US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has not ruled out recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, he said at a US congressional hearing. Also from the States, CNN reports that: “A Patriot system in Ukraine would have suffered “minimal” damage after a Russian missile attack”, quoting an anonymous US official. The United States has sent an inspector to assess the condition of the plant. “The system is operational, officials said, and the radar component, a major component, was not damaged. Officials do not believe the system should be removed for repair,” the report said.
Poland has transferred almost all of its MiG-29s to Ukraine but is not ready to supply the F-16s, President Duda said. The British response to Volodymyr Zelensky is similar: “Britain will not transfer fighter aircraft to Ukraine, training Ukrainian pilots will require a significant period of time” according to the British Ministry of Defence. Germany says it lacks military equipment and opportunities to actively participate in coalition to supply Ukraine with fighter jets source, according to German Defense Ministry
In addition, Hungary’s foreign ministry said Budapest would block EU military tranches in Kiev until it lifts sanctions on OTP Bank, Reuters reports.
The Russian armed forces will expand for a whole year, VGTRK reporter Alexander Sladkov told RT. “This is not a sudden mobilization, this is a planned and measured process. We are bringing the personnel of the Russian Armed Forces to 1.5 million people.”
But yesterday the strongest words came from the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov during an interview with the Tsargrad TV channel. “The West continues to escalate the situation in Ukraine, aiming to finish off Russia,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
And he stressed that: ”The West, foaming at the mouth, repeats a mantra every day:“ Let’s give Ukraine more weapons ”; “We give long-range missiles, cruise, wingless, tanks”; “There will be planes soon, but not now, a little later”; “We have to finish off Russia.”
“They’re probably not naive people. At least their military should explain to politicians that at some point action meets opposition. If you raise the bar and raise the quality of the confrontation, then you should probably expect an adequate reaction at least according to the laws of physics and wartime”, explained the Minister.
Lavrov said there is currently no Russian-American contact at the foreign minister level, communication is only through presidential administrations on Americans detained in Russia, the minister said. “We do not communicate at ministerial level. Sometimes they call from Washington (from the White House) the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, Yuri Ushakov, and send out the same signal: “free Paul Whelan”, and now also the “journalist” Evan Gershkovich (as they call it),” the Russian minister said.
Lavrov reported that he is already tired of commenting on Washington’s complaints that the Russian Federation is not interested in a dialogue with Kiev, when Zelensky himself refuses. Furthermore, he commented by stating that he has not yet seen a peace plan for Ukraine from his African partners, but as before, Moscow is ready to consider any of their proposals, dictated by the desire to promote stabilisation.
The head of Ukraine’s intelligence admitted that Kiev is “working” with Russian opponents and it is seen in the high number of drones that are hitting Russian regions. Attacks that from the Russian social sphere are considered part of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
“The newest high-power airborne missile ‘Armored Pilot’ has begun to be mass-produced in the Russian Federation, it will be used during operations in Ukraine,” the manufacturer told RIA Novosti.
Among the drone attacks on Russian territory on May 17 was the one at the Shebekino border checkpoint in the Belgorod region, writes Baza. “Around midnight, a drone that arrived from Ukraine (presumably from the village of Pletenevka) dropped 2 IEDs on the border post building. As a result of the unloading of ammunition, the administrative building of the border post caught fire.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine also continue to strike border settlements in the Kursk region. In the Sudzhansky district, an air defense crew destroyed two attack drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. During the fall, the UAV exploded or without causing any damage to civilian infrastructure. The shock wave damaged the excavator, there were no casualties among the population.
Not only that, according to the Mash channel, “For the first time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces bombed the territory of Russia from a tank.” It happened from the Ukrainian village of Budarki bordering the Belgorod region where a tank opened fire on the southern outskirts of the Stary Volokonovsky district. A total of 12 shots were fired.
And now a look at what happens to Bachmut.
From the night of May 16 Wagner began to drive out the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the first houses of the fortified area “Domino” (New microdistrict). While the “Designer” district has practically passed into Wagner’s hands.
Many foreign mercenaries are blocked within Domino especially by interceptions would be: Poles, British, Australians, Swedes, Norwegians. Almost all Georgian mercenaries died. The most active remaining Ukrainian troops are returning fire from “Domino”: houses No. 89 and 91 on Yubileinaya street, next to the post office
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to attack from the flanks, but holding positions at 300m is more difficult than reaching them from Chasov Yar, Druzhkovka and Konstantinovka. The Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, has to choose where to send reserves – try to close positions inside Bachmut or send them to the flanks. Ukrainian troops cannot act everywhere at the same time.
Units of seven different formations are stuck in “Domino”: 127th, 229th, 241st troops, 93rd motorized brigade, sent to Bachmut as reinforcements, as well as the 49th rifle battalion “Karpatskaya Sich”, the remnants of the 60th motorized brigade of the Armed Forces of the ‘Ukraine and special operations forces units, totaling more than 1,000 men.
Late in the afternoon of May 17, Wagner PMC chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said that “Russian troops practically cleared Bachmut of Ukrainian militants and foreign mercenaries.” He said the last multi-story building remains under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city.
