military situation
In the embattled areas of eastern Ukraine, Russian troops continued to try to advance toward cities like Bakhmut, Sloviansk and Lysychansk, Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Sunday. In the strategically important city of Sievjerodonetsk, “literally every meter is fought for”. According to information from Saturday, Ukrainian troops controlled around a third of the city at the time.
According to research by Amnesty International, Russian troops have killed numerous civilians in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv by using cluster munitions. “In Kharkiv, people were killed in their homes and on the streets while they were taking their children to playgrounds, commemorating their loved ones in cemeteries, queuing for aid deliveries or shopping,” reported Janine Uhlmannsiek from the German branch of Amnesty International, citing one new report entitled “Anyone can die at any time”.
Political situation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again asked the West to supply modern air defense systems. Since the Russian invasion in February, Ukrainian cities have been hit by more than 2,600 enemy missiles, Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Sunday. “These are lives that could have been saved, tragedies that could have been prevented – if Ukraine had been heard.” Even before the war, the country asked for modern air defense systems that could have been delivered years ago said Zelenskyy.
In the first three months of the war, the federal government approved the delivery of weapons and other armaments worth 350.1 million euros to Ukraine. This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection to a request from the Left MP Sevim Dagdelen, which the dpa has received. These include weapons of war for 219.8 million euros and other armaments such as helmets and protective vests for 85.2 million euros.
The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk expects Chancellor Olaf Scholz to promise the delivery of German tanks to Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv. “Unfortunately, without German heavy weapons, we will not be able to break Russia’s massive military superiority and save the lives of soldiers and civilians,” Melnyk told the German Press Agency.
“The Ukrainians expect that Chancellor Olaf Scholz will announce a new aid package for German armaments during his visit to Kyiv, which should definitely include Leopard 1 main battle tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles, which must be delivered immediately.”
Melnyk said it was disappointing how slowly Germany was delivering arms to Ukraine. Six million rounds of ammunition have arrived since May 3, but no more weapons. “Therefore, we hope that the traffic light government will finally step on the gas pedal to massively increase both the scope and pace for Ukraine to repel the Russian major offensive in Donbass.”
In line with this topic:
Unknown hackers placed a message against the war in Ukraine on Russian state television websites. On the streaming portal “Smotrim.ru” on Sunday evening, for example, next to photos of destruction in Ukraine “Putin destroys Russians and Ukrainians! Stop the war!”, as reported by numerous Internet users on the Internet.
Russian state television later admitted to a hacker attack on “Smotrim” and the website of the news program “Vesti”. As a result, “unauthorized content with extremist calls” was displayed for less than an hour.
On Monday night, the “Smotrim” website again showed links to propaganda material, for example about the “liberation” of the embattled eastern Ukrainian industrial region of Donbass and the award of the “Hero of Labor” award by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
You can read more updates on the Ukraine war on the following pages.
