Russian forces conducted drone strikes against northeastern Ukraine on the night of May 5 to 6.
Over the past day the Russians launched 2 missile attacks and 69 airstrikes, as well as 52 attacks from multiple-launch rocket systems on the positions of Ukrainian forces and settlements.
Source: evening report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on social media
Details: Reportedly, there are sadly civilians injured as a result of Russian terrorist attacks. Apartment blocks and private houses were damaged, as well as other infrastructure facilities.
A total of 87 combat clashes have occurred over the past 24 hours.
www.pravda.com.ua/…
The Ukrainian Air Force reported on May 6 that Russian forces launched 13 Shahed-136/131 drones from Kursk Oblast and that Ukrainian forces downed 12 Shaheds over Sumy Oblast on the night of May 5 to 6.[93] Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported that Russian forces targeted energy infrastructure in Sumy Oblast.[94] Poltava Oblast Military Administration Head Filip Pronin reported that falling Shahed debris fell onto a house in Myrhorod Raion, Poltava Oblast.[95]
Russian forces conducted limited missile and glide bomb strikes against Ukraine during the day on May 6. Ukraine’s Eastern Air Command reported that Ukrainian forces destroyed a Kh-59/69 missile over Synelnykivskyi Raion, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.[96] Kharkiv Oblast Police Head Serhii Bolvinov stated that Russian forces struck Monchynivka, Kharkiv Oblast with a FAB-1500 with a unified planning and correction modules (UMPC), noting that this was the first time Russian forces used such a FAB-1500 against Kharkiv Oblast.[97] Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that it found and destroyed the remnants of a new Russian Kh-69 cruise missile that landed in the Holosiiv National Nature Park in Kyiv City on a previous, unspecified date.[98]
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- Russia claimed to have taken control of two more Ukrainian settlements – Soloviove in the eastern Donetsk region and Kotliarivka further north in the Kharkiv region. Ukraine’s military made no mention of either area in its evening report.
- About 400,000 households in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region were left without power after Russian drones struck high-voltage distribution lines. Officials said power was later restored to most homes but warned of “urgent challenges” in maintaining the grid.
- Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, said six people were killed and 35 injured after Ukrainian drones struck two buses taking people to work at a meat factory.
- Russia said it would hold tactical nuclear weapons drills after some Western European countries voiced stronger military support for Ukraine. Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.
- Russia warned the United Kingdom that if UK weapons were used by Ukraine to attack Russian territory, then Moscow could hit back at UK military installations and equipment inside Ukraine and elsewhere. UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said last week that Ukraine had the right to strike Russia with UK weapons.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping began his tour of Europe meeting French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris. Von der Leyen said the EU hoped Xi would help persuade Russia to end its “war of aggression against Ukraine”.
- Following the talks, Xi said he backed Macron’s proposal for a truce during the Olympics, which are scheduled to start in Paris on July 26. He said China had been working “vigorously” to facilitate peace talks for Ukraine.
- Germany recalled its ambassador to Russia over alleged cyberattacks linked to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency on its defence and aerospace firms. The ambassador, (Otto) Graf Lambsdorff will remain in Berlin for a week before returning to Moscow.
- Russia’s FSB security services said it had charged a Russian man in his mid-40s with terrorism. The man was detained near a railway station in the central city of Tambov and accused of attempting to blow up two court buildings on behalf of Ukraine.
- Poland said it was financing the operation of 20,000 Starlink internet devices in Ukraine, an essential network for the country’s military communications.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz backed a proposal for about 90 percent of the revenues generated from frozen Russian assets to be channeled into arms purchases for Ukraine.
www.aljazeera.com/...
- The Kremlin appears to be re-intensifying a reflexive control campaign targeting Western decision-making using nuclear threats and diplomatic manipulation.
- Russian elites and Kremlin officials are reportedly vying for influential positions in the Russian government ahead of the Russian presidential inauguration on May 7 to prematurely secure powerful roles in the event that Russian President Vladimir Putin leaves power around the end of his new term.
