Media: Ukrainian coal businessman Kropachov detained
Ukrainian businessman Vitaliy Kropachov is the owner of the Ukrdoninvest Group of companies with assets in the coal industry, machine-building, construction, transportation, and media.
Team
Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in international journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Ukrainian businessman Vitaliy Kropachov is the owner of the Ukrdoninvest Group of companies with assets in the coal industry, machine-building, construction, transportation, and media.
Russian troops were able to advance as far as 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep in some areas during their offensive in Kharkiv Oblast, but the front in the region has been stabilized, President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists on May 16.
Washington has not changed its position on potential Ukrainian strikes with U.S.-supplied weapons on Russian territory, even after Russia had launched its offensive in Kharkiv Oblast, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said at a press briefing on May 16.
Russian Shahed-type drones were intercepted over Kharkiv, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Odesa and Mykolaiv oblasts, Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said.
A fire broke out at an oil refinery in the town of Tuapse in Russia's Krasnodar Krai overnight on May 17 after a drone attack, the regional operational headquarters claimed.
When asked if the U.S. is to blame for what is happening in Kharkiv Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, "It is the world's fault."
Tamaz Gambarashvili, the head of Vovchansk City Military Administration, two medics and two drivers are among the injured, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on May 16.
Power supply restrictions in Ukraine may last until August, Yurii Boiko, an advisor to the prime minister, said at a press conference in Kyiv on May 16.
Russian troops attacked the village of Mykhailivka in Donetsk Oblast and the Beryslav district in Kherson Oblast on May 16, killing one person and injuring nine, according to the prosecutors.
Drones operated by Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) hit production facilities of the state-owned Russian weapons manufacturing company "Basalt" in the city of Tula overnight on May 16, a military intelligence source told the Kyiv Independent.
"The enemy's plans to advance deeper into the city of Vovchansk and gain a foothold there were thwarted," Ukraine's General Staff said on May 16.
Ukrainian troops have not lost ground near the village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Dmytro Lykhovii, General Staff's spokesperson told on the national television on May 16.
Russia targeted a total of 10 Ukrainian oblasts — Sumy, Luhansk, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Kherson. Casualties were reported in the latter five regions.
The partisans claim that the damaged depot stored "most of the missiles" for Russian Su-27 and Su-30 fighter jets as well as MiG-31 aircraft, a carrier of Kinzhal ballistic missiles that Russia uses to attack Ukraine.
The Estonian government has held no specific discussions on sending the country's troops to Ukraine, Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said on May 14, according to public broadcaster ERR.
The Ukrainian government has appointed on May 14 Taras Vysotskyi and Vasyl Shkurakov as the acting agriculture and infrastructure ministers, respectively, Taras Melnychuk, the government's representative in parliament, said.
Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov's statement came after he reportedly told the New York Times a day before that the situation in the region "was on the edge" and "moved toward critical every hour."
The Ukrainian troops "changed positions" near the village of Lukiantsi in Kharkiv Oblast "to save the lives" of their soldiers, Ukraine's General Staff reported on May 14.
Save Ukraine, a Ukrainian humanitarian NGO, rescued six more children from Russian-occupied territory, Kherson Oblast Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on May 14.
Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov expects that after Ukrainian forces stabilize the front in Kharkiv Oblast, Russia will launch a new attack in Sumy Oblast, the New York Times (NYT) reported on May 14.
Russia targeted a total of 10 Ukrainian oblasts — Sumy, Mykolaiv, Luhansk, Odesa, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson. Casualties were reported in the latter four regions.
More than 30,000 Russian troops are carrying out renewed offensive in Kharkiv Oblast, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Lytvynenko told in an interview with AFP published on May 13.
A Russian ammunition depot exploded in the occupied town of Sorokyne (Krasnodon) in Luhansk Oblast, on May 13, Governor Artem Lysohor said.
Russian troops attacked the border town of Snovsk in Chernihiv Oblast on May 13 with cluster munitions, injuring three people, Ukraine's National Police reported.
The High Anti-Corruption Court arrested Oleh Hladkovsky in absentia on May 13, Ukraine's Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) reported. Hladkovsky was the first deputy secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council during Petro Poroshenko's presidency.
President Volodymyr Zelensky is planning a trip to Spain in the coming days to sign a bilateral security agreement, the El Pais newspaper reported on May 13, citing unnamed sources in the country's government.
Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter on May 13, the 47th Mechanized Brigade reported.
A source in Ukraine's security services told the Kyiv Independent that drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) targeted an oil depot in Belgorod Oblast and an electrical substation in Lipetsk Oblast in Russia overnight on May 13.
Ukraine has identified Russian Air Force personnel responsible for carrying out cruise missile strikes on civilian infrastructure, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) announced on May 13.
Russia claimed to have shot down a total of 31 drones, including four over Lipetsk Oblast. Another 12 drones were destroyed over Belgorod Oblast, eight over Kursk Oblast, and seven over occupied Crimea, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
"The enemy has partial success in some areas, and in others, (Ukraine's) Defense Forces are pushing the enemy out and improving their tactical position," Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on May 12.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov claimed without evidence that a building in the Kharkovskaya Gora district of Belgorod Oblast was hit by a Ukrainian projectile during an air raid alert in the oblast.