In today's summary:
- There is a lull on the front itself, but Russian troops are trying to advance in unusual directions;
- In two days, over 90 kamikaze drones of the Shahed family were launched across the territory of Ukraine;
- A massive attack on Kyiv with ballistic and cruise missiles;
- Near Khmelnytsky there is a hit in a military airfield, five aircraft are damaged;
- The Armed Forces of Ukraine are hitting Russian military bases in the Mariupol region with long-range missiles;
- Comprehensive evidence appeared that the Ivan Khurs ship was safe and sound;
- The well-known OSINT resource Oryx counted over 2,000 lost Russian tanks;
- 400 Ukrainian soldiers are being trained on American M1 Abrams tanks.
The situation at the front
The summary of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine notes attempts by Russian forces to advance in unusual directions. For the first time in a long time, attacks were recorded in the Shakhtyorsk direction – in the area of Velika Novoselka to the west of Vugledar .
In general, there is a calm on the front. Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Anna Malyar writes about a significant decrease in activity in the Bakhmut direction .
The Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState publishes a video of the Ukrainian artillery strikes on the Bakhmut “Airplane” district, the last stronghold of Ukrainian troops in the city. From this, the CIT concludes that the UAF has completely abandoned the city.
According to British military intelligence, the Wagner PMC is indeed leaving Bakhmut "from some positions" that the "DPR" units began to occupy. The British also believe that the 31st brigade of the Russian Airborne Forces was sent to strengthen the flanks near Bakhmut .
On the morning of May 27, a motivating video was published on the Telegram channel of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny, accompanied by the caption "it's time to return what's ours." Many perceived this as a kind of announcement of the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Mutual shelling and sabotage
The command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports that on the night of May 28, the largest number of kamikaze drones of the Shahed family (they are Geran) were released across the territory of Ukraine – 54 units. It is stated that 52 of them were intercepted. Later, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine clarified that a total of 59 Shahids were launched, of which 58 were shot down.
The Russian Ministry of Defense in its daily report called these actions "a group strike with long-range precision weapons, air-launched." As always, the department reports the destruction of "all targets", which, as stated, were objects at the airfields.
The Air Command "Center" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine writes that the targets of the attack were critical infrastructure facilities, as well as military facilities of Ukraine in the central regions of the country. The forces and means of the anti-aircraft missile forces of the "Center" destroyed 37 "Shaheds", while another 8 kamikaze drones intercepted the air defense forces of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On the night of May 29, massive attacks with long-range weapons continued. According to the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 40 Kh-101/555 air-launched missiles were fired from Tu-95MS strategic bombers from the Caspian Sea region, as well as 35 Shahed kamikaze drones. It is stated that they managed to shoot down 37 cruise missiles and 29 "Shaheds".
In Kiev , according to the Kiev City Military Administration (KGVA), over 40 air targets were identified and destroyed. It is reported that thanks to the work of the capital's forces and air defense systems, strikes on the city were not allowed. As a result of the fall of debris from kamikaze drones, several buildings were damaged , several people died and were injured.
During the day, Kiev was again shelled. This time, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 11 Iskander-K and Iskander-M cruise and ballistic missiles were fired at the capital of Ukraine. All targets were shot down by air defense forces – the representative of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuri Ignat, said that the American Patriot air defense system worked on the missiles. The KGVA notes a change in tactics by the Russian side: “after long-term attacks exclusively at night, a strike was struck on a peaceful city during the day, when most residents were at work and on the streets.”
As a result, fragments of six air targets and anti-missiles fell on Kiev . Three fragments fell on the Obolonsky district – on the gas station, the road surface and on the green zone. In the Dniprovsky district, debris fell on the road, and in the Desnyansky district , in the park. From the appearance of one of the wreckage, it can be concluded that, like last time, PAC-3 CRI interceptor missiles of the MIM-104 Patriot complex were used. A piece of debris fell near a McDonalds restaurant just days after a video of former Ukrainian Economy Minister Timofey Mylovanov sparked a heated discussion on Twitter, where he showed the work of another restaurant of this franchise in Kiev – critics argued that in fact there was no war in Ukraine no , and the money of American taxpayers (including Patriot complexes) is wasted .
In the capital of Ukraine, work is actively carried out with citizens who record the work of air defense systems. It is reported about two detained “amateur photographers”. One was caught in the Svyatoshinsky district , and the second was caught in his car on Ushakov Street .
In the Khmelnytsky region, local authorities confirmed the hit on a military facility and the incapacitation of five aircraft. It was reported about the work on the localization of fires in warehouses of fuel and lubricants, the rescue of the material part and the repair of the runway. Russian Z-channels wrote that Ukrainian MiG-29s and Su-24s could be stationed at the airfield in Starokonstantinov . Ukrainian Armed Forces spokesman Yuriy Ignat confirmed the attack on the airfield, acknowledged the presence of "certain damage" and said he could not disclose all the details. However, according to him, "everything will be restored, and everything will work."
