Ukraine receives long-range Storm Shadow missiles. Zelenskyi makes two predictions about the war. Putin signs a decree to call up reservists for training.
Ukraine receives long-range Storm Shadow missiles
The United Kingdom has delivered multiple Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, international media said on May 11. The deployment of the Storm Shadow missiles is the first known shipment of the type of weaponry that Ukraine has long sought from its Western allies. The U.S. has so far declined to supply Ukraine with the ATACMS missiles.
A Western official told CNN that the UK has received assurances from the Ukrainian government that these missiles will be used only within Ukrainian sovereign territory and not inside Russia.
The missile is “a real game changer from a range perspective,” a senior US military official told CNN and gives Kyiv a capability [to liberate the occupied areas] it has been requesting since the outset of the war.
The Storm Shadow/SCALP is a long-range cruise missile with stealth capabilities, jointly developed by the UK and France, which is typically launched from the air.
It is a deep strike weapon designed for fixed sites, protected by air defenses. The missiles are capable of being operated day and night in all weathers, and effectively evade electronic detection.
Zelenskyi makes two predictions about the war
Speaking to public service broadcasters who are members of Eurovision News, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi dismissed fears about losing U.S. support if President Joe Biden, who has vowed to support Ukraine as long as it takes, is not re-elected in 2024. Ukraine, he said, still enjoyed bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress. “Who knows where we’ll be [when the election happens]?” he said. “I believe we’ll win by then.”
Zelenskyi said his country needs more time to launch a much-anticipated counter-offensive against Russian forces, as the military awaits the delivery of promised aid.
Speaking at his headquarters in Kyiv, President Zelenskyi described combat brigades as being “ready” but said the army still needed “some things’, including armored vehicles that were “arriving in batches”.
“With [what we already have] we can go forward, and, I think, be successful,” he said. “But we’d lose a lot of people. I think that’s unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.”
Putin signs decree to call up reservists for training
A decree that Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed to call up military reservists for training, includes two classified sections, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Twitter, adding: “The Ukrainian Armed Forces and Ukrainian soil are well aware of what such clauses typically imply for russians”.
Russia is seeking to sign up as many as 400,000 contract soldiers this year to replenish its ranks, Bloomberg said on March 24, citing people familiar with the planning who spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, 610 Russian troops were killed in Ukraine the day before, on May 10. Russia has lost 196,920 troops since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the General Staff said on Thursday morning.
How Ukraine eradicates russian business from its economy? Ukraine in Flames #427
The full-scale war that russia unleashed a year ago forced Ukraine and its partners to look for ways to bleed the russian economy and influence those who directly or indirectly finance armed aggression. The Ukrainian authorities announced the strengthening of the battle against state and private russian business through the confiscation of such assets in Ukraine. Watch Ukraine in flames #427 to find out about the process of “de-russification” of business, ways to confiscate russian assets in Ukraine and why this process takes so long.
Guests:
- Oleksandr Lysenko, Member of the International Working Group on Russian Sanctions
- Marharyta Tatarova, Senior Lawyer of ETERNA LAW law firm
