live blog
Status: 05/18/2022 02:47 am
Ukraine’s President Selenskyj described his phone call with Chancellor Scholz as “quite productive”. According to Ukrainian sources, guerrilla fighters killed several Russian officers. All developments in the live blog.
2:47 a.m
Ukrainian Defense Minister: Russia is digging in in the south
According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, Russian forces are digging in in the south and east of his country. “Russia is preparing for a longer-term military operation,” he told European Union defense ministers and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Accordingly, the Russian troops are currently strengthening their positions in the areas they occupy in the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions in order to “switch to defensive mode if necessary”. Reznikov reiterated that Moscow wants to create “a land corridor between Russia and Crimea” and occupy “the entire south of Ukraine.”
2:30 a.m
Selenskyj: Phone call with Scholz “quite productive”
After tensions in the relationship between Kyiv and Berlin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj described his phone call with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) as “quite productive”. Among other things, military support for Ukraine was discussed, Zelenskyj said in his daily video speech at night. He informed Scholz about the current military situation and its possible future development, said the President.
Selenskyj chose slightly different words to describe his conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron. That conversation was “substantial and long,” he said. Among other things, it was about the next round of European sanctions against Russia and Ukraine’s plans for rapid accession to the European Union. According to the Élysée Palace, Macron promised that arms deliveries from France would continue and intensify. He also confirmed that Ukraine’s accession to the EU should be discussed in June.
2:30 a.m
Ukraine: Guerrilla fighters kill several Russian officers
Ukrainian guerrilla fighters are said to have killed several senior Russian officers in Melitopol. The regional administration of the southern Ukrainian city announced on Telegram that Russian troops tightened checks on private cars on Tuesday, apparently in order to track down the fighters. At the same time, the Russian occupiers tried to keep the killing of their officers a secret. Details about the alleged actions of the guerrilla fighters were initially not given, and the report could not be independently confirmed. Melitopol had already been occupied at the beginning of the Russian war of aggression. Ukraine repeatedly reports that many Russian generals and other officers have been killed. Some of these killings have been confirmed by Russia.
conflicting parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body.