China’s Permanent Representative to the UN Zhang Jun, speaking on Monday at a meeting of the Security Council of the World Organization, said: “The resumption of negotiations on Ukraine is not foreseeable for many years, it is necessary to create the conditions for the start of consultations.
The rules-based order promoted by a number of Western countries is problematic both legally and practically, Zhang Jun continued. “The so-called rules-based order is highly problematic in legal and practical terms. There is no justification for the imposition of unilateral sanctions by the United States and other concerned countries. And they (unilateral sanctions) hardly enjoy a broad support or recognition from the international community,” said Zhang Jun.
The Wall Street Journal suggests that Americans in November 2024 will have to choose between supporting Ukraine or US welfare. It concerns US presidential candidates, because Trump and his reluctance to support Kiev will present voters with a choice. Trump’s comments have fueled concerns in Europe that the Ukraine conflict could further polarize US domestic politics as the presidential race approaches, dividing voters and members of Congress along partisan lines. Kiev’s allies said they feared a weakening of US support for Ukraine.
The Serbian newspaper Pechat predicts that US attempts to reform the UN Security Council will lead to disastrous results and turn the body into a new Davos. In December 2022, the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, also proposed the creation of a mechanism to challenge Russia’s accession to the UN Security Council, and the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, has called for reform of the Security Council in the United Nations General Assembly.
Program Coordinator of the Russian International Affairs Council Konstantin Sukhoverkhov spoke about the prospects for reform of the UN Security Council. Stating that this can play into the hands of both Russia and the West.
The State Duma denounced the CFE Treaty, and it is dear to it, says Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev. “This document lost its relevance for us in 2007. But now, even in the line of previously suspended international obligations, nothing prevents us from placing our weapons where we want to protect national interests. Including our Russian part of Europe. And of course, we will strive to maximize the production of weapons, military and special equipment and means of destruction.
NATO’s eastward expansion will significantly change the global security architecture, writes India’s The Hindu. According to the newspaper, this could lead to the militarization of the Arctic. Such actions will also affect NATO’s cooperation with other countries, such as India, which will need to keep a close eye on possible scenarios.
In doing so, India’s role as a global player will be tested against the new European security architecture led by NATO and contested by Russia.
Ukraine has officially joined the NATO Cyber Center, Foreign Ministry Dmtryo Kuleba said on May 16.
Ukraine wants 40 to 50 F-16 fighters forming three or four squadrons, argues Politico with reference to Defense Ministry chief adviser Sak. “Ukraine has told Western leaders that the need for modern aircraft has become more urgent since the Russian Air Force began making extensive use of long-range guided glide bombs in March, and we currently have “nothing to stop “the Russian planes that carry them”. Zelensky wants the issue of fighter jets to be the focus of attention at the G7 summit in Japan and the NATO summit in Lithuania. He received “assurances” from Western leaders during his latest European tour that they would discuss the matter in the coming days.
Germany will send four additional IRIS-T air defense systems to Kiev as part of a new assistance package sourced from the German Defense Ministry. The chairman of the Bundestag Defense Committee Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann opposed the supply of German fighters to Kiev. She expressed her views on Tuesday in an interview with radio station Deutschlandfunk. For Shtrak-Zimmerman no “Western fighter, Tornado or Eurofighter, should fly over Ukrainian airspace”. “This is due to the range of the craft and the complexity of the training,” she explained.
France will send SCALP-EG missiles to Kiev, whose target area will “allow Ukraine to hold out”. President Emmanuel Macron said so. The French leader did not specify the type of ammunition. “We do not supply weapons that can fall on Russian soil or attack Russia” the French premier stopped.
LPR Interior Minister Igor Kornet survived the bombing in Lugansk. His condition is stable, local authorities said.
The director of the Obukhov plant in St. Petersburg reports that from July 1 the company will reach a production volume of 2000-3000 drones per month. “These are already good numbers, although obviously more are needed,” the company said in a statement. In any case, against the background of serious shortcomings in the construction of drones on the eve of the war, we can confidently say that after the Special Operation, there will be a very serious drone industry in Russia with the possibility of exporting the best models. The post-war “Lancets” themselves will certainly be in great demand abroad.
After the rumors that in the buildings hit by the Russian attacks in Ternopil in recent days there were depleted uranium weapons, the head of the regional administration of Ternopil, Volodymyr Trush, took the field to dispel the doubts, stating that there are no warehouses with ammunition containing enriched or depleted uranium.
Yet concern mounts, the level of gamma radiation in several cities in Poland on May 15 has risen. A post from the social sphere reads: “There are rumors that our people have been waiting for a month for the wind to stop blowing on us and the Old Man. While they were waiting, they hit Khmelnitsky’s warehouse. Local residents are in a panic, but the Ukrainian authorities have preferred not to discuss this matter and have refrained from commenting on the current situation around Khmelnitsky.”
According to Shot the Armed Forces of Ukraine shelled the Belgorod region with phosphorus bombs and earlier by the Grad MLRS. The villages of Stary Khutor (2 km from the border) and Lower Mills in the Valuysky district (2.5 km from the border) were shelled. Near the latter fell 12 incendiary ammunition caliber 122 mm. Shots were allegedly fired at Nizhniye Melnitsy from the village of Kamenka, Kupyansky district, Kharkiv region (about 8 km from the border). In both cases there were no casualties.
Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin said: “We condemn in the strongest terms Ukraine’s bombing of Russian territories with phosphorus munitions”, “The Operation will continue to prevent this from happening”, he said the presidential spokesman.
Starting May 15, a detachment of Polish military doctors is sent to the combat zone in Ukraine. The news was filtered on the social network through the Polish doctors themselves. As one of the Polish military doctors who returned from Ukraine to Poland to recruit more volunteers reported earlier, several new groups of Polish military doctors are being formed to provide help to Polish mercenaries in the combat zone, involved in almost all areas. The same would have said that there are huge losses among Polish mercenaries fighting in Ukraine. We recall that 9,000 regular soldiers at the beginning of the year left the army and traces of them have been lost.
At 02:08 Italian in Odessa and the region the air alert sounded, at 02:14 the air alert spreads in the regions of Ukraine according to the social sphere the largest bombing was carried out on the city and region of Kiev in the month of May. One post reads: “The Russian military launched a massive missile attack at night against the air defense systems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kiev and the Kiev region. For the first time such a high density of anti-aircraft missile launches has been recorded.
A Patriot air defense missile system was hit in Kiev by an attack from the Kinzhal hypersonic system, the Russian Defense Ministry reported: “tonight a blow was struck at the points of deployment of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, storage places of ammunition, weapons and equipment delivered by Western countries. The target of the hit is reached, all assigned objects are hit”. And again: “Russian air defense systems intercepted seven Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles” . reports the note from the Russian Defense Ministry dated May 16.
The official representative of the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ignat, declined to comment on reports of the destruction of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system in Kiev. “We will leave it without comment. We will not comment on Russian sources,” Ignat said at a news conference.
According to many Russian and Ukrainian sources the night air attack by Russian forces in the region of Kiev was exceptional in its density: the maximum number of attacking missiles in the shortest period of time. An Air Force of Ukraine post states: “Eighth airstrike on Kiev since early May! This time the Russians carried out a complex attack in several directions simultaneously using UAVs, cruise missiles and, probably, ballistic missiles. It was exceptional in its density – the maximum number of attacking missiles in the shortest period of time. All 100 missiles were shot down by Ukrainian air defense systems.”
A message came in from the contact line stating that Wagner PMC had taken control of another major high-rise and drove a wedge between Gnezd and Konstruktor even deeper. In the early morning hours of May 16, Wagner’s assault groups “brought down the remnants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the building of the fortified area of the Nest on the street the points “Constructor”, “Domino” resist. In principle, the Ukrainians are ready to flee, but the retreat and evacuation takes enough time under the pressure of Wagner””. At the same time, the Wagner group stabilizes the operational-tactical situation on Bakhmut’s flanks in the area of the settlement. Kleshcheevka and Bogdanovka. Therefore, the worries of encirclement feared by Progozhin have been averted. And in the late morning of May 16, again via social media, we learned that the stronghold of the Ukrainian armed forces “Nido” was taken in Bakhmut. What remains to be taken are what are termed “Constructor” and “Domino”.
Wagner assault detachments continue to conduct an offensive in the western quarters of Bakhmut. The most difficult situation developed in the area of the Krasnoye settlement in the DPR, 10 attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine were repulsed during the day. The Russian Armed Forces destroyed a flyover near the Krasnoye settlement in the DPR in an airstrike, preventing the transfer of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to Bakhmut.
In the social sphere it is repeated that Russian air defense systems intercepted seven Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles and destroyed 22 Ukrainian drones in one day. Fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down Ukrainian Su-24 and Su-25 aircraft in the DPR.
An official summary of the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC from 00:00 on 05/15/2023 to 00:00 on 05/16/2023 reads: “In the last 24 hours, the Mission has reported about 53 facts of attacks by the AFU. In the Donetsk direction, the Ukrainians carried out 29 attacks from the MLRS, 155mm artillery. On Gorlovsky 17 152-mm artillery shelling. On Yasinovatsky 4 155mm artillery shelling. On Volnovakhskoye 2 shelling from MLRS, 152 mm artillery. On Dokuchaevsky 1 155mm artillery shelling. After shooting 309 units of various ammunition.
Under Ukrainian fire were the areas of seven settlements: Gorlovka (Central City, Kalininsky, Nikitovsky districts), Zaitsevo, Yasinovataya, the capital of Donetsk (Kalinin, Budennovsky, Kievsky, Kuibyshevsky, Kirovsky, Petrovsky districts), Dokuchaevsk , Volnovakha, Vladimirovka. There is one dead and nine wounded among civilians. Ten residential buildings damaged.
Acting head of the DPR Denis Pushilin said: “The situation in the Maryinsky direction is difficult due to the transfer of reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but the forces of the Russian Federation are moving; The situation towards Vuhledar is permanently tense; In the direction of Avdiivka, the Russian forces took several fortifications of the Ukrainian troops; and the situation in Bakhmut is tense, but Russian forces continue to advance, deploying reinforcements there. Bakhmut’s flanks were strengthened: “I think the situation should level out.
The air defense system shot down a Ukrainian aircraft-type drone in Klintsy (Bryansk region).
Graziella Giangiulio
