The military situation in the Ukraine war is getting worse and worse: the news ticker on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on Thursday, May 26th.
- Scholz with warning: “Biggest famine in decades” possible
- Bundeswehr frigate: Warship on the north flank of the Nato relocated
- “Putin needs victory”: “Battle for Sieverodonetsk” is imminent
- Troops forming for offensive: Russia prepare full attack – fierce battles around the industrial city of Sievjerodonetsk in the Donbass
- This news ticker for Ukraine war is continuously updated by our editorial team
+++ 2.15 p.m.: According to Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of the Ukrainian capital, 120 citizens of Kyiv have already been killed since the Russian invasion began at the end of February. Klitschko said more than 300 people were injured. The mayor said this on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
+++ 1.30 p.m.: A Russian soldier spoke to the Guardian about the Russian army’s poor preparation. The 21-year-old was initially stationed in Crimea before his unit was sent to war. “They only told us about it at the very last moment, the night before the invasion,” reports the young Russian soldier. It is said that he was sent to the Ukraine war “completely unprepared”. When his unit got into a firefight with the Ukrainian troops, surrender was the only option: “It was our first confrontation with the enemy; we hadn’t even fired a shot. They ambushed us and we couldn’t fight back. We had to surrender.” After 45 days in Ukrainian captivity, the 21-year-old was exchanged.
Ukraine News: Scholz warns of “biggest famine in decades”
+++ 12.45 p.m.: At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke about the “brutal war” in Ukraine and expressed his personal concerns for the future. The Chancellor warned of the food crisis resulting from the Ukraine conflict: “If we don’t take quick and decisive countermeasures here, we are threatened with the world’s worst famine in decades”.
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain exporters. The country recently supplied 14 percent of the quantities of wheat, barley and corn traded on the world market. Ukraine is also a supplier of rapeseed and sunflower oil.
Ukraine News: Scholz talks about Putin’s goals
+++ 11.45 a.m.: According to Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Vladimir Putin has already missed all strategically important goals in the Ukraine war. “A capture of all of Ukraine by Russia seems further away today than it was at the beginning of the war,” said Scholz in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
+++ 11.30 a.m.: The Kremlin has released video footage of the launch of an Iskander-K rocket. The ballistic missile was aimed at a “military target” in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said. This is reported by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Ukraine News: Bundeswehr warship on NATO’s northern flank
+++ 10.30 a.m.: The Bundeswehr frigate “Mecklenburg-Vorpommern” is intended to strengthen NATO’s northern flank in the future. The warship will be integrated into the rapid reaction forces over the next few months, the naval command said on Thursday (May 26). There are 22 soldiers on board, including crew members from Slovakia.
Ukraine News: “Putin needs the victory”
+++ 9.30 a.m.: After Putin’s defeats at Kyiv and Kharkiv, the “Battle of Sievjerodonetsk” is said to be decisive for the outcome of the Ukraine war. According to Matthew Schmidt, associate professor of national security and politics at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, “Putin needs a win.” The pressure on the Russian President has grown extremely. A new sense of achievement is now essential.
“They throw all the power they have into this battle,” said Schmidt in an interview with the Washington Post. Whether it’s enough for a win remains to be seen. Due to the many setbacks and injuries, the Russian army is struggling with personnel problems. In Sievjerodonetsk, Putin was forced to fall back on motley “Frankenstein squads,” according to Schmidt. The makeshift regiments consisted of soldiers from different units and his not attuned to each other.
Ukraine war: Putin’s “favorite general” announces kidnapping of thousands
+++ 08.00 a.m.: Around 19,000 people are said to have been abducted from Ukraine to Russia within the past 24 hours. The Kremlin announced this as a success story, it was the rescue of the people. “Despite all the obstacles set up by Kyiv, in the last 24 hours 18,927 people, including 2,058 children, were evacuated from dangerous areas of the Donbass republics and Ukraine to the Russian Federation without the involvement of the Ukrainian authorities,” the Russian colonel general said Michael Mizintsev, according to the state news agency Tass.
Mizintsev, who is responsible, among other things, for the supposed “coordination of humanitarian measures” in Ukraine, is described as Vladimir Putin’s “favourite general” according to consistent media reports. He also apparently has another nickname: the Ukrainian diplomat Olexander Scherba recently called him the “Butcher of Mariupol”.
Ukraine-News: Kadyrov threatens Poland with military attack
+++ 07.00 a.m.: Ramzan Kadyrov, ruler in Chechnya and Putin supporter, has threatened Poland with an attack. The medium Nexta released a video showing Kadyrov on Wednesday (May 25). In it he says: “I am interested in Poland. After Ukraine, if there is an order, we will show what we can do in six seconds. Better take your weapons from the mercenaries,” Kadyrov said. Chechen troops have been involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine since late February. According to media reports, they are extremely brutal in doing so.
Ukraine-News: Apparently 40 cities attacked by Russia
+++ 06.00 a.m.: The Ukrainian military reports a large-scale attack by Russia on the Donbass. “The occupiers shelled more than 40 towns in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, destroying or damaging 47 civilian facilities, including 38 houses and a school. As a result of this shelling, five civilians died and 12 were wounded,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced on Facebook on Thursday morning. The Ukrainian army repelled 10 enemy attacks, destroyed four tanks and four drones and killed 62 “enemy soldiers”.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russian troops are “far outnumbered” in some parts of the Donbass. Selenskyj had therefore called for new deliveries of weapons on Wednesday evening, among other things. The information provided by the Ukrainian military cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine-News: Russia is probably preparing a rapid ground offensive
First report on Thursday, May 26, 5:00 a.m.: Kyiv/Moscow – The Russian army is apparently preparing for a battle for the city of Sievarodonetsk, in western Luhansk region. The oblast is located in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass, where Russia has been assembling troops for another offensive for days.
The US think tank “Institute for the Study of War” analyzed in the situation report on Thursday morning (May 26) that conspicuous troop movements around Sievjerodonetsk can currently be observed. It is possible that Russia could attack the city before cutting off Ukrainian lines of communication on the ground – which appears to be standard military action. This is reported by the Kyiv Independent news portal with reference to the institute.
The rapid attack on Sievjerodonetsk was probably carried out in order to “maintain the pace after sending a significant part of its personnel, artillery, aircraft and logistics to the front,” analyzes the ISW. So far, Russia has had to accept heavy losses in the Ukraine war. The Ukrainian general staff now assumes that almost 30,000 soldiers have died. Logically, the Kremlin quotes significantly lower numbers.
(tu / aa)