Stoltenberg: The war in Ukraine can last a long time

On the 93rd day of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine,  Russian troops continue their attempts to capture the settlements of the neighboring country. The Armed Forces of Ukraine and its territorial defense units are resisting aggression. It is impossible to quickly verify the statements of representatives of both sides of the conflict from independent sources. About 12.8 million Ukrainians have already left their homes. DW is following developments on Friday, May 27th (Moscow time).

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Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, at least 3,998 civilians have been killed and at least 4,693 injured, according to United Nations (UN) estimates. However, in reality, as the UN notes, these figures are likely to be much higher.

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The United States excludes the possibility of lifting some of the sanctions against Russia in exchange for the deblockade of Ukrainian ports with grain, as required by Moscow, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre . "It is Russia that blocks exports from Ukrainian ports and provokes world hunger. Tons of food are on ships that cannot sail due to the Russian naval blockade," she said. "US and partner sanctions do not ban the export of Ukrainian or Russian agro-industrial products, nor do they ban bank transfers or ships required for these exports. Russia should immediately allow Ukrainian exports," Jean-Pierre said. There is no discussion of lifting sanctions, she stressed.

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The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov , announced that a local resident, who on May 26 was injured as a result of shelling of the border village of Zhuravlevka from Ukraine, died. "We are in trouble again. The woman who was wounded yesterday died of her wounds," he wrote on the Telegram channel and added that the situation in the region is generally calm. The day before, Gladkov announced that a complete ban was being introduced on visiting the border villages of Zhuravlyovka and Nekhoteevka, where an emergency regime was introduced due to the danger of shelling.

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson proposed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to create a new international alliance directed against Russia, according to the Italian publication Corriere Della Sera  , citing sources. According to the publication, the British prime minister wants to create a "political, economic and military alliance" that will alternative to the European Union (EU). The new alliance should unite countries dissatisfied with EU policy, as well as Germany's actions in response to Russia's military aggression.

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Iranian Trade and Industry Minister Seyyed Rezu Fatemi Amin announced the agreement on barter deals with Russia. According to him, Iran can supply auto parts and gas turbines in exchange for metallurgy products, according to the Iranian edition of Press TV .

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Western countries are considering the idea of ​​allowing Russian oligarchs to "pay off" sanctions in exchange for transferring their money to rebuild Ukraine, AP writes, citing sources . According to the agency, such an initiative was made by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Canada Chrystia Freeland at a meeting of representatives of the G7 countries. Freeland raised the issue after discussing it with Russian oligarchs, the agency writes. Kyiv is aware of this discussion, a source told AP. According to him, the West is interested in seeing "prominent Russian oligarchs disassociate themselves from Putin" and at the same time provide funding for Ukraine. An AP source stressed that so far it is only an idea and no decisions have been made.

Pentagon: Russian forces have had only moderate success

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Over three months of war, Russian troops, despite being heavily outnumbered, have made only moderate progress , a senior U.S. Department of Defense official said.at a press briefing. After failing to capture Kyiv, the Russian army is trying to cut off the entire Donbas region from the rest of Ukraine, but has not yet made much progress, according to a Pentagon spokesman. “Fighting is tough, and changing terrain and targets means changing battle tactics, which leads to an increase in the importance of long-range fire,” the Pentagon says, “Russian troops still do it quite doctrinally: first they use artillery, and then they move units - only after they consider that they have sufficiently softened the defense of the enemy. The numerical superiority is on their side, and therefore, I think we will continue to observe this creeping progress," he states.

"We don't see a lot of innovative approaches to target acquisition, Russian troops are doing the same thing as before, unlike the Ukrainian ones, who have learned lessons from the battles," says a Pentagon spokesman, who points out that Russia is now using "more small subdivisions" before which "smaller tasks" are set.

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that now no one can predict how soon the war between Russia and Ukraine will end, and we must be prepared for the fact that it can last for a long time. "We have to be ready for a long road. And so I call on allies to provide support, and also to be ready to do this for a long time and have enough equipment for this. Because this is more and more a war of attrition," Stoltenberg said in a statement. interview with the Greek portal Capital.gr.

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A group of deputies of the Parliament of Primorye opposed the war in Ukraine. During a meeting of the Legislative Assembly of the Primorsky Territory, when discussing the agenda, a member of the Communist Party faction Leonid Vasyukevich read out a statement "from a group of deputies" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The statement contained a demand to stop the military operation in Ukraine and withdraw Russian troops from its territory. According to him, the appeal to the head of state was signed by four communist deputies.

Ukrainian Olympian suspected of adjusting fire for the Russian army

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Former heavyweight of the Olympic team of Ukraine Gennady Krasilnikov was detained by the Ukrainian military in the city of Chuguev in the Kharkiv region. According to Censor.net , Krasilnikov was among a group of people suspected of directing fire for the Russian army.

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The Russian army has lost about 1,000 tanks since the start of its invasion of Ukraine , according to a senior US defense official in the Financial Times and CNN. According to Washington , Russia also lost more than 30 fighter jets, 50 helicopters and 350 artillery pieces. Despite this, according to a Pentagon spokesman, Russia has "many opportunities" to attack.

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The United States has warned Ukraine that if it strikes at Russian territory, it threatens to escalate the military conflict, Reuters reports, citing sources. The agency claims that the dialogue between Washington and Kyiv on this topic "is of a very delicate nature" and is aimed at reaching "a common understanding of the risk of escalation."

US may supply multiple launch rocket systems to Ukraine

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US President Joe Biden at the Lockheed-Martin arms factory.

The United States is "inclining" to supply Ukraine with HIMARS (High Mobility Advanced Rocket System) multiple launch rocket systems , which Kiev is asking for, CNN reports, citing sources . According to the Ukrainian authorities, the American MLRS can "change the rules of the game." U.S. long-range systems can launch missiles hundreds of kilometers - much farther than any of Ukraine's weapons, CNN notes.

The United States for several weeks refused to supply these systems to Kyiv, fearing that Ukraine could use them to attack Russia. An alternative could be the supply of shorter-range missile systems, writes CNN. The decision could be announced as early as this week, the channel's sources say.