May 27, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

By Brad Lendon, Jeevan Ravindran, Laura Smith-Spark, Aditi Sangal and Adrienne Vogt, CNN

Updated 12:01 a.m. ET, May 28, 2022
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8:37 p.m. ET, May 26, 2022

US is preparing to approve long-range rocket systems as it becomes Ukraine's top request

From CNN's Natasha Bertrand, Jim Sciutto, Alex Marquardt and Tim Lister

The Biden administration is preparing to step up the kind of weaponry it is offering Ukraine by sending advanced, long-range rocket systems that are now the top request from Ukrainian officials, multiple officials say.

The administration is leaning toward sending the systems as part of a larger package of military and security assistance to Ukraine, which could be announced as soon as next week.

Senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have pleaded in recent weeks for the US and its allies to provide the Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS. The US-made weapon systems can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of kilometers — much farther than any of the systems Ukraine already has — which the Ukrainians argue could be a gamechanger in their war against Russia.

Another system Ukraine has asked for is the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS, a lighter wheeled system capable of firing many of the same types of ammunition as MLRS.

Russia has in recent weeks pummeled Ukraine in the east, where Ukraine is outmanned and outgunned, Ukrainian officials have said.

The Biden administration waivered for weeks, however, on whether to send the systems, amid concerns raised within the National Security Council that Ukraine could use the systems to carry out offensive attacks inside Russia, officials said.

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8:12 p.m. ET, May 26, 2022

Russia is depopulating parts of eastern Ukraine, forcibly removing thousands across the border

From CNN's Katie Bo Lillis, Kylie Atwood and Natasha Bertrand

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been processed through a series of Russian "filtration camps" in Eastern Ukraine and sent into Russia as part of a systemized program of forced removal, according to four sources familiar with the latest Western intelligence —  an estimate far higher than US officials have publicly disclosed.

After being detained in camps operated by Russian intelligence officials, many Ukrainians are then forcibly relocated to economically depressed areas in Russia, in some cases thousands of miles from their homes, and often left with no means of returning, sources said.

Although some Ukrainians have voluntarily entered filtration camps to try to escape the fighting by entering Russia, many have been picked up against their will at check points and in bomb shelters. After spending an average of around three weeks at the camps —  where sources and eyewitnesses say they are held in inhuman conditions, interrogated and sometimes tortured — some are sent across the border into Russia and given state documentation.

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8:39 p.m. ET, May 26, 2022

Ukrainian military acknowledges modest loss of territory in Donetsk region

From CNN's Julia Kesaieva and Tim Lister

Destroyed houses are seen after Russian shelling in Donetsk region of Soledar, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 24.
Destroyed houses are seen after Russian shelling in Donetsk region of Soledar, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 24. (Andriy Andriyenko/AP)

Ukraine's armed forces have acknowledged that Russian forces have made further advances in the Donetsk region — capturing one district within 10 miles (about 16 kilometers) of the important town of Bakhmut.

In an operational update Thursday, the armed forces' general staff said that while several Russian efforts to advance had been thwarted, "in the directions of Pokrovsky and Klynove, the enemy has partial success, capturing the village of Midna Ruda."

Midna Ruda is some 10 miles (about 16 kilometers) southeast of Bakhmut, which has come under heavier artillery fire in the last week. Bakhmut is on a key resupply route for Ukrainian units on the frontlines, which would potentially be cut off by further Russian advances. 

"In the Donetsk direction, the enemy is shelling our troops, launching missile strikes, conducting surveillance, and increasing air support," the general staff said.

The general staff also said that other Russian efforts to push west towards the Donetsk region border had been repulsed. It said the Russians continued to bombard Ukrainian troops south of the town of Lyman, much of which fell into Russian hands Tuesday. Video Wednesday showed the Russian flag flying above the town's municipal offices. 

Meanwhile, in the south: The general staff said that Russian units in the Zaporizhzhia region were being reinforced by Soviet-era T62 tanks, which appear to have been brought out of storage.

Separately, the Ukrainian military released video and quotes from soldiers operating the US M777 howitzers. They praise its accuracy and range, with one saying, "The enemy feels the effectiveness of our artillery every day and every hour. We are doing everything possible and impossible to suppress and eliminate the enemy and give our infantry a chance for a counteroffensive to liberate our territories."

CNN's Kostan Nechyporenko contributed reporting to this post.

8:18 p.m. ET, May 26, 2022

Russians intensify attacks against vastly outnumbered Ukrainian forces across Donetsk and Luhansk

From CNN's Tim Lister 

This video footage, published by Ukraine's Armed Forces, shows the devastating impact of shells from a Russian TOS-1A hitting Ukrainian positions near Novomykhailivka in the Donetsk region on May 26.
This video footage, published by Ukraine's Armed Forces, shows the devastating impact of shells from a Russian TOS-1A hitting Ukrainian positions near Novomykhailivka in the Donetsk region on May 26. (Armed Forces of Ukraine/Cover Images/Reuters)

Russian forces are applying a wide array of weapons across several fronts in eastern Ukraine as they try to break down stubborn Ukrainian defenses, which are outnumbered and outgunned, according to Ukrainian officials.

Several of those officials describe the situation as "very difficult" and admit Ukrainian units may have to fall back in some places.

In recent days, Ukrainian officials say, the Russians have combined short-range ballistic missiles, multiple-launch rocket systems, heavy artillery and tanks in a remorseless bombardment of towns and cities in Luhansk and Donetsk regions still under Ukrainian control.

The National Police of Ukraine said that civilians were killed in attacks on 13 settlements in Donetsk, with several towns not previously targeted suffering damage. Russian forces seem to be broadening the number of towns they are shelling as they try to destroy Ukrainian defenses and supply lines. 

Their chief objective appears to be taking Sloviansk, which has seen an increase in shelling in recent days. Mayor Vadym Liakh said half the city is now without water, and there will be "no gas supply until the heating season."

A growing number of Ukrainian officials describe the military situation in dire terms, although Russian advances on the ground have been modest.

Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of Ukraine's parliament who is on the National Security Committee, described the situation as "difficult."

He told Ukrainian television that "the hottest spots are Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. The enemy is trying to encircle our troops."  

The twin cities in Luhansk are almost entirely destroyed, but Ukrainian troops are still present. Nearly 15,000 civilians are estimated still to be in Severodonetsk.

8:15 p.m. ET, May 26, 2022

2 Russian soldiers plead guilty to war crimes in Ukrainian court

From Anastasia Graham-Yooll in London and Olga Voitovych in Kyiv

Russian soldiers Oleksandr Ivanov and Oleksandr Bobykin, right, attend their trial hearing in Kotelva, northeastern Ukraine, on May 26.
Russian soldiers Oleksandr Ivanov and Oleksandr Bobykin, right, attend their trial hearing in Kotelva, northeastern Ukraine, on May 26. (Bernat Armangue/AP)

Two captured Russian soldiers pleaded guilty in Kotelevsky court in Ukraine’s Poltava region on Thursday to “violating laws and customs of war conducted with preliminary group conspiracy.”

Oleksandr Bobykin and Oleksandr Ivanov are accused of firing Grad rockets from Russia’s Belgorod region towards Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Feb. 24.

According to the case details made public on the court website, the men fired artillery and damaged “objects of civil and critical infrastructure, including private homes” in Kazacha Lopan and Veterynrne in the Kharkiv region. The soldiers were captured by Ukrainian forces in the Kharkiv region, according to the court memos. 

The court is due to deliver a verdict on May 31.