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[1/2] Ukrainian servicemen rest at their positions after a fight, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the front line city of Bakhmut, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 11, 2023. Radio Free... Read more

May 15 (Reuters) - Ukraine's military on Monday hailed recent advances around Bakhmut as its first successful counterattack in the battle against Russian forces fighting for control of the eastern city.

But Kyiv also said the situation in Bakhmut was difficult. It cautioned that Moscow had not changed its goal of capturing the city and was sending assault troops to Bakhmut's outskirts.

The Ukrainian military said last week it had started to push Russian forces back in and around Bakhmut after months of heavy fighting, and Moscow acknowledged that its forces had fallen back north of the city.

"The advance of our troops along the Bakhmut direction is the first success of offensive actions in the defence of Bakhmut," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of Ground Forces, said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app.

"The last few days have shown that we can move forward and destroy the enemy even in such extremely difficult conditions," he said. "We are fighting with fewer resources than the enemy. At the same time, we are able to ruin its plans."

Kyiv is expected to launch a major counteroffensive soon to try to retake Russian-occupied territory, but Ukrainian officials have indicated that the gains around Bakhmut do not signal that the broader counterattack has begun.

Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said heavy fighting continued in and around Bakhmut, and that "everything" was difficult there.

"The Russians have not changed their goals. They are sending assault troops to the outskirts of Bakhmut," she wrote on Telegram.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Moscow, which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly 15 months ago, sees Bakhmut as a stepping stone to attacking other Ukrainian cities. Kyiv has said before that keeping up the defence of Bakhmut allows for the military to prepare its expected counteroffensive.

Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Jacqueline Wong

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ukraine hails its first offensive success in defence of Bakhmut - Reuters.com

Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Chequers in Buckinghamshire for talks with the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak on Monday. Sunak said Britain would provide Ukraine with hundreds of air defence missiles and further unmanned aerial systems, including new long-range attack drones with a range of more than 200km, to be delivered over the coming months. Zelenskiys visit comes off the back of trips to Berlin and Paris, and with the UK last week having pledged to send longer ranger cruise missiles to support Ukraines efforts to oust Russian forces from its territory.

The United States is seeing more indications that Russia and Iran are expanding an unprecedented defence partnership that will help Moscow prolong its war in Ukraine as well as pose a threat to Irans neighbours. Iran reportedly provided Russia with one-way attack drones, including more than 400 since august, US national security adviser John Kirby said at a news briefing.

The World Health Organizations European office decided to close a specialised WHO office in Moscow and move its functions to Denmark. Calls from members to shut the office came last year over Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, inadvertently confirmed on Monday that four military aircraft had been shot down over Russia last week near the borders of Ukraine and Belarus, saying the capital city Minsk had responded by putting its armed forces on high alert. Photos also emerged of Lukashenko today visiting an air force installation, who had not been seen since 9 May, which caused speculation about his health.

Data published on the Federal Treasurys online budget portal Russia spent 2tn roubles (21bn) on defence in January and February alone. This is a 282% jump on the same period a year ago, data on the budget portal showed, illustrating the spiralling costs for Moscow of its conflict in Ukraine.

Russias defence ministry said it scrambled a fighter jet today to prevent French and German patrol aircraft from entering its airspace over the Baltic Sea after it detected them flying towards Russia. Russia said the flights were being conducted by a German P-3C patrol aircraft and a French Atlantic-2 maritime patrol jet.

Russias defence ministry has claimed for the first time today that it had downed a long-range Storm Shadow missile supplied to Ukraine by Britain, which announced last week that it was providing them. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Monday that Russia viewed Britains decision to supply the missiles extremely negatively.

UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said today that efforts will continue to extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, a pact Moscow has threatened to quit on 18 May over obstacles to its grain and fertiliser exports, Reuters reports.

Ahead of the trip Zelenskiys trip to the UK on Monday, he tweeted: The UK is a leader when it comes to expanding our capabilities on the ground and in the air. This cooperation will continue today. I will meet my friend Rishi. We will conduct substantive negotiations face-to-face and in delegations.

