Ombudsman: Ukrainians who took Russian passports under pressure will not be punished (2023)

According to the U.K. Defense Ministry, the aviation group's formation highlights how Russia's Air Force has so far underperformed in conducting air strikes against Ukrainian targets.

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on May 22 that Russia has lost 203,880 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, with an estimated 720 casualties on May 21.

Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day have killed three people and injured 14, according to Ukrainian officials. Russian forces launched strikes on Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.The strikes left three civilians dead and 13 injured, officials report.

Wagner Group mercenaries have likely secured the western administrative borders of Bakhmut, but at the cost of depleting their capabilities for future military actions, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its assessment on May 21.

Ukraine’s rocket and artillery forces struck five concentration areas of Russian troops, two ammunition depots, three artillery units at their firing positions, two control points, an electronic warfare system, an anti-aircraft missile system and “another important target,” the General Staff said in its morning update.

Russian forces have committed 88,517 war crimes and crimes of aggression in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s all-out war, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office reported on May 21.

Explosions were heard in Zaporizhzhia, as reported by a Kyiv Independent journalist. Local Telegram channels reported that a series of explosions were heard in Dnipro and Kharkiv.

2:41 AM

A 61-year-old man was wounded in the village of Kamianka, Kharkiv Oblast, due to the detonation of an unidentified explosive object, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported on May 21.

Russian forces targeted the communities of Bilopillia, Esman, Hlukhiv, Shalyhyne, Myropillia, Krasnopillia, and Seredyna-Buda, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration said on May 21.

11:38 PM

Late on May 21, shortly after air raid sirens were turned on in southern Ukrainian regions, several loud explosions were reported in Odesa and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on May 21 that Japan would send around 100 vehicles and 30,000 food kits to Ukraine. He added Japan could also accept wounded Ukrainian soldiers.

In a first in-person meeting since the start of Russia’s all-out invasion, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told President Volodymyr Zelensky that India would do everything it could to help end the war.

Russian forces attacked the towns of Avdiivka, Chasiv Yar, New York, Toretsk, and Marinka in Donetsk Oblast, killing two civilians and injuring six others, the regional prosecutor’s office reported on May 21.

Russia launched a missile attack on the village of Tsyrkuny in Kharkiv Oblast injuring a man, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on May 21.

Ukrainian troops keep advancing on the flanks and approach a "tactical encirclement" of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's Land Forces, reported on May 21.

Ukraine's Third Assault Brigade on May 21 reported that it had advanced 700 meters deep into previously Russian-occupied territory near Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast.

U.S. President Joe Biden on May 21 pledged support for Ukraine's air force, saying that the U.S. would start training Ukrainian pilots to fly fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16 fighter jets.

Russian forces have shelled the village of Kozatske in Kherson Oblast, killing a 55-year-old man, Oleksandr Prokudin, the regional governor, reported on May 21.

Ukrainian troops hit a Russian headquarters in the occupied port city of Berdiansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast overnight on May 21, the Ukrainian military's Center for Strategic Communications reported.

4:38 PM

Russia has restarted its intense waves of long-range missile strikes deep inside Ukraine, targeting cities such as Kyiv, likely to degrade the Ukrainian air defense, the U.K. Defense Ministry said on May 21.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 21 that Russian troops have not captured the embattled city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast.

The Ukrainian military said on May 21 that the situation in Bakhmut is "extremely difficult," but Ukraine still holds "some buildings" and fortifications in the southwestern part of the destroyed eastern city.