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12:19 AM

War update

Ukraine war latest: Russia launches largest drone attack on Kyiv; Ukraine to sanction Iran

11:25 PM

Zelensky congratulates Erdogan on victory in presidential election after run-off vote

With almost 99% of ballots counted in the second round of Turkey's presidential election, incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan received 52% of the votes, according to unofficial data published the state-run Anadolu Agency.

10:36 PM

1 wounded in Russian shelling of Kharkiv Oblast.

The Russian military heavily shelled the Kupiansk district of Kharkiv Oblast on May 28, the State Emergency Service reported. As a result of the attack, a 74-year old woman suffered shrapnel wounds in the village of Kucherivka.

9:23 PM

General Staff: Over 100 Russian soldiers desert in occupied Lysychansk and near Bakhmut.

About 80 Russian soldiers in the occupied city of Lysychansk, Luhansk Oblast, as well as about 30 mercenaries of the Wagner Group near the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast deserted from the battlefield, the General Staff reported on May 28.

9:10 PM

Official: Ukraine won't join NATO until war ends.

Fedir Venislavskyi, the Ukrainian president's representative in the Ukrainian parliament, said on May 28 that the NATO alliance is unlikely to accept Ukraine until the war with Russia ends.

8:32 PM

Reznikov reports 100% hit rate for new British-made cruise missiles used by Ukraine.

The air-launched Storm Shadow missiles, jointly developed by Great Britain and France and capable of hitting targets at a distance of more than 250 kilometers, were delivered to Ukraine on May 12 from the UK, CNN reported.

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6:50 PM

General Staff: Canadian sappers training Ukrainian soldiers in Poland.

Canadian military sappers have been training Ukrainian soldiers on mine safety in Poland, Ukraine’s General Staff reported on May 28. According to the General Staff, the courses are part of the Canadian UNIFIER training mission.

5:08 PM

Zelensky thanks air defense, first responders after overnight Russian attack.

“The Air Defense Forces of Ukraine. You heard the air raid alarm differently than most people,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in the aftermath of Russia's overnight attack on Kyiv on May 28. “You look up to destroy enemy missiles, aircraft, helicopters, and drones. Every time you shoot down enemy drones and missiles, lives are saved.”

4:26 PM

Lukashenko claims Russia will give nukes to any state that joins 'Union State.'

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claimed Russia will give nuclear weapons to any state that joins the Union State of Russia and Belarus, Russian state-controlled media said.

2:54 PM

Lavrov calls move to supply Ukraine with Western fighter jets ‘unacceptable escalation.’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the pledged delivery of fighter jets by some Western states is an "unacceptable escalation," criticizing the West for what he called an attempt to "weaken Russia," according to Russian state-controlled media.

1:51 PM

Russia claims drones targeted oil refinery near Black Sea.

Russia’s Krasnodar regional authorities claimed an overnight attempted drone attack on the Ilsky Oil Refinery. According to the report, the attack caused a fire at the oil refinery.

1:35 PM

Zelensky asks parliament to sanction Iran for 50 years.

The bill includes a complete ban on trade with Iran, investments, and transferring technologies, as well as stopping Iranian transit across the Ukrainian territory, and preventing the withdrawal of Iranian assets from Ukraine.

12:22 PM

Russian attacks kill 1, injure 8 civilians across Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Russian attacks in Kherson, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia oblast have also damaged housing, infrastructure, and power grid, regional authorities reported on May 28.

11:43 AM

Death toll rises in Russian strike on Dnipro clinic after more body fragments identified.

Authorities identified fragments of the bodies found on the site, proving they belonged to the three people who had been recorded missing.

10:40 AM

Russian attacks kill 2 in Kharkiv Oblast, hit infrastructure in Zhytomyr Oblast.

Russian shelling and airstrike killed two civilians and injured three others in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast over the past day, Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on May 28.

9:38 AM

General Staff: Russia has lost 206,600 troops in Ukraine.

General Staff added an estimated 400 casualties to its count of Russian losses over the past 24 hours.

7:01 AM

More than 40 Russian drones shot down over Kyiv overnight.

Kyiv's air defenses shot down over 40 drones Russia launched at the capital overnight on May 28, in what the Kyiv City Military Administration says was the largest drone attack on the city since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

6:11 AM

Media: Explosions reported in Zhytomyr.

