Occupiers partially pushed out of Vovchansk, US announces additional aid: highlights for May 15

Occupiers partially pushed out of Vovchansk

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the situation in the Kharkiv region had been partially stabilized.

Thus, the Defense Forces repelled the offensive of Russian troops in the area of Vovchansk and partially drove the occupiers out of the city.

In the evening, the General Staff noted an increase in the intensity of hostilities in the Kharkiv region. Defense forces repelled 10 attacks near Slobozhanske, Vovchansk, Starytsia, and Lyptsi.

US announces additional $2 billion in aid to Ukraine

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced an additional $2 billion in aid to Ukraine.

He also emphasized that it is up to Ukraine to decide how to counter Russian aggression, although the United States does not encourage strikes outside the country.

Zelenskyy postponed all international events

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered the postponement of all international events with his participation scheduled for the coming days.

Earlier, the media reported that Zelenskyy canceled his trips to Portugal and Spain, where he planned to sign a security agreement, due to the Russian offensive in the north of the Kharkiv region.

Hourly blackouts were introduced

Ukrenergo will introduce hourly power outages for residential and industrial consumers across Ukraine. The reason for the restrictions is an increase in electricity consumption during the cold snap.

Scheduled outages will take effect from 00:00 and throughout the day on May 16.

Kharkiv Regional Military Administration tells about fortifications

The Kharkiv Regional Military Administration spoke about the construction of defensive lines in the region amid media accusations of their absence. They note that the tasks set by the military for 2023 have been completed by 100%.

The rest of the work began in 2024, but had to be suspended in some areas due to constant shelling.

EU agreed to ban Russian propaganda

European Union ambassadors have agreed on a complete ban on the broadcast of four Russian propaganda media.

In particular, the restrictions apply to the Voice of Europe, which, according to Czech intelligence services, was used by former Ukrainian MP Viktor Medvedchuk to spread disinformation in the country.

At the same time, Medvedchuk's associates from the Russian project "Other Ukraine" were detained by the SBU in Kyiv.

General Staff: Occupation of Robotyne is not true

There have been no changes in the location of Ukrainian troops near the village of Robotyno, Zaporizhzhia region, and the situation there is under control, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the village was completely occupied.

Estonia approves the use of frozen assets of the Russian Federation

The Estonian parliament has passed a law that allows the use of Russian assets frozen by international sanctions to compensate for the damage caused to Ukraine by the war.

According to Hendrik Johannes Terras, chairman of the Constitutional Committee, the creation of legal regulation for the use of frozen assets is a complex task that a number of allied countries and international organizations are working on, and Estonia is playing a pioneering role here.

Shelling

In Kherson, 19 people were injured in a Russian air strike on the afternoon of May 15. The youngest injured was 15 years old, and the oldest was 98.

Russian forces also opened fire on Mykolaiv. Six casualties were reported. The occupiers also dropped bombs on the Kharkiv region, injuring outpatient clinic staff.

In addition, two employees of Ukrzaliznytsia were killed in a missile attack on Dnipro.

Were there any fines for Free Azovstal Defenders T-shirts?

Ukraine's representative at Eurovision 2024, alyona alyona, said that the Ukrainian delegation at this year's Eurovision Song Contest received a financial fine for wearing T-shirts with the inscription Free Azovstal Defenders during the final.

For its part, Public Broadcasting said that as a member of the European Broadcasting Union, it had not received any complaints or fines for the inscription on the T-shirts.

Later, alyona alyona explained that she had received distorted information.

Other important news of the day

• An attempt was made on the life of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. He is in extremely serious condition.
• Czech President Petr Pavel doubts that Ukraine will be able to liberate the occupied territories in the foreseeable future.
• A cadet of the Odesa Military Academy died during a parachute jump. The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating negligence of duty.
• A teenager was returned from the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region.
• Animal rights activists save the life of a moose calf from the Chornobyl zone, whose mother hit a mine.