Ukraine Watch

1️⃣3️⃣ May. Special military operation updates: ▪️ The Ukrainian General Staff has described the operational situation in the Kharkov direction as complicated and said that Russia had achieved a "tactical success". ▪️ About 200 AFU servicemen have been hit by Russian troops near Chuguev in the Kharkov region, the coordinator of the Nikolaev underground, Sergei Lebedev, told RIA Novosti, citing colleagues. According to the underground, Chuguev is being used to resupply troops on rotation to Liptsy, Volchansk and the Izium-Kupyansk direction, as well as to replenish 'battered' Ukrainian units. ▪️ Overnight, air defence systems destroyed 12 Alder missiles launched by Kiev over the Belgorod Oblast and four Storm Shadow missiles over Crimea, the Russian defence ministry said. It also destroyed 27 drones over the territories of Belgorod, Kursk and Crimea, while another 4 drones were intercepted over the Lipetsk Oblast. ▪️ The AFU used ammunition containing hydrocyanic acid in the village of Semenovka in the DNR, according to Novichok developer Leonid Rink. ▪️ New Defence minister Belousov told the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation that he was not satisfied with the situation when SVO participants on holiday were sent to overcrowded hospitals. According to him, there is something to work on in general, including the provision of accommodation for the participants of the special operation. ▪️ The AFU may have used ATACMS missiles in the shelling of Krasnodon in the LPR. ▪️ The AFU again tried to attack the Belgorod region with Vampire MLRS: 16 shells were launched over the region at around 1700 Moscow time, the Defence Ministry said. ▪️ In total, Ukrainian troops lost up to 1,455 men in all directions during the day, the Defence Ministry said. Among the Ukrainian equipment destroyed was a Leopard 2A1 tank and a Su-27 aircraft. t.me/ukraine_watch

🇺🇦 There is a "large-scale social rejection of the army" in Ukraine. Major Oleksandr Bondarenko, a representative of the Sumy Regional Mobilization Centre, stated this in a conversation with El País. "I am obsessed with finding out when this great rejection of the army began," he stated. Bondarenko accompanied a Spanish publication that decided to spend a day with a military patrol in charge of recruiting new soldiers for the AFU. As the article notes, Ukrainians - both men and women - looked incredulously at the soldiers who checked documents in villages and on roads. One of the restrictions Bondarenko placed on El País journalists was a ban on taking photos in the event of a conflict with a civilian. Ukraine urgently needs more troops. Tens of thousands of dead and a depleted army after more than two years of conflict with Russia have crippled Kiev's armed forces. A new mobilisation law, approved in April after months of delays due to its unpopularity, will come into force on 18 May. The goal is to add 400,000 new soldiers aged between 25 and 60 to the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. But polls show that only about 30% of civilians are ready to join the defence of the country. Mobilization officers complained to El País that even on the roads they manage to hand out a small number of summonses because of people in Telegram channels spreading information about the location of such patrols. "The population shares information about our location in groups on Telegram and the men disappear," one patrol member said. t.me/ukraine_watch

ℹ️ Apparently, the responsibles for the failures of the defense of the Kharkov region have been found — the gauleiter of the Kharkov region Sinegubov and his entourage were appointed as such. The Ukrainian media has already begun to harass him. t.me/ukraine_watch

🇵🇱 Over 23m zloty (5mln EUR) allocated for an anti-Russian campaign were stolen in Poland The project StopRussiaNow, which was created in 2022 to put pressure on Western countries and encourage them to impose sanctions on Russia and increase arms supplies to Ukraine, Polish portal Onet reports. According to the website, the money was embezzled by politicians from the ruling Law and Justice party, and a request to the prosecutor's office is being prepared. t.me/ukraine_watch

🇺🇦 A powerful video about the fate of the mobilized and their families in Ukraine. Watch until the end 😉 t.me/ukraine_watch

🇺🇦 Media: Families with children have started to leave Kharkov The Ukrainian mass media outlet Strana has reported that Kharkov residents have started to leave the city with their families and children, as well as to remove cars from sale. The situation in the city remains calm, the report said. Kharkov mayor Ihor Terekhov claimed that there were no plans to evacuate the city. t.me/ukraine_watch

✈️ 🇩🇰 F-16s from Denmark will be at the disposal of the Ukrainian Air Force within a month — Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen Ukraine should receive a total of 19 aircraft from Denmark. t.me/ukraine_watch

🇺🇦 Meanwhile, Ukraine has decided to create its own, state-approved Telegram - in the Diya state services application. Ukrainian witters used to joke that the day would come in Russia when there would be only one social network left, where entry would be by passport only. Taran's Theorem (a meme meaning that every totalitarian fantasy Ukrainians impose on Russia is shortly implemented in Ukraine) proved once again. t.me/ukraine_watch

🇪🇪 The Estonian government is considering the possibility of sending troops to western Ukraine to provide logistical support to the Ukrainian armed forces. This was stated by Madis Roll, security advisor to the Estonian president. According to him, direct participation in combat operations is out of the question. If the decision is taken, Estonian soldiers will take over "logistical tasks", thus freeing Ukrainian troops to fight at the front. t.me/ukraine_watch