May 14, 2022 | Daily briefing

00:05

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian defenders have shot down 200 units of aircraft of the aggressot state and destroyed more than 1,200 tanks. The number of losses of personnel of the Russian Federation has exceeded 27 thousand people.

01:15

As of the end of May 13, the Ukrainian military has liberated 1,015 settlements from occupation. Communications, light, gas and water supply are being restored now in these towns and villages.

37 diplomatic missions among those that had temporarily ceased their activities at the beginning of the war now have returned to Kyiv. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced this in his address on the 79th day of the war.

02:00

Russian invaders almost completely destroyed the village of Kotlyarove near Mykolaiv. The village was shelled by heavy artillery.

03:00

Ruslana Volynska, the wife of the commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade who is currently blocked at Azovstal, gave an interview to the Voice of America. In the interview, she once again appealed to the leaders of the world community to help unblock the Ukrainian military. “Save my husband, save the men at Azovstal. Every minute counts and every minute costs a human life.”

04:00

“I can’t imagine my life without my parents.” Twelve-year-old Ukrainian boy Tymofiy Zozulya told the Wall Street Journal how he survived the occupation of the Shevchenkove village in the Kyiv region and how the Russian military shot down a car with his family. Tymofiy kept a diary in which he recorded the terrible events that happened to him and his dear ones.

10:05

During May 13, the Russian troops shelled 14 settlements, destroying 61 objects of civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings, industrial and agricultural enterprises, and railway. The enemy fired at the civilian population from aircraft, tanks, heavy artillery, and Uragan multiple rocket launchers.

11:00

Over the past day, the invaders shelled 11 settlements in the Luhansk region. 63 infrastructure facilities were damaged.

11:15

In the evening of May 13, Russian troops fired unguided missiles at the Shostka district of Sumy region. There were 5 explosions in the area, fortunately there are no casualties among civilians.

12:00

Deputy Commander of the Azov Regiment Svyatoslav Palamar (Kalyna) joined the Kyiv Security Forum online and spoke about the losses of the Russian army during the storming of Mariupol. According to him, the units of the Russian Federation army near the city had more than 14 thousand servicemen, as well as a big number of special equipment. During their heroic resistance, Ukrainian defenders destroyed around 6,000 personnel, 78 tanks, and more than 100 armored vehicles.

However, Ukrainians catastrophically lack air and naval defense systems to withstand the enemy. Since the end of March, the Ukrainian military has been blocked at the Azovstal plant. There are now nearly 600 wounded soldiers without food, water and medicine. Negotiations with Russia on their evacuation are extremely difficult.

Svyatoslav also once again called on the world community to carry out the extraction of the Ukrainian garrison and thanked the US leadership for the support of Ukraine. “By defending Mariupol, we are defending not only Ukraine. We protect all the values ​​of this world. ”

12:20

Russia has launched the third phase of a full-scale war in Ukraine and is trying to turn it into a long-term one, adviser to the Minister of Interior Viktor Andrusiv says on a telethon.

The first phase involved an attempt to capture Ukraine in the short term, the second – to surround the Armed Forces in the east. According to the adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs, now Russians are preparing to defend the frontline where they stopped, and they also hope that “crises caused by the war will put the West at the negotiating table with them, and the West will try to exchange us for something.”

12:50

Russia has already exhausted the reserves of combat-ready battalion tactical groups, according to the Defense Intelligence.

The covert mobilization continues, but the use of such troops is ineffective, according to the DIU: “The 1st and 2nd army corps from the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions have the lowest morale. Untrained personnel, who have essentially no combat experience, are now sent to the most important areas. In addition, those reservists who are sent to Ukraine from Russia, especially from its central regions, eastern regions, they just went and thought they were going to earn money, but here they meet the strong resistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, defense forces, territorial defense and the entire population of Ukraine “

13:30

On the morning of May 14, Russians shelled a border town in the Chernihiv region. On the outskirts of Bleshny there were 8 explosions reported, tentatively, from a mortar fire. There are no casualties among personnel and losses of equipment, Operational Command North reports. The invaders opened fire from the Russian village of Lomakivka in the Bryansk region, the State Border Guard Service adds.

16:00

“The strong people of this world, do not be silent. After all, in other case the whole world will turn into Azovstal. We are not afraid to die, we are afraid to live in a world where evil is happening”, say the relatives of Azovstal fighters. 

They appealed to Chinese President Xi Jinping to influence Russia, to force it to agree to the procedure of extracting soldiers.

Natalia Zarytska, the wife of a soldier of the Azov Battalion, said that her husband had reported that Russia could launch 500 air bombs and 40 missiles in two hours and clean up our fighters with infantry. Apparently, the invader extends the process of torture. They are fired at from all possible weapons, including prohibited ones. The wounded servicemen receive new wounds.

Hanna Ivleeva, a servicewoman and the wife of a Mariupol defender, said that there were no more unwounded soldiers left at the plant – there were severely wounded and moderately wounded. Only those who have lost their limbs do not fight.

Yulia Tarasenko, the wife of a border guard, shared her correspondence with her husband: “My husband wrote to me that if there is hell on earth, he saw it.”

16:40

The enemy continues the attack on the territory of the Azovstal plant, the Azov regiment reports.

Throughout the day, the invaders dropped air bombs on the defenders of Mariupol, and fired from heavy artillery and tanks.

The servicemen of the Azov Regiment also report that the Russians engage a large number of infantry to storm Ukrainian positions.

19:30

Highlights from the evening report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces:

The greatest activity of the invaders remains to be in the Slobozhansky and Donetsk directions.

In the Donetsk direction, the enemy group is preparing for offensive operations in the directions of the settlements of Sievierodonetsk, Soledar and Bakhmut. The enemy has also been partially successful in the Avdiivka area.

The armed groups in the territory of the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova have been put on the daily operation mode.

The enemy is trying to increase its military presence on Zmiinyi Island, and strengthens the air defense system there.

The enemy in the temporarily occupied territories in the east and south of Ukraine is trying to engage Ukrainian citizens to work in the occupation forces institutions, violates their rights and freedoms.

20:00

The Ministry of Culture has already recorded 331 crimes against cultural heritage sites in Ukraine.

“Only barbarians can destroy our culture so shamelessly,” wrote Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko.

Tkachenko also assured that now the Ministry of Culture is working on protection and digitalization of cultural heritage.