Targets hit in Crimea, aid from Germany, and a future agreement with the United States: May 30 highlights

Strikes on targets in Crimea

On the night of May 30, the Ukrainian military hit a number of occupiers' targets in temporarily occupied Crimea. Thus, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine managed to hit four boats of the KC-701 Tuna type, two of which were destroyed.

As the special service said, they were used for logistics and patrolling the water area near temporarily occupied Crimea.

Meanwhile, Russian media reported that not only 4 boats, but also 2 ferries and the Mechta pilot boat were damaged or destroyed as a result of the night attack on the peninsula.

In addition, the Defense Forces fired ATACMS missiles at the Kerch ferry crossing, which managed to undermine logistics on the temporarily occupied peninsula, the General Staff said.

Paramedic Iryna Tsybukh died

Iryna Tsybukh, a 25-year-old combat medic with the Hospitallers volunteer battalion, was killed during a rotation in the Kharkiv sector.

The battalion said that in a few days Iryna would have turned 26.

Since 2015, she had been traveling to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as a military paramedic and was a combat medic with the Hospitallers volunteer battalion. She was also a journalist and worked as a manager of the Regional Broadcasting Department at Suspilne.

There are already a million drones

Nataliia Kushnerska, head of the Brave1 defense tech cluster, said at the hromadske conference “Life in a Long War” that Ukraine already has one million drones, as previously announced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Maryna Bezrukova, head of the state-owned Defense Procurement Agency, said that her agency buys thousands of different drones, including Mavic drones.

“There was a story: the Agency buys for the Armed Forces, and there was a question that Mavic drones could not be purchased privately. In order not to let the manufacturers down, we filed a resolution to be able to buy in a closed framework. There are two stages of bidding. The first stage is when producers simply submit their bids, and they are visible on Prozzoro. The second stage is the auction, when the winners are not visible," Bezrukova said.

German assistance to the Defense Forces

Germany has announced a new €500 million military aid package for Ukraine.

It will include, among other things, Leopard tanks, missiles for IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile systems, drones, artillery ammunition, small arms ammunition, and spare parts for howitzers and armored vehicles.

According to Pistorius, Germany will also finance training courses for Ukrainian technicians. The package also includes funding for satellite communications.

US and Ukraine to sign security agreement

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Joe Biden will sign a bilateral security agreement on the eve of the Peace Summit in Switzerland on June 15-16, the Financial Times reports, citing its own sources.

The signing of this agreement is expected to take place in Italy at a meeting of the Group of Seven members.

According to the FT, this agreement is expected to be the most significant of all the agreements that Ukraine has concluded with NATO countries, which include commitments to long-term support, military training, intelligence sharing, and economic assistance.

Are you planning to obtain citizenship? Pass the exams first

The government has decided to make exams for Ukrainian citizenship mandatory, namely, the basics of the Ukrainian Constitution and history.

This decision will apply to foreigners, stateless persons, and those who have acquired citizenship but have the right to take the exam within two years, which may be due to a delay due to contract military service, outstanding services to Ukraine, etc.

The Ministry of Veterans proposes to change the teaching of “Defense of Ukraine”

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs proposes to increase the number of hours for the subject “Defense of Ukraine” in educational institutions and to involve veterans in teaching as much as possible.

According to Oleksandr Porkhun, Acting Minister of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, at the end of 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers amended a resolution to allow veterans with a pedagogical education to teach subjects at school. The idea was to create retraining courses for veterans with a pedagogical education to teach the subject “Defense of Ukraine”.

Trial of Lvov

On May 30, the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal announced a break in the consideration of the lawsuit filed by Judge Bohdan Lvov to reinstate him in his position in the Supreme Court. Earlier, investigative journalists found that he had Russian citizenship.

At the beginning of the hearing, a representative of the SBU filed a motion to introduce as evidence an interview with the judge that was published by Skhemy journalists on May 29. In particular, Lviv did not deny that he had real estate in Moscow, but still denies having Russian citizenship. The journalists said that the evidence was also proved by the actions that the judge took with his passport. Among other things, this is evidenced by a contract of donation of a share of an apartment in the Russian capital from 2012.

The next hearing will be held on June 12.

Other important news:

• Lithuania joins the coalition to strengthen Ukraine's air defense, led by Germany, France, and the United States.
• The government responded to the petition with a request not to ban the booking of medicines on websites. They promised to finalize the draft resolution.
• Denmark will not prohibit Ukraine from using the promised F-16 fighter jets to strike military targets in Russia.
• The European Council has adopted a resolution according to which duties on imports of grains, oilseeds, and products from Russia and Belarus will increase on July 1. This will stop imports of Russian and Belarusian products to the EU.
• France may soon send its instructors to Ukraine and announce this decision next week during President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Paris.