21.05.2023

NYT: Russia's expanded list of sanctioned Americans shows how Vladimir Putin is adopting Donald Trump's perceived enemies as his own. Those include New York's attorney general, Georgia's secretary of state and the Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt.

RFE/RL: Bulgarian protesters, some carrying Russian flags, vandalized a building in the capital, Sofia, that houses European Union officials as they called for their government to halt aid to Ukraine.

AP News: Victory in Bakhmut does not necessarily bring Russia any closer to capturing the Donetsk region — Putin’s stated aim of the war. Rather, it opens the door to more grinding battles in the direction of Sloviansk or Kostiantynivka, 20 kilometers (12 miles) away - ISW

AFP: Whether Bakhmut has fallen or not, Moscow is being pulled deeper into an ever more costly fight for the frontline city as Kyiv readies a major offensive, experts said.

Reuters: The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said on Sunday that his forces had captured all the territory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut as promised and would leave the conflict zone later this week.

MFA of Japan: Prime Minister Kishida conveyed Japan’s intention to newly provide around 100 Self-Defense Force vehicles such as a truck and approximately 30,000 emergency rations to Ukraine, based on the request from the Ukrainian side, as well as Japan’s decision to accept injured Ukrainian soldiers at the Self-Defense Forces Central Hospital for the first time.

AFP: The Ukrainian army on Sunday said it retained control of an "insignificant" part of Bakhmut, the eastern city that Russia claims to have captured, but was advancing on its flanks.

Estonian Ministry of Defence: In joint procurement for medium range air defence, Estonia and Latvia will start negotiations with the German weapons manufacturer Diehl Defence for acquiring the Iris-T SLM air defence system.

AFP: German police are investigating the possible poisoning of exiled Russians after a journalist and an activist reported health problems following a Berlin meeting of dissidents, a spokesman for the force said on Sunday.

RFI: President Biden met with President Volodomyr Zelensky of Ukraine at the G7 summit on Sunday. Biden announced a new $375 million arms package for Ukraine and said that Western allies “will not waver” in their support.

Reuters: The Group of Seven rich nations signalled to Russia their readiness to stand by Ukraine for the long haul while giving President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a chance to win over countries such as Brazil and India on the last day of a summit in Japan.

UK Ministry of Defence: The Russian military’s slow and inefficient targeting process has been a major weakness in its performance in Ukraine. Slow surveillance UAVs are highly vulnerable to Ukrainian air defences.

20.05.2023

AFP: The International Criminal Court said Saturday that it was "undeterred" after Russia put prosecutor Karim Khan on a wanted list over his issuance of an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin.

The Guardian: UN report implicates Wagner group fighters in Moura atrocity, including the torture and rape of civilians.

Reuters: Rights groups and the top U.S. justice envoy on Saturday criticised a meeting between a leading United Nations official for children and Russia's ombudsman for children's rights, who is wanted by the world's permanent war crimes court.

Business Insider: Ukraine's military just got its hands on Storm Shadow missiles from the UK, and it is already making good use of the newly acquired weapon that significantly boosts Kyiv's long-range strike capabilities.

Civil Georgia: Amid public protests, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said at a news briefing that the relatives of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union, had already left Georgia.

AFP: India will do "whatever we can" to resolve the Ukraine crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged Saturday as he met President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since Russia's invasion.

CNN: The chief of the private military Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed on Saturday that his forces have taken complete control of the long-contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

AP News: The Group of Seven wealthy democracies have urged China to push Russia to end its war on Ukraine. In its joint statement, the G7 says it does not want to harm China and wants “constructive and stable relations.”

UK Ministry of Defence: Russia’s leadership likely continue to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim which would allow them to claim some degree of success in the conflict.

ISW: A Ukrainian official stated that Russian forces have concentrated most of their available reserves to the Bakhmut area and slowed Ukrainian counterattacks in the past 24 hours.

19.05.2023

Reuters: Poland called on China to exert pressure on Russia to end its war in Ukraine during a meeting between two top officials in Warsaw, the Polish foreign ministry said on Friday.

Meduza: According to a joint investigation by iStories, Der Spiegel, and the OCCRP, Kazakhstan has become a “pathway” for the supply of drones and microchips to Russia, circumventing sanctions.

Ukrainska Pravda: Portugal announced its participation in the so-called coalition of fighter jets, within the framework of which it is ready to help with the training of Ukrainian pilots and engineers.

Ukrinform: On the evening of May 19, 2023, several explosions rocked the Donetsk region’s temporarily occupied city of Mariupol, namely the area close to the airport.

AFP: Denmark will help train Ukrainian pilots on the US-made F-16 fighter jet, the country's defence minister said Friday, after Washington said it would back such an initiative.

The Moscow Times: About 300 individuals, companies, institutes, ships and aircraft involved in alleged sanctions-violating activities were added to U.S. Treasury and State Department blacklists.

AFP: Russian authorities have put International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan on a "wanted" list after the Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin in March.

AP News: While the world awaits Ukraine’s spring battlefield offensive, its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has launched a diplomatic one. In the span of a week, he’s dashed to Italy, the Vatican, Germany, France and Britain to shore up support for defending his country. On Friday, he was in Saudi Arabia to meet with Arab leaders, some of whom are allies with Moscow.

CNN: The Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group has been working to obscure its efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraine, including by trying to source the materials from Mali, where the group has a strong foothold, a US official told CNN.

Reuters: The Biden administration added 71 companies to a trade blacklist for supporting Russia, as the Group of Seven wealthy nations announced new sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

UK Government: UK sanctions 86 individuals and entities, targeting Russia’s theft of Ukrainian grain, advanced military technology, and remaining revenue sources.

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