Liveblog: ++ According to Ukraine, Bachmut continues “Epicenter of the fighting” ++

According to the Ukrainian army, it is still fighting for Bakhmut. Russia is threatening possible consequences if F-16 fighter jets are deployed to Ukraine. All developments in the live blog.

In Austria, 240 exhibits from the office of the Russian gas company Gazprom will be auctioned. After an application for insolvency was filed in April, the establishment of the location in the center of Vienna is now to be auctioned on behalf of the insolvency administrator, according to the auction house Aurena. The reason for filing for bankruptcy was the cessation of gas supplies by Gazprom export Ltd. been called. At the auction on Wednesday, high-quality office furniture, paintings, acoustic elements as well as safes and document shredders would be auctioned off. A number of murals will also go under the hammer, including a pipeline map of Europe and an aerial photograph of Austria’s Baumgarten natural gas distribution station. According to Aurena, there are already numerous bids.

The Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia is again completely cut off from the external power supply. This was announced by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi. “The nuclear safety situation in the power plant is extremely endangered,” Grossi wrote on Twitter. The Ukrainian nuclear company Enerhoatom confirmed the incident. On Monday morning, the high-voltage line supplying the power plant was damaged by shelling. Cooling would be provided by the existing diesel generators. Fuel is available for these for ten days. Overall, it is the seventh power failure since the beginning of the Russian occupation in March 2022.

The IAEA in Vienna is concerned that a failure of the cooling systems could lead to overheating of the fuel rods and nuclear waste, and thus to a nuclear accident.
Grossi again called for an agreement between Kiev and Moscow not to attack Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and not to use it as a military base. “This can’t go on like this,” he wrote.

The Ukrainian army has reaffirmed its ongoing battle for the city of Bakhmut, denying Russian claims that the city had fallen completely. Despite attempts by Russian forces to “take control of the entire city,” Ukrainian units continued to defend “several buildings and a number of fortifications in the south-western part of Bakhmut,” spokesman for the Ukrainian Army’s Eastern Command Serhiy Cherevatyy said on Ukrainian television in the evening . According to the Ukrainian general staff, Bakhmut and the small town of Marinka near Donetsk remain the “epicenter of the fighting.” The “battle for Bakhmut” is going on, according to the statement by the general staff.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar said Ukrainian forces “partially encircled” Bakhmut after breaking through flanks held by Russia. The situation in Bakhmut is “very difficult” for Russia. Ukrainian forces continued to hold “certain industrial and infrastructure facilities” in the city. On Saturday, the Russian army initially announced the complete conquest of Bakhmut and Russian President Vladimir Putin later congratulated the army and the Wagner mercenary group on Saturday for taking the city. On Sunday, statements made by Zelensky at the G7 summit in Hiroshima were initially interpreted as a possible admission of Russian occupation, but his spokesman later denied this.

According to Western experts, the Russian Wagner Group has been weakened by the fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Due to the wear and tear, the mercenaries are hardly in a position to launch new attacks outside the city, shared the US Institute for War Studies (ISW) in Washington with. At the same time, military analysts assumed that Bakhmut is largely controlled by Russian troops. The Ukrainian armed forces, on the other hand, counterattacked north and south of Bakhmut and controlled communication routes around the city.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had declared the complete taking of Bakhmut at the weekend. He announced that he would withdraw from the city and hand it over to regular Russian forces on May 25. According to the ISW experts, the Russian forces may need further reinforcements to hold Bakhmut, which lies largely in ruins, and to protect the flanks. This would also prevent the Russians from advancing in the west towards Kostyantynivka and in the north towards Soledar, as planned.

Russia has attacked the Ukrainian region of Dnepropetrovsk with drones and cruise missiles in the night. Eight people were injured, three of whom had to be treated in hospital, the governor of the region, Serghij Lyssak, said on the Telegram news channel. Air defense shot down 15 drones and 4 cruise missiles, he said. Lyssak also published photos of severely damaged homes, businesses and cars.

There was another air alert in Ukraine on Monday night. The country’s air force announced in the morning that a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jet and four missiles had been shot down. In addition, 20 so-called kamikaze drones of the Iranian type Shahed-136/131 were taken from the sky. According to the information, Russia fired a total of 16 rockets at the neighboring country.

According to Russian information, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine is cut off from the external power supply. It is supplied by emergency generators, said a governor of part of the Russian-controlled region appointed by the government in Moscow. Governor Vladimir Rogov has accused Ukraine of cutting a power line under its control. There was initially no comment from Ukraine.

Starting this morning in Brussels, the foreign ministers of the European Union will be discussing further military aid for Ukraine. A new tranche of EUR 500 million is planned. Most recently, Hungary blocked the release of the funds because Ukraine recently classified Hungary’s largest bank, OTP, as a war sponsor. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) also wants to campaign in Brussels for an expansion of majority decisions in the EU in order to prevent such blockages in the future. A meeting with around ten other countries is planned for this purpose. So far, all foreign policy decisions have had to be unanimous.

According to Ukrainian sources, Russia carried out an airstrike on the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro in the night. “Thanks to the defense forces, we survived the attack. Details will be announced in due course,” Governor Serhiy Lysak said on his Telegram channel. RBC-Ukraine news agency reports that about 15 explosions were heard in Dnipro during the more than 90-minute airstrike warning. It was not immediately clear whether the explosions were the result of the missiles being destroyed by Ukrainian air defense systems or if Russian missiles or drones were hitting them.

According to the Russian ambassador to the United States, a deployment of US F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine raises the question of NATO involvement in the conflict.

Also, any Ukrainian attack on Crimea will be considered an attack on Russia, Anatoly Antonov writes on the Telegram channel of the embassy in Washington. “It is important that the United States is fully aware of the Russian response to this.”

Austria does not expect any regime change in Russia by the end of this decade. “I don’t assume that the political system and the political leadership in Russia will change substantially by the end of this decade. We will have to live with the fact that our relationship with Russia will remain troubled because the most important asset is missing: trust,” said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg of the “world”.

In the future, the West, including Ukraine, will not be able to rely on Russia sticking to signed agreements. “Russia will remain a threat for many years. Ukraine therefore needs Western security guarantees.”

After the G7 meeting in Japan, the Ukrainian President vowed to show “special respect” to all Ukrainians. South Korea is considering arms sales to Ukraine