May 19, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel in person to Japan for the Group of Seven (G7) summit, according to sources.

Two sources briefed on the matter said Zelensky is scheduled to participate in a G7 session on Sunday.

The session was a late addition to the G7 schedule in order to accommodate Zelensky’s current travel schedule, one of the sources said.

Zelensky is planning to attend the Arab League summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia before he travels to Japan, the source said. He is expected to arrive in Hiroshima Saturday evening in advance of his participation in the G7 summit.

Key context: The war in Ukraine is at the top of agenda for the three-day summit, where leaders are expected to make a strong statement of unity in support of Ukraine and unveil new measures to choke off Russia’s ability to fund and supply its war.

Zelensky’s expected visit would be his first to Asia since Moscow launched its full-scale assault on Ukraine last February, and comes as Kyiv continues to look to its Western partners for military backing ahead of a highly anticipated counteroffensive.

G7 member countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — include Ukraine’s largest backers.

Zelensky’s expected travel to Asia follows a four-country European tour, where he welcomed additional pledges of military support for Kyiv’s defense.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday had said Zelensky would participate virtually in a Sunday session of the G7, after being invited by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this year.

G7 leaders are gathering in Hiroshima, Japan, the site of the world’s first ever nuclear attack — a symbolic reminder of the risks of nuclear war as they discuss Russia and the conflict in Ukraine.

On the sidelines of the summit, the UK and EU said Friday they will target Russian diamonds in new sanctions against Moscow.

"Russian diamonds are not forever," European Council President Charles Michel said.

If you're just reading in, here's the latest:

The United Kingdom will ban the import of Russian diamonds as part of its latest sanctions against Moscow, Downing Street announced Friday. 

Imports of Russian-origin copper, aluminum and nickel will also be banned under the legislation, which will be introduced later this year, the prime minister's office said in a statement. 

The Russian diamond industry was worth $4 billion in exports in 2021, according to Downing Street.

Alongside the measures, the UK government is also preparing new individual designations targeting an additional 86 people and companies from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military industrial complex as well as those involved in key revenue streams such as energy, metals and shipping. They include people who are “supporting the Kremlin to actively undermine the impact of existing sanctions,” the statement said. 

To date, the UK has sanctioned over 1,500 individuals and entities, freezing more than £18 billion ($22.3 billion) of assets in the UK, according to Downing Street. 

The announcement comes as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak meets with leaders for the first day of the G7 summit in Hiroshima on Friday.

EU sanctions: Additionally, the European Union will also restrict trade of Russian diamonds, European Council President Charles Michel said Friday.

The EU will also continue its effort to cut off critical supplies from Russia, he added.

A senior EU official said Thursday the EU is “confident” that a plan for sanctioning Russian diamonds will be put in place at the G7 meeting, which kicks off Friday in Japan.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will participate in the G7 summit virtually on Sunday, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Thursday. 

Zelensky will join a session held Sunday morning on Ukraine, the ministry said. 

Earlier this year, Zelensky had accepted an invite from Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to participate in the summit, which kicks off Friday in Hiroshima, but it was unknown whether he would attend in person or virtually. 

The Biden administration made an accounting error in assessing the value of the military support that the US has given to Ukraine to date, freeing up approximately $3 billion more in aid, an amount likely to mitigate the need for Congress to pass an additional assistance package before the end of the fiscal year in September, multiple congressional and administration officials told CNN.

The error — which lawmakers and congressional staffers were briefed on Thursday — triggered frustration from Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees. They believe the mistake reduced the amount of US support that went to Ukraine leading up to the counteroffensive.

Before this new information came to light the Pentagon had said that there was just over $2.3 billion remaining available for Presidential Drawdown Authority for Ukraine. Now, due to this revelation, there is about $5.3 billion still available, far more than even the largest single package provided to Ukraine.

The briefing to the Hill comes after the White House told CNN that it is not currently planning to ask Congress for new Ukraine funding before the end of the fiscal year at the end of September, which pit administration officials against some lawmakers and congressional staffers who are concerned that the funds could run out by mid-summer.

But now that there is more funding available, congressional sources said they are less concerned about the immediate need for a new funding package for Ukraine. They believe it is likely that the newfound funding will carry the US support to Ukraine through the end of the summer.

What happened: The accounting error occurred because when the US transferred weaponry to Ukraine, they counted the value of replacing the weapon instead of the value of actual weapon, defense officials explained. That drove up the cost of each package — because new weaponry costs more than old weaponry— and resulted in the false assumption that more of the funding had been used.

Read more here.

The Biden administration has signaled to European allies in recent weeks that the US would allow them to export F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, sources familiar with the discussions said, as the White House comes under increasing pressure from members of Congress and allies to help Ukraine procure the planes amid intensifying Russian aerial attacks.

Administration officials are not aware, however, of any formal requests by any allies to export F-16s, and State Department officials who would normally be tasked with the paperwork to approve such third-party transfers have not been told to get to work, officials said.

A handful of European countries have a supply of the US-made F-16s, including the Netherlands, which has signaled a willingness to export some of them to Ukraine. But the US would have to approve that third party transfer because of the jets’ sensitive US technology.

While the US remains reluctant to send any of its own F-16s to Kyiv, US officials told CNN that the administration is prepared to approve the export of the jets to Ukraine if that is what allies decide to do with their supply.

Read more here.

Ukraine has “successfully” used the Storm Shadow missiles provided by the United Kingdom, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told CNN on Thursday.

The Storm Shadow missiles, the longest-range weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal, were recently given to Kyiv ahead of an anticipated counteroffensive against the Russian military. The long-range cruise missile has stealth capabilities and a firing range of more than 250 kilometers, or 155 miles.

Read more here.

A Patriot missile battery damaged by a Russian missile barrage against Kyiv has been fixed, the Pentagon said Thursday.

CNN reported on Wednesday that the damage was minimal. 

The columns of dozens of US-supplied M-ATVs kept coming, preceded by a police car, lights blaring, and tailed by dozens of muddy, civilian saloons. Where the armored vehicles were ultimately destined for was unclear. But they were still beige — the paintjob they would have had for use in Iraq and Afghanistan — suggesting they were at least a spray can or mud-shower away from being ready for use on the front line.

Over five weeks reporting along the southern frontlines, it became hard to conceive that — at least in its limited, preparatory stages — Ukraine’s counteroffensive had not got under way in late April.

The relentless pinpoint bombing of Russian military targets; the hints of small Ukrainian landings along the occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro River; and the blasts hitting fuel depots and infrastructure inside Russia’s own borders and in occupied cities — these could all be seen as indicators.

Also, too, a helicopter attack we witnessed against a Russian target; the persistent signals from occupied officials of Ukrainian probing attacks along the Zaporizhzhia frontline; and the evacuation of the civilian population in occupied areas.

The signs have gathered in pace over the past month, and are the opening traces of the “shaping operations” that a senior US official told CNN began last week. Yet officially, Ukraine’s counteroffensive has yet to start.

Given the volume of US and NATO hardware, advice and training poured into this operation — with a senior US official recently telling Congress the US had coached Kyiv in how to “surprise” — it seems fair to assume this delay in declaring the start of the assault is a tactic, not the product of Ukrainian chaos, disorganization, and a relatively wet April leaving the ground too soft.

Read the full analysis here.