Washington will "adapt and adjust as necessary" its ban on allowing Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia with U.S.-supplied weapons, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on May 29.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump suggested at a fundraising event that he would have bombed Moscow in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Washington Post (WP) reported on May 28, citing several anonymous donors and advisers.
U.S. President Joe Biden's absence at the upcoming global peace summit for Ukraine would be met with applause by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press conference in Brussels on May 28.
"The war in Ukraine has shown how important it is to be able to hit targets located even very far from the front line," the Polish Defense Ministry said.
On May 26, Zelensky called on the leaders of the U.S., Joe Biden, and China, Xi Jinping, to "show their leadership in advancing the peace," participating personally in the upcoming summit.
Speaking at an event in Berlin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his government gave clear rules to Kyiv prohibiting the use of German weapons on Russian soil and that he sees no reason to change this.
Using publicly available data, consulting firm Bain & Company claims that Russian factories can produce or refurbish 4.5 million 152 mm shells for $1,000 per round this year. European countries and the U.S. are only expected to produce 1.3 million 155 mm shells combined at an average cost of $4,000 per unit.
"Using a normal, routine, and democratic transition as an excuse for military provocations risks escalation and erodes longstanding norms," U.S. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
"We have no doubt that North Korea will be provocative this year. It’s just a matter of how escalatory it is," a U.S. intelligence official told the news outlet.
"The Americans have told the Russians that if you explode a nuke, even if it doesn't kill anybody, we will hit all your targets (positions) in Ukraine with conventional weapons, we’ll destroy all of them," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told the Guardian.
The United States announced a new military package on May 24 worth $275 million, the U.S. Defense Department reported.
Speaking during his first rally in New York in eight years on May 23, the former president also said he would have stopped Hamas’s attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza that followed.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said he is launching a review of U.S.-Georgian relations and voiced hope that Georgia's leaders will reconsider the law.
According to the news outlet, the event clashes with a campaign fundraiser he is set to attend alongside, among others, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Jimmy Kimmel.
The aviators will now move to Europe for additional training, Politico wrote, citing an undisclosed source.
The U.S. government will announce an additional $275 million in ammunition and artillery for Ukraine in the coming days, two U.S. officials told the Associated Press (AP) on the condition of anonymity.
The decree would enable Russian citizens, companies, and the central bank to appeal to courts that the seizure of their assets is unjustified. In turn, the Russian government could offer U.S. assets in Russia as compensation.
After his "sobering visit" to Kyiv, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wants the White House to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russian territory with American-supplied arms, The New York Times (NYT) reported on May 22, citing undisclosed official sources.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that while he has personally warned about the possibility since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the U.S. has seen no evidence either in the past or "to date."
China sanctioned 12 American military companies and 10 defense executives on May 22 in response to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and sanctions against Chinese firms the U.S. has accused of aiding Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Wood described the move as "troubling." Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder separately said on May 21 the U.S. was monitoring the situation and had a "responsibility to be ready to protect and defend… the space domain."
Some senior U.S. Republicans criticized the presidential administration's decision to direct military aid to Haiti from Pentagon stocks, claiming it could have otherwise been sent to Ukraine, Politico reported on May 21.
Ukraine recently said that Washington's ban meant Ukraine was unable to attack Russian forces as they were building up before crossing the border into Kharkiv Oblast in the renewed Russian offensive that began earlier in May.
Key developments on May 21: * General Staff confirms Russian missile ship Tsiklon struck in occupied Crimea * EU Council approves using Russian assets revenue to fund Ukraine * Politico: US may announce new military aid package for Ukraine this week * Reuters: Germany plans to up Ukraine military aid by 3.8 billion
The Russian state television network Rossiya 24 posted episodes of a purported new show with U.S. far-right political commentator and conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson on May 21, but Carlson's team said he had nothing to do with it.
Washington's proposal envisions borrowing against future profits from the frozen assets and transferring the money to Kyiv upfront from a Group of Seven (G7) loan.
The proposed measures would offer Georgia increased access to U.S. markets, a military support package, and the liberalization of the visa regime for Georgian citizens.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin described the ongoing defense against the Russian offensive in Kharkiv Oblast as a "hard and dangerous fight."
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.
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.
Some NATO member states are discussing the possibility of sending military instructors or contractors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian troops and assist with equipment repairs, the New York Times reported on May 16.
The officials said that Russia had launched a satellite into space in February 2022 to test components for a potential anti-satellite weapon that would carry a nuclear device. However, the satellite that was launched doesn’t carry a nuclear weapon, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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