WAR IN UKRAINE: May 23, 20

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 454

  • Moscow said on Tuesday it had routed and killed scores of "Ukrainian nationalists" who crossed into Russia from Ukraine after two days of combat, in what appeared to be one of the biggest incursions of its kind of the 15-month-old war. There was no immediate independent confirmation that the fighting had ended, but the governor of Russia's Belgorod region said the anti-terrorism measures he introduced after Monday's attack had been lifted. And one of two groups claiming to be behind the raid said in a post on social media: "One day we will return to stay." The fighting forced Russia to evacuate towns along the border with northeast Ukraine. Russia has blamed Ukraine for the attack, which Kyiv has denied. The two groups that claimed responsibility describe themselves as Russian armed dissidents. The Russian military said it had killed more than 70 Ukrainian nationalists and destroyed four armoured vehicles. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said one civilian had been killed "at the hands of the Ukrainian armed forces" - Reuters

  • The Ukrainian leadership has "nothing to do" with a May 22 combat operation in Russia's Belgorod Oblast reportedly carried out by Russian anti-government groups, according to Mykhailo Podoliak, an advisor to the head of Ukraine's Presidential Office - Kyiv Independent

  • Russian forces launched 20 missile strikes over the past 24 hours on localities in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kharkiv regions, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said in its daily report on May 23 - RFE/RL

  • There were 25 clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces along the front line on May 22, including Bakhmut, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported in its evening update. Ukrainian forces are still fighting in Bakhmut, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported. She noted that Russian forces are conducting a sweep of captured parts of Bakhmut, bringing in further reinforcements and supplies.

  • The Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi has halted operations because Russia is not allowing ships to enter it, in effect cutting it out of a deal allowing safe Black Sea grain exports, a Ukrainian official said on Tuesday. The Black Sea Grain Initiative signed by Russia and Ukraine last July, and extended last week for two months, is intended to guarantee the safe wartime export of grains and foodstuffs from three Ukrainian ports – Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi. The United Nations, which together with Turkey, brokered the deal and its extension, expressed concern on Monday that Pivdennyi – near Odesa on the Black Sea – had not received any ships since May 2 under the deal. “Formally, the port of Pivdennyi is in the Initiative, but in fact it hasn’t been there for a month. It has no incoming fleet,” Ukrainian Deputy Renovation Minister Yuriy Vaskov told Reuters. “They (Russia) have now found an effective way to significantly reduce (Ukrainian) grain exports by excluding the port of Pivdennyi, which handles large tonnage vessels, from the initiative,” he said in written comments. Vaskov called the move a “gross violation” of the agreement.