May 11, 2024
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 07:17 EU wants to give interest profits from Russia’s billion-dollar assets to Ukraine – Minister: “Almost nothing” +++
Around 210 billion euros in Russian assets are said to be frozen in the EU. Brussels plans to use the interest profits to buy weapons for Ukraine. However, this would only result in a small single-digit billion sum. Ukrainian Justice Minister Denys Maliuska tells Politico that the annual €3 billion package from the profits of frozen Russian assets is “almost nothing” given the country’s needs. “We need hundreds of billions to win the war,” said Maliuska. “The Ukrainian government really wants to achieve full confiscation and really believes that this is legal and is the only approach that will be decisive in resolving the war,” he adds.
+++ 06:39 To meet Ukraine’s critical needs: USA announces new $400 million weapons package +++
The US Department of Defense announces additional aid “to address Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs.” This is the fifty-seventh tranche of equipment from US stocks for Ukraine since August 2021. The package is said to be worth 400 million US dollars. According to a statement from Washington, it includes, among other things, ammunition for Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, artillery shells, Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, additional HIMARS artillery rocket systems and ammunition as well as M113 armored personnel carriers.
+++ 06:04 Ukraine says it has several new robot complexes in operation +++
Nine land-based Ukrainian robotic complexes have been put into operation since the beginning of the year, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. The robots perform a variety of functions on the battlefield and minimize risks to Ukrainian troops, the ministry said. Tasks include fighting with machine guns, clearing mines and evacuating wounded soldiers. “Many domestic manufacturers are currently focusing on the production of robotic systems to increase the capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and save the lives of our soldiers,” says Defense Ministry representative Colonel Volodymyr Rochniak.
+++ 05:34 Ukraine: Russian attacks kill civilians in Sumy area +++
Russian forces attacked nine settlements along the border with Sumy Oblast on May 10, killing one civilian and wounding two others, the regional military administration reported. A 64-year-old woman was killed and her 17-year-old granddaughter was injured in artillery shelling in the municipality of Esman, the administration said. A resident of the village of Seredyna-Buda was also injured by artillery fire on May 10, the administration said.
+++ 04:45 Official: Russians want to destroy Ukrainian city of Vovchansk +++
Russian forces want to destroy the Ukrainian border town of Vovchansk, according to a Ukrainian official. “Within 24 hours there were probably several hundred hits from artillery, mines and dozens of cluster bombs,” says the head of the Vovchansk police patrol. “They are destroying the city and trying to invade the area.”
+++ 03:35 Governor: Dead in Ukrainian attack on oil storage facility near Luhansk +++
According to the Russian governor there, three people were killed in the Ukrainian attack on an oil depot in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region. Six people were injured by the explosion and two suffered smoke inhalation, wrote Governor Leonid Passetschnik on the Telegram short message service. A major fire broke out in the oil storage facility. Passetschnik suspects that Ukraine used US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), without citing any evidence. There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian side.
+++ 02:20 Russia: Drone attacks on the Belgorod and Kursk oblasts +++
On May 10, Ukraine launched drone strikes on the Russian regions of Belgorod and Kursk, according to Russia, damaging agricultural buildings and equipment, according to Russian authorities. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, air defense units fired 17 Vampire rocket launchers, 13 drones and five guided air bombs over Belgorod Oblast. According to Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, one of the drones fell on a farm, damaging three buildings and two pieces of equipment. The governor of Russia’s Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, also reports that on May 10, 12 settlements in the region were attacked by drones. A drone damaged an infrastructure facility, he said.
+++ 00:53 Zelenskyj: “Fierce fighting along the entire front” +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announces a strong response from Ukraine in the face of the latest Russian offensive. “There is fierce fighting along the entire front,” Zelensky said in a video message published on online services. “We will inevitably destroy the occupier in such a way that all Russian offensive plans will be thwarted,” he added.
+++ 23:46 Fire apparently broke out in the oil storage facility near Luhansk as a result of an attack +++
The Russian news agency TASS reports an attack on an oil depot in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region. A fire broke out there as a result of a Ukrainian attack. Ukrainian bloggers report that the depot in the town of Rovenky was hit.
+++ 22:14 US government calls Kremlin offensive “certainly worrying” +++
The US government is watching the new major Russian attack near the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with concern. “We expected Russia to launch an offensive against Kharkiv, and it now appears to have begun,” said National Security Council communications director John Kirby. In the months after the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia tried desperately to take the city, but was unsuccessful. “In fact, it was the failure to take Kharkiv that prompted Mr. Putin to withdraw his troops across the border,” Kirby said. The current actions of the Russian military there are therefore “very interesting and certainly worrying.”
+++ 21:51 Zelenskyj: “What really helps are the weapons that are actually being brought to Ukraine” +++
According to President Zelensky, the Ukrainian armed forces need timely aid supplies from abroad to counter the Russian army’s new offensive in Ukraine. “What really helps are the weapons that are actually brought to Ukraine, and not just announced packages,” he says in his nightly video address. The Russian offensive did not come as a surprise. “We know the strength of the occupier’s troops and see their plan,” says Zelensky. “Our soldiers, our artillery and our drones are responding to the occupiers.”
You can read all previous developments here.