It is worth noting that the 7th tactical aviation brigade is based at the airfield in Starokonstantinov , to which belonged the Su-24MR with Storm Shadow missiles, whose photograph was shown on a postcard during a meeting between Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and his British counterpart Ben Wallace. However, it is not known whether the British missiles were on the airfield at the time of the impact, and if so, whether they were damaged.
In Zhytomyr , after a drone attack, the local city council reported damage to at least 26 houses, as well as educational and medical facilities. Earlier, the head of the Zhytomyr Regional Military Administration, Vitaliy Bunchenko, wrote about getting into an infrastructure facility.
In the Kharkiv region, the Russians attacked the village of Kovsharovka , according to preliminary information, an Iskander missile was used. As a result, a hostel building, two private buildings and a gas pipeline were damaged . Seven people were injured, including two children aged 10 and 14. The shelling of the village of Glushkovka , Kupyansky district , is also reported.
In Donetsk Oblast , Russians dropped FAB-250 aerial bombs on the town of Toretsk . As a result, one of them ended up in a gas station. One person died and nine were injured. It also reports damage to cars, an office building, a bank building and one of the educational institutions of the city.
In Dnipro, they completed the removal of the rubble of a hospital destroyed after a Russian missile hit. Two people died, 32 were injured, 15 of them remain in hospitals, while 5 are in serious condition. Three were declared missing, but soon the head of the regional military administration of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Sergei Lysak, announced that they were declared dead after receiving the results of the study of body fragments.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Pokrovskaya community of the Sinelnikovsky district came under fire. One person died, nine, including a child, were injured. Two were destroyed, about 30 private houses were damaged.
The Mariupol City Council (formed prior to the occupation of the city by the RF Armed Forces) reported strikes against Russian army warehouses and bases in Yuryevka , Nikolsky , and Urzuf . They recalled that recently the Mariupol region was considered a rear region, but "the situation is changing."
An adviser to the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, Petr Andryushchenko, called the approximate figures for losses among the Russian military. According to him, about 100 people were killed, and about 400 more were hospitalized with injuries. It is also reported about the elimination of the communication station and electronic warfare.
On Sunday, the Ukrainian city military administration of Berdyansk reported five hits on Russian positions in the city area and noted the ineffectiveness of Russian air defense. In turn, the Ukrayinska Pravda publication wrote about one hit near the village of Androvka , three explosions near the village of Novotroitskoye , and also in the area of the Berdyansk airport .
Most likely, British Storm Shadow cruise missiles with a range of more than 250 km were used. As the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov stated on May 28, all missiles of this type fired so far hit their targets.
The representative office of the "LPR" in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination reported shelling of the town of Almaznaya near Kadievka . The strike is said to have killed three civilians, destroyed one house, and damaged seven others, as well as power lines and a gas pipeline.
Recently, the geography and range of use of Ukrainian drones has significantly expanded. Incidents with drones have been recorded in the Pskov and Tver regions .
On the morning of May 27, two UAVs attacked an office building in the village of Litvinovo in the Pskov region , located near the oil pipeline. It is reported that the target of the drones was the oil pumping station of Transneft. As a result of the impact, there were no casualties, the facades of several buildings were damaged and windows were broken.
In the Tver region, on May 27, two UAVs attacked the Andreapol oil pumping station near the village of Erokhino , which serves the Druzhba oil pipeline . One drone exploded, damaging the roof of the oil shop building, the second crashed into the ground and exploded. The resulting fire was extinguished.
In the Krasnodar Territory, there was a new attempt to hit the Ilsky Oil Refinery with drones. Minor damage was received by the installation for the production of diesel fuel.
In the Bryansk region on May 27, a drone hit a Russian Defense Ministry vehicle between Brovnichi and Sushany , killing two servicemen.
In the Kursk region on May 27, near the village of Plekhovo , builders engaged in the construction of a defensive line came under fire. One person died.
In the Belgorod region, systematic shelling of Shebekino has been going on for several days in a row. This time the area of the industrial zone and the substation was shelled .
Meanwhile, the Channel One newsgroup on VK tried to ban comments mentioning Shebekino , who regularly comes under fire, which caused the Streisand effect. Then regional publics began to write the name of the settlement in the comments with errors or using the Latin alphabet. In addition, comments about Shebekino began to multiply in the main group of the channel.
The governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, proposed a radical solution to the problem of shelling – "attach Kharkiv to the Belgorod region ". Also, according to him, since the beginning of the war, Ukrainian DRGs have penetrated the region at least six times.
The head of the FSB Border Service, Vladimir Kulishov, said that since February 2022, more than 2,000 attacks on military, border, transport and energy infrastructure in the Russian border area have been recorded from the territory of Ukraine, including with the use of drones.
Losses
The BBC Russian Service, together with Mediazona, has updated data on Russian casualties in the war against Ukraine based on 24,005 obituaries in open sources. A third of the dead were not related to the army until February 24, 2022 – these are volunteers, mobilized, prisoners and recruits – PMC mercenaries. It is noted that the actual number of casualties significantly exceeds the number of confirmed deaths.
