Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Korrespondent] 23.25 The US Department of the Treasury will extend the sanctions on Russian sea oil for another 30 days. The action against the previous sanctions against Russian sea oil will end on Saturday. However, the rumors of the “worst affected” countries were extended for another month.
21.58 NATO will be able to completely protect Russian bases near Kaliningrad at any time. The head of the Ministry of Health of Lithuania, Kestutis Budris, stated this in an interview with the Swiss newspaper NZZ.
Journalists guessed about the Russian enclave - the Kaliningrad region, which borders Lithuania. The Lithuanian official stated that NATO can demonstrate its determination to stop the Russian threat.
21.26 Ukraine’s attacks on the territory of Russia over the past month have reduced 10% of naphtha refining. The cost of video production for the Russian Federation is “even more painful”, even for Moscow it is easier to renew it than for other naphtha countries. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stated this in his video.
20.50 SBS commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdy, after a massive drone attack on Moscow, revealed details of the Russian software system and announced its spillage. About this, check your addition in Telegram.
The SBS commander stated that Moscow's air defense system will be supported by over 100 launchers of the S-300, S-400 and S-500 complexes, as well as more than 50 anti-aircraft missile-harmatt complexes "Pantsir-S1/S2".
19.54 May 40 Ukrainians, who were trying to illegally cross the border with Romania, perished in the Rumanian mountains as part of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine. Check out the report from the Russian edition of the German edition of Bild.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Romanian ritual warriors have seen casualties slaughtered at least 400 times. Prote Nina knows about 39 dead Ukrainians who perished in the mountains, see the materials.
19.51 In the Dnieper, the number of victims of the Russian night attack has increased to 28 people. The head of the OVA, Oleksandr Ganzha, told us about this.
“Near the Dnieper, after the night attack, five more people died with the help of doctors. They are all being treated on an outpatient basis. Thus, there are already 28 victims. Of these, 8 are hospitalized,” said Ganzha.
So, as the lead of the Russian military, 40 times they attacked several districts of the Dnipropetrovsk region with stationary artillery and drones.
19.36 Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel floated the idea of her mediation in negotiations between the EU and Russia on ending the Russian war against Ukraine. Hasepost reports about this.
Vaughn spoke at the WDR Europaforum and made it clear that she does not respect the possibility of conducting a dialogue with the Kremlin without real political power.
19.23 Russian fire fighters fired at Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region from the Smerch RSZV this day. As a result of the attack, a woman died, and two more people were injured. Mrs. Rada told me about this.
"As a result of exposure to a rocket, a woman born in 1943 died. A man born in 1983 also suffered (having received help on the spot, he is undergoing treatment on an outpatient basis) and a woman born in 1955 (is in hospital become of medium severity),” the source said.
Also, as a result of the hostile shelling, dozens of private houses and three cars were damaged over the past year.
18.14 On the evening of the 18th, Russian troops used drones to attack low-level targets of the Naftogaz Group in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The Group’s press service announced this on Monday.
As it turns out, a number of drones hit a critical infrastructure facility. However, through the constant shelling it is impossible to fully assess the scale of the ruin.
Among the targets attacked was also the UKRNAFTA gas station. As a result of the blow, two sisters were injured and are in need of medical assistance.
This is also the location of a gas filling station and a station in an empty area.
18.01 Russia and Belarus's ongoing nuclear strikes completely violate the fundamental Articles 1 and 2 of the Nuclear Security Treaty (TNST). About this can be found in the comments of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
17.52 Some Telegram channels began to spread the word that Russian soldiers were never active in the Chernihiv region, but in reality this does not correspond to the effectiveness. RBC-Ukraine reports this, based on the commentary of the river operator of the Derzhprikordon service of Ukraine Andriy Demchenko.
17.16 Richard Deitz, founder of the hedge fund VR Capital, which traded with Russia, has now become one of the largest creditors of strategic companies in Ukraine. You can find out more about this in the materials of the Bloomberg information agency.
16.54 With the start of the continuous killing at the front, 71 attacks by Russian fire fighters were launched in nine directions. I informed the General Staff of the ZSU about this in the operational level.
About a third of the Russian attacks were concentrated on Pokrovsky directly, and the ZSU already defeated over 20 assaults.
