French President Emmanuel Macron (L) makes a point to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at Schloss Meseberg Palace in Meseberg near Berlin, May 28, 2024. (Ludovic Marin/AFP)
Tuesday’s Coverage: Kyiv Signs Security Agreements With Spain and Belgium
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1825 GMT:
Two civilians have been killed and one wounded by Russian attacks on Nikopol in southern Ukraine.
A 54-year-old driver was slain and his wife seriously injured by a Russian drone targeting an ambulance. A 52-year-old man died in a hospital after he was wounded by an artillery shell.
Nikopol, across the Dnipro River from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is regularly attacked by Russian artillery.
UPDATE 1755 GMT:
Belgian police have searched the office and home of a staffer at the European Parliament.
The aide is suspected of “a significant role” in a Russian interference operation.
French police searched the staffer’s Parliament office in Strasbourg at the request of the Belgian examining magistrate.
The office of Belgium’s federal public prosecutor said the searches are part of “a case of interference, passive corruption and membership of a criminal organisation and relates to indications of Russian interference”.
Belgian authorities announced an investigation last month into payments to MEPs to promote Russian propaganda on the Voice of Europe website.
Inquiries are being pursued into Russian disinforamtion operations, political warfare, and sabotage in a series of European countries. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Moscow’s objectives is to help elect more pro-Russian candidates to the Parliament in next week’s elections, reinforcing “a certain pro-Russian narrative in that institution”.
UPDATE 1420 GMT:
Sweden is donating 13 billion kronor (€1.13 billion) in military aid to Ukraine.
Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch said of Stockholm’s largest package during the Russian invasion, “It consists of equipment that is at the top of Ukraine’s priority list,” with air defense, artillery ammunition, and armored vehicles.
UPDATE 0743 GMT:
Two civilians were killed and three wounded in a Russian attack on Toretsk in the Donetsk region on Tuesday.
Three aerial bombs were dropped on the town, destroying entrances in two houses and a company building.
UPDATE 0729 GMT:
Warsaw has authorized the use of Polish-supplied weapons by Ukraine on targets in Russia.
Cesariy Tomczyk, deputy head of the Polish Defense Ministry said in a radio interview, “Ukraine can use them at its discretion.”
UPDATE 0721 GMT:
Ukraine and Portugal have signed a 10-year security pact, Kyiv’s third with an allied country in 48 hours and its 12th this year.
Continuing his tour of European capitals, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed the agreement alongside Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro in Lisbon on Tuesday.
The pact follows similar arrangements confirmed in Spain on Monday and Belgium on Tuesday.
Portugal agreed provision of at least €126 million in military aid to Kyiv in 2024, participation in the F-16 and naval capabilities coalitions, and programs for artillery ammunition procurement, mine clearance, and maritime security.
I met with Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
We discussed preparations for the Global Peace Summit, which requires the widest possible presence of states from all continents. Special attention was paid to Ukraine's integration into the EU and NATO. I thank the… pic.twitter.com/YVIZXEOz5i
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 28, 2024
UPDATE 0716 GMT:
The death toll has risen to 19 from Saturday’s Russian bombing of a hypermarket in Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine.
A man died in hospital from severe burns over 50% of his body.
UPDATE 0712 GMT:
Ukraine air defenses downed 13 of 14 Iran-type attack drones fired by Russia overnight.
The UAVs, launched from Primorsk-Akhtarsk in Russia, were intercepted over the Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, and Rivne regions.
UPDATE 0659 GMT:
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a long-time ally of Vladimir Putin, is blocking around €6.5 billion in European Union aid for Ukraine.
Orbán backed down from a months-long blockade in early February to allow EU authorization of €50 billion in assistance through 2027. But he is now holding up disbursement as Ukraine tries to hold back Russian aerial and ground assaults.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday, “That’s the sad thing that we have the cash, we have the capacity, but we are still pending decisions to implement.”
ORIGINAL ENTRY: France’s President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have supported strikes on Russian military positions firing missiles into Ukraine.
During his visit to Germany on Tuesday, Macron supported the counter-attacks against Russia’s daily aerial assaults.
Scholz expressed agreement, provided Ukraine abided by conditions set by the suppliers of the missiles.
But Macron set a limit: “We should not allow them to touch other targets in Russia, and obviously civilian capacities.” And Scholz did not indicate that he would lift his block on provision of long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
Moscow’s 19-day cross-border offensive into the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine, combined with its strikes trying to break energy infrastructure and civilian morale, has added urgency to the debate this spring.
Ukraine is already using UK Storm Shadow missiles and France’s SCALPs in strikes denting Russia’d missile capability, notably in Russian-occupied Crimea.
But the Biden Administration is continuing to impose a ban on use of ATACMS missiles inside Russia, despite Secretary of State Blinken lobbying for the lifting of the prohibition.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reiterated on Sunday:
We know all the areas where Russian missiles and combat aircraft are launched. Destroying this terrorist force – and thus saving thousands of lives and guaranteeing that the expansion of the war will be stopped – is purely a political decision. A decision that needs to be made.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday:
I believe the time has come to consider [these] restrictions, not least in light of the development in the war, the evolution into a war which now is actually taking place along the borders. That makes it even harder for [Ukrainians] to defend themselves and the right for self defense is part of the right for self defense.
However, US national security spokesperson John Kirby reiterated, “There’s no change to our policy at this point. We don’t encourage or enable the use of US-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia.”
