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Morning Headlines
The Kyiv Independent: The Group of Seven issued a joint statement on May 22, pledging to keep Russian assets frozen until the end of the war and to support Ukraine's recovery.
The Guardian: A €150bn loans programme to rearm Europe that was finalised this week could be “a very important breakthrough” in the EU’s military support for Ukraine, the bloc’s defence commissioner has said.
Euractiv: Slovakia remains silent on why – as one of only two EU members – it did not back a tribunal to prosecute Russia for aggression, despite its frequent calls that international law must be upheld, prompting criticism from legal experts and the opposition.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian drones attacked an industrial zone in the city of Yelets in Russia's Lipetsk Oblast overnight on May 23, causing a fire. The drones attacked the Energy (Energia) plant in Yelets. The plant, Russia’s largest producer of chemical power sources, is under U.S. and EU sanctions.
ISW: Russian authorities are renewing their years-long narrative rejecting the legality of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, possibly to deny Ukrainian and Belarusian sovereignty and independence in the future.
More News
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine is requesting the EU begin financially supporting its armed forces starting in 2026, pitching the idea as a practical way to strengthen Europe's collective defense and share the cost of containing Russian aggression, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko said on May 22.
Reuters: A European official said on Thursday that the United States is "not convinced" about lowering the Group of Seven nations price cap on Russian crude oil.
CNN: Russian armed forces are creating a “security buffer zone” along the border between Russia and Ukraine, Putin said Thursday.
Reuters: Italy fully supports European Union efforts to stop Russian gas imports into the bloc by 2027, the country's energy minister told reporters on Thursday, adding any decisions by Rome to boost LNG imports from the U.S. were up to private buyers.
AFP: G7 finance ministers agreed Thursday to "maximize pressure" on Russia, including through further sanctions, if it resists efforts towards a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Reuters: Russian lawmakers are pushing for new rules to give domestic companies the right to ignore any buyback options they agreed with Western firms that left the country, to keep a grip on strategic sectors and promote domestic production.
The Moscow Times: The Russian government plans to reduce its spending on the production of new aircraft and helicopters by 22% due to ongoing delays and challenges in their manufacture.
Newsweek: Russian "spy factory" operating out of Brazil has been dismantled by counterintelligence agents who unmasked at least nine operatives living in the country for years under false identities—using it as a launchpad to train novice spies who would then infiltrate the West and elsewhere.
The Guardian: A former FBI counterintelligence agent turned whistleblower has claimed he tried to gain access to Elon Musk in 2022 to warn the billionaire that he was the target of a covert Russian campaign seeking to infiltrate his inner circle, possibly to gain access to sensitive information.
Reuters: Europe needs to step "out of its comfort zone" and consider much tougher sanctions on Russia, such as bans on gas or uranium, or tapping into frozen Russian state assets, Thorsten Frei, the chief of staff of Germany's new chancellor said.
European Parliament: MEPs backed increased tariffs on fertilisers and certain Russian and Belarusian agricultural goods on Thursday, seeking to reduce EU dependency on those imports.
The Kyiv Independent: Four Chechen officers from Russian-backed Akhmat unit were killed in a car bombing near the occupied city of Skadovsk in Kherson Oblast on May 20, Ukraine's military intelligence agency claimed on May 22.
Reuters: Romania's Constitutional Court said on Thursday it had unanimously rejected a request to cancel the May 18 presidential election that was won by centrist Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan. Romania's defeated hard-right contender George Simion, who emerged as the frontrunner in the first round of voting on May 4, had filed the request alleging interference by France and Moldova.
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Russian Occupation Update, May 22, 2025 - ISW
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