According to Russian military analysts, the use of the latest American anti-aircraft missiles by the armed forces of Ukraine was already seen in Kiev on the 15th night. “The shooting of the ammunition fragments made it possible to identify the type of missiles used by the Ukrainian formations that night: they were the American PAC-3 Cost Reduction Initiative (CRI), as indicated by the characteristic structural elements”.
According to the same: “These high-speed interceptors were first tested in 2011 and are used by the 16-round M902 launchers of the American MIM-104 Patriot complex. The remains of these products found on the streets of Kiev objectively confirm the transfer of the latest missile defense systems to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The supply of these missiles, together with the transfer of other Western-made air defense systems, indicates the serious intentions of the NATO countries to “close the sky” over the Ukrainian capital.
Among the comments we read: “And yet this weapon is not a panacea: judging by the video from the cameras, at least one missile fired by the Russian Armed Forces reached its target, hitting precisely the positional area of the Ukrainian air defense. With a very high probability, today the Ukrainians have one less Patriot launcher.
In the social sphere, there is an insistence on destroying one Patriot defense system in Kiev and damaging the second one. According to what Rybar calculated the exact location of the anti-aircraft battery, at least two launchers were at the Zhuliany airport, where the Russian missile hit. Coordinates: 50.404161, 30.443186
“Another place where the work of the Ukrainian air defense was noted was in the vicinity of the Kiev zoo, where the fragments of the launched missiles fell. The complex itself functioned in the vicinity of the Sikorsky Polytechnic University of Kiev”. Coordinates: 50.452699, 30.459805
As for the “Zhulyany” airport, the footage from the surveillance camera got on the network. The video clearly shows the launches of 32 missiles (a total of 16 for each launcher), as well as the work of anti-aircraft artillery, the Patriots covered the Gepard ZSU. After the ammunition load was used up, an explosion was heard – the Russian “Dagger” allegedly managed to hit the positional area, despite two “Patriots” and one “Gepard”.
Rybar further comments: “Taking into account the appearance on CNN of information about the damage to the complex, if not about the destruction, then at least the partial disabling of American air defense systems can be considered a common fact more. There is another interesting detail – the appearance of a persistent rumor that SAM operators could deliberately release the entire ammunition load to reduce the explosion radius. That is, according to this version, they knew about the Russian “Kinzhal” and deliberately used ammunition to reduce the force of the subsequent detonation. Alas, we don’t know how it really happened. But we clearly see that the “Patriot” is not a superweapon and can and should be defeated. As well as Gepard ZSU, which for the second time could not cope with the task of covering the area of \u200b\u200bthe air defense position from Russian weapons”.
According to social sources, there were a total of three pitchers in the positional area. One was destroyed, the second was badly damaged, but survived. The third launcher was neither destroyed nor damaged. Two installations were side by side and the third behind the building. The Russian “Dagger” flew between the installations, but closer to the first – there was a fuel detonation. Pieces of the first plant and pieces of earth / asphalt riddled with the second.
“Why the third installation in Zhuliany was not involved and did not participate in repelling the attack (or, at least, its launches were not caught on video) is a question we have no answer.”
On the line of contact, Russian forces carried out massive attacks on Ukrainian army facilities in Kiev, Kharkiv and the Cherkasy region. The attack involved the use of drones and missiles of various types.
Ukrainian forces used a drone strike to attack the town of Klintsy in the Bryansk region. Russian air defense destroyed the UAV, with wreckage damaging several vehicles.
Another Ukrainian drone dropped an explosive device on police vehicles in the village of Khoromnoe. Two service vehicles were damaged as a result of munitions detonation.
In the Belgorod region, the Ukrainians shelled the villages of Staryi Khutor and Nizhnie Melnitsy in the Valuysky district. Presumably, the attack was carried out with incendiary shells from the Grad rocket launcher.
West of Bakhmut, PMC Wagner units made significant progress. According to the leadership, the entrenchment of the Nest fortified area has completely come under the control of the Russian forces.
The Russian command is trying to stop the Ukrainian offensive on the flanks of the Bachmut grouping. Massive attacks are launched against enemy rear lines. Two road bridges were destroyed in Chasyv Yar and Krasne.
According to leaked news from the social sphere, the Ukrainian formations are performing the main task: “they are forcing the Russian Armed Forces to stretch their forces and remove the most combat-ready units from other critical areas, forcing them to be transferred to threatened sectors of the front ”. “As a result, fierce battles are unfolding on the flanks of the Bachmut group, into which the sides are pouring more and more new forces. Now, unfortunately, we are in a position to play along and are following the example of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, dragging the most experienced units of the RF Armed Forces into the “Bachmut meat grinder”.
Donetsk has been rocked by new explosions since the morning. One dead and four injured civilians are reported. Under heavy fire from the Ukrainian and Yasinovataya formations. The militants, from the positions of Orlovka, are hitting the city with MLRS.
At night, the Russian armed forces hit a large equipped ammunition depot at a shipyard in Nikolaev, the targets were achieved, the object was hit Russian Defense Ministry source.
Graziella Giangiulio
