The attack is considered “exceptional”. On the night of May 15 to 16, kyiv was targeted by a new salvo of Russian drones and missiles. “It was exceptional in its density, a maximum number of missiles in a very tight time frame,” said the Kiev military authority in a statement posted on Telegram. But “according to initial information, the vast majority of enemy targets […] have been detected and destroyed!”
The city’s anti-aircraft defenses swung into action to repel “a complex attack from multiple directions and simultaneously, using drones, cruise missiles and probably ballistic missiles.” Three people were injured, according to the mayor of kyiv. These strikes come the day after President Volodymyr Zelensky’s return to the capital, after his European tour which took him to Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
European leaders gathered in Iceland to show their unity against Russia
A year after having excluded Russia, the leaders of 46 member states of the Council of Europe meet on May 16 at a summit in Iceland to show their unity against Moscow. The summit, only the fourth for the pan-European organization in nearly 75 years of existence, aims to increase the means to hold Russia criminally responsible for the destruction and crimes caused by its invasion of Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni, who have all received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since Saturday, will lead the European family to Reykjavik. The latter is invited as head of state of a member country, but his presence remains uncertain.
The United States reveals its nuclear arsenal and asks Moscow to do the same
Washington unveiled the figures for its strategic nuclear deterrent arsenal on May 15, saying it wanted to respect the New Start nuclear disarmament treaty. They asked Russia, which suspended its participation, to do the same. As of March 1, the United States has deployed a total of 662 intercontinental ballistic missiles – a figure including missiles aboard submarines and bombers – with 1,419 nuclear warheads and 800 launchers, according to a statement from the Department of State.
“The United States calls on Russia to respect its legal obligations by rejoining the New Start agreement and the stabilization, transparency and verification measures contained therein,” the statement said. Russia suspended its participation in the New Start treaty in February, in retaliation for Western aid in the war in Ukraine. This decision was denounced in unison by the Western powers.
The CIA encourages the Russians to give it intelligence
The American CIA on Monday urged the Russians to provide intelligence on their country, in a video posted on Telegram. This mainly targets those dissatisfied with the policies of President Vladimir Putin.
The video from the main US foreign intelligence service shows a Russian official and his wife in their house with a child, apparently having a difficult life and wondering if it matches their dreams. She suggests that the Russians can act to make things better – by providing intelligence to the CIA – while remaining patriotic in her view. It also shows how to do this, using the Tor browser to access the “dark web”. “The CIA wants to know the truth about Russia, and we are looking for reliable people who can tell us that truth,” the agency wrote in its video. “Your information may be more valuable than you think,” she says.
Emmanuel Macron announces that he has “opened the door” to train Ukrainian pilots
Emmanuel Macron announced on May 15 that he had “opened the door to train” Ukrainian fighter pilots “from now on”, the day after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris. “And this with several other European countries which are ready for it. I believe that discussions are underway with the Americans”, declared the French president during an interview with TF1. He did not provide further details on the training process.
Emmanuel Macron also felt that talking about a delivery of fighter jets to kyiv “would be a theoretical debate”. Paris had so far rejected this idea, explaining in particular that it would take long months to train pilots. The start of this training could therefore, in the long term, also pave the way for the delivery of devices.