May 27, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The US Defense Department said it is “mindful and aware” of Ukraine’s request for multiple-launch rocket systems, but that “decisions … haven’t been made yet.”

“Our goal from the very beginning has been to try to help them in the fight that they’re in today,” said outgoing Pentagon press secretary John Kirby at a briefing with reporters.

“I won't go so far as to say it's too late to provide the Ukrainians with any system or capability that they might need because they are very active in the fight and they have pushed back the Russians up near Kharkiv,” Kirby said.

However, Kirby said the Defense Department is “mindful of the clock” when it comes to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

CNN reported Thursday that the Biden administration is preparing to send MLRS systems as part of a larger package of military and security assistance to Ukraine, which could be announced as soon as next week. The MLRS and its lighter-weight version, the HIMARS, can launch as far as 300 kilometers (186 miles), depending on the type of munition.

Ukrainian officials are denying that the city of Severodonetsk in Luhansk is surrounded, but have acknowledged that Russian forces hold one part of the city.

"This is a war, a war against a very powerful enemy, and in theory anything is possible," Hayday said when asked about the possibility of Russian troops gaining further ground in the city. "The higher military command sees this situation. But so far I can't say that in a day, two, three they will completely take over the area. No, most likely they won't."

"We have enough strength," he continued, while also cautioning that, "Maybe there will be a command to our troops even to retreat."

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto expressed optimism that “sooner or later, Finland and Sweden will be members of NATO” and said discussions with the Turkish government would continue as Ankara threatens to block the two nations from joining the defensive alliance.

In an interview with CNN in Washington, DC, Friday, Haavisto said he expected that the topic of Finland’s NATO membership and overcoming Turkey’s current opposition would come up in his conversations with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his meeting later in the day, adding he was “quite confident” that other NATO countries had spoken with Turkey as well.

Delegations from Finland and Sweden – which both formally applied for NATO membership last week – traveled to Turkey earlier this week for talks on NATO accession. All current NATO members must approve new members.

Haavisto, who did not attend the talks, called it a “good meeting,” and said it lasted for five hours. Haavisto indicated that there are European and Finnish laws and policies in place that guide Finland’s actions on Turkey’s main demands – the designation the PKK as a terrorist organization, lifting arms export controls, the extradition of Kurdish militants that Turkey sees as terrorists. However, Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said following the delegation’s visit that “if Turkey’s security concerns are not met with concrete steps, the process cannot progress.”

Haavisto said “there was an agreement to continue those discussions,” but a next round of talks has not yet been arranged.

The decisions by Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO was a major shift prompted by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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Finnish foreign minister optimistic that 'sooner or later' Finland and Sweden will be NATO members

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Friday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba "to discuss continued U.S. security assistance to Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war," according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price. 

This was their second call this week after speaking on Tuesday. 

Kuleba said on Twitter that he and Blinken discussed Ukraine's urgent need for supplies of heavy weaponry as well.

"I value his personal efforts to ensure a sustained U.S. and global support for Ukraine. Heavy weapons on top of our agenda, and more are coming our way. Ukraine and the U.S. work hand in hand to deliver our food exports despite Russia’s reckless blockade," Kuleba tweeted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer that an exchange of prisoners will take place between Russia and Ukraine. 

The two leaders discussed the possibilities for prisoner exchanges during a 45-minute phone call on Friday, according to a statement of the call from the Austrian Chancellery. 

Putin also told Nehammer that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will "have free access to prisoners of war," asking for this access to also be granted to Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine. 

The Russian leader provided his Austrian counterpart with "an assessment of the situation the context of the ongoing special military operation to protect Donbas," the Kremlin said in a readout of the call, using a standard euphemism to refer to the invasion of Ukraine. 

They also discussed efforts to "ensure the safety of navigation in the waters of the Azov and Black Seas," the Kremlin said. 

The Austrian Chancellery added that Nehammer did receive "positive signals" from Putin that a solution will be found to allow the export of Ukrainian goods through the seaports of the Black Sea. 

During the call, Russia's "commitment to comply with contractual obligations on natural gas supplies to Austria was reaffirmed," the Kremlin said. 

Ukraine's military said the Russians are trying to repair damaged railway lines inside northern Ukraine to sustain their supply routes.

In an update posted Friday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that "in order to improve the logistics of its troops, the enemy is trying to restore the damaged railway. 

The railway from Russia into the Kharkiv region and south to Izium is a critical supply line for the Russian offensive.

Elsewhere, the General Staff reported further heavy fire by Russian forces as they try to develop an offensive on Sloviansk, a city in Donetsk region, the update said. Russian assault operations were underway in several settlements around the city of Severodonetsk, where Ukrainian defenses have been under constant bombardment.

The updated added that Russian forces were also trying to disrupt Ukrainian supply lines from Bakhmut that support front-line troops in the Severodonetsk area but that their assaults on three settlements had been unsuccessful.

The Ukrainian air force says one of its planes shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter over the southern region of Kherson on Friday.

It posted on Facebook that "at about 2 pm, a MiG-29 fighter of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter in the sky over Kherson region."

While the Ukrainian air force contingent of Mig-29 fighters is aging, the arrival of spare parts from other countries allowed it to field more of the combat jets than it had before the Russian invasion, according to US officials. 

The Russian Ministry of Defense regularly claims that Ukrainian combat planes have been shot down, and the Ukrainian air force's current combat capability is difficult to gauge.

The Su-35 is a more capable and modern aircraft but the Russian air force has suffered some attrition of its fleet since the invasion began. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said nearly half of Ukraine’s grain export supply is currently held up as Russia continues to block the country’s main export routes through the Black Sea and Azov Sea, calling the situation a potential “catastrophe” for global food security.

Addressing an Indonesian foreign policy think tank in an online forum Friday, Zelensky said, “22 million tons of grain are kept in silos today. We cannot supply them to international markets where they are needed at this very point in time."

The Ukrainian president also said the UN estimates that famine might affect additional 50 million people this year were a “conservative” estimate, implying that the number of those affected will be greater. 

The Ukrainian president also accepted an invitation to attend G20 Summit in Indonesia in November. He urged the hosts to include “only friendly nations,” implying Russia should be excluded from the summit in Bali.

About 90% of the city's housing stock had been damaged amid a "fierce defense" of the town, a local military official in the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk said Friday.

The city "held out through the night" under heavy Russian attack, Oleksandr Striuk, the head of the Severodonetsk military administration, said in a radio interview. But he acknowledged that Russian forces were continuing to press the offensive.

The city had seen widespread destruction, Striuk said. 

"The Azot (Nitrogen) chemical plant is being shelled," he said. "There are dead among the civilian population and among employees of the enterprise. Ninety percent of the housing stock is damaged, 60% will have to be rebuilt."

Striuk said a Russian force that entered a hotel on the north of the city was expelled by Ukrainian forces, a claim that could not be immediately verified. Ukrainian officials previously said the hotel was not under their control.