The eastern Ukrainian city of Sievjerodonetsk is almost completely surrounded by Russian troops. Moscow reports the capture of Lyman, while Ukraine again reports dead and injured civilians. All news about the attack on Ukraine can be found here in the ticker.
22.07: According to Ukrainian information, Russian troops have advanced into the heavily contested city of Sievjerodonetsk in eastern Ukraine. There is a street fight, the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, wrote on his Telegram channel on Monday evening. He recommended residents of the city to stay in temporary shelters.
Sievjerodonetsk has been the target of Russian attacks for months. The city is considered the last point that the Ukrainian military still controls in the Luhansk region. According to the General Staff, Russian troops were still fighting on the outskirts of the city and in the outskirts on Monday morning.
5:18 p.m .: A French journalist was killed in Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter that Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was on a bus with civilians. “I share the suffering of his family, relatives and colleagues,” emphasized Macron. He expressed France’s support to everyone who was deployed in crisis areas to report on what was happening there.
The circumstances of his death were initially unclear. Leclerc-Imhoff, who worked for the broadcaster BFM-TV, was traveling with civilians who wanted to flee the war. Macron wrote that he was “deadly hit”.
1:06 p.m .: In eastern Ukraine, Russian troops are advancing towards the center of the embattled city of Severodonetsk. “The Russians are advancing towards the center of Severodonetsk,” Governor Sergiy Gaiday said on Monday. Separated by a river, the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk are the last cities in the Luhansk region still controlled by Ukraine. According to the governor, there had already been violent street fighting in Severodonetsk on Sunday.
The situation in the city is now “very difficult”. “The important infrastructure of Severodonetsk has been destroyed, 60 percent of the apartments cannot be rebuilt,” said the governor of Luhansk. The road connecting Severodonetsk with Lysychansk and Bakhmut further south is too “dangerous” to bring civilians to safety and relief supplies to the city.
11:55 a.m .: According to the Russian military, it fired on a shipyard in the city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine. “An artillery strike on a hangar on the territory of the shipbuilding factory “Ocean” in the city of Mykolayiv destroyed more than 15 Ukrainian main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles and 5 large artillery systems,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Monday.
In the past 24 hours, air, rocket and artillery attacks have also destroyed dozens of command posts and command posts in the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, as well as telecommunications centers and numerous troop concentrations. Konashenkov spoke of more than 320 Ukrainian soldiers killed and 47 military vehicles disabled. This information could not be verified independently.
10.07 a.m .: At least three people were injured in a bomb attack in the city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine, which was occupied by Russian troops. “Today at 7.40 a.m. there was a powerful explosion right in the city center,” wrote the head of the Russian military administration Vladimir Rogov in his Telegram channel. Rogow spoke of a terrorist attack.
According to reports, a bomb planted under a parked vehicle detonated in Victory Square. The administration building occupied by the Russians is also on the square. The explosive device injured volunteers who had unloaded Russian aid supplies to the population, Russian media reports.
Melitopol belongs to the Zaporizhia region in southern Ukraine and serves as an administrative center for the Russians, since the regional capital itself is still under Kiev control. Increased partisan activities by Ukrainians have already been reported in the region in recent weeks – with attacks on infrastructure, Russian soldiers, but also collaborators who work with the Russian occupiers.
9:09 a.m .: According to British findings, Russia suffered “devastating losses” in its officer corps in its war against Ukraine. Brigade and battalion commanders are active on the front line, the Ministry of Defense said in London on Monday, citing intelligence findings. On the one hand, this is because they are held personally responsible for the success of their units. In addition, the Russian army lacked qualified non-commissioned officers who fulfilled this role in Western armed forces.
But these heavy losses would have several consequences for the Russian armed forces, the ministry stressed. For example, newly formed battalions are probably less effective due to the lack of junior leaders. In addition, there is a danger that existing problems such as a lack of discipline and weak morals will be exacerbated. There are credible reports of isolated mutinies. Finally, the modernization of the army will be made more difficult, the ministry said.
7:29 a.m .: According to Ukrainian information, the Russian armed forces are preparing a large-scale attack on the Sloviansk area, the center of the Ukrainian defense forces in the Donbass. Russian troops deployed new units to the area to attack Sloviansk from both Izyum and the recently captured small town of Lyman, the Ukrainian General Staff situation report said on Monday.
The Sloviansk-Kramatorsk region is the largest metropolitan area in the Donbass still under Kiev control. The high command of the armed forces in the east of the country is also stationed here.
“In the Sloviansk area, the enemy units have regrouped their forces in order to renew the offensive in the Izyum – Barvenkove and Izyum – Sloviansk directions,” said the General Staff. In preparation, 250 military vehicles had been moved to the Izyum area and a railway bridge beyond that repaired in the area to speed up the supply. In addition, a squadron of Ka-52 attack helicopters was stationed north of Izyum. The Ka-52 are considered the most modern heavy attack helicopters in Russia. In addition, the Russian troops are also there to be repositioned in Lyman northeast of Sloviansk.
