Reuters: Iranian president's life 'at risk' after helicopter crash
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister crashed on May 19 as it flew over a mountainous area in Iran through heavy fog.
Team
Chris York is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister crashed on May 19 as it flew over a mountainous area in Iran through heavy fog.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in conjunction with the country's new Unmanned Systems Forces, launched a drone attack on Russia's Kushchevskaya military airbase and Slavyansk oil refinery plant overnight, Ukrainska Pravda reported on May 19.
Five people were killed and nine injured in Russian strikes on villages in the Kupiansk district of Kharkiv Oblast, local authorities reported on May 19.
The West's current stance on the war in Ukraine and delays in military aid are "completely nonsensical," the U.K's defense secretary said on May 19.
At least six people were injured in Ukraine's Kherson Oblast after a series of Russian attacks on May 19, the Kherson Regional Military Administration said.
In a post on Facebook, Peter Szijjarto said that "other plans" had been proposed by others but were not being considered by the Council, and the exclusion of Russia from the body meant peace negotiations could not work. The minister did not specify which other plans he was referring to.
Russia has no plans to capture Kharkiv "as of today" and is attacking Kharkiv Oblast in order to create a so-called buffer zone in the oblast to prevent shelling in Belgorod, President Vladimir Putin claimed on May 17.
Syrski's comments came a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists Russian troops were able to advance as far as 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep during their offensive in Kharkiv Oblast, but the front in the region has been stabilized.
Over the winter months, Ukraine's armed forces suffered a "critical" shortage of artillery shells, in large part due to delays in U.S. military aid.
Serhii Bolvinov, the head of the investigative department of the police of the Kharkiv Oblast, said on air on Suspilne that up to 40 civilians, most of them elderly, had been taken captive when trying to escape Russian shelling.
Satellite images obtained by RFE/RL and The New York Times suggested two MiG-31s and one Su-27 were damaged if not totally destroyed.
If confirmed, it would be the largest drone attack by Ukraine throughout the entire war. A previous attack in March saw the Kremlin claiming to have downed 65 drones.
Russia has lost 489,870 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on May 17.
Under outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the Netherlands has been a staunch ally of Ukraine, being one of the few partners to pledge F-16 fighter jets.
Speaking on May 16 at a press conference during Putin's two-day visit to China, the pair put on a united front and cast themselves as partners opposed to a Western, U.S.-led world order.
Last year, the Ukrainian government passed a law limiting bonuses for those working in the civil service.
The bill's introduction into the parliament has led to widespread protests across the country and criticism from the EU and the U.S.
Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba said that Fico "was heavily injured" during the attack and one bullet "went through the stomach" while another "hit the joints."
A 71-year-old man is reportedly suspected of carrying out what Slovak government officials have called an assassination attempt and has been detained.
Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne on May 15 said in a statement it had not received any "complaints or fines for alleged violations of the rules."
Blinken was asked about recent Ukrainian complaints that a Washington ban meant Ukraine could not strike Russian forces as they built up before crossing the border into Kharkiv Oblast.
Speaking on national TV, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said around 6,000 people from the surrounding oblast who lived closer to the front lines had been taken to the city and housed in dormitories.
Ten people died in the attack including several rescue workers who raced to the scene of the first missile, only to be hit by another around 40 minutes later.
According to Ukraine's figures, Moscow lost the most number of soldiers in a single day since the start of the full-scale invasion – 1,740 – on May 12.
President Volodymyr Zelensky had been due to make the trip in the coming days, partly in order to sign a bilateral security agreement with Spain, the El Pais newspaper reported on May 13.
Drones from Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) attacked an oil base in the Rostov region of Russia overnight, a source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent on May 15.
KHARKIV – The first signs that something ominous is happening in Kharkiv come as soon as the train from Kyiv reaches the suburbs of the city – as two pillars of smoke appear in the distance, every single phone in the carriage erupts with a piercing electronic squawking. "I guess we've arrived,
Where the downing occurred was not specified but the brigade that shot it down is known to be operating in the Avdiivka direction in Donetsk Oblast.
Latvia has been one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters since the outbreak of the full-scale war and annually allocates 0.25% of its GDP to provide military aid to Ukraine. Silina said earlier in April that Riga's military aid for Kyiv amounted to 392 million euros ($419 million) since February 2022.
Warsaw has also, for several years, accused Belarus of deliberately pushing migrants into Poland in order to pressure the EU over sanctions, a charge Belarus has denied.
Speaking to journalists, Oleh Syniehubov said the situation was "fully controlled." Syniehubov claimed fighting was ongoing in four of the five villages claimed by Moscow – Strilecha, Pylna, Borysivka, and Ohirtseve.
In a briefing, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russian troops were now in control of Pletenivka, Ohirtseve, Borysivka, Pylna, and Strilecha, all within two kilometers of the border. The Kyiv Independent could not verify the Russian Defense Ministry's claims.