Russo-Ukraine War - 27 May 2022 - Day 93

The ninety-third day of the heroic opposition of the Ukrainian people to the Russian military invasion continues.

The US administration has decided to transfer multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to Ukraine, The New York Times reported, citing sources in the White House. Presumably, these are M31 GMLRS (Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System) installations, the range of which is from 70 to 500 km, depending on the projectiles used. Such installations can launch guided missiles, the flight of which is corrected with the help of satellites. According to one of the sources of the newspaper, the White House is going to include the delivery of the M31 GMLRS in the next package of military assistance to Ukraine, which should be announced soon. Earlier British Prime Minister Boris Johnson advocated that Ukraine could receive multiple launch rocket systems from the West.

An interview was given to The Washington Post by a company commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Lapko about how the Ukrainian command treated his unit. After that, he was removed from his post and sent to a base in Lisichansk. The publication notes that the Ukrainian authorities created and maintained in society the image of military invulnerability - their volunteer and professional forces, supposedly triumphantly resisting the Russian onslaught. Videos of “assaults on Russian tanks or positions” are published daily on social networks.

However, the experience of Lapko and his group of volunteers offers a rare and more realistic picture of the fighting in the Donbass. “Our command is not responsible,” Lapko said in an interview. “They only take credit for our accomplishments. They don't support us." They said that when they were sent to the war zone, they were given AK-47 assault rifles and given training that lasted less than half an hour. "We fired 30 bullets and then they said, 'You can't get more: it's too expensive ,'" Lapko said.

At first, according to the Ukrainians, food was delivered to them every day, "except for shelling or a bad situation . " But in recent weeks the situation has deteriorated significantly. When supply chains were interrupted by bombing for two days, the Ukrainian military had to make do with one potato a day. They described their weapons as follows: aside from rifles and hand grenades, the only weapons they were issued with were several grenade launchers to counter well-equipped Russian forces. And no one showed the fighters how to use the RPG. “We didn’t have proper preparation ,” Lapko said.

The Russian side must not win, Russian President Vladimir Putin must not be allowed to succeed in Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told reporters. Commenting on the special operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine, the British diplomat said that Kiev needs to guarantee victory "in this great struggle for freedom." Accusing Moscow of allegedly depriving Ukrainians of “freedom, sovereignty and the rule of law ,” Truss said that if Putin “succeeds in Ukraine,” the West will forever lose its sense of security.

The UK Ministry of Defence reported that Russian ground forces continued their attempt to surround Severodonetsk and Lyschansk, recently capturing several villages north-west of Popasna. Russia was pressuring the Severodonetsk pocket although Ukraine retained control of multiple defended sectors, denying Russia full control of the Donbas. Russia’s Southern Grouping of Forces (SGF) likely remained tasked with occupying southern Ukrainian territory. In recent days, Russia moved 50-year-old T-62 tanks from deep storage into the SGF’s area of responsibility. The T-62s will almost certainly be particularly vulnerable to anti-tank weapons and their presence on the battlefield highlights Russia's shortage of modern, combat-ready equipment.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that in Donbas "As expected, the situation is very difficult. The occupiers are trying to achieve in at least a hundred days of war the goals they hoped to achieve in the first days after February 24. Therefore, they concentrated maximum artillery, maximum reserves in Donbas. There are missile strikes and aircraft attacks - everything. We are protecting our land in the way that our current defense resources allow. We are doing everything to increase them. And we will increase them. If the occupiers think that Lyman or Severodonetsk will be theirs, they are wrong. Donbas will be Ukrainian. Because this is us, this is our essence. And even if Russia brings destruction and suffering everywhere there, we will still rebuild every city and every community. And there is and will be no alternative to our Ukrainian flags there."

Russia captured the city of Lyman after the remaining Ukrainian troops in the city withdrew across the Siverskyi Donets river. In the Lyman direction, the Russians were trying to drive Ukrainian units out of the Lyman settlement and develop an offensive on Slovyansk. They fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenade launchers at the settlements of Ozerne and Dibrova, and also launched an air strike near Siversk. Russia transported an armored convoy across the Zherebets River using a movable bridge to the occupied city of Lyman in the Donbas. Lyman is the second medium-sized city in Ukraine to be captured by the Russian army this week, writes Foreign Policy correspondent Jack Detsch

In the Severodonetsk direction, the Russian occupiers, with the support of artillery, carried out assault operations in the areas of the settlements of Shchedryshcheve, Borivske and Toshkivka, and hostilities continue. The Russians were trying to improve the tactical situation in the Bakhmut direction, to disrupt the logistics of Ukrainian troops. They carried out assaults in the areas of the settlements of Komyshuvakha, Berestov, Belogorivka, but were unsuccessful.

