Ukraine’s mid-range strike campaign disrupts Russian logistics across the war theater, ISW says. Zelenskyi says he asked Trump for a license to produce missiles for the Patriot systems. Russian drone attacks on Chernihiv and Kharkiv regions injure 12 people, including three children.
Ukraine’s mid-range strike campaign disrupts Russian logistics across war theater, ISW says
Ukraine’s mid-range strike campaign against Russian ground lines of communication (GLOCs) is disrupting Russian logistics across the theater, from occupied Luhansk Oblast to Crimea, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in an update on May 31. The paragraphs below are quoted from the report.
The Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps reported on May 31 that Ukrainian forces have achieved drone-enabled fire control over Luhansk City, Starobilsk, Alchevsk, Bryanka, and Kadiivka (all roughly 50 to 90 kilometers from the frontline) as part of Ukraine’s broader operational strike campaign against Russian GLOCs in Luhansk Oblast aimed at preventing Russian forces from conducting logistics operations in rear areas.[1] The Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps reported that Ukrainian forces regularly strike Russian GLOCs, armor and ammunition depots in the area and recently reached the Izvaryne checkpoint on the international border, over 205 kilometers from Ukrainian drone operators’ positions.
Ukrainian forces have significantly intensified their mid-range strike campaign against Russian GLOCs across the theater over the last several months, which has been generating cascading effects on the battlefield and inhibiting Russian advances.
Russian milbloggers confirmed on May 31 that Ukrainian strikes are creating logistical problems for Russian forces across the theater, with one milblogger claiming that Ukrainian drones are now penetrating Russian air defenses throughout occupied Luhansk Oblast and reaching the border with Rostov Oblast. Another Russian milblogger claimed that Ukrainian mid-range strikes are significantly disrupting Russian logistics not only along the land corridor connecting occupied Zaporizhia and Kherson oblasts with Crimea, but also throughout occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
The milblogger claimed that these strikes have caused significant fuel shortages and seriously hampered Russian personnel rotations and ammunition supplies throughout occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov previously stated on May 27 that Ukraine is launching a “logistics lockdown” of Russian forces, aiming to scale its intermediate-range strike campaign against Russian logistics and supply lines.
Zelenskyi says he asked Trump for license to produce missiles for Patriot systems
In a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump and Congress last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi asked the U.S. to grant Ukraine a license to produce missiles for the Patriot air defense systems, Zelenskyi told CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” show that aired on Sunday.
When asked if his letter had been answered, Zelenskyi said he hopes that “they will understand and will answer.”
“Germany now has some licenses. I asked the previous administration, I am asking today’s administration, to give Ukraine licenses. We will increase the production of Patriot missiles. It will be very helpful for us, it will be very helpful for the Middle East, for everybody whom the United States will decide to help,” he said.
A shortage of anti-ballistic missiles is increasing, he added.
“Of course, one of the reasons is the situation in the Middle East with the Iranian war,” he continued, adding: “I hope, God bless, that the ceasefire [there] will be long and lasting peace.”
“We in Ukraine, we don’t have ceasefire, we have five long years of war, and we see that Russia is increasing its internal production, the production of ballistic missiles, and we have a deficit of anti-ballistic missiles,” he said.
“I know all the companies in the United States, huge companies, great companies, but only United States can produce such number. 60, 65 missiles per month for today’s challenges, it’s nothing. Russia knows it, it’s not a secret information. We need to do the production wider,” Zelenskyi said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on May 27 he had sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump and Congress earlier that week asking for anti-ballistic missile capabilities of which Ukraine is facing worsening shortage.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on May 30, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the U.S. will “find a way to make sure we can help” Ukraine. “Where we can help Ukraine, we have. Where we can enable Europe to do more, we have,” he said.
Russian drone attacks on Chernihiv, Kharkiv regions injure 12 people, including three children
A Russian drone attack on Chernihiv region on Sunday evening injured eight people, including three children, in two villages.
A community house was hit in the village of Snovske, starting a fire. A private home was damaged in the town of Ripky, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
The firefighters quickly extinguished fires on industrial sites, in residential neighborhoods, on critical infrastructure sites and in vehicles, it added.
A 58-year-old man was killed in a Russian drone strike on an industrial site in the Koryukivka district of Chernihiv region overnight on Sunday, the State Emergency Service said.
A Russian overnight drone attack on Kharkiv and the city’s outskirts injured four women, Ukraine’s State Emergency said in a separate report on Monday.
Two garages were damaged in a residential neighborhood in the Osnovyanskyi district in Kharkiv, igniting a fire. Apartment buildings and passenger vehicles also sustained damage in the attack.
