#UKRAINERUSSIAWAR. Putin wants a written no to NATO expansion to the East. Russians advance to Sumy. Germany to produce IRIS - T in Ukraine

 

“The losses in the Russian-Ukrainian war have exceeded those of the United States in World War II,” said Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special representative for Russia and Ukraine. According to Kellogg, the losses on both sides, including dead and wounded, have already reached 1.2 million people. According to official data, the US losses in terms of casualties in World War II amounted to about 418,000 people, while the irretrievable losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces significantly exceeded this figure.

He also added: “A meeting between Zelensky, Putin and Trump will be possible after Russia announces its conditions for achieving peace. Ukraine has already presented its proposals. The leaders’ meeting could take place in Geneva.”

The United States has a 22-point peace plan that neither Ukraine nor Russia like, US presidential special representative Keith Kellogg said in an interview with Fox. "We have a 22-point plan that we brought from London. It kind of defines where we want to go. And frankly, we think it's a good plan because neither side likes it. I think progress happens when both sides are not enthusiastic about the plan," Kellogg said.

The US president said of the agreements: "Putin doesn't understand that if it weren't for me, a lot of bad things would have happened to Russia, and I mean VERY bad. He's playing with fire."

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, responded to Trump's words: "As for Trump's words about Putin "playing with fire" and that "really bad things" are happening to Russia, I know only one really bad thing, World War III. I hope Trump understands this!"

Ukrainian military sources tell the Washington Post: the Russian army is preparing for a major offensive this summer to complete the capture of the Donetsk region.

Germany backtracks and will not transfer Taurus missiles to Ukraine for now, the decision has not yet been made, Bild reports, citing sources: "Germany plans to allocate millions of dollars to support the Ukrainian defense industry in the independent development and serial production of cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers." "However, Germany will not supply the Taurus long-range missiles, the issue is currently considered a 'taboo' within the government," Bild continues. Ukraine and Germany have signed a €2.2 billion contract to produce IRIS-T and missiles on their behalf

“Ukraine will face an abyss in the coming years, a full-scale war with the Russians advancing in the east,” said Ukrainian MP Maryana Bezugla. According to Bezugla, “And I have only made public a small part of this. We will face an abyss in the coming years: a full-scale war with the Russians advancing in the east and attacks by AI drone swarms on cities, a world war, a new division of the world, in general a multifaceted technological breakthrough of humanity and a complete restructuring of relations with the integration of artificial intelligence, robotization and cybernetization of the lives of those who remain alive. A change in state systems. All this will happen very quickly. The Ukraine we knew is no more and will never, ever exist.”

"If Kiev falls, Europe will be left "naked" in front of a Russia armed to the teeth," added the Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics Ruslan Bortnik. According to Bortnik, if Russia conquers Ukraine, a battle for Europe will begin. "The goal of the Russian attack on Ukraine is to conquer Europe," the political scientist believes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hopes that: "The end of the war will be in June 2026." "Western sanctions will hit the Russian economy in the summer of 2026." "Russia mobilizes 40-50 thousand people per month, and Ukraine 25-27 thousand."

Also according to Zelensky: "The Russians have amassed more than 50 thousand soldiers in the direction of Sumy." “The Russian military is trying to create a buffer zone in the region." "As in the Pokrovs'k direction, in Kostyantynivka we had problems, but there were victorious battles. Over the past two days we have pushed them back 4 kilometers in Kostyantynivka. This means that they cannot completely withdraw all their troops from the Pokrovs'k direction... Now they are also accumulating troops in the Sumy direction. More than 50,000. We understand," he noted.

Zelensky threatened Russia with a response to the attacks on Ukraine: "It will happen. Attack drones, interceptors, cruise missiles and Ukrainian ballistics are the key elements,” he said in his evening speech.

Ukraine has not yet formed a negotiating team for the upcoming meeting with Russian officials; the composition of the delegation will be decided after the issues to be discussed at the meeting are defined, said Igor Brusilo, deputy head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s office.

President Vladimir Putin’s conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include requiring Western leaders to make written commitments to halt NATO’s eastward expansion and lift some sanctions on Russia, according to three Russian sources familiar with the talks. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II and has shown growing frustration with Putin in recent days, warning on Tuesday that the Russian leader was “playing with fire” by refusing to negotiate a ceasefire with Kiev as his troops were gaining ground on the battlefield.

After a more than two-hour call with Trump, the Last week, Putin said he had agreed to work with Ukraine on a memorandum that would lay out the contours of a peace deal, including a timetable for a ceasefire. Russia says it is currently drafting its own version of the memorandum and cannot estimate how long it will take. Kiev and European governments have accused Moscow of stalling as its forces advance into eastern Ukraine.

