Night drone attack on Kyiv

Kyiv, Moscow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Germany for the continued delivery of various defense equipment and weapons. This would strengthen air defense and overall defense against Russian terrorism, said Zelensky in his evening video message distributed in Kiev on Saturday. He did not give details.

He also thanked Finland for a new defense package, as well as Canada and Iceland. At the same time, he announced even tougher sanctions against Russia to end the country’s war against Ukraine.

“Today is another sanctions day,” Zelenski said. He put 220 companies and 51 people on the list of those “working for terror”. Most are armaments factories linked to Russian companies. “Companies that serve the war.” Not all of them are active on Russian soil. “But everyone will take the global pressure,” he said.

The Ukrainian authorities collected data on all those who supported Russia’s war and campaigned for their punishment, including at the international level. “Russia will gain nothing and lose everything. That will be the case for everyone who helps him in this terror,” said Zelenski.

He thanked Japan, which issued a new package of sanctions this week. The EU has already put ten packages of sanctions against Russia into effect. In the West, meanwhile, there is great concern that Russia will circumvent the punitive measures with the help of third countries and will therefore hardly come under pressure.

Despite noticeable problems and economic disadvantages, Russia emphasizes that the sanctions cannot stop the war in Ukraine. The country insists on achieving its war goals. By selling oil and gas to China, for example, the resource superpower earns billions, which also help the country’s war economy. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that the ever new sanctions will ultimately make the country stronger.

Ukrainian military: shot down more than 50 drones over Kiev

During the night, Russia carried out one of the heaviest drone strikes in months against Ukraine. “In total, the launch was registered by a record number of kamikaze drones: 54!” the press service of the Ukrainian Air Force announced on Telegram on Sunday morning. Although according to the authorities 52 of the unmanned aerial vehicles could be shot down, there was one dead and one injured.

The attack was therefore mainly aimed at the capital Kiev. According to the local military administration, 40 drones were shot down over Kiev. It was the 14th attack since the beginning of May, military governor Serhiy Popko said on Telegram. According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, a 35-year-old was injured by debris from a falling drone, and a 41-year-old died. Several buildings were damaged and fires broke out.

Damage was also reported from the regional capital Zhytomyr, around 120 kilometers west of Kiev. But there were no fatalities, Mayor Serhiy Sukhomlyn said on his Facebook page.

In addition to the drone strikes, the Ukrainian authorities also reported artillery shelling of the Sumy region on the border with Russia and the city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Nikopol is on the north bank of the Dnipro across from Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which has been occupied by Russians since the beginning of the war, is located. Nikopol has therefore been under fire again and again for months.

Putin orders increased protection of Russia’s borders

President Vladimir Putin is ordering increased border security to ensure “swift” movement to Ukrainian regions under Moscow control. “It is necessary to ensure the rapid transportation of military and civilian vehicles and goods, including food, humanitarian aid and building materials, sent to the new territories of the (Russian) Federation,” Putin said in the Kremlin’s Telegram channel. Kherson, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Donetsk are the four regions in Ukraine that Putin declared annexed last September. The Russian armed forces only partially control these four areas.

Ukraine reacts negatively to Russian demands

Meanwhile, Ukraine again flatly rejected Russian calls for possible negotiations to end the war. The civilized world must recognize that “Putin and his clique” are not legitimate representatives of Russia on the international stage, said Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podoliak. “Therefore there is nothing to discuss with them,” he wrote on Twitter. Russia must be removed from all international institutions. “If the regime changes, we will talk to the successors.”

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galusin had previously made seven demands to achieve peace with Ukraine. For example, he mentioned the end of the Ukrainian hostilities and a halt to Western arms deliveries to the country.

In addition, Ukraine must forgo joining NATO and the EU, he told the Russian state news agency Tass. The requirement that Ukraine should also allow Russian as an official language is new.

