The pro-European President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda was triumphantly re-elected on Sunday May 26 in the second round of the presidential election, facing his Prime Minister and rival Ingrida Simonyte who admitted her defeat. The vote was held while this country of 2.8 million inhabitants, member of the EU and NATO, feels threatened by neighboring Russia, strongly criticized by Gitanas Nauseda who has established himself as a fervent defender of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was one of the first to congratulate his counterpart.
Information to remember
⇒ NATO highlights restrictions on the use of Western weapons
⇒ Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Spain
⇒ Russia claims the capture of two localities in eastern Ukraine
NATO highlights restrictions on the use of Western weapons
Ukraine’s hands are tied due to restrictions on the use of weapons supplied by its Western allies on Russian territory, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg lamented on Monday in Sofia.
“This ties the hands of the Ukrainians and makes it very difficult for them to defend themselves,” Jens Stoltenberg said at the opening of a NATO meeting in the Bulgarian capital.
Several countries have restricted the use of the weapons they supply to Ukraine only to its territory, Crimea and Donbass included, banning strikes on Russian soil. “I think it is time to reconsider some of these restrictions,” Jens Stoltenberg later stressed to the press, on the sidelines of a meeting of the parliamentary assembly of the Atlantic Alliance.
Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Madrid
Volodymyr Zelensky arrived this Monday in Madrid for an official visit which is to be marked by the signing of an agreement intended to increase Spanish military aid to kyiv. According to images broadcast by Spanish public television, the Ukrainian president was welcomed on the tarmac of Madrid airport by King Felipe VI. This visit is Volodymyr Zelensky’s first official visit to Spain.
The Ukrainian president, who is urging his allies to step up their aid to counter the Russian offensive, is due to meet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the Moncloa Palace, seat of the government presidency, to sign a bilateral security agreement. Pedro Sánchez indicated last week that “as soon as the situation on the front allows”, Spain would sign an agreement with Ukraine “which will strengthen cooperation” between the two countries.
Russia claims capture of two towns in eastern Ukraine
Russia claimed this Monday the capture of two new localities in the regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, continuing its push in these two sectors of the front where it is on the offensive against a Ukrainian army in trouble.
The Russian army “liberated the village” of Netaïlové, in the Donetsk region, as well as the town of Ivanivka, in the Kharkiv region, further north, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Russia: drone attack on gas station
One person was killed and three others were injured on Monday in a Ukrainian drone attack on a gas station in Russia’s Oriol region, about 160 km from the border with Ukraine, the local governor said. “A drone fell this morning on the territory of a gas station in the town of Livny” damaging the facade of an administrative building, wrote Andrei Klychkov, the governor of the Oriol region, on Telegram.
After the arrival of emergency services on the scene, a new drone attack occurred, according to the same source. “According to initial information, the driver of a fire engine was unfortunately killed,” said Andrei Klychkov, adding that three other emergency service employees were injured. The Russian Ministry of Defense, for its part, indicated this Monday morning that it had neutralized a dozen Ukrainian drones overnight, including six above the Oriol region.
Russian strike on Kharkiv hypermarket kills 16
The death toll from the Russian strike on a DIY hypermarket in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, continues to rise, reaching 16 dead on Sunday the day after this attack described as “despicable” by the Ukrainian president.
“Unfortunately, 16 deaths have already been recorded,” said Kharkiv region governor Oleg Synegubov. A previous report communicated by the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior, Igor Klymenko, also reported 43 injured and 16 missing. “Russia is governed by people who want it to be the norm to burn lives, destroy cities and villages, divide people and erase national borders through war,” denounced Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday.