The Ukrainian president would have learned, this Wednesday, May 3, from the press of the leak of confidential documents concerning the war waged by Russia against his country. They detail Washington’s views on the war in Ukraine and indicate in particular the worrying state of Ukrainian air defenses at the end of February. For their part, Western countries continue to support kyiv. This time, New Zealand has announced an additional support plan for the invaded country.
The Russian security services (FSB) announced on Wednesday that they had dismantled a Ukrainian “terrorist” network in annexed Crimea, while a curfew was decreed in the Kherson region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to Finland on Wednesday to attend a meeting of Nordic prime ministers, the Finnish presidency announced.
Zelensky is not Finland
On the sidelines of the summit, Volodymyr Zelensky will meet his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö, whose country recently joined NATO, to discuss “the fight for the defense of Ukraine” and will also have bilateral talks with Prime Ministers from Sweden Ulf Kristersson, from Norway Jonas Gahr Store, from Denmark Mette Frederiksen and from Iceland Katrin Jakobsdottir.
Ukraine: a curfew in Kherson
Ukrainian local authorities on Wednesday announced a curfew in Kherson, near the southern front line, from Friday evening for 58 hours, as Kiev says it is completing preparations for a major offensive. .
“From 8:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. GMT) on May 5, a curfew will be in place in Kherson, and it will last until 6:00 a.m. (03:00 GMT) on May 8,” the head of administration said on Telegram. local soldier, Oleksandr Prokudin. “During these 58 hours, it will be prohibited to move and be on the streets of the city. (Kherson) will also be closed to entry and exit,” he added.
Russia announces the dismantling of a Ukrainian network
The Russian security services (FSB) announced on Wednesday that they had dismantled a Ukrainian “terrorist” network in annexed Crimea, amid an increase in attacks and acts of “sabotage” a few days before the important military celebrations of May 9 in Russia . “The FSB (…) foiled the activities of the intelligence network of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which planned to carry out a series of major acts of sabotage and terrorism in Crimea”, a- he said in a statement. Seven individuals were arrested, according to the FSB, and “explosive devices” and detonators were found during the searches.
Zelensky says he was not notified of leaked US documents
The Ukrainian president said in an interview published Tuesday by the Washington Post, having learned in the press, and not from Washington, of the existence of a leak of confidential American documents concerning the war of his country against Russia. “I did not receive any information from the White House or the Pentagon beforehand,” he told the American daily. “We did not have this information, I did not have it,” laments the Ukrainian president.
Asked on CNN, the spokesman for the Pentagon, General Pat Ryder, said Tuesday evening “not being able to say whether this is true or not”, while reiterating the support of the United States for Ukraine in the conflict. Classified US documents, released to the press in early April following online leaks. The young American soldier arrested for having disseminated this information was charged on April 14.
New Zealand announces additional support for Ukraine
The New Zealand government has announced an increase in its support for Ukraine. New Zealand has no troops in Ukraine, but has provided training and humanitarian funds since the start of the invasion. A deployment of 95 New Zealand defense personnel working to train Ukrainian troops near London will be extended for a year until June 30, 2024, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said in a statement on Wednesday. Two personnel will participate in Western-led space training programs in Poland, but will not enter Ukraine, Hipkins added.
New Zealand will contribute just over NZ$5 million to various initiatives supporting Ukraine, including the Ukrainian Humanitarian Fund, UNHCR and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and the Trust Fund for Victims. Additional sanctions will target 18 entities and 9 individuals supporting Russia. Since March 2022, New Zealand has deployed 440 military personnel to support Ukraine, including nearly 300 who have trained Ukrainian soldiers in Britain.
Russia: Burning fuel depot near Crimea
A fuel depot caught fire overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday in the Russian village of Volna, near Crimea, Krasnodar Krai Governor Venamin Kondratiev announced on Telegram. “A cistern with petroleum products caught fire in the village of Volna in the Temryuksky district. The fire was assigned the highest degree of severity,” wrote Veniamine Kondratiev, without mentioning the cause of the disaster.
“According to preliminary information, there are no deaths or injuries” and there is “no threat against the residents” of the village, he added. “Everything possible is done so that the fire does not spread further”. Images posted on Telegram by pro-Russian blogger Kirill Fedorov, and claimed to have been taken in Volna, show flames and a thick column of smoke rising above a large cistern overnight. Volna is located at the end of the bridge over the Kerch Strait linking Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014. In October 2022, the explosion of a truck bomb on this structure was a humiliation for Russia, even if the Ukrainian authorities have always denied having attacked the viaduct.
Brazil: US envoy calls for support for Ukraine against Russian “tyrant”
A senior US envoy on Tuesday called on Brazil to support Ukraine in the face of the Russian “tyrant”, reiterating US disappointment over remarks by the Brazilian president who partly blamed the West for the war. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the United Nations, has met Brazilian Foreign Minister and President Luiz Inacio’s wife Lula da Silva, but not the left-wing president himself.
Speaking to international relations students at the University of Brasilia, she said the struggle in Ukraine was a defense of democracy. “They are fighting against a tyrant who thought it was okay to invade a country, take its territory, kill its people and rape its women,” she said. “What will be the next country? What other tyrant will think he can do the same thing?”
Russia: another derailment of a freight train due to an explosive device
A Russian freight train derailed on Tuesday after an explosive device detonated, the second in two days, as acts of sabotage increase. Russia and annexed Crimea are the target of a series of attacks which kyiv, which recently claimed that its preparations for a counter-offensive were nearing completion, has not claimed responsibility for.
In four days, explosive devices derailed two freight trains and damaged a high-voltage line in the Leningrad region (north-west), a drone attack caused a huge fire in an oil depot in annexed Crimea and a Ukrainian strike left four dead in the Bryansk region. The incidents come as Russia prepares to celebrate May 9, which marks the victory over Nazi Germany, a period of patriotic fervor and a highlight of President Vladimir Putin’s regime. On Tuesday, “an unidentified explosive device exploded near Snejetskaya station,” said the governor of the Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine, Alexander Bogomaz.
Ukraine: EU pushes fires to produce 1 million shells per year
The European Commission will propose on Wednesday a financial instrument to boost the European Union’s ammunition production capacity to one million shells per year in order to replenish its arsenals and help Ukraine. “I am confident that within 12 months, we will be able to increase our production capacity to 1 million ammunition per year in Europe,” assured Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton on Tuesday.
This proposal is the third phase of the action plan approved at the end of March by the EU to provide at least one million 155 mm shells to the Ukrainian forces and to replenish the strategic stocks of European countries, some of which are close to breaking down. It will be endowed with 500 million euros, including 260 million from the European Defense Fund. It will make it possible to co-finance the investments of manufacturers to increase the production of their factories in the EU. About fifteen companies produce in eleven Member States.
