Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said today that a kamikaze drone belonging to the Russian army was shot down. “The 128th Brigade neutralized the last Russian kamikaze drone,” the statement said. So far, Russia has not commented on losing the drone.
The falling drone was developed by the Kalashnikov company. “It can fly through the air and attack the target with a vertical dive,” said the Ukrainian Defense, “after launch, [ele] does not return to the operator”, but hits targets by diving or exploding.
Today, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has reached its 99th day. In western Ukraine, the Lviv region was the target of a missile attack near the Polish border. According to Governor Maksym Kozytskyi, railway infrastructure in the cities of Stryj and Sambir was hit. The latter is located about 50 kilometers from the territory of Poland.
“Four enemy cruise missiles were fired. They were launched from the Black Sea,” Kozytskyi said today. At least five people were injured. “Railway facilities have been severely damaged. Many trains are delayed,” the governor said, adding that the railway company is trying to repair the damage.
Ukraine has also recorded attacks in Sumy in the north-east of the country and in eastern regions such as Dnipropetrovsk and Lugansk. According to the Ukrainian emergency service, the situation in the Lugansk region is close to “critical”. “The Russian army is firing in all directions at once.”
“Destroyed” mercenaries flee
“Since the beginning of May, the flow of foreign mercenaries to Ukraine to participate in hostilities against the Russian armed forces has actually stopped,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a report released today. Russians estimate the number has dropped from 6,600 to 3,500. Information could not be verified with independent sources.
According to the ministry, “Hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine Russian troops” also said that most of them were “destroyed in the war zone due to their low level of training and lack of real combat experience”.
The Russian Defense also said that captured mercenaries interpreted that Ukrainian forces were “sacrifice in the first place” in an alleged effort to “reduce the loss of their armies”. That’s why “a significant number of mercenaries prefer to leave Ukrainian territory as soon as possible”, commenting the Russian ministry, also claiming that Ukraine is preventing them from going abroad.
But at the same time, Russia said that Ukrainians would try to “provide legal protection for mercenaries”, list them as members of its own forces, or “issue new passports to Ukrainian citizens.” So far, the Ukrainian government has not commented on the show of the Russian ministry.
Arrests and executions
In Mariupol, a port city captured by the Russians in southeastern Ukraine, Ukrainian volunteers and personnel were reportedly arrested and even executed. “They were all collaborators and refused to cooperate with the occupation authorities,” said Vadym Boychenko, the city’s Ukrainian mayor.
The mayor said, “At least one officer was executed by firing squad. Dozens of volunteers were also detained,” said the mayor, adding that there would be cases of torture as well. “In March and April they helped evacuate Mariupol residents and tried to deliver food and water to the blocked city.”
Information could not be verified with independent sources.
Merkel’s Solidarity
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her solidarity with Ukraine in what she described as a “barbaric war” with Russia. The statement came at an event yesterday, after months of silence, according to Reuters. “My solidarity is going to Ukraine,” Merkel said.
Fluent in Russian after growing up in ex-communist East Germany, Merkel was criticized by the United States and others for supporting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, designed to transport Russian gas directly to Germany. Merkel’s successor, Olaf Scholz, shelved the project. The former chancellor was in office between 2005 and 2021.
(with Reuters)
source: Noticias