16.21 Ukrainian intelligence took internal documents of the Russian Federation, indicating serious problems in the Russian economy. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced this on Telegram.
15.39 Near the forest near the Ukrainian-Romanian cordon, border guards discovered the body of a man without signs of life. The State Cordon Service of Ukraine (DSSU) reported this.
It is stated that the previous evening the Cordon Police of Romania had withdrawn information about those who had brutalized the Ukrainian population before them. Vaughn reported that her man intends to illegally cross the border in the area of the village of Krasnoyilsk.
15.00 Olexandr Dudka, whom the Russians call the “officer” of the Skadovsky region, was killed by a drone strike near the quickly occupied Skadovsk Khrsonskaya region.
According to the words of Dudka himself, the first blow of the drone fell on the car, which was standing in the booth where it lives. After this, Russian security forces and police arrived at the scene. The pipe confirms that just before the hour of turning to the booth, it has spotted another drone that is flying at its side.
“They documented that I had already turned around in the house and was amazed that the drone was flying on me. Then he fell, and I fell from it at the same time. Having torn off a wounded head from shrapnel,” the Gauleiter said.
It also appears that another blow has almost become almost medicinal: according to Dudka, the drone attacked the car, from which he was forced to leave. The occupation “governor” suffered from a brain injury and a head injury and is in the doctor’s office.
15.12 Two shahrays lured a huge Visokoposad resident to spend about 7 million hryvnias for the money. The capital's prosecutor's office and police reported this.
In its own way, the Ukrainian Pravda, sent to the press, informs what is going on about the sixth Prime Minister of Ukraine Valeriy Pustovoitenko (1997-99). You are just 79 years old.
The Shakhrays have turned over a great deal of high-stakes, so that there is clearly a criminal investigation into the fact of purchasing “shaheeds” for the Russian army.
14.42 Chief Commander of the ZSU Oleksandr Sirsky checked the work of the 2nd Corps of the National Guard Charter, which is leading the active defense on the Pivdenno-Slobozhansky direct line near the Kharkiv region. I told you about the price on Telegram.
14.31 Ukraine will become a platform for testing and testing the new long-range missile RUTA Block 3. More tests are planned for 2027.
RUTA Block 3 is a new missile with a range of up to 2000 km. It will be based on the already obvious architecture of the RUTA family, which went from combat stagnation to serial production.
Virology is distributed among several countries:
The Netherlands is the main engineering and manufacturing center, where serial production of the RUTA family has already been established;
Ukraine - participation in the development, operational testing of Block 3 and production of key components;
Germany - a joint venture of Rheinmetall Destinus Strike Systems to ensure serial production, certification and final integration for the Bundeswehr and other partners.
The rocket will be equipped with a new generation turbojet engine - the larger Destinus T220, which is currently at the design stage. Boyova partina vazhitime 250 kg.
The system provides autonomous navigation for robots, where the GPS signal is jammed, as well as terminal guidance to the target.
14.18 Defense forces hit the anti-sabotage boat of the Grachonok project near the Kaspiysk area in Russian Dagestan, as well as low-value targets of the Russian zagarbniks in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) of Ukraine. I informed the ZSU General Staff about this.
13.59 False hopes for the end of the war, the blocking of the Internet and the deterioration of the economic situation caused the strongest surge in the Russian economy dissatisfaction with the government's policies.
The portion of the population who are “unfazed” by domestic policy in Russia reached 36% at the end of the year, which was the maximum for 2021. Over the past few months, the share of dissatisfaction increased by 14 percentage points, which was a record increase for the same period since 2018, when the Kremlin launched pension reform (the figure also increased from 21% to 38% over a period of four months).
With the beginning of the war against Ukraine, the Russian citizens who are “not controlled by Vlashtov” by domestic policy are outnumbered by those who are “not controlled by Vlashtov” (33%).
The rage of dissatisfaction with the Russian supremacy is growing frontally. The proportion of those who are “not governed” by the country’s current foreign policy has grown from 16% among infants to 26% and has become a record for two decades of available statistics (since 2007).
The proportion of those who are not governed by the government's economic policy reached 46%, although 31% gave this answer in general. The rise in economic dissatisfaction - by 15 percentage points over four months - also became a record increase in the pension age in 2018.
13.33 The Ukrainian military released the population of the Stepnogirsk village in the Zaporizhzhya region and carried out a cleanup there. This was reported to the Head Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense.
13.09 In Belarus, the military units began to recover from the combat standstill of the nuclear defense and nuclear security. The Ministry of Defense of Belarus reported this, write ZMI RB.
The department said that the maneuvers were being carried out “to advance the readiness of the armored forces until the current conditions of the war ceased, while securing special ammunition.”
Also, missile forces and aircraft have recently received. As it turns out, during the hour of maneuvers “in cooperation with the Russian side,” it is planned to supply power for the delivery of nuclear ammunition and prepare them until they freeze.
12.59 At the hour of the rank attack on Odessa, a civilian ship under Ensign Panami was damaged, as it was directly along the Ukrainian sea corridor to one of the ports of Velikaya Odessa. The Administration of Seaports of Ukraine informed about this.
As it turns out, the ship was under the voyage of Olia.
After the accident of the UAV, the ship became aware of damage. However, the legacy of the attack was liquidated by the crew by powerful forces. There are no survivors of the attack.
The ship continued to collapse until the port of destination.
12.12 The dismantling of the first Ukrainian ceramic aerial bomb (KAB) was completed. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Mikhailo Fedorov, announced this on Facebook.
11.35 Ukrzaliznytsia was clearing out the rush of trains after the massive overnight Russian shelling of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
“The monitoring groups of Ukrzaliznytsia monitored the dispatch of low trains through the immediate threat of hostile drones - directly ahead in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Varto note that, despite the importance of nothing, passengers and the dry warehouse of UZ “I wanted to save you from any harm,” says the company.
Some routes were changed to speed up delays and ensure timely circulation of cars on return flights.
11.27 The Russian aggressors, who attacked a merchant ship in the Black Sea with huge Chinese people on board, were identified as the last thing to come. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced this on Telegram, reacting to the large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine on Monday.
10.55 Near Nikopol, they screamed and hid an FSB agent who was carrying out Russian attacks on the site with artillery and FPV drones. The SBU reported this.
It was stated that the miscious recidivist was working at the gates. The legacy of the past was squandered to the respect of the Russian special services through official publications in Telegram channels in support of the Kremlin. The Federal Security Service (FSB) has issued a “Swedish salary” in exchange for a special offer.
10.40 In Germany, the activity of a large-scale smuggling scheme of European technologies of secondary importance for the military industry of Russia, which operated in circumvention of external sanctions, was discovered.
Over 16,000 funds were transferred through the scheme, amounting to over 30 million euros. The basis of the scheme was the German trading company Global Trade from Lubeck, which traded openly with Russia before the war.
After the beginning of the large-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, the company was abandoned by the 39-year-old businessman Mikita S., but the Russian sanctioned company Kolovrat, which invests in the defense industry, was actually in charge Russia complex.
Russian curators had direct access to the German company’s email and completed requests throughout Europe under the same names. Vantazhi was important in transit through Turechchina.
Among the goods purchased for Russia: microcontrollers, electronic components, sensors, oscillographs, bearings, mechanical parts and materials.
According to the investigation, the possession went directly to the Russian military enterprises. Okrema, part of the goods was taken away by the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Automation, which is related to the nuclear program of Russia.
10.27 On Monday in Ukraine, due to Russian shelling on the civil energy infrastructure and disruption, damage was recorded in seven regions. Ukrenergo reported about this. Repair crews can work as hard as they can to get all subscribers back to life as quickly as possible.
10.16 The main intelligence department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in the Kremlin mouthpiece section of the War&Sanctions portal published data from ten Russian public figures who are expanding radical anti-Ukrainian rhetoric.
Among them are military anchors, bloggers, writers and journalists who unite their efforts to provide facts to formulate a strong idea that they will accept and praise Russian military aggression.
The GUR and the Center for the Prevention of Disinformation are calling for personal sanctions to be imposed on representatives of the Russian propaganda apparatus. Zokrema: block entry points, block financial assets, restrict media and commercial activities.
09.17 On the eve of the 18th, Russia launched a combined attack on the territory of Ukraine from attack UAVs and ground-based missiles. The main target for the attack is Dnipro and Dnipropetrovsk region. Odessa region, Chernigiv region, Zaporizhzhya were also attacked.
