to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from European countries in connection with Russia’s repeated invasion of Ukraine. A statement from the Russian foreign ministry said the Portuguese ambassador, Madalena Fischer, had been summoned to protest her decision to expel ten Russian diplomatic missions from Portugal.
15.30. Britain has tightened sanctions on Russian airlines banning the sale of slots at British airports for around £ 50 million (€ 59 million). The decision to restrict cash flow to the Russian economy will affect the national airlines Aeroflot, as well as Ural Airlines and Rossiya.
15.11. In a resolution adopted on Thursday, the European Parliament (EP) calls for the establishment of a special international tribunal for the investigation of war crimes in Russia, MEPs in Latvia informed LETA. The resolution calls on the European Union (EU) to support the establishment of a special international tribunal to punish crimes outside the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and to bring to justice the political leaders and military commanders of Russia and its allies.
14.41. The team of the International Committee of the Red Cross does not carry out the transfer of Ukrainian defenders evacuated from the Mariupol metallurgical plant “Azovstal”, but records their data so that their transfer can be traced, the organization said on Thursday. A statement published on the Red Cross’s website said its team was registering Ukrainian soldiers, including the wounded, who had left Azovstal at the request of the parties.
14.20. At present, there are no preconditions for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to be able to carry out a large-scale counter-attack on Russia across the front line in the near future, the former commander of the Latvian Land Forces, retired Colonel Igors Rajevs, gave such an assessment to the front.
14.04. The European Parliament on Thursday supported a decision to abolish European Union (EU) import duties on Ukrainian exports for a year to support the country’s economy, the European Parliament’s press service said. The measures adopted as a matter of urgency will completely abolish import duties on industrial products, fruit and vegetables, as well as anti-dumping duties and safeguard measures on steel imports for one year.
13.27. A train that went on a test drive to Ukraine almost three weeks ago returned to Lithuania on Thursday to test the possibilities of helping a country torn apart by war and losing its seaport to export grain and other products.
This is the first time in the company’s history that rail freight from Ukraine has been delivered to Lithuania, bypassing Belarus.
12.53. Russia’s deputy prime minister, Alexander Novak, said on Thursday that about half of the 54 companies that have contracts with natural gas giant Gazprom have opened accounts in rubles.
12.27. Although Russia has invaded Ukraine, it is impossible to speed up Ukraine’s accession to the European Union (EU), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday, adding that the bloc must find “quick and pragmatic” ways to help Kiev.
“There are no shortcuts to the EU,” Scholz said, adding that granting Ukraine an exemption would not be fair to the countries of the Western Balkans, which also want to join the bloc. “The accession process is not a matter of a few months or years,” he stressed.
12.05. Several high-ranking commanders have been removed from office in Russia in recent weeks over the reckless conduct of hostilities in Ukraine in its early stages, according to British intelligence.
10.41. Russia has recently reduced its military presence in Ukraine, which indicates a decline in the Kremlin’s ambitions, according to the US Department of Defense.
10.29. The U.S. is likely to lift the exception allowing Moscow to repay its foreign debt in dollars held in Russia, U.S. Finance Secretary Janet Elena said on Wednesday.
10.25. The loss of life force of Russian troops in Ukraine has reached about 28,500 soldiers by Thursday morning, the Ukrainian Army General Staff reports.
Since the beginning of the invasion, Russian forces have lost 1,254 tanks, 3,063 armored personnel carriers, 595 cannons, 199 multi-barrel jet launchers, 93 anti-aircraft artillery equipment, 203 aircraft, 167 helicopters, 2,157 cars and tankers, 13 ships and speedboats, 445 unmanned aerial vehicles, 445 unmanned aerial vehicles. cruise missiles.
09.22. Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kisida told reporters on Thursday, in coordination with the World Bank, Japan will double its fiscal assistance to Ukraine to $ 600 million (€ 570 million) to meet the country’s short-term fiscal needs.
09.00. Ukraine must liberate the occupied territories as a result of the war and receive compensation from Russia, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said.
“Victory would be the liberation of the occupied territories, including Crimea and the Donbass. The cost of reparations. The sentencing of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Strengthening Ukraine’s place in European integration. These four elements are an integral part of my victory,” Kuleba told a Dutch newspaper on Wednesday. NRC Handelsblad “.
08.08. The Ukrainian army has hit 16 Russian attacks in the Donbass in the last 24 hours, the Ukrainian army headquarters reported on Thursday.
In the direction of Donetsk and Luhansk, 16 enemy attacks were repelled, destroying eight Russian tanks, 17 other armored units and ten cars, the general staff said in a statement.
08.00. The US Senate could vote this week to allocate nearly $ 40 billion (€ 38 billion) in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
07.22. The Ukrainian army air force destroyed 20 units of Russian armored vehicles and shot down a cruise missile and a bomber “Su-34” last day, the Ukrainian Air Force’s military command said on Thursday.
06.14. 88 Russian sabotage and intelligence groups have been exposed on Ukrainian territory since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Yevheny Yenin, Ukraine’s first deputy interior minister, said on television.
“About 800 people who have been involved in the activities of the saboteurs have been detained. Almost all of us were handed over to the Security Council of Ukraine,” Jenin said.
05.41. NATO does not expect a change in the Ukrainian-Russian front in the coming weeks, but believes that the Ukrainian Armed Forces may seize the Russian-occupied Donbass and Crimea, CNN reported.
04.13. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is proposing to extend the state of war and general mobilization by 90 days, according to bills submitted to parliament.
03.11. The deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 was declared a genocide by the Canadian parliament on Wednesday, Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada Julia Kovaliva said.
The House of Representatives of the Canadian Parliament unanimously passed a resolution recognizing the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet regime as an act of genocide. From now on, May 18 will be celebrated in Canada every year as a day of remembrance for the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, the ambassador said.
02.34. Russian occupation troops have fired 68 civilians and killed 15 civilians in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Wednesday, a Ukrainian joint force said on Facebook.
00.21. Russia’s Federal Communications, Information Technology and Media Communications Monitoring Service (“Roskomnadzor”) has asked Wikipedia to delete the entries “Rashism” and “2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine” in English. says a Russian Wikipedia statement on Twitter.
00.10. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleb revealed that Ukraine would consider the liberation of the occupied territories and receiving compensation from Russia a victory in the war.
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