Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 05-28-2024

US top diplomat heading for Chisinau and Prague this week.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Moldova this week, the State Department announced Friday, in a new Western gesture of support to the former Soviet republic as tensions rise with Russia.

The top US diplomat will hold talks in Moldova on Wednesday on his way to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Prague that will pave the way for the alliance's 75th anniversary in Washington in July.

The probable ATACMS strike started widespread fires on and around the airfield but, so far, there are few reports on the extent of any damage.

Ukraine’s Armed Forces (AFU) launched a mass long-range missile strike on Monday evening that saturated a Russian military base deep behind the front lines with cluster munitions initiating a blaze, that could be seen and heard dozens of kilometers away, along with hundreds of smaller fires.

The target reportedly consisted of buildings and an adjacent airfield on the territory of the former Ukrainian air force navigation academy in the eastern city Luhansk. The site had been occupied by Moscow’s troops who used a headquarters and logistics base following Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014.

The former Soviet republic of Georgia has been rocked by mass protests over a new "foreign agent" law that targets foreign-backed NGOs in a similar way to Russian legislation.

The former Soviet republic of Georgia has been rocked by mass protests over a new "foreign agent" law that targets foreign-backed NGOs in a similar way to Russian legislation.

Here are 10 key dates in Georgia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Russia seems about to change sides in the Sudanese civil war to support the Sudan’s Armed Forces so it can establish a naval base on the Red Sea.

On Saturday, May 25, the Assistant Commander-in-Chief of Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF), Yasser al-Attah said that a delegation of military officials will soon travel to Russia to agree to exchange “vital weapons and ammunition” in return for a Russian logistics center in Port Sudan. According to a new report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Al-Attah also said the planned Russian center as “not really a military base.”

According to the report, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Putin's special representative for Africa and the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov met with SAF chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and several other Sudanese officials during a two-day visit to Sudan on April 28 and 29.

Washington Insider examines the latest polling from the United States and looks at how a paradigm shift in its Ukraine policy could allow Biden to win a second term.

There is a paradigm that election campaigns are about selling voters one of two messages: the incumbent wants the electorate to buy the idea that his second term will deliver hope; whereas the challenger wishes to peddle the notion that the country needs change.

Recent polling shows that Americans want change at the White House. RealClearPolitics, an American website that aggregates political polling and news, indicates that in all seven battleground states, where voters could go Democrat or Republican, Donald Trump is wining, mirroring a trend nationally, where Trump is beating Biden 48% vs 46.% as the table below shows.

At the end of April, the factory was ahead of its production schedule, having already supplied 4,500 of the promised Shaheds.

A Russian plant in Alabuga plans to produce 6,000 Shahed attack drones annually, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

Russia’s deepening ties with Iran and more African states are evidenced by the manufacturing operation for the Iranian-designed drones. The operation, located in hangars in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone on a tributary of the Volga River, highlights the collaboration. As per WSJ’s report, Russian business executives secured the deal to build the drone plant there in late 2022, offering $1.7 billion, partly in gold bars, to Iran.

Kyiv has been dependent on Western military aid in its fight with Moscow's forces but many of its allies remain uneasy about the prospect of sending troops into battle with Russian soldiers.

Poland should not rule out sending ground troops into Ukraine to help fight Russia, the government said on Tuesday, in the latest sign of divisions between Kyiv's Western backers on the issue.

Kyiv has been dependent on Western military aid in its fight with Moscow's forces but many of its allies remain uneasy about the prospect of sending troops into battle with Russian soldiers.

Hungary said it cannot trust Rutte “100 percent” and that the post should be taken by someone from Eastern Europe since the Alliance now faces threats from the bloc’s eastern flank.

Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, has opposed the candidacy of the outgoing Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, to take over as NATO General Secretary in October, citing Budapest’s lack of trust in him and the need for NATO to focus on the eastern flank.

Rutte, a pro-EU politician, is widely regarded as the favorite among most NATO member states and whose candidacy has already been endorsed by the US, UK, France and Germany, among others.

