Timeline: day 90 days of Ukraine's defense against russia's aggression
Photo by Reuters
Today is May 24. russia's military attack on Ukraine has been going on for three months now. We're reporting on the current news. The article will be updated.
What about today?
Key points
Volodymyr Zelensky made an alarming forecast for the coming weeks of the war in Ukraine. The President of Ukraine notes that the coming weeks of the war will be difficult. "The russian occupiers are trying very hard to show that they will not give up the occupied areas of the Kharkiv region, and will not give the Kherson region, the occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region, and the Donbas. Somewhere they are advancing, somewhere they are pulling up reserves, somewhere they are trying to strengthen their positions. The coming weeks of the war will be difficult. We need to realize that."
At the same time, Ukrainians have no alternative but to fight. Our army is incredible. Despite the fierce pressure of the enemy, in the Donbas, the Joint Forces service members destroyed:
- 8 tanks;
- 22 units of combat armored vehicles;
- 1 enemy car.
The Ukrainian troops in the east repulsed 16 enemy attacks!
Air defense units shot down 1 Granat UAV and 6 Orlan-10 UAVs in the skies of the Ukrainian Donbas. During the day, the Ukrainian Air Force combat aircraft and Air Defense destroyed:
- up to 30 armored combat vehicles together with staffing;
- cruise missile;
- 6 UAVs.
The anti-putin coalition is growing! Five countries joined Ramstein-2! The Pentagon has announced the place and time of a new Rammstein-3 meeting of defense ministers on June 15 in Brussels. Ukraine is primarily waiting for the supply of long-range artillery.
Russian War Crimes House officially opened on May 23 during the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The exhibition is presented in a former russian house in Davos. The photo project aims to help draw world attention to the terrible reality of russian aggression in Ukraine.
Ukraine has already identified about 600 russian service members who may be involved in war crimes. Forty-nine servicemen have already been declared suspects, three have been tried, and one has been convicted, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said.
Humanitarian missions
A border guard from Zmiinyi Island, who said a famous "russian warship" phrase during the russian attack, was released from russian captivity. Ukraine is currently keeping the border guard's name a secret for security reasons. Earlier, the media reported that a Marine Roman Hribov allegedly said the phrase about the russian warship, but these words were one of the border guards.
The most pressing humanitarian issues for Ukraine today are the exchange of prisoners, unblocking Ukrainian ports, the export of grain, and the search for the location of Ukrainians illegally deported by the aggressor country. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated during an online conversation at the Ukrainian House in Davos.
Who's coming to Ukraine?
On financial and information aid, weapons and politicians
The Czech Republic has handed over fire attack helicopters, tanks, and missile systems to Ukraine, the US Department of Defense said.
By July, the New Zealand military will train Ukrainian defenders to use 105 mm L119 light field howitzers. During this time, they'll train 230 Ukrainians.
News from partners
The Times reports that the United Kingdom is considering sending warships to the Black Sea to escort and protect ships carrying grain from Ukraine.
At the same time, Turkey began planning its own "special operation." Turkey's armed forces will launch a military operation against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to expand a 30-kilometer security zone in Syria, Erdogan said. The military operation against the Syrian Kurdistan administration will begin on May 26.
Our closest neighbor, Moldova, also has a sensation. Former Moldovan President Igor Dodon has been detained for 72 hours as part of a criminal case under four articles of the Criminal Code, including treason, said Marianna Kerpek, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General's Office.
What's in russia?
putin could be out of power, and Security Council Secretary Patrushev will replace him, the former head of British secret intelligence Mi-6 says. Richard Dearlove suggests putin will be ousted "probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of russia." "If my thesis were fulfilled and putin did disappear into a sanatorium, I think [Patrushev] is the likely stand-in," said the former spy. He also predicts that putin will be gone by 2023.
What about russia's minions?
Currently, russian citizens cannot use Visa and Mastercard issued by russian banks abroad for international online payments. So the russians circumvent sanctions through Belarus. They travel from russia to Minsk for "banking tourism" to issue Visa and MasterCard cards in Belarusian banks. There's also a demand for opening accounts in banks in Uzbekistan, the Head of the Office of the President, Yermak, said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who called putin his idol and friend, condemned the war against Ukraine and slammed the russian president. "Many say that Putin and I are both killers. I've long told you Filipinos that I really kill. But I kill criminals; I don't kill children and the elderly," Duterte said. "We're in two different worlds." Duterte has been criticized for human rights violations, including mass extrajudicial killings.
Sanctions on the aggressor!
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Slovakia call for seizing frozen russian assets to rebuild Ukraine
Donetsk and Luhansk regions
Four people died in a high-rise building in Sievierodonetsk. The russians are chaotically and almost continuously shelling the regional center. The tragedy occurred in the city's old districts, the head of the Luhansk region, Serhii Haidai, says. Four more houses were destroyed in Zolote and three in Novodruzhesk.
russian troops have made little progress near Sievierodonetsk but are unlikely to be able to capture Bakhmut quickly, the American Institute for War Studies (ISW) reports. Fighting is taking place in the Lyman (north of Sievierodonetsk).
The occupiers recruited 25 battalion tactical groups to the Luhansk region; it's about 12.5 thousand soldiers, the Head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration says. The area's situation is challenging; the enemy is shelling the entire free territory and destroying Sievierodonetsk.
Kharkiv region
Kharkiv is coming back to life. The city launched trains in the Kharkiv Metro on all three lines at once. The subway will operate in the same mode as land transport from 7 am to 7 pm.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov also said that he was negotiating with the heads of large industrial enterprises to resume work in Kharkiv.
Dnipropetrovsk region
On the evening strikes on May 23 in Pavlohrad and Synelnykove district: "Missiles hit railway infrastructure… The railway track and catenary are destroyed. It is still unclear when traffic will resume. The roofs and windows of 12 houses are damaged,"
At night, the enemy fired at the Kryvyi Rih district from Uragan MRLS. The Kryvyi Rih military administration head, Oleksandr Vilkul, announced this. "… Many enemy shellings were along the entire contact line; russians shelled the village of Velyka Kostromka in the Kryvyi Rih district with Uragan MLRS: 15 hits, destroyed households, no casualties."
Zaporizhzhia region
Yesterday, the occupiers ordered to fire with heavy armored military equipment, i.e., tanks and armored personnel carriers, to seize the facilities of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and Enerhodar. Energoatom emphasizes that the shelling could lead to catastrophe. As a result of criminal steps, people died, the training center buildings were destroyed, and the russians destroyed the transition platforms to the power units' reactor departments and other technologically essential networks and communications.
Kherson region
The occupying forces have already established 19 "commandant's offices" in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Such " bodies " aim to maintain "order" in the temporarily occupied settlements.
Kherson collaborators will ask russia to deploy a russian military base there. The traitors are sure that it is "vital" and that "the entire population is allegedly interested" in this. The so-called "Deputy Head of the Military-Civil Administration," Kyrylo Stremousov, stated this.
Mykolaiv region
In the Mykolaiv region, locals found a car with shot bodies of civilians. The South Operational Command reported. "When the locals tried to evacuate, the russian military first pointed them to the permitted route with a mined road and then shot the blast survivors. It is noted that among the dead were two children of primary school age.