The entire radio technical forces of the PS recorded 546 types of air attack (22 missiles and 524 UAVs):
14 Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles;
8 Iskander-K missiles;
524 attack UAVs of the Shahed, Gerbera, Italmas types, simulator drones of the Parody type.
The anti-aircraft defense destroyed/suppressed 507 targets - 4 Iskander-K missiles and 503 UAVs of various types.
The incident of 18 missiles and 16 strike UAVs at 34 locations was recorded, as well as the fall of downed UAVs at 11 locations.
08.52 Russia attacked a Chinese merchant ship at night, which was in the territorial waters of Ukraine. Dmytro Pletenchuk, river officer of the Viyskovo-Marine Forces ZSU, spoke about this.
According to him, the Russian troops attacked the ship with an attack drone of the Shahed type. The legacy of the attack left no one harmed.
“What happened to the Russians, if the stench of this night was a “martyrdom” for the arrival of a Chinese merchant ship in our sea. There were no casualties, but this is new. “A monstrous mistake has occurred,” comrades?” - Pletenchuk wrote on Facebook.
08.40 During the last battle, 242 combat operations were recorded at the front. Aviation, missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces hit this area of concentrated Russian manpower and one UAV control point.
07.49 Russian troops attacked Odessa in large numbers with strike drones. Near the Kiev and Primorsky districts of Odessa, a UAV was detected near three live booths. One of them is a single-surface booth in the Primorsky district, destroyed. In other booths, the facades and walls are damaged.
Narasi knows about two victims. This is an 11-year-old boy and a 59-year-old man. They hope for additional help.
07.28 The number of victims of the impact of the Russian troops on the Dnieper has grown to 18. Among them are two children - a 2-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy. Children undergo outpatient treatment.
Before the doctor, all kinds of people were hospitalized - four women and four men. Doctors assess his condition as moderately severe.
07.17 From February 24, 2022 to May 18, 2026, the military’s military spending to the special warehouse of the Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine amounted to approximately 1,350,010 people (+1220 per additional amount).
04.27 Vlada Odessa spoke about the remains of a large-scale night attack of Russian troops on the site. Zokrem, the living quarters were damaged, as well as the kindergarten and the lyceum. As a result of the shelling, two types of injuries were removed, among them the 11-fold layer.
03.58 Russia launched a combined attack on the Dnieper on Monday, May 18th, with missiles and drones. The head of the Dnipropetrovsk Police Department, Oleksandr Ganzha, spoke about the missile strike on a residential area and the fire that resulted from the strike. People are blocked in one of the booths.
02.29 The rapidly occupied Zaporizhzhya region has suddenly experienced large-scale power outages. According to collaborator Evgen Balitsky, the problem affected a significant part of the territory. Balitsky publicly recognized the scale of the problem, but did not give detailed details about the causes of the accident or the terms of power supply renewal.
Now, near the left bank part of the occupied Kherson region, where there had previously been a blackout, representatives of the so-called administration announced an updated power supply.
02.01 On the morning of May 18, Russian drones attacked Odessa, striking civilian buildings. According to the MBA's reports, the damage was recognized as an ass.
00.56 On the evening of the 18th, the Dnieper began to swell as a result of the deadly attack of Russian drones. As reported by the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, Oleksandr Ganzha, a lot of wine was burned. Also in the Dnipro region, Russians raided a warehouse where firetechnical products were being stored. It started to burn there. In advance, it passed without any casualties.
00.23 After the attack of Ukrainian drones on Moscow on May 17, the Kremlin’s propaganda machine immediately began to work on the tranquility of the population. Russian President Dmitro Peskov, a riverman, made a statement that “there is no threat to the foundation of Russia.” The Kremlin representative told propagandist Pavel Zarubin about this. To further reassure the domestic audience, Putin’s riverman subsequently spoke out on the importance of nuclear streaming, calling it the “outer stone” of national security and a guarantee that Russia will lose its place on the political map. to the world.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Korrespondent] Almost a third of Russian attacks are concentrated in the Pokrovsky direction, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already repelled more than 20 assaults.
Since the beginning of the current day, 71 attacks by Russian invaders have taken place on the front in nine directions. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported this in an operational summary on Monday, May 18.
