A psychiatric clinic in Dnipro, Ukraine burns after a Russian missile strike, May 26, 2023


Friday’s Coverage: Russia Attacks Fail in Kyiv — But Kill and Wound in Strike on Dnipro Hospital


Map: Institute for Study of War


UPDATE 1304 GMT:

Amid Ukraine’s “shaping operations” in preparation for a counter-offensive, there has been a large explosion near the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk.

Unconfirmed local claims say a recreation center, converted into a Russian barracks, was hit.

Inside Russia, oil pipeline installations have reportedly been struck in drone attacks.

In the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, two drones attacked a station serving the Druzhba pipeline. The Tver local council said a drone had crashed near the village of Erokhino, about 500 km (310 miles) from the border with Ukraine.


UPDATE 1238 GMT:

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has turned down an invitation by Vladimir Putin to visit Russia.

Following a telephone conversation, Lula said, “I thanked [Putin] for the invitation to the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg and replied that I cannot come to Russia right now.”

On Monday, the Brazilian said he had intended to meet Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the G7 summit in Jpan, but the encounter never took place. Lula said that he now saw no point in the discussion, because Moscow nor Kyiv “obviously want to talk about peace”.

Lula was widely criticized for saying that Western countries were “prolonging and encouraging war” with arms supplies for Ukraine’s defense. Widely criticized, he then challenged the Russian invasion while insisting on the necessity of negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.


UPDATE 1156 GMT:

Russian officials say they will begin expelling German diplomats, teachers, and employees of cultural institutions next month.

The explusions are in response to German steps earlier this year to reduce the presence of Russian intelligence services.

Several hundred German state employees, including teachers and staff of the Goethe Institute, are affected by the Russian limits on permitted staff.

The German Foreign Ministry said Russia’s retaliation is an “unilateral, unjustified, and incomprehensible decision”.

A Foreign Ministry official said more than 100 employees will be withdrawn in “a major cut in all areas of our presence in Russia”.


UPDATE 1032 GMT:

A Russian official has warned the Wall Street Journal of “consequences” for its reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained in Moscow since the end of March, if the newspaper does not curb its coverage of the invasion of Ukraine.

The official said, “If the Wall Street Journal continues its activities not pertaining to journalism, and publishing disinformation about Russia, it will mean that editors are not interested in the fate of Evan Gershkovich.”

He complained that the Journal has put out “a variety of articles with fallacious claims concerning Russia”, without giving specifics.

Gershkovich was seized by State security in Yekaterinburg as he was working on stories about local reaction to the invasion and to the activists of the mercenary Wagner Group. He was charged with espionage and held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.

On Wednesday, a Moscow court extended Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention by three months.


UPDATE 0728 GMT:

This week’s high-profile visit by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to China was dented when senior Chinese officials and managers of the country’s largest companies refused to meet Moscow’s delegation, according to the Russian business daily Vedomosti.

The newspaper said the Chinese officials were wary because many of the Russian ministers and executives of State firms and banks are under international sanctions.

Mishustin’s Chinese counterpart, Chairman of the State Council Li Qiang, refused to participate in the forum. Instead. he sent a message read out by Deputy Prime Minister He Lifen.

A “source close to the organizers of the forum” told Vedomosti, “The Chinese are warm, but they are very afraid of sanctions. Even those big businessmen who wanted and were ready to speak publicly were not allowed to meet by the authorities — they don’t want to take even the smallest risk.”

Mishustin did not refer to the absences. Instead, he proclaimed the “unity” of Moscow and Beijing’s approaches “on all key issues”. The record level of trade in 2022 would rise from $190 billion to $200 billion this year, he declared.


UPDATE 0640 GMT:

In eastern Ukraine, 39 former Russian prisoners — released to fight on the frontline — have fled.

A soldier of the Russian proxy “Luhansk People’s Republic” was killed near Lysychansk when he tried to stop the deserters, who escaped in several cars.

Russia is increasingly relying on convicts, through proxy forces and the Wagner Group of mercenaries, in eastern Ukraine. The men are pardoned in return for their frontline service.


UPDATE 0627 GMT:

The World Health Organization reports 873 attacks on medical facilities during Russia’s invasion, killing at least 101 people and injuring 136.

The toll, through May 7, does not Russia’s missile strike on a psychiatric clinic in Dnipro on Friday.

Spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris saidL

WHO condemns all acts of violence against healthcare. These attacks not only kill and maim but also deprive people of urgently needed care, endanger healthcare providers, and undermine health systems.

Attacks on health care workers, patients, transport, supplies, and health facilities are a flagrant violation of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law and must stop now.


ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia has again caused mass civilian casualties in a strike on Dnipro in south-central Ukraine, killing two people and wounding 32 when a missile hit a psychiatric clinic.

Among the injured were two boys, aged 3 and 6. Fifteen peop;le are hospitalized, five in serious condition.

On January 14, Russia killed 46 civilians, including six children, and wounded 80 when it levelled part of a nine-story apartment block in the city.

See also Ukraine War, Day 327: Zelenskiy — Russians’ “Cowardly Silence” as Dnipro Death Toll Rises to 40

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted:

First Lady Olena Zelenska posted earlier on Friday:

The Dnipro clinic was hit in a second wave on Russian attacks. In the first, between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., Russia fired 17 missiles and 31 drones.

All 10 missiles and 23 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones over Kyiv were downed. Some drones and missiles landed in the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine and the Kharkiv region in the northeast.

Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhii Lysak said one civilian was injured amid damage to a residential house and transport facilities in Dnipro.

In the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, an S-300 missile hit a dam in the Karlivka area, causing a risk of severe flooding.