6:35 a.m .: According to their own statements, the Ukrainian military continued its offensive in the south of the country during the night. “The situation in the south is dynamic and tense,” said the high command of the Ukrainian military district south on Monday night on its Facebook page. Russia is assembling reserves and trying to fortify the front lines in the Kherson region. “At the same time, our units continue their offensive activities to tie down the enemy and prevent regrouping of reserves.”
According to their own statements, the Ukrainian military killed 67 Russian soldiers and disabled 27 military vehicles in the fighting. Among them were six – albeit very outdated – tanks of the T-62 type. This information cannot be verified independently.
03:42: The city council of Novyi Buh in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv Oblast reported late on May 29 that the central part of the city was significantly damaged by the Russian airstrike. Information on injuries is currently not available.
Monday, May 30, 1:10 a.m.: Ukraine says it has destroyed a Russian ammunition depot in eastern Ukraine. In addition, the country’s tactical operations group “East” killed a total of 39 Russian soldiers on May 29. This is reported by The Kyiv Independent.
In addition, Ukraine destroyed one infantry fighting vehicle, one armored personnel carrier, five armored fighting vehicles, two artillery systems, three heavy artillery tractors, one fuel tanker and three unmanned aerial vehicles.
9:20 p.m .: Russia apparently wants to increase the incentive for young men to support the Russian troops in the Ukraine war. This is reported by the “Bild” newspaper. A flyer in the Bashkortostan region entices with a sum of “around 300,000 rubles per month” for a war effort. In more detail, soldiers should get 220,000 rubles (about 3110 euros) a month. There is a one-time payment of 250,000 rubles (about 3540 euros) and 8000 rubles (110 euros) for each day of use. Despite extensive sanctions, the Kremlin is apparently digging deep into the war chest: according to reports, soldiers have so far received around 50,000 rubles (about 730 euros) per month.
Not only would the new salary be significantly higher than that of the previous soldiers in the Ukraine war. Also, volunteers would earn about five times as much as the average worker in Russia. Just last week, Putin had ordered a higher military pay. However, he did not give any specific figures.
8:06 p.m .: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired the head of the city’s state security service after his visit to the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The news agency “AFP” reports. The reason is that he didn’t work on the city’s defense in the first days of the war, Zelenskyj said on Sunday.
“I dismissed the head of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region because in the first days of the all-out war he didn’t bother about defending the city and only thought about himself,” Zelenskyy said in his speech.
Zelenskyi also said that the capture of Sieverodonetsk is Russia’s main goal, adding that all critical infrastructure in the region has been destroyed.
7:01 p.m .: According to Ukrainian sources, the fighting in the Donbass continues with undiminished intensity, especially in the Sievjerodonetsk area. The enemy “attempts to gain a foothold on the north-eastern outskirts of Seyerodonetsk and is conducting offensive operations towards the city center,” the Ukrainian General Staff said in its situation report on Sunday evening. The ground offensive is supported by artillery and air force.
6:32 p.m .: A few hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyj’s visit, several explosions can be heard in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. This is reported by a reporter from the Reuters news agency. A plume of black smoke could be seen over the northeast of the city.
Zelenskyy has visited the east of the country for the first time since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. His office published a video on Sunday in the Telegram messenger service showing Zelenskyy wearing a bulletproof vest in and around Kharkiv. The head of state announced that the destroyed houses would be rebuilt “in Kharkiv and all other towns and villages where evil broke out”.
4:35 p.m .: According to Ukrainian information, two other high-ranking Russian officers were killed in the Ukraine war. On Sunday, the Ukrainian military announced that Volodymyr Ivanov, an employee of the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service, and Oleksandr Vyhulyar, commander of the 106th parachute division, were killed in Ukraine.
3:32 p.m .: According to the government in Moscow, Russian troops have destroyed a large arsenal of the Ukrainian army in Kryvyi Rih. Rockets hit the camp, reports the Russian news agency Tass, citing the Ministry of Defense. Kryvyi Rih is a major city in south-central Ukraine. In addition, a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jet was shot down in the Dnipro region with anti-aircraft missile systems.
3:26 p.m .: In the eastern Ukrainian Donbass, the Russian troops are encircling the strategically important cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. The last two towns in the region held by Ukrainian soldiers were again heavily attacked on Sunday.
“The enemy has carried out new offensive operations,” reported the Ukrainian army on Sunday from the Severodonetsk region. According to Governor Serhiy Gajday, the Russian attack continued throughout the day, and street fighting is already taking place in the city. The ruler of the Russian republic Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov has even declared that “Severodonetsk is completely under our control.” “The city has been liberated,” Kadyrov wrote on Telegram on Saturday evening.
Severodonetsk Mayor Olexander Stryuk raised the alarm about the humanitarian and sanitary situation in the city, which had a population of 100,000 before the war. “Constant bombing raids” would make the supply of drinking water more difficult, he wrote on Telegram. There has been no electricity in the city for more than two weeks. The “humanitarian aid center” had to stop its work.
It is estimated that around 15,000 civilians remain in Severodonetsk. According to the mayor, they haven’t had a cell phone connection with each other or with the outside world for two weeks.
You can read more reports on the Ukraine conflict on the following pages.