Thus, in the South Slobozan direction, the enemy tried three times to improve its position in the Prylipka and Grafske areas. One of these attacks is ongoing.
In the Kupyansk direction, the enemy carried out two assaults towards Petropavlivka.
In the Lymansky direction, the enemy attacked eight times in the direction of Stavky, Zarechny, Drobyshevy, and Ozerny. One attack is still ongoing.
On the Slavyansk direction, the occupiers tried three times to improve their position towards Rai-Oleksandrivka and Kalenkypy.
In the Kostyantynivka direction, the invaders carried out 11 attacks towards the settlements of Kostyantynivka, Pleshchiivka, Illinivka, Ivano-Pol'ya, Kucheriv Yar, and Vilne.
In the Pokrovsky direction, since the beginning of the day, the invaders have advanced 25 times towards the settlements of Dorozhne, Shevchenko, Rodynske, Novooleksandrivka, Hryshyne, Kotlyne, Udachne, Novoserhiivka, Molodetske and Filiya. Four of these attacks are still ongoing.
In the Oleksandrivka direction, the enemy is trying to advance towards Voronny.
In the Hulyaipil direction, there were 15 attacks on the positions of our defenders in the areas of Charivne, Novy Zaporizhzhia, Tsvitkiv, Rivne, Zaliznychne, and Staroukrainka. One of these attacks is ongoing.
In the Dnieper direction, the enemy attacked three times in the direction of Antonivka and Belogrudy Island.
The enemy has not yet carried out active operations in the North Slobozhansk, Kursk, Kramatorsk, and Orikhiv directions.
Earlier on Monday, it became known that the Russians had been driven out of Stepnohirsk in Zaporizhia Oblast. Defense forces took control of the main locations in the settlement.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[NewsFront] 21:59 FPV drone operators of the Sever groupburnedenemy automobile and robotic equipment in the Khar'kov region.
Attack UAV crews from the Vostok group disrupted the rotation of Ukrainian Armed Forces units in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Drone operators from the Kedr battalion of the Center group targeted personnel and positions of Ukrainian Armed Forces units in the Dnipropetrovsk direction.
Drone operators from the Center group destroyed enemy bunkers containing manpower in the Dobropillya direction.
21:31 From 16:00 to 20:00 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 35 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the fixed-wing type flew over the territories of the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Oryol, Smolensk, Tula regions, the Moscow region, the Krasnodar Territory, and over the waters of the Sea of Azov.
20:03 Crew of the 152mm 2S44 self-propelled artillery unit "Giatsint-K" of the "Vostok" group destroyed strongholds and firing points of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Artillerymen from the Sever group used a 152mm Giatsint-B towed gun to hit enemy dugouts and manpower in the Khar'kov region.
17:29 From 07:00 to 16:00 Moscow time, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 91 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the fixed-wing type flew over the territories of the Belgorod, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov, Tula regions, the Moscow region and the Krasnodar Territory.
15:55 Dobropillya direction. Russian Armed Forces advanced east of Kucherov Yar, MAP
15:46 Servicemen of the 30th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Center group told details of the liberation of the village of Grishino in the Donetsk People's Republic.
15:21 Kupyansk. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have resumed offensive operations in the central part of the city, MAP
14:18 Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the Special Military Operation (as of May 18, 2026).
Last night, in response to Ukraine's terrorist attacks on civilian targets in Russia, the Russian Armed Forces launched a massive strike using land- and sea-based precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles against Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises, fuel and energy, transport, and port infrastructure facilities used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as military airfields.
The strike's objective has been achieved. All designated targets have been hit.
Units of the "North" force grouping have improved their tactical position. They have inflicted losses on the personnel and equipment of the mechanized and airmobile brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the territorial defense brigade, and the border detachment of the Ukrainian Border Service near the settlements of Pisarevka, Bachevsk, and Ryasne in Sumy Oblast.
In the Khar'kov region, formations of two mechanized brigades and an assault regiment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were damaged in the areas of the settlements of Ivanovka, Budarki and Zakharovka in the Khar'kov region.
The enemy lost up to 190 servicemen, 24 vehicles, three field artillery guns and two electronic warfare stations.
