Summary
It’s 2am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
- Ukrainian officials have confirmed that the US House of Representatives approved of $100 million in funding to train Ukrainian pilots to operate American aircraft as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. The pilots will be trained on F-15 and F-16 jets, according to Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff.
- At least three people were killed and 15 injured following a missile attack on Friday on Dnipro, the fourth largest city in Ukraine with over one million inhabitants. “The rockets hit an industrial plant and a busy street next to it,” the regional governor Valentyn Rezynchenko said on his Facebook page.
- A wounded soldier who returned from Russian captivity has recounted how Russian forces would threaten Ukrainian soldiers with the death penalty if they refused to cooperate. Denys Piskun, an Azov soldier, told Azov Media, “They said that if you don’t testify, if you don’t cooperate, there will be the death penalty. You all have the death penalty on trial as a Nazi terrorist organization.”
- Ukraine suffered the most amount of civilian losses in May, Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a new interview aired on Friday. Speaking to the BBC, Reznikov said, “The biggest peak of our losses was in May,” with up to 100 soldiers being killed a day.
- Europe has “shot itself in the lungs” with sanctions aimed at Russia over its war in Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. Orban, a nationalist who has ruled Hungary since 2010 and frequently clashes with Brussels, has been a fierce critic of European Union sanctions on Russian oil.In an address on national radio, Orban urged EU leaders to change the sanctions policy.
- Rocket strikes launched by Ukrainian forces have destroyed more than 30 Russian military logistics centres in recent weeks and significantly reduced Russia’s attacking potential, Ukraine’s defence ministry spokesperson said on Friday. The official, Oleksandr Motuzianyk, emphasized the role played by American HIMARS rocket systems, one of several types of long-range weapon supplied by the West to assist Ukraine in its fight against Russian forces.
- M270 long-range multiple rocket launch systems have arrived in Ukraine, the Ukrainian defense minister announced on Friday. “They will be good company for HIMARS [high mobility artillery rocket systems] on the battlefield. Thank you to our partners. No mercy for the enemy,” Oleksii Reznikov tweeted.
Ukrainian officials have confirmed that the US House of Representatives approved of $100 million in funding to train Ukrainian pilots to operate American aircraft as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.
The pilots will be trained on F-15 and F-16 jets, according to Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff.
