Latest Russia-Ukraine updates: Drones damage Russia oil facility
All the udpates from May 27 as they happened.
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on Saturday, May 27.
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on Saturday, May 27.
- An explosion from two drone attacks in Russia’s Pskov region near Belarus damaged an oil pipeline facility with no casualties reported.
- Iran accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of “anti-Iranian propaganda” after he called on Tehran to halt the supply of drones to Moscow, saying his comments were designed to attract more arms and financial aid from the West.
- Russia dismissed criticism from US President Joe Biden over Moscow’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, noting Washington has for decades done the same throughout Europe.
- Ukraine asked Germany to provide it with Taurus air-to-surface missiles that have a range in excess of 500km (310 miles).
Here are the latest updates:
One person killed in Kharkiv Oblast: Governor
A 61-year-old woman has been killed, and a 60-year-old man has been wounded in Russian shelling of the Kupiansk area in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov has reported, according to The Kyiv Independent.
Metadata from emails link Nord Stream sabotage to Ukraine: Reports
Investigators looking at the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia have evidence that could link the attack to Ukraine, according to German media reports.
Metadata from the emails used to rent a sailboat suspected to have been used in the attack tie them to Ukraine, Spiegel weekly reported Friday.
The president of the presumed shell company through which the “Andromeda” yacht was hired also lives in Kyiv, according to research by broadcasters NDR and WDR, daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and international media partners.
German investigators had also identified a Ukrainian man in his mid-20s with ties to the military who they believe may have been part of the six-person team manning the yacht, according to the joint report.
The links to Ukraine corresponded with assessments by multiple intelligence services, according to Spiegel.
Two killed in shelling in Russian border regions: Officials
Shelling in Russian regions bordering Ukraine has killed two people, regional authorities have said.
“One person was killed. He was a security guard … he was outside at the time of the shelling” in the Shebekino area, the regional governor of Belgorod Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
He said others were wounded, including a 15- and 17-year-old.
In Kursk, another region bordering Ukraine, mortar shelling killed a builder, governor Roman Starovoit said on social media.
Ukrainian intelligence acknowledges role in Crimean bridge attack
Seven months after an explosion badly damaged the bridge connecting Russia to Russian-occupied Crimea, the leader of Ukraine’s intelligence service has confirmed Kyiv’s involvement in the attack.
“Since this is a logistics route that we had to cut off from the enemy, appropriate measures were taken,” said Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the domestic intelligence service SBU in a YouTube interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Komarov. He did not give details of the operation.
Most observers have long assumed Ukraine was behind the attack, although Kyiv has largely declined to comment on the incident. Malyuk hinted in December that his agency might have had something to do with it.
Ukraine claims Russia planning ‘massive’ incident at nuclear site
Ukraine’s defence ministry has warned that Russia plans to simulate a major accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which is under the control of Russian forces, in a bid to thwart the expected counteroffensive by Ukraine to retake its territory captured by Moscow.
Read about it here.
The Bottom Line: On China and Ukraine, does the G7 have the world’s support?
In the past, the G7 countries could make the rules, and most others would fall in line. We ask if those days are gone.
Three months ago, United States President Joe Biden insisted that Ukraine does not need F-16 fighter jets, but last week in Japan, he joined the F-16 coalition.
The reason? Political risk analyst Ian Bremmer says the US and its allies are trying to put Ukraine in a stronger position for an eventual negotiated settlement with Russia, even if it means escalating the war over time.
Watch here.
Russian forces intercept two British Storm Shadow missiles: RIA
Russian forces intercepted two long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles supplied to Ukraine by Britain, the RIA news agency cited the defence ministry as saying.
The ministry also said it had intercepted shorter-range US-built HIMARS-launched and HARM missiles, and shot down 19 drones in the last 24 hours, RIA reported.
Russia accuses Japan of ‘cynical speculation’
Russia has accused Japan of “cynical, unscrupulous speculation” over Tokyo’s comments about the nuclear threat Moscow poses.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno condemned Russia’s plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, saying it would further inflame the situation.
“The desire to attribute the non-evident intention to use nuclear weapons in relation to events in Ukraine to Russia is nothing more than cynical, unscrupulous speculation,” the foreign ministry said.
The ministry also took issue with Matsuno’s casting of Russia as engaging in “nuclear blackmail”.
Construction worker killed in shelling in Russian village: Governor
A construction worker was killed near the Russian village of Plekhovo, a few kilometres from the border with Ukraine after shelling from the Ukrainian side, Roman Starovoit, governor of the Kursk region said on Telegram.
Works were being carried out not far from Plekhovo on fortifying defensive lines for the state border, the governor said.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the governor’s claims.
Russian forces ease attacks on Bakhmut to regroup: Kyiv
Russian forces have temporarily eased their attacks on the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut to regroup and strengthen their capabilities, a senior Kyiv official has said.
Russia’s Wagner private army began handing over its positions to regular Russian troops this week after declaring full control of Bakhmut following the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.
In a statement on Telegram, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Russian forces have continued attacking but that “overall offensive activity has decreased”.
China to make efforts for political solution: Envoy
China will make concrete efforts for a political solution to the Ukraine crisis, the Chinese foreign ministry quoted special envoy Li Hui as saying.
China has always adhered to an objective and fair position on Ukraine, argued for peace and promoted talks, Li was quoted as telling Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Li, China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs and former ambassador to Russia, held meetings and talks with Lavrov, and Deputy Foreign Ministers Andrey Rudenko and Mikhail Galuzin.
Iran slams Zelenskyy comments on drone supply to Russia
Tehran has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of anti-Iranian propaganda in his call for Iran to halt the supply of drones to Moscow.
“The Ukrainian president’s repeat of delusional claims against the Islamic Republic of Iran is in line with the anti-Iranian propaganda and media war aimed at attracting as many arms and financial aid as possible from Western countries,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement carried by Iranian media.
Hundreds of Germans working in Russia forced to leave
Several hundred German civil servants – including diplomats, teachers and staff working for a cultural organisation – will be forced to leave Russia.
The Russian foreign ministry decided in April to introduce a cap on the number of staff at German missions abroad and intermediary organisations in Russia, in response to Berlin’s decision to expel a number of Russian intelligence officers, the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported, citing Germany’s foreign ministry.
“This limit, set by Russia from the beginning of June, requires a major cut in all areas of our presence in Russia,” it said.
Don’t lecture Moscow on nuclear deployments, Russia tells US
Russia has dismissed criticism from US President Joe Biden over Moscow’s plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
“It is the sovereign right of Russia and Belarus to ensure their security by means we deem necessary amid a large-scale hybrid war unleashed by Washington against us,” Russia’s embassy in the United States said in a statement. “The measures we undertake are fully consistent with our international legal obligations.”
Russia said on Thursday it was pushing ahead with the first deployment of such weapons outside its borders since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
Biden said he had an “extremely negative” reaction to reports that Russia moved ahead with its plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
Drone attack damages Russian oil pipeline building: Governor
An attack by two drones caused an explosion in Russia’s Pskov region near the border with Belarus that left an oil pipeline’s administrative building damaged, local Governor Mikhail Vedernikov said.
“Provisionally, the building was damaged as a result of an attack by two unmanned aerial vehicles,” he added.
Vedernikov said there were no casualties and investigators at the scene will deliver final conclusions.
Cross-border attacks from Ukraine have increased in recent weeks, including a brazen raid by armed groups into Russia’s Belgorod region.