“Ukraine – Russia”

More than 1,700 Ukrainian soldiers defending the Azov steel plant in Mariupol have been taken into Russian custody since May 16, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Wounded soldiers were among them, some of whom were taken to Novoazovsk, in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, for treatment.

Ukraine officials have offered assurances that soldiers held could return home through an exchange, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also expressed hope of saving the soldiers’ lives, saying: “Ukraine needs living Ukrainian heroes.”

#Ukraine: The Ukrainian 24th Mechanized Brigade destroyed a LNR (Separatist) BRDM-2 armoured car with an 9M111 Fagot/9M113 Konkurs ATGM in the vicinity of #Rubizhne. pic.twitter.com/m0jKTu3NpE

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 21, 2022

Western leaders face the challenge of resolving blockaded exports and the prospect of famine without instigating direct conflict with Russia

In his desperation to achieve some semblance of a victory in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has demonstrated that he is perfectly willing to employ far from conventional military force to achieve his aims.

The Russian president began the conflict by threatening to cut off Europe’s energy supply if it continued providing military support to Ukraine; a form of blackmail he has subsequently applied against Finland following Helsinki’s decision this week to apply for Nato membership.

He has also made threatening noises about the deadly capabilities of Russia’s nuclear arsenal. And Russian hackers even launched a clumsy attempt to disrupt voting during the Eurovision song contest, which was eventually won by Ukraine.

Senior Russian officials have proposed a new law that would eliminate age limits for military contract soldiers, in another sign the country is facing a shortage of infantry to continue its offensive in Ukraine.

Two members of the ruling United Russia party who introduced the law said the move would enable the military to utilise the skills of older professionals.

“For the use of high-precision weapons, the operation of weapons and military equipment, highly professional specialists are needed. Experience shows that they become such by the age of 40-45,” it said.

Russia halts gas supplies to Finland

Russia is halting its supply of natural gas to Finland, the Finnish state-owned energy firm Gasum says.

Finland has been refusing to pay for its supplies in roubles. But it also follows an announcement that Finland will apply for Nato membership.

Gasum said the move was “regrettable” but said there would be no disruption to customers.

Despite the Ukraine conflict, Russia continues to supply gas to many European countries.

#Ukraine: Incredible footage reminding us the first days of the war – A Russian supply convoy was destroyed by the Ukrainian forces in Luhansk Oblast recently. pic.twitter.com/f8vyIoLyWR

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 20, 2022

#Ukraine: The Ukrainian 80th Air Assault Brigade used a Stugna-P ATGM to strike a likely TZM-T (TOS-1 reloading vehicle), causing a massive explosion. pic.twitter.com/Z64wvTmqy5

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 20, 2022

The sounds of war have become louder in Belgorod, a mid-sized Russian city about 25 miles (40km) from the Ukrainian border. And the blasts are more frequent.

“On Sunday, we were woken up again by explosions. You never know if it’s them or us firing,” said Vladimir, a shopkeeper in the city.

Locals such as Vladimir first witnessed Russia’s military buildup at the start of the year, when thousands of troops amassed near Belgorod prior to Moscow’s attack in late February.

Farmers are being killed and their barns looted

Lviv, Ukraine

“In the old days, we had horses and cows and pigs and chickens. Now we are dying of hunger. In the old days, we fed the world. Now they have taken all we had away from us and we have nothing. In the old days, I should have bade you welcome, and given you as my guest chickens and eggs and milk and fine, white bread. Now we have no bread in the house. They are killing us.”

Branding the Azov Battalion as ‘neo-Nazi’ long after it shed its far-right origins is part of a deafening corruption of public discourse

The Ukrainian port town of Mariupol is the hometown of the Azov Battalion, a special operations detachment of the Ukrainian National Guard with a past neo-Nazi association—which is one self-evident reason the Russian high command chose the city to serve as an example for Vladimir Putin’s “denazification” campaign. In the last few months, the siege of Mariupol has witnessed the most thorough destruction of a European city since the bombing of Dresden. In the process of committing numerous war crimes (and likely crimes against humanity), the Russian army leveled the city’s housing stock to the ground. The fighting reportedly killed tens of thousands of civilians, and most of the city’s nearly half million residents have fled, even as tens of thousands more remain trapped in basements and bunkers under ruins without access to medicine, water, electricity, or basic health care. These include the parents of several of my friends and acquaintances—incidentally ethnic Jewish and Armenian citizens of Ukraine. One, the Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius, was killed in Mariupol as he was filming the war.

Reports that president is interfering in tactical decisions show a lack of trust in the Russian military and a chain of command in disarray

When it comes to military operations, political leaders should be looking outwards: explaining the action to maintain support from domestic society and international allies.

But on Monday we were told that Vladimir Putin is personally intervening in the tactical direction of the Kremlin’s stuttering war in Ukraine.

“We think Putin and Gerasimov are involved in tactical decision-making at a level we would normally expect to be taken by a colonel or a brigadier,” a military source told The Telegraph.

General Valery Gerasimov is the head of the Russian armed forces, but he too should be primarily focused on the politicians: garnering resources and top cover in case things go wrong.

It was an extraordinary piece of television.

The programme was 60 Minutes, the flagship twice-daily talk show on Russian state TV: studio discussion that promotes the Kremlin line on absolutely everything, including on President Putin’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The Kremlin still maintains that the Russian offensive is going according to plan.

But on Monday night, studio guest Mikhail Khodarenok, a military analyst and retired colonel, painted a very different picture.

I doubt this happened by accident without official sanction.

BERLIN, May 18 (Reuters) – Germany has registered a slight increase in the number of Russian nationals applying for asylum since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, an Interior Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

In April, the second full month of the war, 222 people from Russia applied for asylum in Germany, the spokesperson said at a regular government news conference in Berlin.

… Leonid Slutsky, a Russian MP who took part in negotiations with Ukraine earlier in the war, suggested Russia should lift its moratorium on the death penalty for fighters from the Azov regiment, one of the main forces defending the steelworks, calling them “animals in human form”.

“Nazi criminals should not be exchanged,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, one of Russia’s most powerful officials and the chair of the State Duma, during a speech on Tuesday. “Our country treats those who surrendered or were captured humanely. But with regards to Nazis, our position should be unchanged: these are war criminals and we must do everything so that they stand trial.”

Volodin did not directly address the surrender of the troops at Azovstal in his statement, but the context was clear as Russia’s defence ministry released video of the evacuation of the Ukrainian fighters on Tuesday morning, saying some of them were members of the Azov battalion.

Sounds fishy!

#Ukraine: UA forces continue further development of ways to deliver munitions from commercial drones – this time they adapted fish bait bombs, placing ordinary F-1/RGD-5 grenades inside.

Note that the UZRGM fuze can be modified to remove the delay, causing an instant explosion. pic.twitter.com/vQokEqKWMg

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 17, 2022

Zelensky opens Cannes Film Festival, links war and cinema … Broadway musical in the works

An interesting development involving an unlikely source.

Mikhail Khodaryonok served in the Soviet and Russian air forces before becoming a commentator on military affairs. You might assume that in Russia that means toeing the Kremlin line in all things, but you’d be wrong. Here’s Khodaryonok writing three weeks before the invasion of Ukraine