Ukraine Update…449 days into the Russian move on Ukraine….The sky’s Over Kyiv…..

The strikes came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Britain, France, Germany and Italy as part of a whirlwind European tour and secured more military aid for Ukraine from European allies.

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

• The United States condemned Russia’s arrest of Robert Shonov, a former employee of the U.S. Embassy in Russia, on charges of collaborating with a foreign state or international or foreign organization. “The allegations against Mr. Shonov are wholly without merit,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. Employed by a company contracted by the U.S. Embassy, Shonov’s “only role at the time of his arrest was to compile media summaries of press items from publicly available Russian media sources,” Miller said, adding that Russia’s targeting of Shonov “highlights the Russian Federation’s blatant use of increasingly repressive laws against its own citizens.”
• Wagner chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin claimed that an American national fighting for Ukraine had been killed in the Bakhmut region. In comments posted to a Wagner-linked Telegram channel on Tuesday, he said his forces were in possession of the body and would hand it over to the United States. “We are aware of the reports of the death of a U.S. citizen in Bakhmut and are seeking additional information,” a State Department spokesperson said. “Our ability to verify reports of deaths of U.S. citizens in Ukraine is extremely limited.”
• Ukraine’s armed forces shot down 18 missiles across the country in the early hours, according to Ukraine’s top military commander, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny. Six of them were “Kinzhal” hypersonic missiles, he said.
• The strikes in Kyiv injured three people in the city’s Solomyanskyi district, where several cars caught fire. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said debris landed in several districts, including on a zoo in Shevchenkivskyi. None of the staff or animals were injured in the attack, Klitschko said, adding that the zoo would be open as usual Tuesday.
• The attack was “another primitive attempt by the Kremlin to show its own power,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview, “as if they still have the power to destroy Kyiv as a decision-making center.” He said the attack “cost Russia at least $120 million” and was part of an effort to exhaust Ukrainian air defenses. Podolyak reiterated Kyiv’s calls for Western fighter jets.
• Britain and the Netherlands said they would work together to “build an international coalition to provide Ukraine with combat air capabilities, supporting with everything from training to procuring F16 jets,” according to a British government readout following a Tuesday meeting between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Council of Europe Summit in Iceland. The day prior, Zelensky met with Sunak, where the Ukrainian leader hinted at a “very important decision” coming on a jet coalition.
• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is alive — and well enough to tour an air force installation, according to photos and videos published by his office Monday, in what appeared to be an effort to dispel rumors about the authoritarian leader’s poor health after he skipped a celebratory breakfast in the Kremlin last week and canceled other events on his schedule for days. In the photos released this week, Lukashenko’s left hand is wrapped in a bandage. The Belarusian leader has been a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has permitted his country to be used as a launch point for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

• A South African military delegation arrived in Moscowto discuss bilateral military cooperation, the Russian Defense Ministry said. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed accusations by the United States that his country has taken Russia’s side amid its invasion of Ukraine.
• The British government announced a new aid package to support Ukraine as it “prepares for an intensified period of military activity.” The announcement came during Zelensky’s surprise visit to the United Kingdom, where he met with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
• A Ukrainian oligarch received a “notice of suspicion” over allegations that he embezzled close to $500 million through a gas-purchasing plan. Dmytro Firtash lives in Vienna and is wanted for extradition by the United States in a bribery case. Several of his top managers also received the notices.
• The Ukrainian flag was raised at NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Estonia on Tuesday, marking Kyiv’s official accession to the multinational group. Experts have been closely watching the threat of cyberattacks amid the conflict, which included an early attack on the U.S. satellite firm Viasat, disrupting communications in Ukraine.
• Forty-six European leaders in the Council of Europe will meet in Iceland on Tuesday for a summit to show their support for Ukraine through “concrete measures to help achieve justice for the victims of the Russian aggression,” the group’s website said. The meeting of the COE, which is separate from the European Union, will also focus on challenges to democracy and human rights.

• Ukrainian officials claimed limited battlefield gains during recent counterattacks in and around Bakhmut.The Ukrainian military called the gains the first successful offensive operations in the defense of Bakhmut but cautioned Monday on Telegram that they are only a “partial success.” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar also celebrated the gains but said fighting remains very difficult.
• Russia has used more than 400 Iranian-supplied drones to attack infrastructure in Ukraine since August, and Moscow wants Tehran to supply more advanced models, U.S. National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby said Monday, adding that more U.S. sanctions will come soon. Russia has also agreed to supply Iran with Russian Su-35 jets, attack helicopters, radar and training aircraft, he said.
• The Kremlin dismissed a Washington Post report that Prigozhin, the Wagner Group chief, offered to reveal Russian troop positions to Ukraine in exchange for a pullback in Bakhmut. During his daily call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the report “another hoax” but did not offer a basis for his assessment. Prigozhin, in an audio file released Monday, didn’t comment directly on the news……

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Money train to the Ukraine from the US could stop this Summer…

The flow of U.S. military aid so vital to Ukraine’s defense will slow—or even stop—by August unless Congress approves new funds, according to a Defense One review of Pentagon data.

Since the Russian invasion of February 2022, lawmakers have approved the disbursement of $48.9 billion in military aid to Ukraine. As of May 15, $36.4 billion of that total has been delivered, contracted, or otherwise committed. At the average rate of disbursement since the invasion began, the remaining $11.3 billion will run out in about four months.

Ukraine may desperately need replenishment at just that moment. The looming campaign to  dislodge Russian forces is expected to require a heavy expenditure in lives and equipment.

Congress may approve a fifth package of supplemental spending, adding to the ones it passed last year in March, May, September, and December. But the Biden administration has yet to formally request one, and officials are keeping mum.

The Defense Department directed questions about a new supplemental to the National Security Council. The NSC and White House did not respond to multiple emails and phone calls….

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