Vladimir Putin clarifies his war goals. The Russian president affirmed, Friday, May 17, that the offensive in northeastern Ukraine was a response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, assuring that Moscow did not “at present” have the intention to conquer the great city of Kharkiv. “I said publicly that if this continued, we would be forced to create a security zone, a health zone. This is what we are doing”, he said, during a press conference from Harbin, China. Follow our live stream.
Ukraine recognizes a “difficult” situation in the northeast. kyiv claims to contain the Russian military advance in the northeast of the country, where the situation remains “extremely difficult”according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Moscow leading an offensive there which allowed it to reap its largest territorial gains since the end of 2022.
More than 100 Ukrainian drones intercepted. Russia claims to have destroyed or intercepted more than 100 Ukrainian drones overnight from Thursday to Friday, during attacks launched against the southwest of Russian territory and the annexed Crimean peninsula.
Ukrainian strikes kill four people in Donetsk. Four women were killed Thursday evening by Ukrainian strikes in this Russian-occupied city, the occupation authorities set up by Moscow announced. The town has been controlled since 2014 by Russian or pro-Russian forces and is located less than 10 km from the eastern front line where intense fighting is taking place.
No Russian “strategic breakthrough” in perspective. According to a senior NATO military official, Russian forces have not “not the forces necessary to achieve a strategic breakthrough”. “They have neither the skills nor the capacity to do it”said the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, American General Christopher Cavoli.