(Reuters) – Ukraine’s military vowed not to give up the eastern city of Bakhmut as it prepares to launch a counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces.
FIGHTING/MILITARY
* The United States plans to announce as soon as Wednesday a $300 million military aid package for Ukraine that will for the first time include a short-range air-launched rocket, two U.S.
officials said.
* The European Union plans to boost ammunition production to aid Ukraine and replenish the stocks of EU member countries.
* Denmark plans to donate 1.7 billion Danish crowns ($249.81 million) to Ukraine for military purposes.
* An explosion caused a second freight train to derail in the Russia region of Bryansk bordering Ukraine.
One also derailed on Monday following a blast.
* The Kremlin rejected as “plucked from thin air” a U.S. assessment of 100,000 Russian military casualties in Ukraine in the last five months, including more than 20,000 deaths.
* Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said weapons production and arms supply to the front line would be crucial to military success for Moscow, and that he had called for missile output to be doubled urgently.
DIPLOMACY/POLITICS
* Russia said it knows nothing about a Vatican peace mission for Ukraine mentioned by Pope Francis.
* The Kremlin said Germany’s involvement in the war was growing by the day and Berlin had no way of ensuring weapons it had given Ukraine would not be used against Russian territory.
SPORT
* Russian and Belarusian competitors have been cleared to take part as neutrals at the May 7-14 world judo championships in Doha, prompting Ukraine’s withdrawal.
GRAIN
* The European Commission said it set restrictions until June 5 on imports of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed to ease the excess supply of these grains in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
* Ukraine’s grain exports could fall to around 26 million tonnes in the 2023/24 season, largely due to Russia’s invasion.
QUOTES
* “We will continue, despite all the forecasts and advice, to hold Bakhmut, destroying Wagner and other most combat-capable units of the Russian army” – General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukrainian ground forces.
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(Compiled by Reuters editors)
