Major events of 21 May:
- 3 killed, 7 injured in Russian attacks in Kherson, Donetsk and Kharkiv provinces
- US to start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 planes: Biden
- Russia has not captured Bakhmut, says Zelensky
- Ukrainian troops may soon encircle Bakhmut, says senior general
US President Joe Biden pledged his support for the Ukrainian Air Force on May 21, saying the US would begin training Ukrainian pilots to fly fourth-generation fighter jets, including the F-16 fighter jet.
“I have assured President (Volodymyr) Zelensky, all members of the G7, our allies and partners around the world that we will not falter. (Vladimir) Putin will not break our resolve as he thought he would for two years, almost Can do it three years ago. First,” Biden said during the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
Biden told reporters that Zelensky assured that Ukraine’s military would not use Western-supplied warplanes to attack Russian territory.
Biden’s pledge followed a decision to allow his allies to provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. The move was welcomed by several European countries, who pledged to train Ukrainian fighter pilots.
Ukraine supported the move even as Kiev had been campaigning for months to provide the F-16s.
It is unclear when Ukrainian pilots will begin training and when Ukraine might receive the Western fighter jets.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko expressed Moscow’s concerns that Western countries would face a “huge risk” if Ukraine received the F-16.
Asked whether the supply of F-16s is a “huge risk” as Russia claims, Biden said: “It is. To them (the Russians).”
The US-built F-16 has been in service since the 1970s and is operated by over 20 countries because it offers superior situational awareness, accurate targeting and overall combat effectiveness.
Providing the F-16 to the Ukrainian Air Force would represent a substantial improvement in the country’s security capabilities.
Critics argue that the Allies’ reluctance to supply Ukraine with F-16, Typhoon and Dassault fighter jets and long-range ATACMS missiles will prevent Ukraine from launching a counteroffensive and liberating the remaining Russian-held territories.
First there were tanks, now there are fighter planes. As Ukraine prepares for another possible major Russian attack in the coming weeks, Western leaders are again making excuses, this time to justify the supply of F-16 and F-35 fighter jets to Ukraine. Why can’t you stop?
As Bakhmut reportedly falls, Ukraine draws closer
While Russia claimed that its forces had “captured” Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, Ukrainian forces continued to advance on the flanks and Ukrainian Ground Forces commander Oleksandr Syrsky reported that “the besieged city is strategically located”. Heading towards the encirclement. 21.
Strategic encirclement is a strategic maneuver intended to entrap Russian forces, limiting their movement and reinforcement.
The Ukrainian 3rd Assault Brigade reported success in an area of 1 square kilometer near Bakhmut on 21 May.
Sirsky also said that Ukrainian forces control an “insignificant” part of Bakhmut, but that the foothills would be sufficient to enter the ruined city “if the situation changes.”
The Russian Defense Ministry and the Kremlin-controlled Wagner mercenary squad claimed full control of Bakhmut on 20 May. The statement was unequivocally rejected by the authorities and the Ukrainian military.
Zelensky stated on 21 May that Russian troops had not occupied Bakhmut.
“The situation is difficult, but it is under control,” Sirski said on 21 May.
For almost a year Bakhmut has been the center of heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
Artillery fire and Russian airstrikes turned the city, which had a population of 72,000, into a scorched earth.
Wagner’s mercenaries have served as the main shock troops in Russia’s efforts to expand control over the entire Donetsk Oblast, more than half of which it currently occupies.
“Let (the Russians in Bakhmut) feel a constant threat. Either we encircle them now or a little later, but that group (Wagner) will be defeated in the end,” Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern Operational Command, said on 21 May. told national television.
Ukraine strikes back in Bakhmut as Wagner reaches last streets of town
On the night of May 9, just half a day after a single T-34 tank rolled through Red Square during Moscow’s Victory Day celebrations, something unexpected happened. Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, announced that units of the 72nd Separate of the Russian Regular Army …
Russian attack
Local officials said three civilians were killed and seven others wounded in Russian attacks on May 21 in Kherson, Donetsk and Kharkiv provinces.
Lavrelo, a residential building in the village of Kozatske in Kherson Oblast. According to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin, a 55-year-old man was killed.
Kozatske is located on the west bank of the Dnieper River, opposite the occupied Novaya Kakhovka, which is used as a base for Russian troops in the region.
The regional prosecutor’s office said Russian forces bombarded Donetsk Oblast with artillery and guided bombs, killing two civilians and injuring six others. informed of.
Governor Oleh Sinihubov said the Russian military had fired an S-300 missile at the Kharkiv Oblast village of Tsirkuni, injuring a civilian.
In addition, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on 21 May that it shot down four Iranian-made Shahid-136/131 kamikaze drones that Russia had launched against the country overnight.
The air force gave no further details about the night attack, saying only that the Russian military launched drones “in an eastward direction”.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense reported on 21 May that Russia has resumed its intense waves of missile strikes deep into Ukraine, targeting cities such as Kiev, which are likely to bring down Ukrainian air defences.
Meanwhile, Ukraine demonstrated exceptional air defense capability in May, shooting down Kinzhal hypersonic missiles for the first time.
One of the two Patriot systems suffered minor damage during the May 16 attack, but the Pentagon said it had been repaired and was “fully online and operational” as of May 18.
Patriot air defense faces its toughest challenge in Ukraine
The wait is over: After nearly a year of denial and hesitation, the Western-supplied MIM-104 Patriot air defense system has finally arrived and is operational in Ukraine. On 21 and 26 April, the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the full employment of two Patriot batteries. As the Ukrainian Soviet …
