Girl in Odesa reports being beaten by a TRC worker, and Budanov predicts Russian offensive in Sumy region: highlights for 14 May

The situation in the north of the Kharkiv region

On the morning of May 14, the General Staff reported that as a result of intense fire with the use of 10 guided aerial bombs, Ukrainian troops had changed positions near the village of Lukiantsi in the Kharkiv region. Fighting is taking place on the outskirts of Vovchansk.

UK military intelligence doubts that Russia is able to capture Kharkiv without additional forces and believes that the main Russian target is the city of Vovchansk.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, was personally in key battlefields. According to the head of state, the situation at the front is under control.

Budanov predicts a Russian offensive in the Sumy region

The Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, predicts that Russian troops will launch a new attack north of Kharkiv, in the Sumy region.

According to him, the Defence Forces are trying to redeploy troops from other parts of the front line to strengthen defences in the northeast, but it has been difficult to find personnel.

Girl reports being beaten by a TRC employee

In Odesa, a girl who introduced herself as 19-year-old Antonina Tokmakova reported being beaten by a representative of the territorial recruitment center (TRC) in Odesa. On social media, she wrote that on the evening of May 12, she and her friends went to the police station to file a complaint against a taxi driver who allegedly sprayed pepper spray in the faces of her friends.

Antonina claims that after they filed a complaint, the police did not want to let them go, but instead called representatives of the TRC. According to her, she planned to go with her friends, who were to be transported by bus to another place. However, she was not allowed to get into the car. She started filming, and then, according to Antonina, a man in a military uniform attacked her and hit her with a crutch.

At the same time, the police claim that the taxi driver called the police. They say that Tokmakova behaved aggressively at the police station. Some of her friends received administrative reports and were released. The police learned about the girl's beating the next day, law enforcement officials assured.

EU approves Ukraine's plan for €50 billion program

The European Union has finally approved the plan for Ukraine, which is necessary for the implementation of the €50 billion Ukraine Facility program.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the approval of the plan allows for the full launch of the Ukraine Facility, with Ukraine receiving €1.89 billion in pre-financing. In total, the program is expected to attract €16 billion this year.

Blinken's visit to Ukraine

The US Secretary of State paid a working visit to Kyiv on May 14. He met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and students of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.

Blinken urged Ukraine not to delay mobilization and assured that the United States and partners are working to strengthen Ukraine's air defense.

Kuleba: Ukraine did not reject the peace agreement

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denied that Ukraine and Russia were close to a peace agreement in the spring of 2022, but Kyiv allegedly rejected it.

According to Kuleba, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations did hold talks in Istanbul in the spring of 2022, but “nothing was agreed upon”.

EIT format may be changed after the war

In an interview with hromadske, Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi said that after the end of martial law, Ukrainian university entrants may be able to return to the External Independent Testing instead of the National Multisubject Test, but its format may change. He said that computer-based testing has a number of advantages, including the possibility of taking it abroad.

Lisovyi also says that some programs for schoolchildren will become easier.

UP reported the threats

Ukrainska Pravda media outlet said it received threats after publishing an investigation titled “Unfit”, which tells the story of the luxurious life of 25-year-old Kyiv millionaire Oleksandr Slobozhenko and his friends during the general mobilization.

Law enforcement officers opened a criminal investigation into the allegations of attempts to pressure, threats and obstruction of journalistic activity by Ukrainska Pravda journalists.

Shelling

On the morning of May 14, Russian troops shelled Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region. One man was killed and another was wounded in the attack.

In the morning, an elderly man and woman were killed in the Vovchansk community of the Kharkiv region as a result of Russian shelling.

During the day, Russian occupation forces also struck the village of Hremiach in the Novhorod-Siversky district of the Chernihiv region, killing a man.

And in Kharkiv, the occupiers hit the 10th floor of an apartment building. Twenty-one people were injured. Earlier, the Russian army hit the city with a D-30 UMPB. This is a unified interspecies planning munition of 30 cm caliber.

Other important news of the day

• A Defense Ministry official who approved contracts for the purchase of “eggs for 17 UAH” was appointed Foreign Ministry ambassador.
• The National Police extradited to the Czech Republic fraudsters who defrauded people of UAH 5.5 million.
• Estonia is not going to send troops to western Ukraine, the country's defense minister said.
• Despite protests, the Georgian parliament passed a law on “foreign agents”.