The 115th Ukrainian Brigade and 57th Ukrainian Brigade were in ferocious battles in Severodonetsk. On the outskirts of Severodonetsk, heavy fights are taking place, the Russians are trying to break into the city. Governor Sergey Haydaj emphasizes that the inhabitants "have forgotten when there was silence in the city, although there was silence for half an hour". Russian troops, trying to encircle Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, had already closed almost two thirds of the city's siege; However, it was possible to stop the enemy's strongest attack on Ukrainian positions, said Oleksandr Striuk, head of the administration of Severodonetsk.

Units of Russian troops have completely taken control of the line of contact in Severodonetsk, Luhansk region, said the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov. According to him, the Russian military, together with the LPR units, completely blocked the Ukrainian military in Severodonetsk, taking control of all escape routes from the city.

In the Volyn and Polissya areas, up to seven battalions of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus continue to carry out tasks to strengthen the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. The threat of missile and air strikes from the territory of this country remains. In the Gomel region, in the immediate vicinity of the state border with Ukraine, a shunting group of electronic warfare from the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus has been deployed.

In the Seversky direction, the Russians continues to take measures to strengthen the section of the Ukrainian-Russian border in the Bryansk and Kursk regions in order to prevent the transfer of units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine to other directions. In the Slobozhansky direction the Russians did not carry out active offensive actions, tried to maintain its position and prevent further advance of Ukrainian units in the direction of the state border. Continued systematic shelling of settlements, destruction of civilian infrastructure and remotely mines probable routes of deployment of units of Ukrainian troops. In order to improve the logistics of the troops, the Russians were trying to restore the damaged railway.

In particular, in the temporarily occupied territories of Kharkiv region, the occupiers were involving units of the 29th Separate railway brigades from Smolensk with special machinery and equipment for the repair of railway infrastructure. The occupiers did not carry out offensive operations in the Slavic direction. The Russians fired artillery at the settlements of Svyatogorsk, Bogorodichne and Vernopillya. In addition, Russian invaders used aircraft to strike at Slavyansk and Dovgenky. In the Avdiivka direction, the Russians used artillery on civilian infrastructure in the areas of the settlements of Novobahmutivka, Kamyanka, Avdiivka, Pisk and Maryinka. In the Kurakhiv, Novopavliv and Zaporizhzhya directions, the Russians used mortars, jet and barrel artillery along the line of contact. Inflicted air strikes from Su-25 attack aircraft in the areas of Malaya Tokmachka and Orikhov.

In the South Bug area, the aggressor's main efforts were focused on maintaining the occupied borders, restraining the actions of Ukrainian troops and preventing the transfer of reserves of the Defense Forces to other areas. They fired on Ukrainian troops, and made an unsuccessful attempt at assault in the area of the village of Lubomyrivka.

In the Mykolayiv and Kryvyi Rih directions, the Russians, within the framework of logistical support and replenishment of the units that suffered losses, moved to the Kherson region vehicles, armored combat vehicles and multiple rocket launchers. Ships of the Black Sea Fleet in the Black and Azov Seas continued to perform tasks to isolate the area of hostilities, reconnaissance and fire support in the coastal direction. A Russian Su-35 fighter was shot down by a MiG-29 fighter of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kherson region.

The Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria denied reports that appeared in a number of Polish media about the delivery of 14 Su-25 fighter jets by the official Sofia to Ukraine. This was reported by the Sofia newspaper Duma. According to the head of the Bulgarian defense department , Dragomir Zakov , this information has nothing to do with reality. "Our country provides Kyiv with exclusively humanitarian aid." Recall that the day before, on May 26, one of the Internet agencies based in Warsaw published a message about “NATO deliveries to Ukraine of a batch of Su-25 aircraft.” At the moment, of all the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance, such aircraft are only in the air fleet of the Bulgarian Air Force.

It is clarified that the attack aircraft were dismantled "for delivery." They were helped to disassemble, the newspaper writes, "a field group in Eastern Europe." In disassembled form, the equipment is delivered to Ukraine for conspiracy - so that it has a different delivery status. Then it will not be possible to say that the West supplied military equipment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The DPR has completed the investigation of a criminal case against mercenaries from Britain and Morocco, they face the death penalty. According to the Prosecutor General's Office of the republic, the involvement of the British Sean Pinner and Andrew Hill and the Moroccan Saadoun Brahim in the hostilities against the Donbass has been established.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church declared its independence. The corresponding resolution was published by the Council of the UOC. The decision was made against the backdrop of ongoing political events. Thus, the cathedral announced that it did not share the position of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill on the issue of the special operation of the RF Armed Forces in Ukraine.