Resources PMC Wagner publish their own data on the losses inflicted on the enemy. It is alleged that from March 2022 to May 2023, the Wagnerites killed 72,095 Ukrainian soldiers, captured 509 people, destroyed more than 2,000 vehicles and more than a thousand armored vehicles.
The information previously disseminated by "military correspondent" Roman Romanov about the mass desertion of prisoners recruited to one of the units of the Russian Ministry of Defense is confirmed. According to the regional resource 161.ru, in the Rostov region , orientations were sent to 39 former prisoners who escaped from the Storm Z detachment with weapons in their hands. According to the publication, during the escape they killed a soldier from the Ministry of State Security of the “LPR”.
After that, TASS wrote about the flight of seven more former prisoners, now from a military unit in the region of the occupied Soledar in the Donetsk region . According to information received from a law enforcement source, five of them were detained, one was killed by his own people for wanting to surrender, and the whereabouts of another has not been reported since.
In disputes about the fate of the medium reconnaissance ship of project 18 280 "Ivan Khurs" after the attack of several unmanned fireboats, an end has been put. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation posted a video with the arrival and solemn meeting of the ship in Sevastopol, no visible damage is visible on it.
Well-known naval researcher HI Sutton believes that the problem with Ukrainian naval drones is the regular failure of the warhead, which may be caused by design flaws in the early series of devices. At the same time, the concept itself, he believes, is quite viable.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation also confirmed the incident with the Russian Su-25 hit by MANPADS. According to the agency, the pilot managed to fly the damaged plane to the nearest airfield and land.
An obituary appeared on social networks for Major Ilya Ortikov, who allegedly died on May 25 as a result of a strike on the headquarters in Berdyansk . The photo shows Ortikov with a chevron similar to the emblem of the 58th Army of the Southern Military District, which currently occupies positions in the Zaporozhye direction . It is possible that the strike on Berdyansk hit the headquarters of this particular association. It is worth recalling that the city is located at a distance of more than 90 kilometers from the line of contact, which suggests that the strike was carried out by a Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missile.
OSINT project Oryx has counted more than two thousand lost Russian tanks, confirmed by visual evidence. In general, Oryx estimates the total confirmed losses of equipment of the RF Armed Forces at 10,469 units.
Armaments and military equipment
US congressmen are trying to get the administration of President Joe Biden to transfer long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukrainians. According to a letter obtained by Foreign Policy, leaders of the bipartisan Helsinki Commission urged the president to hand over the Ukrainian Armed Forces and these missiles with a range of more than 300 km after the decision was made to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighters in order to “ensure a complete victory and provide all the means necessary for it.” ". The letter also notes that “virtually all the weapons systems requested by Ukraine were provided only after pressure was applied <on the presidential administration — The Insider>.”
The German Ministry of Defense confirmed receipt of a request from the Ukrainian side for the transfer of long-range Taurus missiles. They are able to fly up to 500 km and also withstand enemy interference thanks to four independent navigation systems. The details of the request were not disclosed.
The Netherlands has not yet decided whether to transfer its F-16 fighters to Ukraine. The country's Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that a decision on this has not yet been made and depends on the consent of Washington. In turn, the White House stated that it would not interfere with the supply of these aircraft to Ukraine by third countries. Earlier, the Netherlands, together with the UK, announced the creation of a coalition of countries on the supply of F-16s to Ukraine.
The New York Times reports the start of training of 400 Ukrainian soldiers on American M1A2 Abrams tanks in Germany. About 200 servicemen are taking a tank management course, the rest are being trained in maintenance.
Neutral Austria agreed to transfer 2 million euros to Ukraine for mine clearance. This reportedly came "after a fierce debate" within the government. This money will go to the International Trust Fund. At the same time, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer stressed that "not a single Austrian soldier" would set foot on the soil of Ukraine while the war was going on there.
In one of the previous reports, we wrote about a remarkable video, in which the British Challenger 2 tank is working on overcoming concrete barriers and engineering obstacles, calling it "transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine." Apparently, in fact, the tank belongs to the British military unit, and the video itself was filmed at a training ground in Estonia.
Australia is working on a military aid package for Ukraine with the United States. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov asks this country to join the "tank coalition", as well as to transfer Hawkei armored vehicles to the Ukrainian side.
The pro-Russian Telegram channel “Military Informant”, relying on a message from the administration of New York in the Donetsk region, suggests that the VSK of the Russian Federation began to use FAB-250 bombs with planning and correction modules (UMPC). Until now, it is known about the use of such modules only with larger FAB-500 bombs, and the total weight of the complex often leads to falling bombs from aircraft. С другой стороны, радиус поражения ФАБ-250 при подрыве значительно меньше, что может быть довольно критично, так как зачастую высокоточные авиабомбы в действительности не отличаются высокой точностью .
О главных событиях войны 26 мая — в предыдущей сводке: «Пригожин уходит в тыл, ракета попала в больницу в Днепре, Залужный наконец показался на публике. What is happening on the front line.