Discover the latest updates on Friday, May 17, 2024.
Fighting
- During his visit to Kharkiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the situation in the northeast as “extremely challenging” but assured that it was “under control” following the military’s successful defense against a Russian advance, notably preventing an invasion of Vovchansk, just 5km (3 miles) from the Russian border.
- Head of police investigations in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Sergiy Bolvinov, accused Russia of taking “30 to 40” civilians as captives in Vovchansk to use as “human shields” near their command center.
- NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, expressed confidence that Russian military forces did not have the capacity to make a strategic breakthrough in the Kharkiv region, affirming that Ukrainian forces would maintain their positions.
- Ukraine’s General Staff reported that Russia was intensifying its attacks on the front line near Pokrovsk and Kramatorsk in the eastern Donetsk region, where the offensive has persisted for months.
- An air raid alert in Kharkiv lasted over 16 hours due to Russian drone and missile attacks. Despite five drones hitting parts of the city and starting a fire, no casualties were reported. The alert was lifted early Friday morning.
- The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, confirmed the tragic death of a woman and her four-year-old son in a Ukrainian drone strike on their car, with two others injured.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing for talks, a leisurely walk in the park, and tea. Xi emphasized the importance of the deepening relationship between the two countries as a “stabilizing force” globally, expressing hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine. Despite China’s lack of condemnation towards Moscow’s invasion, Putin expressed gratitude for…
Original source: www.aljazeera.com