“Putin is ready to make peace, but not at any price,” a senior Russian source familiar with the Kremlin’s thinking said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Three Russian sources: Putin wants a “written” commitment from major Western powers not to expand the U.S.-led NATO alliance eastward — in short, the formal exclusion of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics.

Russia also wants Ukraine to be neutral, some Western sanctions to be lifted, a freeze on Russian sovereign assets in the West to be lifted and Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine to be protected, according to a report three sources. The first source said that if Putin finds that he cannot reach a peace agreement on his terms, he will try to prove to the Ukrainians and Europeans, through military victories, that "tomorrow's peace will be even more painful."

Sergei Lavrov in a statement: "The stability of the world order largely depends on the possibility of preventing the West from further asserting its interests"

And now a look at the front line updated at 16:00 on May 28. Between 21:00 (Moscow time) on May 27 and 07:00 on May 28, 296 Ukrainian drones were destroyed and intercepted in Russian regions, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

In the Bryansk region, during the repelling of an air strike on an apartment building in the Fokinsky district of the city of Bryansk, 296 Ukrainian drones were destroyed and intercepted in Russian regions, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. windows and six cars were damaged. No casualties were reported.

In the Kursk section of the state border, yesterday morning in the direction of Ryzhevka-Tetkino, the assault group of the 24th separate battalion ("Aidar") of the Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced in the Russian direction. According to Russian sources: “In a limited firefight, most of the Ukrainian infantry was destroyed, while the rest fled. Around noon, the Ukrainians attempted to transfer the assault group of the 425th separate battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Pavlivka to the border, but it was destroyed by fire!”.

“Presence of the Russian Armed Forces recorded on the border with the Chernihiv region!,” spokesman for the Territorial Office of "Seversk" Vadim Mysnik. At least 10 missiles flew into the Chernihiv region in 24 hours. Targets and damage are still unknown. At the same time, he noted that the largest concentration of shelling and personnel in front of the Sumy region comes from the Kursk region.

In the direction of Sumy, the GrV "Nord" reports an advance in the vicinity of the border villages of Volodymyrivka, Oleksiivka and Vodolahy, as well as in the forests along the state border. Paratroopers engaged in fighting on the outskirts of Yunakivka.

"The goal of the Russian troops is to advance towards Sumy to capture the city with artillery," the former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports. According to Romanenko, the Russian Armed Forces have the potential for an offensive.

A pro-Russian social media source claims: "Russian forces continue to rapidly advance towards Sumy, capture Vodolahy. Russian troops also crossed the Kursk-Sumy border at another point, a little to the west, capturing Kostyantynivka. Russian forces entered the first houses of Novomykolaivka and are on the outskirts of Yablunivka. Fighting continues inside Yablunivka”.

Russia now controls 9 towns in Sumy, 3 of which are disputed, and controls an area of ​​139 km². For reference, Russian control in the direction of Vovchansk, from Kharkov, is 223 km².

In the Belgorod region, one wounded by a drone strike

In the direction of Kupyansk, Ukrainian forces report that our troops have advanced beyond the Oskil River, in the area of ​​the Kamyanka settlement and have occupied the forest area of ​​Mala Komyshuvakha. In the area of ​​the Stroivka settlement, near the border with the Belgorod region, Russian troops are trying to consolidate their position.

In the direction of Kostyantynivka, the assault on Yablunivka continues; Russian troops are consolidating in the south, having closed the cauldron near Zorya and Stara Mykolaivka.

In the direction of Dnipropetrovsk, southwest of Pokrovsk, heavy fighting is taking place near Kotlyarivka and Novoserhiivka. The Ukrainians are putting up resistance.

In the direction of South Donetsk, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched seven counterattacks: two with armored vehicles and five on foot. Southeast of Komar, assault groups of the Russian Group of Forces "Vostok" pushed back Ukrainian troops from heights and strongholds to a depth of 1 km. North of Otradne, units occupied two defensive areas, advancing more than a kilometer in depth and along the front. In Zelene Pole, fighting continues in the western part of the village. A quarter of the village of Novopil' was cleared by the Russians in one day.

On the Zaporizhia front, units of the Russian Armed Forces entered Malaya Tokmachka from the south and east, the advance is complicated by the use of numerous drones by the Ukrainian side.

In the Kherson region, a Ukrainian drone was reported to have hit the Oleshky district hospital. One person was injured, the building of the Central District Hospital and an ambulance were damaged. 12 other villages were also bombed by Ukrainian drones.

In the DPR, in Horlivka, two people were injured in the shelling. 

Graziella Giangiulio 

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