Another night of air attacks in Ukraine. kyiv and other Ukrainian cities were again attacked this Friday, May 19 at dawn by Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian army. “The tenth air attack in 19 days in May!” wrote on Telegram the military administration of the city of Kyiv, which reported “several waves” of explosive drones during the night.
“All detected aerial targets moving in the direction of kyiv have been destroyed,” she said. Military and media officials also reported explosions in Lviv and Rivne in the west, or in Kherson and Kryvyi Rih in the south. The previous night, kyiv and several other Ukrainian cities had been targeted by a wave of Russian cruise missile strikes launched by strategic bombers, according to the Ukrainian military. The latter also claimed to have shot down almost all of the projectiles. Conversely, the Russian Ministry of Defense said it had “reached” and “destroyed” all the targets of its Thursday night raids.
New sanctions against Moscow targeting diamonds in particular
The United States and its G7 allies announced new sanctions on Friday to curb Russia’s ability to continue its war in Ukraine, targeting the highly lucrative Russian diamond trade, just before the start of their summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
Washington led the way by announcing new “significant” sanctions against the “Russian war machine”. They must prevent “about 70 entities in Russia and other countries from receiving American exported goods”, added a senior official in the US government of Joe Biden.
Other members of the G7 – which brings together the United States, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Canada – followed suit, with London soon after unveiling new measures targeting the Russian mining sector, including an embargo on the trade of Russian diamonds, which annually brings several billion dollars to Moscow.
These sanctions show that “the G7 remains united in the face of the threat from Russia and firm in its support for Ukraine”, declared British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “Russian diamonds are not forever,” quipped European Council President Charles Michel, announcing that the European Union would also limit trade.
Wagner considers unlikely a capture of Bakhmout in the coming days
The leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigojine, considered unlikely a capture in the coming days of the city of Bakhmout, epicenter of fighting for months in eastern Ukraine. “It is unlikely that Bakhmout will be completely taken tomorrow or the day after,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Telegram overnight from Thursday to Friday, reporting heavy fighting in the city’s southwestern suburbs.
“Bakhmut has not been taken yet. There is a suburb named ‘Samolet’. It is an impregnable fortress formed by rows of building bars […] The hardest battles are taking place there at the moment,” said the head of Wagner. “So an important request: happiness loves silence. Let us finish the job,” he added.
Ukraine said on Tuesday that it had taken over 20 km2 on the outskirts of Bakhmout, while acknowledging that Russian forces were continuing to advance in the city itself, destroyed by months of fighting. The battle for this city in Donbass is the bloodiest and longest since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
Observers doubt the strategic significance of Bakhmout’s conquest for Russia, but it would allow Moscow to post victory after several humiliating setbacks. On the spot, the Wagner group is supported by the regular Russian army, although Evguéni Prigojine regularly accuses the military hierarchy of not giving enough ammunition to his men to be able to conquer the city.