Units of the "West" force group have occupied more advantageous positions and lines. They have inflicted losses on the personnel and equipment of three mechanized brigades, an assault brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and a territorial defense brigade near the settlements of Yaremovka in the Khar'kov region, and Krasny Liman, Tatyanovka, Pryshyb, Piskunovka, and Sidorov in the Donetsk People's Republic.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 180 servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, 22 cars, an artillery piece, and three electronic warfare stations.
Units of the Southern Group of Forces have improved their position along the forward edge. Formations of two mechanized brigades, a mountain assault brigade, and an assault regiment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been defeated near the settlements of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Tikhonovka, and Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People's Republic.
The enemy lost up to 90 servicemen, four armored combat vehicles, including a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier, 13 vehicles, and an artillery piece.
Units of the Center Group of Forces have taken up more advantageous positions and lines. The personnel and equipment of three mechanized brigades, a Jaeger, an assault, and an airmobile brigades, an assault regiment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and four National Guard brigades were defeated near the settlements of Novohryhorivka, Kucherov Yar, Novy Donbas, Belitske, and Belozerske in the Donetsk People's Republic, and Novopidgorodne and Raipole in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
Ukrainian armed forces lost over 300 troops, four armored combat vehicles, 13 vehicles, a 122mm BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system, and three field artillery pieces, including a French-made Caesar 155mm self-propelled artillery unit. Five electronic warfare stations were destroyed.
Units of the "East" force group advanced deep into the enemy's defenses. They inflicted losses on the personnel and equipment of the mechanized, assault, airborne assault brigades, assault regiment, and territorial defense brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near the settlements of Pokrovskoe in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and Omelnik, Kyivske, and Lesnoye in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 270 servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, eight cars, and two field artillery pieces.
Units of the Dnepr group of forces defeated formations of two mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Zheltaya Krucha and Grigorovka areas of the Zaporizhzhia region.
Up to 45 Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen, 17 vehicles, two field artillery guns and an electronic warfare station were destroyed.
12:18 TOS-1A "Solntsepek" crew of the "Vostok" group destroyed a recessed defensive node of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with an extensive network of concrete shelters.
11:44 "Lancets" in the service of specialists of the 58th Army destroyed two BUK air defense missile systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were installed in the suburbs.
10:23 A Ukrainian artillery position was discovered by reconnaissance in a forested area of the Sumy region.
By target worked out UAV operators from the GV Sever, who destroyed an enemy 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled gun with several precision strikes.
08:18 In the period from 21:00 Moscow time on May 17 to 7:00 Moscow time on May 18, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 50 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles of the fixed-wing type over the territories of the Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Oryol, Rostov, Tula regions, Krasnodar Krai, the Republic of Crimea and over the waters of the Sea of Azov.
07:31 Changes on map over the past 24 hours:
Expansion of the control zone in the Pai-Aleksandrovka area
Ukrainian Armed Forces control the Headquarters
Ukrainian Armed Forces control Boguslavka
07:21 A 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS crew from the Center group destroyed a concentration of Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel in the Dnipropetrovsk direction.
Artillerymen of the "West" group fire from the 220mm BM-27 Uragan multiple launch rocket system struck an enemy stronghold in the Khar'kov region.
Ivanovo paratroopers used 122mm Grad rockets to cover the enemy concentration area on the right bank of the Dnieper.
In military palance, it's called shooting your bolt
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] In the first quarter of 2026, Ukraine continued to face critical shortages of ammunition and drones. This was stated in a Pentagon auditors' report to the US Congress released on May 18.
"The Ukrainian Armed Forces are facing a degradation of capabilities," the report's authors noted.
The document also states that the number of conscripts in Ukraine is declining, and the training of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers leaves much to be desired.
In the same report, Pentagon representatives indicated that the Russian Armed Forces retain the strategic initiative in the conflict zone, and that the strikes carried out by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on targets in Russia are chaotic and do not affect the combat capability of the Russian Federation.
Kyiv's leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has previously repeatedly stated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are facing ammunition shortages due to the cessation of direct arms supplies from the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, stated that if arms supplies to Kyiv were to cease, the conflict in Ukraine would end within two to three months. At the same time, the Russian leader emphasized that no Western military aid to Ukraine would affect the progress of the special operation or the achievement of its objectives.
[EuroMaidanPress] Ukrainian balloons sow havoc over Russia: Aerostats grow more instrumental in Ukrainian strikes, intel gathering, and making Russia waste its air defenses.