- A Russian insider source, who has routinely been accurate about past Russian military command changes, claimed that the Russian military command appointed the commanders and chiefs of staff of the newly formed Leningrad and Moscow military districts (LMD and MMD).
- The Kremlin continues tightening the restrictions on individuals it designates as “foreign agents,” restricting their ability to serve in government roles, likely in a disguised purge of officials who do not adequately align with the Kremlin.
- Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) conducted a successful maritime drone strike against a Russian patrol boat in occupied Crimea on May 6, and Ukrainian forces are reportedly adapting their maritime drones to combat Russian defensive measures.
- Russia may be switching sides in the Sudanese civil war to support the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in pursuit of a Red Sea naval base for Russia, which would align Iranian and Russian Sudanese policy and create opportunities for increased Iranian-Russian cooperation in Sudan and the broader Red Sea area.
- Russia has pursued a Red Sea port since 2008 to protect its economic interests in the area and improve its military posture by increasing its ability to challenge the West in the broader region, including in the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean.
- Russia backing the SAF would greatly benefit Iran by aligning Iranian and Russian policy and strategy in the region, which would advance Iran’s own aims of securing a Red Sea base in Sudan.
- The Kremlin is additionally pursuing secondary objectives, including sidelining Ukrainian and US influence in Sudan, through its outreach to the SAF.
- Russian forces recently made confirmed advances northwest of Svatove, near Avdiivka, in western Zaporizhia Oblast, and in east (left) bank Kherson Oblast.
- Ukrainian Zaporizhia Oblast Head Ivan Fedorov stated that Russian authorities have created the infrastructure necessary to conscript Ukrainians in occupied Zaporizhia Oblast and plan to conscript more than 150,000 Ukrainians into the Russian army in an unspecified time period.
understandingwar.org/…
Kerch Bridge rail traffic is now down to just four passenger trains and a single general goods freight train a day...
The decision to stop using the Kerch Bridge to resupply Russian forces has corresponded with a surge in freight traffic via Taman in the Rostov region, Molfar CEO Artem Starosiek told The Independent.
Kyiv should now focus its attentions on Melitopol, Berdyansk and Mariupol, where Russia is laying new rail lines to connect these occupied Ukrainian regions with Crimea and mainland Russia, Mr Starosiek said.
The new rail line, which runs from Melitopol city’s Akimivka and extends to Berdyansk and Mariupol before reaching Rostov in Russia, will probably be used by Russian forces for a new offensive widely expected to begin this summer.
www.independent.co.uk/...
Russian forces recently marginally advanced northwest of Svatove amid continued ground attacks along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line on May 6. Geolocated footage published on May 5 and 6 shows that Russian forces marginally advanced east of Stelmakhivka and south of Krokhmalne (both northwest of Svatove), respectively, and a Russian milblogger reported that Russian forces advanced 300 meters on the eastern outskirts of Stelmakhivka.[56] The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) claimed on May 6 that Russian forces captured Kotlyarivka (northwest of Svatove), …. Russian forces continued assaults northwest of Svatove near Pishchane and Berestove; northwest of Kreminna near Nevske and Novosadove; west of Kreminna near Torske; and south of Kreminna near the Serebryanske forest area and Bilohorivka.[59] Elements of the Russian 204th “Akhmat” Spetsnaz Regiment are reportedly operating in forests near Kreminna.[60]
Russian forces recently made confirmed advances in east (left) bank Kherson Oblast amid continued positional engagements in the area on May 6. Geolocated footage published on May 6 indicates that Russian forces advanced north of Oleshky (southeast of Kherson City).[88] Positional engagements continued near Krynky.[89] Ukrainian Southern Operational Command Spokesperson Captain Third Rank Dmytro Pletenchuk stated that Russian forces are using up to 300 strike drones per day against Ukrainian positions throughout southern Ukraine.[90] Pletenchuk also stated that Russian forces are trying to gain control over Nestryha Island in the Dnipro River Delta (southwest of Kherson City) and are suffering significant losses. A Russian source claimed that Nestryha Island is a contested “gray zone” and that high water levels are complicating any offensive operations to establish control over the islands in the Dnipro River Delta[91]