Sunak said in a statement: This is a crucial moment in Ukraines resistance to a terrible war of aggression they did not choose or provoke. They need the sustained support of the international community to defend against the barrage of unrelenting and indiscriminate attacks that have been their daily reality for over a year. We must not let them down.

Zelenskiy issued a new appeal to Nato on Monday to make a positive political decision on Kyivs membership at its July summit. Zelenskiy made his remarks in a video address to the Copenhagen democracy summit. He said that Finland joining Nato showed the strength of security guarantees, and thanked Denmark and other allies for their resolve in assisting Ukraine against Russia.

The defence of Bakhmut continues and recent days have shown that Ukraine can move forward and counter the Russian forces there, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Monday.

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UK will train Ukraine pilots, Sunak tells Zelenskiy; Russia and Iran appear to be expanding cooperation, US says as it happened - The Guardian

[1/5] Ukrainian servicemen of the 128th Mountain assault Brigade set up an 120mm mortar during a military training, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, May 15, 2023.... Read more

DNIPROPETROVSK REGION, Ukraine, May 15 (Reuters) - Ukrainian soldiers training for a counteroffensive against Russian forces said on Monday they felt ready to launch the assault which they hope will end the war.

Members of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade practiced setting up and packing away their mortars as the sun beat down on them in fields in the southern region of Dnipropetrovsk.

Learning to do it quickly is vital to their survival. "We are getting ready for the counteroffensive, so that we can finally end this war," said a 28-year-old serviceman who goes the call sign Dykyi, or 'wild' in Ukrainian.

"We have been preparing for about a month. And before that, weve been preparing for it all our lives."

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week Ukraine needed more time to prepare for the counteroffensive, intended to take back territory captured by Russia, and has been on a brief tour on European capitals this week drumming up support.

"We are expecting the offensive. By my calculations we are all ready to fulfil our tasks. But we are nevertheless constantly perfecting our craft," said Roman Khomych, the 45-year-old commander of the unit training with mortars.

Dykyi, who first joined the army in 2015 and returned after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, said he was motivated by the destruction caused by the war.

"It's extremely painful to watch our cities being destroyed. It's a sort of painful motivation to go and finish all this," he said.

The 128th Mountain Assault Brigade is an elite force that has been involved in combat with Russian or Russian-backed forces since 2014, when fighting began in eastern Ukraine.

Several soldiers said they had fought near the eastern city of Bakhmut in one of the fiercest battles of the war before being moved south.

"Our unit has been taking part in battle since the first days of the war... We are constantly involved in combat, and we will also take part in the counteroffensive," Khomych said.

The 128th Brigade are training with Soviet-calibre mortars, but Khomych said a bigger necessity than new mortars was Western-supplied armoured vehicles to protect troops better.

A potential goal for Ukrainian forces in the south is to retake a land corridor held by Russian troops that provides a land bridge to Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014 and is home to Russia's Black Sea fleet.

(This story has been corrected to remove attribution to Dykyi of comment about importance of speedin paragraph 4)

Reporting by Max Hunder, Editing by Timothy Heritage

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ukrainian troops gird for counteroffensive they hope will end war - Reuters

Opinion

The western response has been blighted by stupidity. Sanctions hurt trade and have little effect on despotic leaders

Tue 16 May 2023 02.00 EDT

Volodymyr Zelenskiys visit to London yesterday on his surprise tour of European capitals suggests a last throw of the dice in his bid to drive the Russians from his country. He has justice on his side and is desperate for logistical support. He has shown he can use it well and deserves to get it.

As he did in his meeting with Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, he is also requesting additional economic sanctions on Russia. These are a different matter. Sanctions on Russia have failed utterly in their declared objective of deterring Vladimir Putins aggression. They failed to curb his initial incursions after 2014 and failed to restrain his barbaric conduct of the present war. They have not destroyed his economy or induced his cronies, let alone his people, to rise up against him. They may have curbed his trade with some current and former partners, but hardly by much. He can afford to play long.

Sanctions have served Putins cause, in helping persuade his people that this war is one of flagrant western aggression against Russia. In addition, the inflationary costs imposed on the west have been stark to the extent of weakening the western alliance behind Ukraine. Yet again the virtue signalling of liberal governments in the cause of something must be done has shot the west in the foot.