From fall 2025 through spring 2026, the words “aerostat notice” have appeared hundreds of times on Russian Telegram channels that monitor Ukrainian air threats.
This means that somewhere high overhead, carried east by prevailing winds, are Ukrainian helium balloons carrying retroreflective decoys, surveillance equipment, bombs, attack drones, or radio repeaters that allow other drones to strike Russian targets. Ukrainian forces have launched in excess of 1,000 balloons into Russia and more are on the way.
Untethered aerostats have participated in strikes on the deep rear of Russia since 2024, but have become ever more active in 2025-2026, targeting refineries, railways, and other infrastructure.
Euromaidan Press spoke with a few people closely familiar with this tech. Because most people involved with these operations are high on the Russians’ shit list, they spoke on condition of not being identified by name or affiliation.
“Yes, indeed, balloons are actively used by the Defense Forces of Ukraine mainly as support platforms and as means for medium and deep strikes,” said Viktor Kevliuk, a retired Ukrainian colonel and analyst with the Center for Defense Strategies. “They are inexpensive, inconspicuous on radars, can hang in the air for a long time and carry a payload.”
While balloons are indeed inconspicuous—most of them are translucent, blending with the sky—one source said that getting noticed is often the whole idea, to cause Russia’s air defenses to fire everything, from Pantsirs, Tors and Buks, to even their S-300 and S-400 missiles.
“You want to be detected,” they told Euromaidan Press. “They cause panic for the Russians and they are very hard to shoot down,” at high altitudes, causing the Russians to waste their air defenses.
Depending on their size, balloons can lift heavy payloads, can be launched from anywhere, and be used to get above or behind air defenses to strike targets from the rear. They can carry signal repeaters that extend over 100 kilometers, which can be daisy chained together to provide continual control for long-range weapons. Aerostats can go very long distances, with a record mission traveling over 4,000 kilometers into Russia.
[Breitbart] The Kremlin announced on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, less than a week after President Donald Trump’s high-profile meeting with Xi.
The Kremlin made the announcement less than 24 hours after Trump returned home to the United States from his meeting with Xi. The Russian government claimed the close timing of the meetings was coincidental, and Putin’s trip was intended to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship, signed by Putin with Xi’s predecessor Jiang Zemin on July 16, 2001.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Fedot Streletsky
[REGNUM] US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently announced a large-scale investigation into approximately 120 biolabs that, it turns out, have been operating successfully for decades and funded by American taxpayers. But now Donald Trump has ordered an end to this.
However, first of all, according to Gabbard, it is necessary to establish exactly where these laboratories are located, as well as what kind of research is being conducted there. Currently, US National Intelligence knows little: that they are scattered across 30 different countries; that more than 40 of them are operating in Ukraine; that the research in question is extremely dangerous; and that the Biden administration is to blame for everything.
"Despite the obvious threat, politicians, so-called health professionals, including Dr. Fauci (former senior medical adviser to US President Anthony Fauci - Ed.), and elements of the Biden administration's national security team lied to the American people about the existence of these US-funded and supported biolabs and threatened those who tried to expose the truth," Gabbard stated.
However, no matter how many similar accusations have been leveled against the United States in the past, and no matter what arguments and facts have been used to support them, they have all been consistently rejected and unequivocally labeled as Kremlin or Chinese propaganda. This, however, is hardly news to us.
And it all actually began long before the start of the Second World War, during which "evidence of the Kyiv regime's urgent purge of traces of the military biological program being implemented in Ukraine, financed by the US Department of Defense, was uncovered." This was reported on March 6, 2022, by the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov. Three days later, the US State Department published a press release on this matter, which the US National Intelligence Agency has now, coincidentally, rediscovered and cited.
"The Kremlin is deliberately spreading outright lies that the United States and Ukraine are conducting chemical and biological weapons development on Ukrainian territory. We also see Chinese officials repeating these conspiracy theories," the statement began with such confident assertions. And then it continued in the same vein. The conclusion suggested that "Russia will continue to insist on such statements, making new unfounded accusations."
They were right on target. But the accusations, as the Americans themselves have now confirmed, were entirely justified. And this whole story dates back to at least August 2005, when the US and Ukraine signed an agreement formally aimed at countering the threat of bioterrorism and preventing the proliferation of biological weapons, as part of the Nunn-Lugar program, which had been in place since 1993.