Explosions were heard in the central city of Zhytomyr early in the morning of May 28, the Suspilne news outlet reported at around 5:30 a.m. local time.

4:22 AM

Zelensky on sanctions: 'Russia and those helping it will gain nothing and lose everything'.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during an address on May 27 that Ukraine would keep up its sanctions regime against Russia and those helping it in its war against Ukraine.

2:56 AM

Russia launches largest drone attack at Kyiv in 14th mass aerial assault this month, killing at least 1.

Debris from an aerial target that was shot down fell onto a gas station in Kyiv's Holosiivskyi district, killing one person and injuring at least one, the Kyiv City Military Administration reported on Telegram.

2:29 AM

Explosions occur in Kyiv, authorities say air defenses at work.

Explosions were reported in Kyiv just after 1 a.m. local time overnight on May 28, Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said on Telegram, adding that air defenses were operating and Russian aerial targets had been shot down.

1:25 AM

Media: Russia hunts down 7 deserters recruited from prisons.

Seven Russian servicemen who were formerly inmates have deserted near Soledar in Donetsk Oblast, Russian state news agency TASS and Baza, a Russian Telegram news channel, reported on May 27, citing their sources.

1:12 AM

Austria to finance demining in Ukraine.

Austria will finance demining equipment worth 2 million euros ($2.2 million) for Ukraine, the Austrian government announced in a statement.

12:34 AM

Russian shelling of Zaporizhzhia Oblast injures two civilians.

Two men in their 60s were injured when Russia shelled a residential area in the settlement of Stepnohirsk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast on May 27, according to regional governor Yuriy Malashko.

12:05 AM

Poll: two thirds of Ukrainians oppose negotiations with Russia.

A new poll has found that 64% of Ukrainians oppose direct talks with Russia before the war ends, while 23.1% are in favor of negotiations.

MORE NEWS

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Bild: Zelensky, Zaluzhnyi have conflicting views on Bakhmut

by Kate Tsurkan March 6, 2023 2:58 PM 2 min read

This audio is created with AI assistance

President Volodymyr Zelensky and Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi have conflicting views on how the military should handle the situation in Bakhmut, according to unnamed sources within the Ukrainian political leadership cited in a report by Bild.

Bild writes that Zaluzhnyi was deliberating a tactical withdrawal from Bakhmut weeks ago over concern for the wellbeing of his troops.

The Ukrainian government told Bild that remaining in Bakhmut was the right decision due to the serious damage it inflicted on Russian military personnel and equipment. However, according to other sources cited by the publication, the situation is at risk of becoming untenable.

"The vast majority of soldiers in Bakhmut do not understand why the city is being held," a Ukrainian military analyst told Bild on condition of anonymity.

Another Ukrainian military analyst told Bild that the current ratio of casualties between the Ukrainians and Russians is 1:7, which is why the Ukrainian military pushed to hold Bakhmut. However, they added that "the troops should have been withdrawn three weeks ago when the Russians took Krasna Hora. The decision to keep Bakhmut was a good one, but they overdid it.”

Meanwhile, the President's Office reported on March 6 that a meeting took place between Zelensky, Zaluzhnyi, and other officials regarding the situation in Bakhmut. According to the press release, they spoke in favor of continuing defensive operations and strengthening the Ukrainian military's position in Bakhmut.

U.S. Defense Secretary Loyd Austin told journalists during a trip to Jordan on March 6 that Bakhmut was more of "symbolic" than "strategic" value for the Ukrainian military and that he didn't think Ukraine's potential troop withdrawal would cause any major setbacks for the course of the war.

Ukrainian infantrymen recently told the Kyiv Independent of unprepared, poorly-trained battalions being sent to the front line to survive as best they could with little support from armored vehicles, mortars, artillery, drones, and tactical information.

The battle for Bakhmut, a city in Donetsk Oblast, has been raging for the past seven months. The Russian military is attempting to increase its grip over the entirety of the oblast, around half of which it currently occupies.

Kate Tsurkan

News editor

Kate Tsurkan is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a writer, editor, and translator. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harpers, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Apofenie Magazine. Originally from the U.S., she resides in Chernivtsi, a city in the west of Ukraine.

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