Polina Moroziuk

Russia appears to be placing newer Pantsir air defense systems on Moscow rooftops as Ukraine’s long-range strikes continue to reach deep inside Russian territory.

The transfer would further expand Ukraine's fleet of Western-supplied fighter aircraft, which already includes American F-16s and French Mirage 2000s but remains insufficient to fully defend Ukrainian cities and infrastructure from daily Russian missile and drone attacks

The strikes are a part of Ukraine's ongoing "long-range sanctions" campaign targeting Russia's military-industrial and energy infrastructure deep behind the front line, as Kyiv seeks to impose higher costs on Moscow's war effort.

A Russian strike on a children's playground in Kherson left a father dead and his family seriously wounded.

In a dusty industrial estate in the city of Bila Tserkva, a Ukrainian grandmother searches through the smouldering ruins of her storage unit for her harvest of potatoes. Two days earlier it had been hit with what is supposed to be one of Russia's most fearsome weapons — an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM). "It sounded like thunder, a very long, drawn-out thunder. And then there were six explosions in a row," Nadiia, a Bila Tserkva resident who declined to give her last name

According to the Sumy Oblast Military Administration, the drone struck the procession while commemorations marking Ukraine's Day of Heroes were taking place across the city.

The comments come after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz proposed creating an interim "associate" form of EU membership for Ukraine and other candidate countries while they wait for full accession to the bloc.

A 69-year-old cyclist was hit by an FPV drone in the village of Kostyrka. He was one of 20 people injured in overnight Russian attacks on Kherson Oblast that also damaged a church and eight homes.

A fire broke out at a fuel terminal in the southern Russian city of Novorossiysk overnight on May 23, local authorities and media channels reported.

Russian military hospitals are struggling to cope with the number of soldiers wounded in the war against Ukraine, forcing authorities to repurpose civilian hospitals, maternity wards, and other medical facilities for military use.

Renat Suleimanov, a State Duma deputy from the Communist Party (KPRF), said in an interview with Russian outlet Kontinent Sibir that Russia needs the "swiftest possible end" to what Moscow calls its "special military operation," the Kremlin's term for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The drills, scheduled to run through May 21, involve Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Pacific fleets, long-range aviation command, and units from the Leningrad and Central military districts, the ministry said.

China's armed forces secretly trained around 200 Russian military personnel in China in late 2025, with some later returning to fight in Ukraine, Reuters reported on May 19, citing three European intelligence agencies and documents seen by the agency.

The attacks came as Russia continued large-scale aerial strikes across Ukraine and intensified attacks on energy infrastructure.

Russia launched 209 drones overnight, Ukraine's Air Force said on the morning of May 19, most of them Shahed-type deep-strike drones.