DThe Russian leadership has declared peace talks hopeless due to planned Western tank deliveries to Ukraine. “Under the current conditions, since Washington has announced its decision to supply tanks, its minions (…) are competing over who will provide Ukraine with how much armor technology”, it is “pointless” to talk to the government in Kiev, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told state news agency RIA Novosti on Monday.
The diplomat criticized the planned tank deliveries from the US, Great Britain, Germany and other countries as a “very destructive move” aimed at further increasing Ukraine.
He blamed the US and NATO for the war, which lasted more than eleven months. Ryabkov justified the Russian attack on Ukraine with “legitimate security interests” and alleged repression of the Russian population there.
All Improvements in Live Ticker:
09:40 – Russian attacks on Kherson and Kharkiv – at least four dead
At least four people were killed in Russian airstrikes in towns in eastern and southern Ukraine, Kyiv said. In the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, three people were killed and six others injured, local authorities said on Sunday. A woman was killed in a Russian attack on a residential building in Kharkiv, according to officials.
Things have recently been much quieter on the front in southern Ukraine than in the east, after Moscow withdrew its forces from the city of Cherson in November. “Residential areas of the city were shelled by enemy artillery,” the Kherson regional administration said. Public facilities including regional hospital, school, post office, bank and residential buildings were damaged. In a video message Sunday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian military had “carried out a brutal bombardment of Kherson.”
Destruction in Cherson after the Russian attack
Source: AFP/GENYA SAVILOV
In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, in the country’s east, the Russian military bombed a four-story apartment building, governor Oleg Sinekubov said. An old lady died in this attack.
Corkville Firefighters
Which: REUTERS
An attack on a railway bridge in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia killed four railway workers, a Russian-backed official said. He blamed Ukraine for the attack. Along with Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk, Zaporizhia is one of the Ukrainian regions that Russia partially occupies and annexed last year. In addition, Moscow annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014 in violation of international law.
Current situation in Ukraine
Source: Infographic World
7:14 am – “The President is certainly not making friends in Washington”
Christophe Heusken, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, has accused Chancellor Olaf Scholes (SPD) of upsetting the US with his behavior in the battle tank debate. The US government would have expected Germany to take the lead with the Panthers – but the chancellor disagreed. “The chancellor has certainly not made any friends in Washington,” Heusken told the “Rheinische Post” and the “General-Ansiger”.
The central government wants to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks and should allow allies to do the same. Critics decry the decision as too reluctant.
“The US has supplied Ukraine with ten times more weapons than Germany. “I don’t know where the Europeans would be in supporting Ukraine without the Americans, or where the Russians would be right now,” Hughes continued. So he can certainly understand the American side being upset about this.
Christoph Heusken, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference
Source: dpa/Jörg Carstensen
In terms of security policy, Europe must stand on its own two feet. “But Europe and Germany have more to do with it, and above all the leading NATO power, the United States, is orienting itself more towards the Indo-Pacific region,” said the head of the Munich Security Conference. However, in the future, Europe will depend on the US as a protecting power.
Heusken insisted that Germany, as the strongest country in Europe economically, should play a leading role, including militarily. “But that is not what we are seeing now. Leadership cannot always mean being the last to do what is absolutely necessary – look at the battle tanks. Germany is falling short of its potential and expectations.
5:26 am – Russian official rejects peace talks
According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Russia currently rejects negotiations with the government in Kyiv and the West. Russian news agency RIA quoted Ryabkov as saying there was no point in talking to Kiev or its “puppets” after the US promised to supply Ukraine with major battle tanks.
03:42 – Jens Stoltenberg calls for military support from South Korea
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called on South Korea to increase military support for Ukraine. “If we don’t want autocracy and tyranny to win, (Ukrainians) need guns, that’s the reality,” Stoltenberg said in a speech at the Se Institute in Seoul. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said the law prohibits arms transfers to countries involved in military conflicts.
Stoltenberg points to countries such as Germany, Sweden and Norway that followed similar policies but later changed them. South Korea has signed contracts for hundreds of tanks, planes and other weapons for NATO member Poland and has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the war began.
01:28 – At least four people were killed in Russian attacks on Kherson and Kharkiv
At least four people were killed in Russian airstrikes in towns in eastern and southern Ukraine, Kyiv said. In the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, three people were killed and six others injured, local authorities said on Sunday. A woman was killed in a Russian attack on a residential building in Kharkiv, according to officials.
Four people were killed in an attack on a railway bridge in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, a Russian official said. He blamed Ukraine for the attack.
Things have recently been much quieter on the front in southern Ukraine than in the east, after Moscow withdrew its forces from the city of Cherson in November.
“Residential areas of the city were shelled by enemy artillery,” the Kherson regional administration said. Public facilities including regional hospital, school, post office, bank and residential buildings were damaged. In a video message Sunday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian military had “carried out a brutal bombardment of Kherson.”
In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, in the country’s east, the Russian military bombed a four-story apartment building, governor Oleg Sinekubov said. An old lady died in this attack.
In the Zaporizhia region, where the front has seen little change for months, Ukraine used a Himars multiple rocket launcher to attack a railway bridge over the Molochnaya River, Moscow-appointed regional head Yevgeny Politsky told online networks. Four railway employees were killed and five injured.
According to Politsky, the bridge, located in a village north of the Russian-controlled city of Melitopol, is being repaired.
Russia claims to have annexed the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, as well as two other regions in eastern Ukraine, without fully controlling these areas.
1:01 am – “One minute” – Putin has personally threatened him, Boris Johnson reports
According to former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Russian President Vladimir Putin made personal threats against him shortly before the start of the Ukraine war. “He threatened me at one point, ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile it will take a minute’ or something like that,” Johnson told the British PA news agency. The BBC documentary, to be broadcast on May 14, is due to air on Monday.
“Judging by the very relaxed tone and calmness he seemed to exhibit, he must have toyed with my attempts to negotiate with him,” Johnson continued. Like other Western leaders, the then-prime minister sought to distract Putin shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Reports are said to have been published.
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