Troops from Ukraine’s Special Ops Forces disrupted a Russian operation against Kharkiv, killing 11 and seizing three of Moscow’s Russian soldiers who said they were expecting reinforcements.

Fighters from the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine (SSO) posted a video account on Telegram giving details of a successful raid on Russian positions in the Kharkiv region, that resulted in the elimination of 11 Russian troops.

“Eleven Russian soldiers were killed on the road to Kharkiv, and three more were captured,” the report said.

After Russia’s recent nuclear weapons drills, the Head of the FSB Border Service blamed NATO in an interview with RIA Novosti for preparing to attack Russia.

General Vladimir Kulishov, First Deputy Director and Head of Russia’s Federal Security Service’s (FSB) Border Service said that NATO was stepping up its training close to Russian borders, which included nuclear drills, in an interview with the Ria Novosti news site on the occasion of Russia’s “Border Guard Day.”

“Near the Russian border, NATO’s reconnaissance activities are increasing, the intensity of operational combat training of the alliance’s troops is growing, during which scenarios for conducting combat operations against the Russian Federation, including the launch of nuclear strikes on our territory, are being worked out,” he said.

Zelensky has said dozens of world leaders will attend the summit. He said Tuesday that attending or not is a "choice" between wanting peace or war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday urged US leader Joe Biden to attend a June peace summit in Switzerland, as he accused Russia's Vladimir Putin of trying to derail the gathering.

Zelensky's appeal came as he locked in a commitment from Belgium to supply 30 F-16 fighter jets by 2028, on the latest leg of a whistlestop tour to rally Western support.

The Collective West misread Putin’s intentions and the threat from Russia. Now it needs to rethink its Ukraine and Russian policy and adopt a clear strategy

In April 2021, a couple of former top Ukrainian officials told me that Russia would attack. In July 2021, Putin published his long article, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” which denied the existence of the Ukrainian nation – his public position since 2008. It was an evident declaration of war. The United States, the UK and Canada got his message, while Germany and France as usual understood nothing. The United States, the UK, Canada, the Baltic states and Poland started delivering a lot of serious arms to Ukraine.

Yet, in April 2021, the United States gave a dubious signal to Russia. Two US destroyers were on their way into the Black Sea, but they received orders not to proceed from the White House. The United States signaled that it had given up on the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea, effectively reneging on the 1936 Montreux Convention. In June 2021, British and Dutch naval ships entered the Black Sea but were illegitimately attacked by the Russian navy, while the United States remained passive.

Key backers including the United States and Germany have been reluctant to permit Kyiv to strike over the border out of fear that it could drag them closer to direct conflict with Moscow.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday urged countries to balance fear of escalation against Ukraine's need to defend itself, saying Kyiv had the right to use Western arms to strike in Russia.

"According with the law of war, it is perfectly possible and there is no contradiction.

A German weapons expert identified that Iran’s latest guided aerial bomb was on a drone deployed by Russian troops against Ukraine that crashed in the Kursk region on Sunday May 26.

Julian Röpke, a German military expert writing for Bild, commented that a drone that came down in the Kursk region at the weekend provided further evidence of a new level of military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.

After examining video of the fallen heavy Iranian Mohajer-6 drone, which has been extensively used by Russian forces for aerial surveillance, Röpke identified that it was carrying the latest Iranian Qaem-5 guided aerial bomb – the first time the weapon has been seen during the war in Ukraine. The video is shown below.

A day earlier, Spain pledged one billion euros in military aid, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Zelensky signing their own security deal in Madrid.

Belgium has committed to delivering 30 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine by 2028 to aid in the battle against Russia's invasion. The pledge was announced at the start of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Belgium on Tuesday.

Zelensky and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo signed a bilateral security and long-term support agreement, marking the latest in a series of similar accords between Ukraine and its Western allies.

Poland's Ministry of Defense has revealed the details of the "Eastern Shield" multi-year plan for 2024-2028. Find out more in the TVP World interview with Bohdan Nahaylo, Kyiv Post's editor-in-chief.

A Bishop from Odesa representing the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church went to Vatican City and revealed a litany of crimes perpetrated against the faithful wherever Russia takes over.