Last week, the Arab League agreed to readmit Syria to its ranks and invite its leader, Bashar al-Assad, to next weeks summit. It has accepted that a decade of western sanctions have failed to restrain, let alone topple, one of the cruellest dictators on the planet. Sanctions have impoverished Syrias poor, enriched its elite and dumped some 6 million refugees on Assads Arab neighbours. And yet, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE now seem likely to resume trade with Syria, leaving the US facing the prospect of having to sanction them, under its previous commitments.

Western powers must also recognise the failure of sanctions against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, which allowed both to move into the Russo-Chinese orbit of influence. This is similar to the outcome of the futile sanctions against Iran. Meanwhile, after the USs weakening of oil sanctions, Venezuelas President Maduro is expecting to be welcomed back into the community.

In the cause of seeking to make the world a better place, the west currently has sanctions in place that affect about 50 nations. These nations generally share two characteristics: their peoples are already overwhelmingly poor and their rulers are overwhelmingly secure. In many cases, they have benefited from a besieged political economy, from which potential opponents flee into exile.

Sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine were exceptional only in being directed at a substantial trading nation rather than a poor one. They invited Russia to hit back in restricting gas and oil flows, the loss of revenue being partly compensated by the soaring price of both. The inflationary cost of living in western economies has been marked, destabilising one government after another. And yet Putin remains unchallenged in his Kremlin castle. None of this appears to have been predicted by policymakers.

Economic sanctions are an ill-considered, ineffective and regressive weapon of economic conflict. Yet there are new reports that the G7 and the EU are considering a further long-term ban on Russian gas exports. At a time when a collapse in global trade is the greatest threat to world prosperity, western governments are apparently intent on furthering that collapse. They appear to want humanitarian catastrophe. Ukraines fate will be resolved by war and diplomacy, not sanctions. Western diplomacy has been blighted by stupidity. The worlds poor and oppressed people are those who suffer most.

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Sunak must be firm. Ukraines fate will be decided by war and diplomacy not by sanctions - The Guardian

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) Leaders from across the continent were heading toward Iceland early Tuesday for a rare summit of the 46-nation Council of Europe that will once more step up support for member state Ukraine and condemn expelled Russia for inflicting war on its neighbor.

And after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stocked up on promises of military hardware throughout a long weekend of diplomatic hobnobbing with the continents major leaders, the two-day summit of Europes main human rights body will be centering on providing legal and judicial means to go after the Kremlin.

By Wednesdays conclusion, leaders at the summit want to have the outlines of a system in place that will set up a register of all the damage already caused by Russian forces, so Moscow can be held liable for compensation to the victims later. They are hoping that the United States, which has observer status at the summit, will also back that initiative.

The register is just one of a number of international initiatives set up to ensure accountability for the crimes inflicted in Ukraine, said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The Council also wants to make sure that Russia can be held accountable for what it sees as a plethora of crimes committed during the invasion.

I will very strongly support the creation of a dedicated tribunal to bring Russias crime of aggression to trial, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Plans for such a court in The Hague have yet to bear fruit.

In Kyiv, the words of support were no match for Moscows military might, as Russia launched an intense air attack on the capital using a combination of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

In the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, diplomacy was seeking a counterweight, with keynote speeches by Sunak, von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Zelenskyy headed home Tuesday after a fruitful three-day tour through Europe where leaders promised him an arsenal of missiles, tanks and drones to replenish Ukraines weapons supplies ahead of a long-anticipated spring offensive.

There will be no escaping the plight of Ukraine during the two-day summit of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe. Since its inception in 1949 it has been a guardian, with fluctuating success, of human rights, democracy and the rule of law on the continent. Rarely has the need been higher than in todays world.

The summit will also want to focus on the plight of children that have been moved from Ukraine to Russia during the invasion. In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. Another official has also been indicted.

Since the start of the war, the Russians have been accused of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held territories to raise them as their own. Thousands of children have been seized from schools and orphanages during Russias occupation of eastern Ukraine and it is not known where they are now.

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Casert reported from Brussels

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Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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Council of Europe summit in Iceland seeks to hold Russia to account for Ukraine war - The Associated Press