Ukraine updates: Falling missile debris causes fires in Kyiv

The Ukrainian military on Thursday reported explosions in the capital, Kyiv, and in central and southern Ukraine, after air raid sirens sounded across the country.

Kyiv residents were asked to remain in shelters while warnings were issued for other regions, including Zhytomyr west of the capital and Kirovohrad, Cherkasy and Dnipropetrovsk in central Ukraine.

"According to preliminary information, the fall of debris was recorded in the Darnytskyi district of the capital. Data on victims and destruction are currently being verified," Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv's civil and military administration, wrote on Telegram.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said there were no immediate reports of casualties after falling debris caused a fire in a garage facility in Darnytskyi. He warned people to remain in shelters.

The military also reported "cruise missile" attacks in the central Ukrainian region of Vinnytsia.

Officials in the southern city of Odesa said one person had been killed by a Russian missile strike on an industrial facility.

Two more people were injured in the Odesa attack, military administration spokesman Serhiy Bratchuk posted on Telegram.

Thursday's explosions came after Russia launched what Ukrainian officials described as an "exceptional" attack that included hypersonic missiles. Ukrainian air defenses largely repelled that missile attack on Tuesday. 

Since late April, Russia has launched a flurry of attacks, often targeting Kyiv, after a weekslong hiatus.

Here are some of the other notable developments concerning Russia's war in Ukraine on Thursday, May 18:

Ukraine says gains made around Bakhmut

Ukraine says it has fended off a day of Russian attacks in and near the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, making gains of a kilometer in some places by Thursday while buying time for "certain planned actions."

Although Russia has boosted its forces in the city, attacked the suburbs to the north, and engaged in fierce fighting in the southern suburbs, Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on her Telegram channel that Ukraine's forces advanced 500 meters in the north and in some areas in the south by one kilometer.

"The defense of Bakhmut and its outskirts is meeting its military objectives," she said. "As of now, we control the southwestern part of Bakhmut."

"All the attacks were repelled by our defenders," she added.

Kyiv has for days been lauding successes on the battlefield around Bakhmut that it says could eventually trap Wagner's forces inside the city.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the millionaire owner of Russia's private military contractor Wagner, has admitted that his forces' flanks were under pressure near Bakhmut. He said they continued to be eroded, possibly as part of the Ukrainian counteroffensive plan. 

However, the head of the mercenary force, which is at the vanguard of the Russian attack on Bakhmut, said his forces had advanced up to 400 meters. 

"We're pushing Bakhmut all the way to the end,"  Prigozhin said on his Telegram channel.

African peace delegation to visit Russia in June or July

Russia confirmed that African leaders would visit Moscow next month or in early July to discuss a peace initiative that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced.

"President [Vladimir Putin] is always ready to talk to all our partners who are honestly interested in having stability in the world," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

On Monday, Ramaphosa said Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to host the African leaders in Moscow and Kyiv to discuss the potential peace plan.

"My discussions with the two leaders demonstrated that they are both ready to receive the African leaders and to have a discussion on how this conflict can be brought to an end," Ramaphosa said.

The delegation will include the presidents of the Republic of Congo, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia.

"Whether that will succeed or not is going to depend on the discussions that will be held," he said.

Kyiv still needs to comment on Ramaphosa's statement.

G7 wants to stymie diamond exports from Russia

G7 nations are planning to limit exports of diamonds from Russia in response to its ongoing war in Ukraine, diplomats told the German news agency dpa on Thursday.

A declaration on the diamonds is to be adopted at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

Kremlin says freezing of Finland's bank accounts in Russia was retaliatory measure

The Kremlin said on Thursday that the freezing of the bank accounts of Finnish embassies and consulates in Russia was a response to what it called unfriendly acts.

"This is not an initiative from the Russian side. We are reacting to the situation created by the authorities of several countries of the collective West, including, to our regret, Finland," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Officials from Finland and Denmark said on Wednesday that their diplomatic bank accounts in Russia had been blocked, meaning their embassies had to make payments in cash.

Finland has a long border with Russia. The Nordic country formally joined NATO on April 4 in response to Russia's war on Ukraine.

Train carrying grain derails in Crimea

A train transporting grain in Russian-occupied Crimea derailed in what Moscow-installed officials called a deliberate act.

Crimea Railway suspended train services between Simferopol and Sevastopol, Russian-backed governor Sergei Aksyonov said.

The railway operator said there were no injuries in the incident caused by "the intervention of third parties."

Earlier this month, explosive devices derailed two Russian trains in a region bordering Ukraine over consecutive days.

Zelenskyy draws attention to Crimean Tatars' struggle

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a picture of himself on social media wearing a "vyshyvanka" with symbols of the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar people.

Vyshyvanka Day is marked in Ukraine by people wearing traditional embroidered clothes called vyshyvanka.

Zelenskyy said he chose the one with the Crimean Tatar designs to mark the date 79 years ago that the Soviet Union started deporting them from Crimea.

"Today, I am wearing a special vyshyvanka with ornaments that symbolize the unity of the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar peoples. Symbols of our strength and our desire to live in our home," he wrote on Twitter.

Last month, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatovic, said the Crimean Tatars are "being subjected to numerous patterns of serious violations of human rights, persecution, discrimination, and stigmatization by the Russian occupying authorities."

Russia illegally annexed and occupied Crimea in 2014 before launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. 

China's special envoy urges talks in Kyiv visit

China's special envoy for Eurasian affairs Li Hui has told Ukraine there's no immediate remedy to the conflict as he repeated calls for Kyiv and Moscow to engage in talks to end the war.

A strategic ally of Russia, China has refrained from condemning Moscow's invasion, and has instead sought to act as a mediator.

Earlier this week, Li visited Ukraine and is the highest-ranking Chinese official to do so since the war began.

"There is no panacea to resolve the crisis, and all parties need to start from themselves, build mutual trust and create conditions to stop the war and talk," said Li, according to a statement by Beijing's foreign ministry.

Top EU diplomat asks for €3.5 billion for Ukraine aid: report

Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, has proposed adding €3.5 billion ($3.85 billion) to a fund used to finance military aid for Ukraine, Reuters news agency reported citing EU sources.

According to the report, Borrell asked EU governments to raise the financial ceiling on the European Peace Facility (EPF), a fund that has already allocated some 4.6 billion euros in military aid for Ukraine.

First established in 2021, the EPF was the EU's fund intended to help developing countries buy military equipment. It was later used to get arms to Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion started last year.

"We have to top up," Reuters quoted the EU official as saying. "The gist of the European Peace Facility... has a universal character. It was not conceived by Ukraine. It was conceived for any conflict that the European Union could deal with." 

G7 leaders to discuss tighter Russia sanctions

Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries are due to arrive in Hiroshima, Japan, ahead of a 3-day summit. 

Tighter sanctions on Russia top their agenda.

"There will be discussions about the state of play on the battlefield," said US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, adding that leaders would focus on further deterring Russia off the battlefield with tighter sanctions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to address the summit, which formally kicks off on Friday, by video link.

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For months, Ukraine has been planning a counteroffensive to push the Russian invaders further back. International aid and military sophistication could be key to a successful counteroffensive. 

lo, jsi, fb/sms, rs (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)