WAR IN UKRAINE: May 18, 2023

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: May 18, 2023

  • Ukraine's capital Kyiv has been attacked from the air by Russia for the ninth time this month. Kyiv's authorities said it seemed all incoming missiles had been destroyed, but debris falling from the air caused some damage in two districts. One person has been killed and two more wounded in a missile strike on the Black Sea port of Odesa, officials say. Blasts were also heard in the central-western regions of Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky and Zhytomyr. Overall, 29 out of 30 missiles launched by Russia overnight were shot down, Ukraine's Air Force said in a statement - BBC

  • In a separate development, rail traffic was suspended between Simferopol and the city of Sevastopol after a freight train carrying grain derailed. Simferopol is the regional capital of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Vladimir Konstantinov, the Moscow-installed head of the regional parliament, told Russia's state media that the derailment was caused by an explosion. An investigation is now under way - BBC

  • The Black Sea grain deal has been extended for two more months one day before Russia threatened to quit the pact. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced the extension in a televised speech and it was confirmed by Russia and Ukraine. However Russia continues to target Odesa - the southern Ukrainian port city which is the anchor of the Black Sea grain deal - and its inspectors continue to slow the clearance of ships at the joint operations center in Istanbul. What they couldn’t torpedo at the negotiating table they will upend in practice

  • Fighting for the control of the eastern city of Bakhmut has continued unabated, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on May 18.

  • More than 40 nations have agreed to set up a system to tally the damage Russia has inflicted on Ukraine in the hope of getting reparations, adding to the international legal challenges the Kremlin is facing.

  • China's special envoy Li Hui arrived in Kyiv on May 17 for talks with senior Ukrainian officials, in what is the highest-level visit by a Beijing representative to the country since Russia launched its full-scale invasion - RFE/RL