Russian officials and armed forces are persecuting Catholics and other Christians throughout the occupied territories, according to Mykhaylo Bubniy, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s (UGCC) Bishop of Odesa. He spoke about the persecutions at the 79th General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), held in Vatican City from May 20 to 23.

He bore the testimony of the UGCC, which, he emphasized, stands alongside a people crushed by mourning, destruction and missile attacks. “Especially in the areas along the front line, each of the parishes has turned into a humanitarian center for displaced people,” he said.

In August 2023, Roshchyna disappeared while preparing a report in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry has admitted for the first time that it is holding Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna captive. Roshchina disappeared almost a year ago, in August 2023.

This information was revealed in a letter received by the journalist's father, Volodymyr Roshchyn, in response to his inquiry to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The Ukrainian leader is set to jet into Brussels from Spain as part of a whistlestop tour to several European countries in a bid to rally support for Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Belgium Tuesday to ink the latest in a string of security accords with Western allies, the Belgian prime minister's office said Monday.

The Ukrainian leader is set to jet into Brussels from Spain as part of a whistlestop tour to several European countries in a bid to rally support for Kyiv.

On the back foot, Ukraine has been pressing its backers -- especially the United States -- to allow it to use longer-range weapons they supply to hit targets inside Russia.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called Monday on the West to "use all means" to force Russia to peace talks during a visit to Madrid, which pledged one billion euros in military aid as a Russian offensive gained new ground.

Russia said it has taken two more villages as part of its assault in eastern Ukraine and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg urged allies to rethink their restrictions on using Western weapons to strike inside Russia, a key demand of the Ukrainian president.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• The NATO Parliamentary Assembly called on member states to lift their prohibitions against Ukraine using Western-provided weapons to strike within Russian territory.
• Spain signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement with Ukraine on May 27.
• Ukrainian forces continued to target Russian long-range early warning radar systems and oil and gas infrastructure within Russia on May 26 and 27.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Ukraine is not an independent state and that Russia can unilaterally and forcibly change Ukraine's borders.
• The New York Times (NYT) reported on May 26 that Western intelligence officials stated that the Russian General Staff's Main Directorate (GRU) are behind a series of low-level sabotage operations throughout Europe that aim to disrupt Western arms supplies to Ukraine and create the appearance of a European movement opposing support for Ukraine.
• Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi stated on May 27 that he signed documents that will allow French military instructors to visit training centers in Ukraine.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) offered to help Armenia mitigate the effects of flooding in northern Armenia, although Armenia has not publicly requested help from Russia.
• Russian officials are considering delisting the Taliban as a prohibited organization in Russia and will likely do so in the near term.
• Russia may sign an agreement with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) exchanging weapons for a Russian logistics hub at Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
• Ukrainian forces recently made confirmed advances near Lyptsi and Russian forces advanced near Svatove and northwest of Avdiivka.
• Russian forces continue formalization efforts for irregular units.

Russian President Vladimir Putin considers the “Proryv” the most advanced tank model in his army.

Ukrainian servicemen from the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU), using kamikaze drones, reportedly destroyed a Russian T-90M Proryv (“Breakthrough”) tank, which Russian President Vladimir Putin considers the most modern model in his army.

The 47th Brigade’s company of attack UAVs released a video showing Ukrainian drones attacking and setting fire to a Russian tank. This unit has already destroyed six T-90 Proryv tanks.

As several leading countries turn down invitations to June’s Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland, EU foreign ministers will discuss how to salvage the process.

A report by Bloomberg on Monday, May 27 suggests that EU nations are concerned the peace plan proposed by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is running out of steam. There are indications that a number of those viewed as the most important of the 160 nations invited to the June 15 summit in Berne, Switzerland will not attend or will only send junior officials.

While still feeling that Ukraine’s proposals should be the basis for peace talks many are coming round to the view that the only way forward is to include Russia directly in the process. Moscow has frequently stated it is prepared to discuss peace but is not interested in the Zelensky plan and that peace can only be negotiated on the “basis of current realities” – which most interpret as a refusal to give up the Ukrainian territories it currently occupies.