Ukraine to be supplied with Multiple Launch Rocket Systems

The coalition of countries in support of Ukraine ready to meet again next week at the level of defense ministers will be bigger than at the first meeting at Ramstein base in Germany. “There are some countries that have shown an interest in participating that weren't in the first meeting,” stated Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said war will not be waged on Russian territory but reminded the international community that the Donbas region remains sovereign to Ukraine.

Speaking at a joint media conference with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa  on Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said the price of “tens or hundreds of thousands of lives” was too high to surrender the territory.

Zelensky asked for Multiple Launch Rocket Systems which he said “just stand still” in other countries, referring to U.S. resistance to providing rockets, which he believes are “key” to Ukraine’s success.

What will Moldovans do with their maces?

US congressmen in the Foreign Affairs Committee commented in Chisinau on the idea of ​​sending Western weapons to Moldova to protect it from Russia, saying that such talks are under way, but that the aid should not “exceed” the demands of the Moldovan leadership.

Gregory Meeks, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives, made the statement at a news conference in Chisinau on May 21, after British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said that her country had begun talks with Western allies on sending weapons to Moldova to protect it from Russia.

“One of the reasons why Ukraine has been successful and why the region will be successful is that we will work together. We are focusing our efforts on making all our allies act together with one voice and in one direction so that Putin does not continue his invasions in other countries. The dialogue is ongoing and we will make decisions collectively with others, and one of our best is Moldova, “said Gregory Meeks.

Odessa – Reni road near Palanca closed to traffic

Ukraine introduced additional regime restrictions in controlled border areas. According to the Belgorod-Dniester border detachment, additional temporary restrictions have been introduced on entry, work in the border strip, border controlled areas, navigation of small boats and other watercraft in inland waters.

Since the morning of May 23, within the framework of the Odessa, Belgorod-Dnestrovsky and Bolgradsky border regions of the Odessa region, people have been banned from entering a certain area along the state border. The exception is those who permanently or temporarily live, work in the area. One cannot transport weapons and any means of active defense without appropriate permits, use night vision devices, thermal imagers, etc., use drones, move on foot along the section of the Odessa-Reni highway near the village of Palanca (Moldova).

Azovstal falls. Battle goes on

Ukraine ordered its remaining troops holed up in Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steelworks to lay down their arms after nearly three months of desperate resistance

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out any ceasefire in exchange of territorial concessions to Russia, after Moscow declared Mariupol liberated following the surrender of the besieged town’s Azovstal plant.

Media reports over the weekend said Kiev ruled out a ceasefire or any territorial concessions to Moscow, after Russian media said 2,439 Ukrainian fighters who had been holed up at the steelworks had surrendered since last Monday, including over 500 on Friday.

In a national address on Saturday, Zelensky said the war would only end through diplomacy and that Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories would “come to an end.”

But additional reports said the president’s adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, confirmed to Reuters that “the war will not stop.”

Spiegel: The Kremlin cooperates with Russian nationalists

German intelligence confirms the participation of several extremist groups from Russia in the fighting in Ukraine. Russian right-wingers and neo-Nazis have joined in the military aggression, according to a confidential report from the Federal Intelligence Service (BND).

According to Spiegel, last week the seven-page document was sent to several federal ministries. The report does not contain information on the number of right-wing extremist militants, but their names are given. According to intelligence, two neo-Nazi groups are “Russian Imperial League” and “Rusich”– are fighting against Ukraine. According to analysts of the German foreign intelligence service, cooperation with these groups brings the named cause of the war, the so-called “denazification” of Ukraine, to the point of absurdity.

Ukraine accepts only EU candidate country status

Ukraine needs to become a full candidate to join the European Union, rather than signing up to the kind of broader “European political community” proposed by France, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday.

“We don’t need any alternatives to the application of Ukraine to join the European Union, we don't need such compromises,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv.

“The end will certainly be in diplomacy”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the path to ending the war with Russia would require diplomacy and an international agreement with security guarantees from other countries after any military win.

“Victory will be bloody,” he said in a Ukrainian television interview broadcast Saturday, and “the end will certainly be in diplomacy.”