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With massive bombing raids, the Russian army is wearing down Ukrainian defense lines in the east – and pushing further into Donbass.
- Battles in the East: Russia is currently focusing on Donbass in the Ukraine war.
- West help: Volodymyr Zelenskyy asks Ukraine for more weapons.
- You can find news about the conflict in Ukraine in our news bookmark.
Update on Thursday, May 26 at 5:30 am: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for new arms deliveries to his country. He cited the aggressive advance of Russian troops into Donbass as the reason for this. The city of Sievjerodonetsk is apparently at the center of troop movements. According to a report, Russia is preparing a new offensive there.
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, has called for new weapons deliveries. © Genya Savilov / AFP
“Russia is aggressively advancing in the east, we need weapons,” Zelenskyy said in his evening speech Wednesday (May 25). “We still need help from our partners, especially weapons for Ukraine. Total aid, no exceptions, no restrictions, is enough to win,” continued the Ukrainian president.
++ 19:30: Three months into the war, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin ordered higher military salaries for Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. According to the Interfax news agency, Putin justified the decision by saying that the salaries of military personnel stationed abroad are linked to the development of the foreign exchange market and that the US dollar is currently weak against the Russian ruble. How much more salary there should be exactly was initially unclear.
The Ukrainian War in Pictures – Destruction, Resistance and Hope
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+++ 5pm: Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has announced that Russian forces are conducting an “intense offensive” to capture the key town of Lyman in the Donetsk region. Efforts to “completely take over” the city have been “failed”, said ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzynanyk. Lyman is an important railroad junction.
Motuzyanyk added: “The enemy is carrying out offensive operations, trying to encircle our units near Lysychansk and Severodonetsk and reach the administrative border of the Luhansk region.”
War in Ukraine: “Annexation has indeed begun” – Russia distributes new passports in Donbass
++ 3:40 pm: An aide to the mayor of Mariupol, Petro Andryushchenko, reported on Telegram that the so-called “People’s Republic of Donetsk” began distributing Russian Federation passports to residents of Mariupol and the temporarily occupied areas of the Donetsk region today. “The de facto annexation of Mariupol has begun,” he added.
War in Ukraine: Russian soldiers cut off gas supply – 36,000 people affected
+++ 1 pm: As Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk Oblast, reports on Telegram, Russian occupation forces fired on the last gas distribution point in the region, wounding a station employee. “As of yesterday, 36,000 consumers in three settlements in the Luhansk region are without gas,” the official continued. In addition, there is no central water supply and the population is completely cut off from the energy supply. Currently, the demand is being met temporarily with the help of water trucks. The information cannot be independently verified.
War in Ukraine: Attacks in Kramatorsk – Mayor warns population
++ 11:15 am: Oleksandr Honcharenko, the mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, urged residents on Wednesday not to return after a Russian airstrike last night.
“A busy night in Kramatorsk,” he wrote in a statement on Facebook. “An air strike on residential areas and the private sector. No injuries. Friends, I understand how difficult it is for you to be far from your hometown. But the enemy is approaching. Danger isn’t out there somewhere, it’s here – close! It’s too early to go back, no matter how hard it is for you.”
Ukrainian War: Zaporizhia and Kryvyi Rih under fire
+++ 10:00 am: In Ukraine, the cities of Zaporizhia and Kryvyi Rih were apparently hit by Russian missiles on Wednesday morning. This is reported by the Ukrainian media unanimously. Among other things, an industrial complex in the city of Zaporizhia was hit by three rockets. However, the information could not be independently verified.
Ukraine War: Heavy Combat for the City of Sievjerodonetsk
Update for Wednesday, May 25 at 8:30 am: According to information from Kiev, Russian troops have already gone on the offensive in eastern Ukraine and are fighting heavy fighting over the city of Sievjerodonetsk. In addition to Sievjerodonetsk, the nearby town of Lyman is also a target of Russian attacks, the Ukrainian general staff said in its situation report on Wednesday morning. Here, too, the ground offensive is supported by air strikes and artillery. The General Staff also reported battles in the Bakhmut area, southwest of Sieverodonetsk. Russian troops attacked several cities, but withdrew after losses for the time being. In the Avdiivka area there was continuous artillery fire on the defenders’ positions.
+++ 08:15: Due to heavy losses in the Ukraine war, the Russian army is apparently changing its strategy in Donbass. The American think tank “Institute for the Study of War” gives new details in an analysis.
Defense in eastern Ukraine is under pressure: Russia is massing troops in Donbass
First report for Wednesday, May 25th. 7:30 am: Kiev – The situation in the conflict in Ukraine is becoming increasingly precarious for Ukrainian troops in the east of the country. According to the authorities, the city of Zaporizhia, in eastern Ukraine, was hit by several rockets on Wednesday morning (May 25), the regional administration announced on its Telegram channel. One of the missiles was intercepted by the air defenses. Rescuers are on site to get an idea of the situation, damage and possible victims of the attack. Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of a difficult situation in Donbass and again called for heavy weapons. tanks and anti-ship missiles.
Meanwhile, military experts at the US war research institute Institute for the Study of War (ISW) report in their latest Ukraine review that the Russian military is massing forces from different directions in the highly contested Luhansk region. The reserves needed for an offensive would be drawn from the areas around Kharkiv, Izyum, Donetsk and Zaporizhia. In the last week, Russian troops in the Luhansk region managed to gain more territory than in the whole of May, analysts said. And Zelenskyy also emphasized on Tuesday night (May 24) that the Russian army was throwing “all the forces it still has” into this fight.
Massive Attacks in Eastern Ukraine: Russia Is Moving Closer to a Major Objective in Ukraine’s War
With massive artillery and airstrikes, the military has driven Ukrainian defenders out of several cities in the east of the country in recent days, and the Ukrainian front is starting to falter. For Russia, the complete conquest of the Ukrainian administrative regions of Donetsk and Luhansk is an important war objective. In Luhansk, this goal was almost achieved.
War in Ukraine: Russia apparently wants to surround Ukrainian troops in Sievjerodonetsk and Lyssychansk
In the region, Russian troops and their pro-Russian separatist allies now control 90% of the territory. The Ukrainian military occupies the metropolitan area between the cities of Sievjerodonetsk and Lysychansk – both cities were large cities with around 100,000 inhabitants before the war. According to the US ISW analysis, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin likely intends to encircle several small Ukrainian units in the area at the same time. However, despite the progress made, the Russians have yet to achieve a “major breakthrough”.
“The occupiers want to destroy everything there,” warned Zelenskyy. He listed the cities of Lyman, Popasna, Sieverodonetsk and Sloviansk. It will take great efforts on the part of the Ukrainian people to overcome Russian superiority in weapons and technology. According to the administration, 15 civilians were killed in 24 hours in the Donetsk region alone.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry also spoke of a difficult situation in the Donbass coal and steel region. Apparently, the Russian army wants to encircle Ukrainian units in the cities of Sievjerodonetsk and Lysychansk, spokesman Olexander Motusyanyk said. The only supply route for the Ukrainian armed forces is already under attack. (me/nak)