Podoljak described the demands as new proof of the “incompetence of the Russian leadership”. He, in turn, tweeted Kyiv’s demands for peace talks, including withdrawing all Russian soldiers from Ukraine’s territory and handing over to the country all “war criminals” and “initiators of the war”. There must be a demilitarized zone on Russian territory and a reduction in offensive weapons. In addition, Russia must pay reparations and disarm nuclear.

Kiev’s secret service admits involvement in Crimean bridge attack

More than seven months after the explosion on the Crimean bridge, Ukrainian intelligence chief Vasyl Malyuk officially confirmed Kiev’s involvement in it for the first time. “Since this is a logistic route that we had to cut off from the enemy, appropriate measures were taken,” the head of the domestic intelligence service SBU said in a YouTube interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Komarov. He did not give details of the operation. Pictures of the fire on the bridge resulting from the explosion on October 8 – the night after Putin’s 70th birthday – went around the world.

The bridge, which was closed for days but has now been repaired, leading from the Russian mainland to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, is considered an important supply route for the war against Ukraine. Malyuk said Ukraine acted in accordance with “traditions of warfare”.

He also stated that at the beginning of the Russian war of aggression more than 15 months ago, the SBU secret service formed a special unit for acts of sabotage on Ukrainian territory against the enemy and for repelling such attacks by the enemy. The drone attacks in October on warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Bay of Sevastopol were also part of an SBU special operation together with the Ukrainian armed forces, he said.

SPD leader Esken calls the fighter jet alliance a clear signal to Putin

SPD leader Saskia Esken welcomed the formation of an international alliance to support Ukraine with modern fighter jets, but expressed reservations about German participation. “The planned alliance is a very clear signal to the Russian President (Vladimir Putin) that Ukraine’s allies will continue to stand by their side in solidarity,” Esken told the German Press Agency. “It’s up to Putin to end this war, withdraw his troops and make peace possible.”

The SPD leader pointed out that the Bundeswehr did not have the US-made F-16 jets that Ukraine wanted and could therefore not deliver them. “Each ally supports as best they can,” she said. When asked whether Germany would then participate in pilot training, she replied: “There is already practiced and successful practice in training Ukrainian soldiers on other western-style weapon systems, which we will continue to focus on become.”

The Bundeswehr has trained Ukrainian soldiers, among other things, on the Leopard 2 main battle tank and the Panzerhaubitze, a heavy artillery piece. Even if the German Air Force does not have F-16 fighter jets of its own, it could still participate in the basic training of pilots. However, this is not planned so far.

This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:

US President Joe Biden cleared the way for training Ukrainian pilots for the F-16 aircraft at the G7 summit in Japan. Several European NATO countries such as Great Britain, the Netherlands and France want to participate in the fighter jet alliance. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has so far been reluctant to comment on this and has always pointed out that Germany is already providing a great deal of military support – including the supply of tanks, air defense systems and ammunition. Esken also said: “We stand with Ukraine. We are doing everything that is necessary within our means to support them.”

Ukrainian model takes a stand against war in Cannes

The Ukrainian model Alina Baikowa took a stand against the war in her home country at the Cannes Film Festival. She came to the premiere of Ken Loach’s drama “The Old Oak” in a T-shirt in the national colors of Ukraine with the inscription: “Fuck you Putin”. On Saturday, she wrote on Instagram that the security staff asked her to leave the carpet at the premiere the day before because the festival didn’t want to get political. She had to close her jacket to be allowed to stay.

“Accept the fact that we are a free and democratic country and do not want to be under their control! We won’t stop until they leave us alone!” she wrote, referring to the Russians and their war of aggression. The film “The Old Oak” was screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The focus is on a pub that is threatened with closure after the arrival of Syrian refugees without prior notice in the village.

That will be important on Sunday

The head of the Russian private army Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, says he is continuing to withdraw his mercenaries from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. He reiterated on Saturday that the city should be completely handed over to the Russian armed forces by June 1. The Wagner troops should then recover and prepare for new combat missions. At the same time, Ukraine still does not give up the city. In his video speech, President Zelensky praised the fighting courage of the soldiers who want to further liberate Bakhmut.

More: Current news on the development of the Ukraine war can be found in our news blog