Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy after his meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican (Remo Casilli/Reuters)
Saturday’s Coverage: Russian Retreat Near Bakhmut Confirmed
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1920 GMT:
Continuing his European tour, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has arrived in France.
Zelenskiy and French President Emmanuel Macron will hold discussions on Sunday night over dinner.
Paris. With each visit, Ukraine's defense and offensive capabilities are expanding. The ties with Europe are getting stronger, and the pressure on Russia is growing. I will have a meeting with my friend Emanuel and we will talk through the most important points of bilateral…
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 14, 2023
UPDATE 1555 GMT:
The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed the deaths of two colonels this weekend on the Bakhmut front amid Ukraine’s counter-attack.
The slain officers are Col. Vyacheslav Makarov, commander of the 4th Motorized Rifle Brigade, and Col. Yevgeny Brovko, the deputy commander of the army corps for military-political work.
Makarov died en route to hospital after he was wounded south of Ivanivske village, to the west of Bakhmut. Brovko was killed in shelling.
UPDATE 1104 GMT:
In a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukraine President Vladimir Zelenskiy has said, “Now is the time for us to determine the end of the war this year. We can make the aggressor’s defeat irreversible.”
Zelenskiy said Ukraine will discuss peace initiatives by other states, but “the war is happening on the territory of our country and so any peace plan will be based on Ukraine’s proposals”.
Earlier, Zelenskiy thanked Germany for its largest military aid package to Kyiv during the Russian invasion.
I thank Germany for the largest military aid package since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.
German air defense systems, artillery, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are saving Ukrainian lives and bringing us closer to victory.
Germany is a reliable ally!…
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 14, 2023
UPDATE 1058 GMT:
Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said an unexploded device left behind by Russian forces has detonated, killing five people aged between 27 and 68 in Myroliubivka in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.
UPDATE 1047 GMT:
The Institute for the Study of War assesses that Ukrainian forces have liberated 16.85 square km (6.5 square miles) to the north and south of the frontline city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine since Tuesday.
The Ukraine military said on Saturday that the advance covered 17.3 square km (6.7 square miles).
Russian military bloggers wrote on Saturday that Ukrainian forces have established new positions on the outskirts of Kurdyumivka, 14 km (8.7 miles) southwest of Bakhmut)and pushed Russian forces behind the Siversky Donets-Donbas canal. The Ukrainians are advancing towards Klishchiivka, 7 km (4.3 miles) southwest of the city.
Russian volunteer Murz posted another long update last night on the battle situation in and around Bakhmut: he says the Ukrainians have massive superiority in air recon and "unlimited shell supply", softening targets before any infantry advances. He confirms officer kills in the… pic.twitter.com/PMFX0AwHJP
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) May 14, 2023
UPDATE 0742 GMT:
Two civilians, including a 15-year-old girl, were killed and 11 injured by a Russian rocket assault on Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine on Saturday.
Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote that a private house was destroyed, and four multi-story buildings, three private houses, two shops, an administrative building, and a cultural institution were damaged.
The Ukraine Air Force said defenses downed 25 Russian drones and three cruise missiles overnight.
UPDATE 0732 GMT:
As Ukraine’s Eurovision entry performed on Saturday night, Russia fired missiles at the hometown of the country’s duo Tvorchi.
The strike on Ternopil in western Ukraine hit a religious organization and the warehouses of commercial enterprises, injuring two people.
The city was attacked a second time early Sunday morning.
Rescuers extinguished the fire all night after the russian cruise missile attacks on Ternopil, west Ukraine.
Photos via State emergency service of Ukraine in Ternopil oblast. pic.twitter.com/CoSoaDDJrN
— Ukraine Front Lines (@EuromaidanPR) May 14, 2023
Tvorchi — Andrii Hutsuliak and Jeffery Kenny — posted on Instagram:
Ternopil is the name of our hometown, which was bombed by Russia while we sang on the Eurovision stage about our steel hearts, indomitability and will
This is a message for all cities of Ukraine that are shelled every day. Kharkiv, Dnipro, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Uman, Sumy, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Kherson and all others.
Europe, unite against evil for the sake of peace!
Tvorchi finished 6th out of 26 performers with the song “Heart of Steel”:
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Following meetings in Italy on Saturday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is now in Germany.
Zelenskiy arrived in Berlin just after midnight for discussions with German chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Already in Berlin. Weapons. Powerful package. Air defense. Reconstruction. EU. NATO. Security.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 13, 2023
Earlier this week the German Government confirmed its largest provision of military assistance to Ukraine during Russia’s 15-month invasion.
The €2.7bn (£2.4bn) package includes 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, 30 Leopard 1 tanks, 15 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, 200 reconnaissance drones, four IRIS-T anti-aircraft systems, artillery ammunition, and more than 200 armored combat and logistics vehicles.
Meanwhile, Zelenskiy was conferring in Italy on Saturday with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, President Sergio Mattarella, and Pope Francis.
Today in Rome. As always with such visits, we have a result. Today, we have become stronger.
I met with the 🇮🇹 President and the President of the Council of Ministers @GiorgiaMeloni. I'm grateful to them for the political decisions to increase aid for 🇺🇦.
I met with Pope… pic.twitter.com/TWn4UiQ05w
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 13, 2023
Zelenskiy spoke with the Pope about his proposal to end the invasion and about efforts to bring back tens of thousands of Ukranian children forcibly tranferred to Russia. He asked the Pontiff to condemn Russian war crimes “because there can be no equality between the victim and the aggressor”.
The President emphasized to Italian media:
We do not need mediators between Ukraine and the aggressor which seized our territories. We should develop an action plan for peace, a just peace in Ukraine….
There can be no mediation with Putin. He is a murderer.
Meloni pledged continued support for Ukraine’s defense:
We will continue to provide assistance, in particular security assistance, so that Ukraine can enter the negotiations with a firm position. This is important because peace cannot be achieved with a position of surrender
We will never forget that Ukraine is a victim of brutal aggression. No unjust peace can be imposed on Ukraine.
[Editor’s Note: Of course, “bigger” does not mean “better” or even “fit for purpose”. There are more troops in Russia’s military/mercenaries than in February 2022, but much of their equipment has been lost, their command structure is weakened, and their supply lines are degraded.]
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/26/politics/russia-forces-ukraine-war-cavoli/index.html
Quote — “[T]he Russian ground force has been degenerated somewhat by this conflict, although it is bigger today than it was at the beginning of the conflict,” Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the commander of US European Command, told the House Armed Services Committee.
There’s the reality.
[Editor’s Note: “Russia’s military is stronger now than it was one year ago”?
Clara, if you’re going to put out pro-Kremlin propaganda lines, they need to have some semblance of reality.]
“We will continue to provide assistance, in particular security assistance, so that Ukraine can enter the negotiations with a firm position. This is important because peace cannot be achieved with a position of surrender”
********
Why is Meloni talking about negotiations when it is apparent that Russia and Ukraine are not willing to negotiate? And why would Putin want to negotiate now that he has been charged with war crimes? What incentive does he have to negotiate at this point? Russia’s military is stronger now than it was one year ago, and the West’s sanctions are more damaging to the West than to Russia. Italy is one of Russia’s largest European investors. Italian companies have cultivated important business relationships with the Russians since the Soviet era, especially Italy’s auto industry. Don’t be surprised if Italy’s private sector confronts Meloni on the sanctions and the weapons Italy is supplying to Ukraine.