Ukraine updates: Russia 'bogged down' on border, Kyiv says

Germany is open to further steps to utilize interest from frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said.

However, this should not have "legally disadvantageous or economically risky consequences," Lindner told a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized democracies in northern Italy.

There was a common willingness on the part of the European G7 members to examine a corresponding US proposal, he said. But negotiations are still a long way off, Lindner added, as many issues remain unresolved. 

Earlier, EU member states decided to use interest from Russian central bank assets frozen within the bloc to finance military aid to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, World Bank President Ajay Banga told Reuters that he was "absolutely" open to the idea of managing a fund for Ukraine that would disburse a G7 loan to the war-torn country based on earnings from frozen Russian assets, at least for non-military purposes.

Over the past week, Russia has deployed units from its Ministry of Defense's Africa Corps alongside its regular troops and Storm-Z units made up of convicts for the offensive in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, the British Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence update.

According to the update, the Africa Corps was created in December 2023. It consists of over 2000 regular soldiers and officers, as well as experienced mercenaries, many of whom were previously part of the Wagner Group.

"Africa Corps detachments have highly likely previously deployed to Syria, Libya, Burkina Faso and Niger," the update said.

The British ministry said Russia has almost certainly deployed Africa Corps detachments to the Ukrainian border during April 2024 in preparation for an offensive in the Kharkiv region. 

"It is highly likely that Russia is reinforcing its war on Ukraine with resources previously assigned to Africa," the update concluded.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, discussing Russia's assault on the region and battle for the border town of Vovchansk.

In a social media post, Zelenskyy said he also received updates on the recovery of damaged energy infrastructure.

"We paid special attention to the housing needs of our people who had been displaced from Kharkiv region territories targeted by enemy shelling," he wrote.

Seven people were killed in Russian strikes in Kharkiv on Thursday, when at least 15 missiles hit the city and surrounding area during the day.

The number of people held in Russian prisons fell by 58,000 last year, Russian independent media reported, continuing a steady decline spurred in part by the recruitment of convicts to fight in Ukraine.

In total, about 105,000 prisoners were released between 2022 and 2023, the media reported, citing data published in the official journal of the Russian penitentiary system.

Russia has been recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine since 2022, when Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late head of the Wagner mercenary group, began touring penal colonies, offering prisoners a pardon if they survived six months at the front.

Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash last year two months after leading a two months after leading a short-lived mutiny against Russia's military leaders, said he had recruited 50,000 prisoners for Wagner.

Russia's Defense Ministry has since continued to recruit prisoners for its own Storm Z formations.

German defense contractor Rheinmetall said it has received an order from a NATO customer to supply artillery ammunition. 

The order is worth nearly €300 million ($324 million) and includes several tens of thousands of artillery rounds and several hundred thousand propellant charge modules, Rheinmetall said.

The ammunition is scheduled for delivery between 2024 and 2028. The country was not identified.

Rheinmetall said this order and others recently booked stem from the need for states to replenish ammunition stocks that have been directed to help Ukraine fight invading Russian forces.

Russia said for the first time that the so-called Islamic State group (IS) coordinated the March attack on a Moscow concert hall, the country's deadliest terrorist attack in two decades.

IS had claimed responsibility for the March 22 attack, which killed more than 140 people, but Moscow has repeatedly tried to link Ukraine and the West to the attack.

FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying that "preparations, the financing, the attack and the retreat of the terrorists were coordinated via the internet by members of Khorasan Province (IS-K)," an IS branch active in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Bortnikov, however, did not discard the Ukrainian angle in his statements, saying that "upon completing the attack, the terrorists received clear instructions to move toward the Ukrainian border, where from the other side a 'window' had been prepared for them."

Ukraine has denied any involvement.

Japan and South Korea announced separate sanctions packages against companies, vessels or individuals allegedly involved in the supply of North Korean weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine in violation of UN resolutions.

Japan's top government spokesman, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said the country "strongly condemns" the alleged deals.

"We have cooperated with allies like the United States to freeze the assets of 11 groups and one individual involved in the Russia-North Korea military assistance meant to support Moscow's invasion of Ukraine," he told reporters.

Meanwhile, South Korea imposed sanctions on two Russian vessels and seven North Koreans for various activities, including allegedly trading military supplies between Moscow and Pyongyang.

The vessels were "carrying a large quantity of containers between Russia and North Korea transporting military supplies", Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Earlier in May, the United States sanctioned two Russian individuals and three Russian companies for facilitating arms transfers between Russia and North Korea, including ballistic missiles used in Ukraine.

Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian forces were "bogged down" in their attempt to capture the northeastern border town of Vovchansk, but that fighting on the eastern front remained intense.

Ukraine has been battling a Russian land assault on its northeastern Kharkiv region since May 10. Thousands of troops stormed the border in the biggest territorial advance in 18 months.

After initial success, "the enemy has got completely bogged down in street battles for Vovchansk and suffered very high losses in assault units," Syrskyi said, but added that fighting near the eastern cities of Chasiv Yar, Pokrovsk and Kurakhove was "intense."

The Ukrainian military also said Russian forces had a partial success near the village of Ivanivka in the Kharkiv region.

Syrskyi's comments came as state rail operator Ukrainian Railways reported a series of attacks on the rail system in the Kharkiv region, damaging tracks, carriages and buildings.

dh/fb (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)