Ukraine Update…448 days into the Russian move on Ukraine….Zelensky’s travel’s for arms…..

He said that he could not confirm Russia’s laims that it had shot down one of the Storm Shadow cruise missiles Britain recently supplied Ukraine and that there had been no change in U.S. policy not to send comparable American-made long range missiles or fighter jets to Ukraine.

Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.

• The British government on Monday unveiled a new military aid package designed to support Kyiv as it “prepares for an intensified period of military activity.” The announcement came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Britain and met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as part of a whirlwind tour of European countries.
• Zelensky met Sunak at his official countryside retreat, Chequers, for talks about the war, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. Zelensky is “the first world leader the Prime Minister has hosted at the residence,” the statement said. After his meeting with Zelensky, Sunak said it was important to show Russia that Britain is “here for the long-term,” the BBC reported.
• The package of British aid was announced during Zelensky’s visit. In its statement, the British government said it will provide Ukraine with “hundreds of air defense missiles” and “hundreds of new long-range attack drones” and other unmanned aerial systems, to be delivered in the next few months. The prime minister’s office also said that Britain will open a new flight school to train Ukrainian pilots “to handle different types of aircraft.”
• Peskov said the new British aid to Ukraine “will not affect the course” of the war “but will lead to retaliatory actions by the Russian Federation.” London said last week that it provided Kyiv with cruise missiles that have a range of about 300 kilometers (186 miles).
• During other visits over the weekend, Ukraine’s leader secured fresh commitments from Berlin and Paris. Germany announced a military aid package totaling $2.95 billion, almost doubling its commitment since the start of the war. And Ukraine announced after Zelensky’s surprise visit to Paris that France has agreed to train and equip several Ukrainian battalions with armored vehicles and light tanks.

• A former U.S. Embassy employee in Russia was arrested and charged with collaborating with a “foreign state or international or foreign organization,” Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass reported Monday. The man, identified as Robert Shonov, was taken to Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, the same prison where the detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is being held. “I’ve seen those reports and I don’t have any additional information at this time,” said State Department spokesman Vedant Patel.
• Chinese envoy Li Hui was set to arrive in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, on Monday. He is the highest-ranking Chinese diplomat to visit since the start of the war. China has been positioning itself as a potential mediator in the conflict. Kyiv is the first stop on Li’s tour of Europe, during which he will try to build support for Beijing’s proposed settlement terms just as Ukraine launches a much-anticipated counteroffensive in a bid to reclaim territories seized by Russia.
• Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash, who lives in Vienna and is wanted for extradition by the United States in a bribery case, has been delivered a “notice of suspicion” over allegations that he embezzled close to $500 million through a gas-purchasing plan. Several of his top managers also received the notices.
• The head of the Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, offered to give Russian troop locations to Ukraine if Ukraine’s commanders withdrew their soldiers from the area around Bakhmut, according to leaked intelligence documents reported by The Washington Post. In a rambling audio file released Monday, Prigozhin didn’t comment directly on the documents. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday dismissed the report, calling it “yet another hoax.”

• Zelensky reiterated his calls for NATO to invite Ukraine to become a member of the alliance. “It is time to remove the biggest security uncertainty in Europe — that is, to make a positive political decision on our NATO membership,” Zelensky said in televised remarks at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Monday. He said it would “be a timely signal” if NATO agreed to greenlight Ukraine’s membership bid at a July NATO summit in Lithuania. But, as The Post has reported, officials from NATO nations say this is unlikely to happen because there are divisions within the alliance on the issue.
• Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron focused on France’s military assistance in their Sunday meeting, including practical ways Paris can support Kyiv in its bid to liberate territories occupied by Russian forces, according to an official readout on the talks released by Ukraine.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised to support Ukraine for as long as needed to drive back Russia. In a joint news conference in Berlin, Zelensky said that with the help of allies, Kyiv could make Russia’s defeat “irreversible” this year.

• Britain’s Defense Ministry said a strike against a Russian air base may have caused leaders to worry “that Russia’s air defences continue to be compromised.” The May 3 strike on Seshcha air base was conducted by several drones and “likely damaged” an aircraft belonging to Russia’s Military Transport Aviation (VTA) force, the ministry said. “The VTA is a well-resourced element of the Russian Air Force, essential for transport across the vast country,” the ministry said, adding that decision-makers in Russia may be concerned that “key strategic assets such as VTA bases” are vulnerable to attack.
• Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukrainian troops have made “mass attempts” to break through Russian defenses in Bakhmut’s north and south. But “no breakthroughs” were allowed, it said Sunday in a post on Telegram. The Post was unable to verify those claims. Ukraine’s armed forces said early Monday that “heavy battles continue for the city.”
• Russian defense officials appear to be attempting to distract from Ukraine’s recent advances in Bakhmut by praising their troops’ claimed successes in repelling the Ukrainian counterattack, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War wrote in their latest assessment.
• Russia also claimed to have launched a long-range missile strike on a Ukrainian storage facility in Ternopil, a city in western Ukraine where Kremlin defense officials said Ukraine was storing ammunition, weapons and military equipment received from Western allies. Ukraine’s armed forces said Russian missiles struck civilian infrastructure over the weekend, including in Ternopil, injuring noncombatants…..

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