As Russia’s relations with Poland continue to race to a new low due to the war with Ukraine and a U.S. and NATO military build-up along its borders, Moscow is considering taking drastic diplomatic measures as punishment against Warsaw for its outspoken stance against the war caused by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s campaign to get Western leaders to provide Kyiv with fighter jets got a promising prospect on Monday when French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France has “opened the door” to training Ukrainian fighter pilots. The announcement came the day after Zelensky visited Paris as part of a broader tour of Europe. Macron also vowed to send more tanks to help with Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression.
Russia has said that its forces destroyed a U.S.-made Patriot missile defense system in Kyiv Monday night during an immense missile attack. The reportedly destroyed Patriot system was worth $1.1 billion.
In a May 14 briefing, the Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces had executed a strike on a Ukrainian munitions depot in the western city of Khmelnytskyi that resulted in a massive explosion followed by an apocalyptic fireball.
As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) summit approaches, member states have been privately discussing what Ukraine’s status within the alliance should be. While all members are in favor of elevating Kyiv’s status, the members have not been able to agree on a united path for Ukraine to join the bloc.
A new revelation from the trove of military intelligence documents that were leaked by Jack Teixeira has caused outrage among several Hungarian media outlets after it revealed that Ukraine had been planning to sabotage the Druzhba oil pipeline. The pipeline carries crude from Russia to Hungary.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin clarified late Saturday in an audio statement that despite regular Russian forces having “retreated” from parts of Bakhmut’s north (in his words), his own Wagner fighters are still advancing.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with Western leaders during a tour of Europe, Germany announced a new €2.7 billion ($2.95 billion) arms package for Kyiv over the weekend.
Last Friday at an event in Florence, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell made some blunt statements regarding Ukraine’s precarious position and noted that Kyiv would collapse “in a matter of days” if military support from its Western allies were to stop being given. Borrell also noted that the situation is regrettably not right for peace talks at the present time.
On Thursday, Britain’s Defense Secretary, Ben Wallace, confirmed that the UK will be sending Storm Shadow long-range missiles to Ukraine. “I can confirm that the UK is donating Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine,” Wallace told Parliament. The missiles should assist Ukraine in regaining some of its territory that is currently under Russian occupation.