The military situation in the Ukraine war is coming to a head. According to information from Ukraine, Putin is preventing the rescue of injured people from Azovstal: the news ticker.
- Location in Mariupol: Steelworks Azovstal still under fire
- Russia wants to send new soldiers: Reservists are to go to the Ukraine war
- Dead and injured in Donbass: Russia loses in Ukraine war a third of the ground combat troops.
- All the latest news and developments on the Ukraine conflict in our News-Ticker.
+++ 07.40 a.m.: According to the Ukrainian government, the rescue of at least the injured defenders of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol failed due to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The plant is under heavy fire from the Russian military – and some critics at home accuse Kyiv of having abandoned the soldiers. Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyr emphasized that a military operation to free the trapped people is currently not possible. They are working on proposals to get them released – but “Putin just doesn’t agree to it.”
Ukraine war: success for Ukraine at Kharkiv – advance to the border of Russia
Update from Monday, May 16, 2022, 6:30 a.m.: Ukrainian troops report a symbolic success in their counter-offensive in the eastern Kharkiv region: they have at least at one point advanced to the border with Russia. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released a video showing a dozen soldiers next to a border post in the national colors of blue and yellow on Monday night. According to the information, they belong to a volunteer brigade from the city of Kharkiv.
Ukraine war: Russia probably wants to send new soldiers
+++ 11:00 p.m.: Despite heavy attacks from Russia, the Ukrainian army still controls around 10 percent of the Luhansk region. This was announced by the regional governor, Serhij Hajdaj, on Sunday (May 15). In particular, the Russian troops have not been able to capture the outskirts of the cities of Rubishne, Sievjerodonetsk and Lyssychansk so far. The Kremlin, on the other hand, said last week that pro-Russian separatists, with the help of the Russian army, had advanced as far as the administrative borders of Luhansk. Hajdaj called these statements “fantasy” at the time.
+++ 9 p.m.: According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the Russian army is deploying less than 20 percent of its full capacity in certain areas. This is reported by the news portal Kyiv Independent. This information cannot be independently verified. Presumably, however, they are related to Russia’s heavy losses in the Ukraine war.
Ukraine war: Russia wants to send new soldiers
+++ 7.30 p.m.: Russia apparently plans to send new troops to Ukraine. As the news portal Kyiv Independent reports with reference to the Ukrainian general staff, 2,500 reservists are to be sent to the war zone. Accordingly, the soldiers were trained on training grounds in the Russian oblasts of Voronezh, Belgorod and Rostov.
Ukraine war: dead and injured after rocket attacks in Donbass
+++ 6 p.m.: Two people have died in Russian bombings in Sieverodonetsk, a city in Donbass. This was announced by the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, on Telegram. He had previously spoken of nine injured as a result of attacks on a clinic.
+++ 4.15 p.m.: The Russian government has published an interim military report. The military lost a total of 165 aircraft, 125 helicopters, 879 unmanned aerial vehicles, 306 anti-aircraft missile systems and 3098 tanks in the Ukraine war. The information provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense cannot be independently verified. However, the Ukrainian government assumes significantly higher losses in the Russian military.
+++ 3.30 p.m.: Turkey wants to block Finland’s possible NATO membership. A unanimous result is required to join the military alliance.
+++ 2.45 p.m.: According to a report, Russia is making tactical mistakes in the Donbass. This was analyzed by the think tank “Institute for the Study of War”. Specifically, it is about the failed attempt by Russian soldiers on Wednesday (May 11) to build a pontoon bridge over the river Siversky Donets. That “showed a startling lack of tactical flair,” the report said. The think tank also notes that the planned referendum in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson is causing “considerable confusion within the Russian leadership at various levels”.
Ukraine War: Missile attack on Lviv
+++ 1 p.m.: According to Ukrainian information, the Russian armed forces have fired missiles at military infrastructure in the Lviv region in the west of the country for the first time after a break of days (see update from 8.30 a.m.). After the attack, nothing is known about dead or injured, said the head of the military administration, Maxym Kosyzkyj, on the Telegram news channel. The extent of the destruction is being investigated. An object near Javoriv – presumably around the military training area there – is said to have been completely destroyed.
Ukraine War: Russian offensive in Donbass behind plan
+++ 11.45 a.m.: Russian forces have lost a third of their ground combat troops deployed in Ukraine in February. According to British intelligence experts, this is exacerbated by the loss of crucial material for bridge construction and reconnaissance. “Russian forces are increasingly constrained by destroyed resupply capabilities, persistently low morale and reduced combat effectiveness,” the British Ministry of Defense’s daily Ukraine War Intelligence Update tweeted. Despite initial progress at the beginning, Russia did not make any substantial territorial gains in the past month (see also update from 10.25 a.m.).
Ukraine War: Russia uses phosphorus bombs
+++ 10.40 a.m.: Russia apparently has the Azov Steelworks in the port city of Mariupol bombarded with phosphorus bombs. Mariupol city council deputy Petro Andryushchenko spoke on Telegram that “hell has come to earth”. Such incendiary bombs cause devastating damage. Their use is prohibited.
+++ 10.25 a.m.: British military intelligence sees the Russian offensive in Donbass far behind the original schedule. “Under the current conditions, it is unlikely that Russia can dramatically accelerate its advance in the next 30 days,” the British military said in its situation report on Twitter.
+++ 8.30 a.m.: Ukrainian authorities report a rocket attack in the Lviv region. According to the local governor Maxim Kosizki, military infrastructure was hit. According to Kosizki, it is still unclear whether people were killed or injured. The extent of the destruction has yet to be determined. Lviv is located in western Ukraine not far from the Polish border.
First report from Sunday, May 15, 6 a.m.: Russian and Ukrainian forces continue to fight fiercely in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. As the Ukrainian military announced in an update on Facebook, the situation remains difficult but is under control. By late Saturday evening, soldiers repulsed 12 attacks in the Donbass region, destroying eight tanks, five artillery systems, nine armored fighting vehicles and six drones.
(aa/dil/tu/kh with dpa/AFP)