After Moscow’s controversy over the validity of Volodymyr Zelensky’s mandate after his electoral mandate expired on May 20, Germany said that it considers Zelenskyj to be the legitimate president of Ukraine even after the end of his five-year mandate.
German Foreign Minister Annalene Baerbock said this: “It is Russia that is playing a “treasonous game” and is casting doubt on Zelenskyj’s legitimacy, because Ukraine cannot hold elections under war conditions,” Baerbock told the journalists in Kiev. “We will continue to work together with him to successfully face future challenges, to protect Ukraine, to work together on all reform processes,” she said.
People in Ukraine, she said, would like to be able to vote in a free and unoccupied country. “The only one who prevented all this was the Russian president with his brutal and aggressive war,” the German Foreign Minister stressed.
From Kiev we learn that Ukrainian employers are required to serve subpoenas on employees and hand them over to the TCC, there is a government decree on this matter. This will have to be done after receiving an order from the TCC or local administration. They must also inform the TCC of employees who refuse to receive summons and those who have written letters of resignation. According to the decree, TCC staff can go to companies to check what appears on their lists.
In Russia, the fight against corruption continues within the Defense Department. The former commander of the 58th Guards Combined Arms Army Ivan Popov was arrested for two months citing law enforcement sources, he is also accused of corruption.
On the subject of mobilization Viktor Sobolev of the State Duma Defense Committee: “The mobilization of all, without exception, will be carried out in the event of an official declaration of war by Russia on Ukraine. “Mobilization in the event of war is mobilization. There can be no delays here. Otherwise we will significantly reduce our mobilization resources and there will be no one to fight with.”
Sobolev says that in case of general mobilization, new Russian citizens from Central Asian countries with more than three children will also go to the front.
And now a look at the front line.
According to the head of the VGA of the Kharkov region, Vitaly Ganchev, he confirmed the passage of the entire northern part of Vovchans’k under the control of Russian troops and the ongoing battles to take the rest of the city. The territory of the Kharkiv region under Ganchev’s management continues to expand. The Kharkiv region is today the fastest growing region in the Russian Federation.
According to another account, in the direction of Kharkiv, in Vovchans’k, the Russian armed forces advanced to a depth of between 100 and 350 meters. The buildings of the aggregation plant have been placed under control and the battle takes place in the center of the city. In the Lyptsi direction, Russian assault units improved the situation, repelled the Ukrainian counterattack and advanced from 300 to 450 meters. The Ukrainian Armed Forces claimed that on just one day, around the evening of May 20, Russian Aerospace Forces attacked Lyptsi with the UMPC’s 20th FAB. Heavy fighting is underway, the Ukrainian armed forces are bringing reserves.
In the direction of Seversky, the successful actions of the Russian army in Bilohorivka to capture the strongholds of the Ukrainian Armed Forces became the reason for a hasty report on the capture of Bilohorivka, which, however, is still too early to talk about.
On the southern flank in the direction of Chasiv Jar, the control zone of the Russian Armed Forces in the forest area of the reserve was expanded. In the eastern microdistrict of the city, Russian troops advance along Zalizne Street.
In the direction of Donetsk, Russian troops have occupied the eastern part of Paraskoviivka (west of Novomykhailivka) in recent days. Fighting continues in Krasnohorivka.
On the Zaporozhye front, the Ukrainian Armed Forces recognize the advance of Russian forces southeast of Robotyne in an area up to 3.5 km wide and at a depth of 1 km. To the west of Verbove the Russian armed forces also managed to advance.
In the direction of Kherson, arriving Russian paratrooper units operate in difficult conditions on islands in the floodplain of the Dnieper River. The actions of the Russian armed forces near the destroyed Krynky have been intensified. An icy front could be “reborn” in the short term.
The Belgorod region continues to be under the Ukrainian bombings. Attacks were reported during the day in Tavolzhanka, Arkhangelsk, Rzhevka and Shebekino, Bezymeno in the Grayvoronsky urban district and Grafovka in the Krasnoyaruzhsky district.
In the Kursk, Gornal and Guevo region, the village of Oleshnya in the Sudzhansky district, the villages of Gordeevka and Troitskoye in the Korenevsky district, the villages of Elizavetovka in the Glushkovsky district and Milaevka in the Belovsky district were attacked by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the village of Troitskoye, Korenevsky district, a house caught fire after an explosive device was thrown by the Ukrainian armed forces. Explosive devices were dropped near the Zarya farm in Glushkovsky district, in Sudzha and near the Sudzha checkpoint. Kamikaze drones attacked the Sudzha checkpoint, the village of Elizavetovka and the village of Krasnooktyabrsky in the Glushkovsky district, and the village of Gordeevka in the Korenevsky district. Electronic warfare suppressed UAF helicopters near Elizavetovka, Popovo-Lezhachi and Tyotkino in the Glushkovsky District, Kozino in the Rylsky District and the Oleshnya farm in the Sudzhansky District. In Akimovka and Gorodishche, Rylsky District, drones were used using electronic warfare and small arms.
In the LPR on May 20, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a missile attack on Sverdlovs’k, a warehouse with fuel and lubricants was damaged.
In the DPR, Makiïvka was hit by MLRS of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which attacks with helicopters. During the day, 9 civilians were injured.
Graziella Giangiulio
