British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called any peace initiative that could lead to a frozen conflict in Ukraine fundamentally wrong. The British are currently the only ones who think that Ukraine can technically recover the lost territories.
While the United States has reported that it may serve as the main guarantor in Ukraine’s security arrangements with the participation of NATO members, and the EU source The Wall Street Journal., American lawmakers, on the other hand, are still postponing a substantive discussion on the issue of approving the allocation of funds for military assistance to Kiev due to the uncertain situation with the increase in the state debt ceiling in the United States and the unclear prospects of a counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reported the newspaper The Hill, citing the same American legislators. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the US has no objection if Kiev decides to use its weapons to attack Crimea.
Sullivan was answered by Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Ryabkov: “Crimea is part of the Russian Federation, US threats are irresponsible. The Russian Federation will find a way to prevent the realization of threats of possible attacks against the Crimea” And again on the delivery of the F-16 to Kiev: “It was clear for the Russian Federation that the entire range of weapons would sooner or later end up in Ukraine”
The head of EU diplomacy, Borrell, who said he hoped for a quick start of deliveries of fighter jets to Ukraine, further said that the European Union intends to expand military assistance to Ukraine and send it more systems of air defense and other types of weapons
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Ukraine will continue to receive Western-made weapons even after the end of the conflict and that Ukraine will not join NATO in the foreseeable future: “In 2008, in Bucharest, NATO adopted decisions which formulated a long-term perspective. It is clear to everyone that this (Ukraine’s accession to NATO – ed.) will not happen in the near future. Also because the NATO criteria include a number of conditions that Ukraine is currently unable to meet,” he said in an interview with German TV channel Welt.
The imminent transfer of F-16 fighter-bombers from the West to Ukraine will not radically change the course of hostilities in favor of Kiev. He said so on May 22, in a meeting with the Washington military observer group, US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. “This won’t fundamentally change that equation,” he said, commenting on plans to deliver F-16 aircraft to Kiev. The F-16 fighters, after deliveries from the West to Kiev, will be based in Ukraine, the US Air Force secretary said.
As for the training of Ukrainian pilots in the use of F-16s, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra reported that “it will start very soon”. The Minister, according to Dutch media, did not specify whether it was days or weeks, but stressed that “in each of these cases, after a fundamental decision has been made, its implementation takes place very quickly”.
In Ukraine there would be a change at the top right now. Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Development of Education, Science and Technology, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov may soon be appointed prime minister of Ukraine, UNN reports, citing sources from the Servant of the People party. According to the agency, the reasons for the dismissal of the current prime minister, Denys Anatolijovyč Šmyhal ‘are still unknown, as well as the fate of his future career. In all probability he will be the perfect scapegoat for the Ukrainian loss of Bachmut. Or as happened for other politicians he risked entering the vortex of bribes and corruption.
On May 22, there were problems at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The head of the IAEA said that the situation with nuclear safety at the Zaporozhzhia nuclear power plant is “extremely unstable”, he called for an agreement on the protection of the nuclear power plant. The plant was in darkness for several hours before the Ukrenergo company was able to restore power to the nuclear power plant. There would be no damage to the nuclear power plant.
At the moment also the question of Bachmut is closed that at 12:00 on 21 May according to Wagner’s number one, Evgenij Prighozin, the city passes into the hands of Russia. “The operation to capture Bakhmut lasted 224 days.” Prigozhin said that WAgner PMC will not return to assault operations before the end of June. Now the units will be assigned to rest for at least one month.
Prighozin went on to say that Bachmut is fully controlled along all its borders and that the defense of Bachmut by the Armed Forces of Ukraine is only in Zelensky’s fantasies.
Military Commissar Kharchenko said he did not see any Ukrainian servicemen in the last fortified area southwest of Bachmut. On May 21, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the capture of Bachmut: “Following the offensive actions of the Wagner assault detachments, with the support of the artillery and aviation of the Southern Group of Forces, the liberation of the city of Bachmut was completed in Bachmut’s tactical direction”.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian president reported that Bakhmut surrendered, but there was still nothing left: to the question “Mr. President, is Bakhmut still under the control of Ukraine?” Zelensky replied: “I think not. But you have to understand that there is nothing left. They destroyed everything. There are no buildings there. I am sorry. This is a tragedy. But today Bachmut remains only in our hearts. There is nothing left in this place. Scorched earth. And a lot of dead Russians. But they came to us. And our Bachmut defenders fought hard. And, of course, we appreciate their great work.”
According to US President Joe Biden, Russia suffered losses of about 100,000 people in Bachmut. “Vladimir Putin congratulates the Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the units of the Russian Armed Forces, who provided them with the necessary support and flank cover, on the completion of the operation to liberate Bachmut. All those who have excelled will be presented for state awards.”
Due to the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, from May 10 to May 21, at the cost of heavy losses, the Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced to the flanks, but could not radically change the situation with the continuous cover of the main forces west of Bachmut, and they also failed to capture a single settlement, not even Sacco and Vanzetti. To talk seriously about the Ukrainian capture of Bachmut, the Ukrainians should take Kleshcheevka, Andreevka, Zelenopolye, Kurdyumovka from the south, and then advance to Otradovka – this is what is called the capture of Bachmut from the south. To capture Bachmut from the north, the Ukrainians should at least take Sacco and Vanzetti, Dubovo-Vasilyevka, Berkhovka, Yagodnoye, Krasnaya Gora – this can be called the capture of Bachmut from the north.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the evening report of May 21 ignored the surrender of the “Bakhmut Fortress”. Now the soldiers who tried to encircle the Wagner may in turn be encircled by being “covered” by the Ukrainian-Russian military.