Senators Richard Lugar and Barack Obama attended the signing on the American side. Both praised the reformist Ukrainian leaders who came to power as a result of the Orange Revolution for their assistance in overcoming bureaucratic resistance to the agreement. Representatives of the Ministry of Health, including Minister Mykola Polishchuk himself, attended the signing on the Ukrainian side.
This agreement, in fact, opened the door for the United States to modernize "obsolete and unsafe Soviet facilities" for its own needs and finance Ukrainian laboratories. According to official figures for 2022, the total investment in the program was estimated at over $200 million, and the number of laboratories supported reached 46.
One of the projects carried out there was allegedly devoted to studying the ability of bats to carry pathogens transmissible to humans. Another project studied Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and hantavirus. Whether this is true or not has not been reliably established. However, it is clear that the 2005 document laid the legal foundation for the deployment of a network of military biological research facilities in Ukraine.
Russia first publicly and vocally expressed concern about suspicious scientific activity under US auspices in 2013. And this concern concerned not Ukraine, but Georgia. More specifically, the Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research (the same one) built with US funding.
"What are American military microbiologists doing in Georgia?" Gennady Onishchenko, head of Rospotrebnadzor, asked a reasonable question. He then answered: "According to our assessments, this laboratory is an important link in the offensive component of the US military biological potential."
To which US Ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland hastened to assure that this is not the case at all. "This is an open institute for scientists, including Russian ones," he said, further emphasizing that the laboratory is under Georgian control and has no connection to biological weapons research.
Several years later, in 2018, former Georgian State Security Minister Igor Giorgadze announced he had evidence that dangerous experiments were being conducted at the Lugar Center. He called on US President Donald Trump to pay attention and take action. Giorgadze also noted that US military and private contractors may have conducted secret experiments on humans there.
A year earlier, in 2017, a tender posted by the US Air Force Training Command for the purchase of RNA samples from Russian Caucasians was discovered on the US government procurement website.
This sparked a heated reaction and widespread discussion, which Vladimir Putin soon joined. "Did you know that biological material is being collected from all over the country? And from different ethnic groups and people living in different geographical locations across the Russian Federation? The question is: why is this being done?" the Russian president asked the Human Rights Council.
US Air Force representatives, for their part, made no denials, calmly explaining that they were purchasing biomaterials for supposedly harmless research related to the human musculoskeletal system. And the choice of Russians for the sample collection was not deliberate, but simply a coincidence. A coincidence, they said.
In 2019, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, casually reported that the Pentagon was increasing the pace of expansion of its network of biolaboratories.
"The US currently operates over 200 biological laboratories around the world, including in the CIS, Ukraine, Georgia, and Afghanistan. Their activities have little to do with peaceful science. The most alarming aspect is the fact that they conduct human experiments," he said.
It turns out that seven years ago, Nikolai Patrushev knew more about American covert projects than US National Intelligence does today. Moreover, in March 2022, the State Duma and the Federation Council formed a parliamentary commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding the establishment of biological laboratories in Ukraine. The commission's work resulted in a 200-page report, published in April 2023.
The report states that after officially abandoning its offensive bioweapons program in 1969, the United States began to build up its military biological capabilities under the guise of "defense" and "anti-terrorism" research. They did so, establishing an international network of approximately 400 laboratories used to collect pathogens, study population vulnerabilities, and conduct real-world testing.
The United States, according to the report, assigns a special role to Ukraine due to its geographical location (a long border with Russia) and the presence of extensive collections of strains preserved from the Soviet era.
The true goals of all this are military-applied: studying the pathogens that cause plague, anthrax, and tularemia; collecting and exporting biomaterials (at least 16,000 biosamples) to study the genetic characteristics and vulnerabilities of the Slavic population; conducting medical experiments and using Ukrainians as guinea pigs for drug testing.
In short, everything Tulsi Gabbard pompously promised to do has, in fact, already been done. All she needs to do is politely ask for the Russian side to share the information it has.
However, there's no need to ask—the report is already freely available, and, moreover, it was sent to all countries of the world immediately after its publication, at Irina Yarovaya's initiative. So Tulsi Gabbard doesn't even need to bother.
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