Here is the situation on Thursday 16 May 2024.
Battler
- Intense fighting raged in Vovchansk, in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, about 5 km from the border with Russia. Oleksiy Kharkivskyi, the city’s police chief, said the situation was “extremely difficult”, while the Ukrainian General Staff said Ukrainian troops had managed to “partially” repel some Russian infantry groups, but “actions” were underway. defensive” on the northern and northwestern edges of the city.
- The Russian Defense Ministry said Russian forces had taken control of the settlements of Hlyboke and Lukyantsi in the northeastern Kharkiv region and Robotyne in the southern Zaporizhia region.
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Regional governor Serhiy Lysak said a Russian airstrike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed two people and wounded several others.
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At least 25 people were injured, three of them seriously, after Russian missiles and guided bombs hit the southern Ukrainian cities of Kherson and Mykolaiv. The attack also damaged apartment buildings, homes, schools and a medical facility, local officials said.
- At least two people were injured in Russian shelling of a central neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said the injured were being treated in hospital.
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The Russian Defense Ministry said its air force destroyed 10 long-range Ukrainian missiles fired at Sevastopol in Crimea, which Moscow invaded and annexed from Ukraine in 2014. It did not say whether there was any damage.
- Sri Lanka has said at least 16 of its citizens have been killed fighting as mercenaries in the war in Ukraine, mostly on the Russian side.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has canceled visits to Spain and Portugal planned this week.
- Swiss President Viola Amherd said delegations from more than 50 countries, including South America, Africa and the Middle East, have so far joined the peace summit in Ukraine next month. Switzerland is trying to convince other countries to join, including China.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in China on Thursday for a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In an interview with China’s state news agency Xinhua before the visit, he supported China’s peace proposals for Ukraine.
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European Union ambassadors have decided to extend sanctions against Russian media to four more media outlets, accusing them of publishing propaganda. European Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova said Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestija and Rossiyskaya Gazeta would be added to the list, which already includes Sputnik and RT. Jourova said Russian funding of European media, non-governmental organizations and political parties would also be banned.
- Nadezhda Buyanova, a 68-year-old Moscow pediatrician, was put on trial for spreading “false” information about the army after the ex-wife of a soldier killed in Ukraine filed a complaint over an alleged comment Buyanova made during a consultation.
Weapons
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $2 billion in additional military aid for Ukraine and said Washington was sending ammunition, armored vehicles, missiles and air defenses to the country to ensure their rapid delivery to the front lines.
- Putin said Russia’s total spending on defense and security could reach just over 8.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024
