Ukraine War - Intel News

During his Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of State, Marco Rubio stated that the notion of Ukraine returning to its pre-conflict borders is unrealistic.

Peace deal could be in Ukraine's hands in just a few months - Reuters. Trump's advisers support the idea of ​​removing the possibility of Ukraine's membership in NATO from the agenda, at least for the foreseeable future, and freezing the current front lines. The majority are in favor of creating a demilitarized zone in Ukraine and the buffer territory should be patrolled by European troops.

Russia was preparing "air terrorism" against Poland and airlines worldwide, Polish Prime Minister Tusk stated at a joint conference with Zelensky.

Lukoil oil refinery caught fire overnight in Volgograd, Russia Locals wrote on social networks that they heard an explosion before the fire, but emergency services stated that the fire was caused by internal, not external, influence: one of the installations and two heat exchangers allegedly caught fire.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will arrive in Moscow with a large delegation to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Victory on 9 May.

Explosions were heard in many cities of Ukraine. - Lviv region: there are hits on two critical infrastructure facilities. in Drohobych and Stryi districts. - Ivano-Frankivsk region: Russia target was critical infrastructure facilities. - Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv regions: missiles flew in transit, explosions were heard. - Kirovohrad region: the windows of several residential buildings were damaged by debris from a downed drone. - Cherkasy region: UAV debris damaged house windows and a car. - Sumy region: 11 "Shahed" UAVs were shot down over the region. - Kharkiv region: there were withdrawals from the BPR. - Kiev: An electrical substation was on fire on Khreshchatyk. This is probably not related to the arrival, or the work of air defense. - Emergency power outages were introduced in 6 regions: Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad. - Poland raised combat aircraft.

The EU is considering gradually introducing restrictions on Russian LNG and aluminum as part of the 16th sanctions package - Bloomberg. Reuters had previously reported, citing European diplomats, that Europe is proposing a ban on the import of primary aluminum from Russia as part of the same package. Bloomberg also claims that the EU may impose sanctions on dozens of ships and disconnect new banks from SWIFT as part of these new measures against Russia.

Arrival of a Ukrainian UAV at a distillery in the Tambov region of Russian Federation.

Trump will try to achieve a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine in a way that is as favorable as possible for Kiev, said U.S. Secretary of Defense candidate Pete Hegseth.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron about the possibility of deploying Western military personnel to Ukraine. He provided this update after a phone call with the French president.

“We discussed the French initiative to send military contingents to Ukraine. We went over the practical steps for putting it into action, potential expansion, and the participation of other countries in this effort” — Zelensky mentioned.

NATO countries have agreed to strengthen their military presence in the Baltic Sea. As reported by the Alliance press service following the meeting in Helsinki, additional frigates and maritime patrol aircraft, as well as a small fleet of naval drones, will be launched as part of Operation Baltic Sentry. This should "enhance the security of critical infrastructure" particularly submarines, and "improve allies' ability to respond to destabilizing actions". The reason cited is the recent damage to underground cables in the Baltic Sea, stating that "potential threats to infrastructure will have consequences including possible boarding, confiscation and arrest".

"If something happens in Polish territorial waters, Poland will not hesitate to detain such a ship. But we will work together on such legal possibilities that will allow us to control ships outside territorial waters, and this is the biggest problem now" said Polish Prime Minister Tusk.

NATO reinforcement ships will remain in the Baltic Sea until the end of February, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said.

"It is currently planned that the allied ships will remain in the Baltic Sea until the end of February. What happens after that depends on the threat assessment" Michal said.

Russia is not leaving the Middle East - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

A state of emergency has been declared in Russia’s Saratov oblast following an attack on the oil refinery in Engels. Additionally, Russian media reported that debris from one of the drones fell onto a bridge connecting Engels and Saratov.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kiev on an unannounced visit. He stated that he wants to discuss further military support for Ukraine with the Ukrainian government in its resistance against Russia.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, speaking with Members of the European Parliament, emphasized that he considers the current defense spending level of 2% insufficient to ensure the allies’ security in the next 4-5 years.

“If we don’t spend more, we’ll either have to start studying Russian language textbooks or move to New Zealand” he said half-jokingly.

Trump won't force Ukraine to start premature negotiations with Russia - Bloomberg. Trump feels that the fate of Ukraine is not considered strategically important to US interests, but he does not want a “repeat of Afghanistan” Bloomberg writes.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico refused to go to Kiev, says Vice Speaker of the Slovak Parliament.

Ukrainian drones "Hell" and "Bober" hit in 7 regions of Russia. — a fire in Kazan after a drone attack - the Orgsintez plant is on fire. The enterprise is the only Russian manufacturer of "polycarbonates, sevilen, metallocene polyethylene - high-strength plastics, as well as one of the country's largest producers of high and low density polyethylenes". — Tula region: about 16 explosions were heard over the city of Oleksyn. — Saratov region: the refinery is on fire again. — In the Rostov region, there was an attack by 14 Ukrainian drones. — Kotovsk, Tambov Oblast, was attacked by three drones. Details are not yet known. — Voronezh at night, explosions are known, but also without further details. — 17 Ukrainian drones were allegedly shot down over the Oryol region.