Thursday, May 11

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A Ukrainian serviceman of a reconnaissance team flyes a drone at a front line near the town of Bakhmut, Donetsk region on May 8, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Sergey Shestak/AFP via Getty Images)

Kuleba says upcoming Ukraine counteroffensive ‘should not be seen as final’. In an interview with the German newspaper Bild, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged not to think about Ukraine’s expected counteroffensive as the last one “because we don’t know what will come out of it.”

ISW: Russia’s latest mass strikes likely attempt to portray it deters Ukraine counteroffensive. However, the strikes are “likely not significantly constraining Ukrainian actions” as Russian troops appear to be more concentrated on maintaining a regular series of missile attacks than their actual effectiveness, the Institute for the Study of War said on May 9.

Media: Putin signs annual decree on reservist training. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed a decree calling up military reservists for training in 2023, Reuters reported on May 10, citing a document published on a Russian government website.

Peskov claims Kremlin hasn’t seen Wagner boss Prigozhin’s latest video on conflict with defense ministry. Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitrii Peskov has said that the Kremlin has not yet seen the May 9 video posted by Wagner mercenary group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, in which the latter claims that Wagner has still not been given the ammunition requested from Russia’s defense ministry.

Journalists publish map of over 200 Russian military facilities in occupied Crimea. Journalists from Krym Realii media outlet published a map on May 10 that geolocates 223 active, temporary, and preserved military facilities in Russian-occupied Crimea.

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Media: Russian Kh-55 missile likely fell in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The military object, found in April near the Polish town of Bydgoszcz, could be a Russian Kh-55 cruise missile launched from Belarus during a mass attack against Ukraine, Polish radio station RMF FM reported on May 10.

Governors claim attacks on three Russian regions bordering Ukraine. The governors of Russia’s Voronezh, Belgorod and Kursk regions reported drone attacks and shelling on May 10. Kyiv hasn’t yet commented on any of the incidents.

UK Defense Ministry: Russia’s Victory Day parade shows its materiel, communications issues. The May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square highlighted the equipment and strategic communications challenges the Russian military has faced during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry.

SBU accuses 3 Russian proxies of torture during occupation of Mykolaiv. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported on May 10 that it identified three individuals from Russian-occupied Donetsk Oblast who set up a torture chamber during the occupation of Mykolaiv Oblast.

RFE/RL: Former Motor Sich head asks to be swapped to Russia. Former Motor Sich President Viacheslav Bohuslaiev, who was accused of collaborating with members of the Kremlin and Russian defense contractor Rostec, has requested to be included in the prisoner exchange list with Russia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported, citing Bohuslaiev’s letter to Ukraine’s Presidential Office head Andrii Yermak.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Preliminary findings allege Russian missile fell in Poland in December.

The military object, found in April near the Polish town of Bydgoszcz, could be a Russian Kh-55 cruise missile launched from Belarus during a mass attack against Ukraine, Polish radio station RMF FM reported on May 10.

Photo: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images

Human cost of war

2 killed, 5 injured as Russia attacks 9 Ukrainian regions over past day. Russian forces struck 126 Ukrainian settlements using various types of weapons and hitting 153 infrastructure facilities, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry media center said on May 10.

Russian shelling in Kherson Oblast kills woman. Russian shelling has killed a woman in Kherson Oblast’s Kakhovskyi District, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported on May 10. The attack also damaged residential buildings and farms in the area.

Russia shells 6 communities in Sumy Oblast, killing 1 person. Russian forces targeted the communities of Velyka Pysarivka, Bilopillia, Yunakivka, Khotin, Esman, and Novoslobidske, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration said on May 10.

Russian forces shell Vovchansk, killing civilian. Russian troops shelled the city of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast on May 10, killing a man, reported Governor Oleh Syniehubov. According to preliminary information, a woman may still be under the rubble.

National Police: 385 bodies found in liberated parts of Donetsk Oblast. The bodies of 385 Ukrainian civilians and military personnel have been discovered since liberating parts of Donetsk Oblast in the fall of 2022, the National Police reported on May 10.

General Staff: Russia has lost 196,310 troops in Ukraine since Feb 24, 2022. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on May 10 that Russia had also lost 3,736 tanks, 7,275 armored fighting vehicles, 5,974 vehicles and fuel tanks, 3,039 artillery systems, 555 multiple launch rocket systems, 308 air defense systems, 308 airplanes, 294 helicopters, 2,624 drones, and 18 boats.

Opinions and insights

Zakhar Tropin: Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism – a legal perspective.

“The world continues to watch how Russia erodes the rules-based order. The time has finally come to take decisive steps and call things by their names: Russia is a state sponsor of terrorism,”writes Zakhar Tropin,a nonresident fellow at the Center for Defense Strategies.

Photo: Oleksii Samsonov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

Nataliya Bugayova: Reframing the US policy debate on a ‘long war’ in Ukraine.

Read an analysis by Nataliya Bugayova, a non-resident Russia Fellow, at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based defense and foreign affairs think tank.

Photo: Artur Widak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

International response

Czech Republic to provide 2 Kub air defense systems to Ukraine. The Czech Republic will provide Ukraine with two Kub mobile surface-to-air missile systems, České noviny reported on May 10.

Minister: Sweden unable to send Ukraine fighter jets. Sweden is currently unable to provide Ukraine with Gripen fighter aircraft as it doesn’t have enough planes to send them abroad, Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson said on May 9, as cited by national broadcaster SVT.

Warsaw summons Russian ambassador over interception of Polish aircraft. Poland’s Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador in Warsaw, Sergey Andreev, over the recent interception of a Polish aircraft by a Russian fighter jet on May 5.

France launches war crimes investigation after AFP journalist killed in Ukraine. France has launched an investigation into potential war crimes and crimes against humanity following the death of Arman Soldin, a video journalist for Agence France-Presse who was killed on May 9 in Donetsk Oblast, Reuters reported on May 10, citing French prosecutors.

Reuters: US authorizes first transfer of seized Russian oligarch’s funds to Ukraine. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has approved the transfer of forfeited Russian assets to Ukraine for the first time, Reuters reported. The funds belong to sanctioned Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev who has been accused of funding Russian proxies in Russian-occupied Crimea in 2014.

Media: US warns of sanctions if Georgia resumes direct flights to Russia. The U.S. has warned Georgia of economic sanctions if it resumes direct flights to Russia, Georgian media outlet Accent News reported on May 10.

Media: Moldova reconsiders ban on Ukrainian grain imports. Moldova’s Agriculture Minister Vladimir Bolea said imposing restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports “would not solve anything,” media outlet NewsMaker reported on May 10.

In other news

Imagine Dragons releases music video shot in Ukraine. The American pop-rock band Imagine Dragons released a new music video on May 10 that was shot on the front line in Ukraine.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Francis Farrell, Dinara Khalilova, Teah Pelechaty, Kate Tsurkan, Anastasiya Gordiychuk, and Anastasiia Malenko.

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