The war continues and at around 0700 GMT the air raid alert was sounded across Ukraine. There were reports of a complex attack of missiles and UAVs in the regions of Zaporozhye, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv and Dnepropetrovsk, in which there were at least 16 explosions.
The day of May 22 was marked on the social sphere by the news of the attacks in Russia. According to Russian services, the FSB, an attack planned by the Ukrainian special services was thwarted in Novotroitsk, Orenburg region.
And again in the late evening of May 21, a Ukrainian quadcopter dropped an explosive device on the administrative building of the village of Golovchino in the Belgorod region. During the morning of April 22, Ukrainians started a war on social media to claim that a fierce battle was going on in Dronovka with Ukrainians on the border with Belgorod region. Military equipment has been brought in from both sides and several drones have been spotted in the sky.
According to the Russians, this is an attack similar to the one that occurred in early March in the Bryansk region, militants who consider themselves members of the Freedom of Russia legion and the RDK attempted to break into the Graivoronsky district of the Belgorod region.
The most sensational actions, like the previous time, take place on social networks, where previously shot videos are launched through various information channels and presented as ongoing battles; in particular, a video showing a tank was shot on the morning of May 22 in the Sumy region and has nothing to do with what is happening in the Belgorod region.
The press attaché of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine Yusov said: “The “Freedom of Russia” and “RDK” Legions, consisting exclusively of Russians, are conducting an operation on the territory of the Belgorod region to create a “zone of security” to protect UCR civilians aini”.
The Russian authorities officially announced that the Russian Armed Forces, together with the National Guard and the Border Service, were conducting an operation to eliminate the saboteurs.
At the same time, eyewitnesses report alleged battles in the area with helicopters. According to information, the Ukrainian group included two tanks, one armored personnel carrier and nine armored vehicles and was able to advance to the village of Glotovo and capture the local House of Culture.
“A massive information attack is now underway in the Belgorod region,” its boss Vyacheslav Gladkov said. ”Information is spreading with a proposal to evacuate residents of the Shebekinsky district from the administration … This is a lie, there is no evacuation.”
In reality, after the drone attack on the evening of May 21, a man and a woman with mine injuries were taken to the Belgorod hospital. The woman is in intensive care in serious condition.
Currently, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, together with the Border Service, the Russian Guard and the FSB, are taking the necessary measures to eliminate the saboteurs. Putin was informed said the spokesman of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmtrj Peskov.: “The purpose of Ukrainian sabotage in the Belgorod region is to divert attention from Bakhmut’s leadership, to minimize the political effect of the loss of Artyomovsk ) from the Ukrainian side”.
In the late afternoon, the governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov announced the start of counter-terrorism operations in the region: special measures and restrictions, ranging from checking people’s identity documents to suspending the activities of dangerous industries and organizations where they can be use explosive, radioactive, chemical and biologically dangerous substances.
A Russian military source on the social sphere says: “Today’s raid by Ukrainian DRGs in the Belgorod region, as well as a similar raid in the Bryansk region that took place a few months earlier, clearly showed the need to create a real territorial defense. The front now stretches over 1,500 kilometers. This is the scope of the Great Patriotic War and, obviously, no one was ready for such a development of events. But now we are exactly at this point in history, and the problem must be solved “yesterday”.
He continues: “Border security should be automated as much as possible. But this will take time. What can be done now? The most obvious option, familiar since the days of WWII itself, is the creation of “squads” of civilians with military experience. In fact, we are talking about the defense of the territory. To do this it is necessary to recruit volunteers, train them and distribute weapons. This will create the first line of defense and promptly warn of enemy action.”
He concludes by stating: “At the same time, in no case should you throw these groups into battle, as they do in Ukraine. We are talking about auxiliary troops, whose task is only to give the army time to respond to the imminent attack of the Ukrainian forces or to stop it by itself. All of this sounds unpleasant and surreal, but the alternative is a holey border through which enemy saboteurs will wander. And in this case it is about protecting the lives of women and children and preserving civilian infrastructure. Tough times call for tough decisions.”
The Russian social sphere then states that: “In parallel with the physical attack, the virtual attack began: “The enemy and the ukrobloggers who helped him unleashed an organized wave of panic on Telegram, using fakes, among which, according to some reports, prepared in advance, of the complete capture of the villages . There were also spam calls to residents of the surrounding area from Kazakh numbers with panic calls to urgently leave, hacking into the frequencies of local radio stations. Other enemy assets, they tried to persuade residents not to leave their homes and allegedly wanted to bring down the ruling regime in Russia.”
According to the Russian Defense Ministry bulletin dated May 21 evening, the air defense systems intercepted twelve HIMARS multiple rocket launchers and Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, as well as a US-made GBU-32 guided aerial bomb during the day. In the area of \u200b\u200bthe settlement of Kopanki, Kharkiv region, a US-made AN / TPQ-50 counterbattery radar was destroyed.
The posts on the serious wounding of the Ukrainian Chief of Staff Zaluzhny during a rocket attack by the Russian armed forces on one of the command posts of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Dnepropetrovsk region intensify and are allegedly indirectly confirmed by a post on the Facebook page staff of one of the employees of the National Military Medical Clinical Center of Ukraine. On May 8, Alina Slobodyanyuk published information on the admission to a Kiev hospital of a large number of wounded, one of whom, according to her, “very important”, was in critical condition.
Graziella Giangiulio
