F-16s to Kiev will elevate the NATO-Russia query – DW – 05/22/2023

the Transportation of F-16 fighters Russia’s ambassador to the USA stated in remarks printed early Monday that Kiev would elevate the problem of NATO’s involvement within the battle.

“There isn’t a infrastructure to function the F-16 in Ukraine, nor does the required variety of pilots and upkeep personnel exist,” Anatoly Antonov stated in a press release posted on the embassy’s Telegram channel on Monday.

“What is going to occur if American fighters take off from NATO airfields managed by overseas” volunteers “?

Notes come subsequent US President Joe Biden On Friday, it authorised a plan for coaching packages for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Biden that the aircraft wouldn’t be used to enter Russian territory.

However, Antonov additionally stated that any Ukrainian assault on Crimea can be seen as a blow to Russia.

“It’s important for the USA to be absolutely conscious of the Russian response,” he added.

Listed below are another developments associated to Russia’s struggle in Ukraine on Monday, Might 22:

Zelensky: Bakhmut was not “occupied” by Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated Bakhmut was “not occupied” by Moscow, even because the commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group claimed his fighters had managed the jap salt-mining city “to the final centimeter”.

“Bakhmut isn’t occupied by Russia at this time,” Zelensky stated on Sunday at a press convention on the sidelines of the convention. G7 summit within the Japanese metropolis of Hiroshima.

“I can not share with you the tactical views of our military. Essentially the most tough factor will likely be if there’s a tactical error in Bakhmut and our individuals are surrounded.”

The Ukrainian navy stated it was holding a small a part of town, which was the scene of a number of the bloodiest preventing throughout Russia’s struggle in Ukraine.

“We proceed to advance on the flanks on the outskirts of Bakhmut,” stated Oleksandr Sersky, commander of the Ukrainian Floor Forces.

Nonetheless, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin stated that there have been no Ukrainian troopers in Bakhmut.

“There may be not a single Ukrainian soldier in Bakhmut as a result of we have now stopped holding prisoners,” he stated in a press release posted on Telegram. “There are an enormous variety of corpses of Ukrainian troopers.”

Prigozhin stated that Zelensky was not telling the reality or “like lots of our navy leaders, he merely doesn’t know what is going on on the bottom, that could be a chance.”

He added that Wagner would hand over management of Bakhmut to the Russian military by Might 25.

Zelensky likens the ruins of Pahmut to Hiroshima after World Warfare II

President Volodymyr Zelensky likened it to Bakhmut ruins to the destruction of Hiroshima in World Warfare II whereas taking part within the G7 summit within the Japanese metropolis on Sunday.

Chatting with the media, Zelensky stated, “I’ll inform you frankly: the photographs of the destroyed Hiroshima fairly remind me of Bakhmut and different related settlements. Nothing is left alive, all of the buildings are in ruins.”

Following the feedback, Russian International Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova mocked the Ukrainian president’s comparability, saying that the USA bombed Hiroshima and is now offering navy assist to Ukraine.

“It’s nice,” Zakharova stated on Telegram. As a result of the White Home did them.”

Brazilian Lula is “upset” at not assembly Zelensky

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated on Monday that he was “disturbed” that he didn’t meet Volodymyr Zelensky on the G7 summit, including that the assembly failed as a result of his Ukrainian counterpart was late.

“I used to be not disenchanted. I used to be upset as a result of I wished to fulfill him and talk about the matter,” Lula informed reporters at a press convention earlier than getting back from Japan.

However Lula stated: “Zelensky is exaggerating. He is aware of what he’s doing.”

He added that he didn’t see the purpose of assembly Zelensky now, saying that neither he nor Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently wished peace.

“In the mean time, they’re each satisfied that they’ll win the struggle,” he stated.

Lula pushes for peace negotiations, proposing Brazil as a mediator, together with different “impartial” international locations, together with China and Indonesia.

However he confronted criticism final month after he accused the USA of “encouraging” the struggle.

Russia launches an air assault in the course of the night time on the Dnipro governor

Officers stated Russia launched an air assault in a single day on town of Dnipro in southeastern Ukraine.

Native media reported a collection of explosions, however it was not instantly clear whether or not it was air protection methods destroying targets or Russian missiles or drones hitting their targets.

“Due to the protection forces, we withstood the assault. Particulars will are available in time,” native governor Serhiy Lysak stated on his Telegram messaging app, referring to Russian forces as “terrorists”.

Ukraine’s RBC-Ukraine information company reported that about 15 explosions had been heard in the course of the greater than 90 minutes of air raid alerts.

With a Ukrainian counterattack looming, Russia resumed missile and drone strikes this month after a lull of almost two months.

Waves of assaults now come a number of occasions every week, probably the most extreme of the struggle.

Russian administration: Zaporizhia nuclear energy plant is minimize off from the ability grid

A neighborhood official put in by Russia within the Moscow-controlled a part of the area stated the Zaporizhia nuclear energy plant had gone into standby mode.

Vladimir Rogov stated the station was “fully” disconnected from the exterior energy supply after Ukraine minimize the ability line it controls.

There was no instant response from Ukraine, however Anatoly Kortev, secretary of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia Metropolis Council, stated work has been happening since early Monday to revive energy to town.

“(Energy) has partially disappeared in Zaporizhzhia resulting from an emergency at one of many energy amenities,” Kurtev stated on the Telegram messaging app.

Zaporizhzhia area in Ukraine is one in every of 4 areas of Ukraine that Russia annexed final yr.

On a number of events, the Zaporizhia energy plant has been the middle of heavy preventing between Russian and Ukrainian fighters, inflicting concern amongst worldwide nuclear consultants who feared a attainable accident on the facility.

dvv/kb (AFP, AP, Reuters)