THE RUSSO-UKRAINE WAR BRIEF
Day 1179 of the full scale invasion
Slava Ukraini! In early 2022 I began a Telegram channel aggregating news from a number of sources daily on the war in Ukraine. In June 2023 I began providing a daily draft for the Ukraine War Brief Podcast collecting news from over 70 sources daily, which formed the basis of the script. While the Podcast no longer exists I have continued to make this Brief available for my followers here on Substack for those who wish to keep up with the news from the war.
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ALONG THE CONTACT LINE
GSAFU Morning Report
May 17, 2025
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in its Operational Information update at 08:00 on May 17 stated that day 1179 of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation against Ukraine had begun.
The situation on the line of combat remains tense in some sectors. Ukrainian defenders continue to actively counteract the Russian aggressor, causing them significant losses in personnel, equipment and technology. Exhausting the enemy along the entire front line and continuing to disrupt the plans of Russian occupiers to advance deeper into the territory of Ukraine.
During the past day,145 combat engagements took place.
Over the past 24 hours, the enemy carried out 1 missile strike, 63 air strikes, used 2,596 attack drones and fired approximately 5,600 artillery shells across the positions of Ukrainian forces and civilians.
Air Force Daily Report
36 ENEMY UAVS SHOT DOWN, 6 SIMULATOR UAVS FAILED TO REACH THEIR TARGETS (LOCATIONALLY LOST)
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On the night of May 17 (from 11:50 p.m. on May 16), the enemy attacked with 62 Shahed attack UAVs and simulator drones of various types from the directions: Kursk, Orel, Shatalove - Russia, Gvardiyske - TOT Crimea.
The air attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare units, and mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
As of 12:00, it has been confirmed that 36 Shahed attack UAVs (drones of other types) have been shot down in the east, north, south, west, and center of the country.
6 enemy drone simulators — lost in location (without negative consequences).
As a result of the enemy attack, Sumy, Odessa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk regions suffered.
Combat Operations in the Russian Federation
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US based think tank, in its May 16 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment reported that:
Sumy - Kursk Border: Fighting continued in Kursk Oblast on May 15 and 16.[47]
Russian milbloggers claimed on May 15 and 16 that fighting continues in Tetkino (southwest of Glushkovo) and near Gornal (southwest of Sudzha).
Russian milbloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces counterattacked from Atynske (southeast of Tetkino in Sumy Oblast) and Ryzhivka (just south of Tetkino across the international border).
The Khortytsia operational-strategic group
(Responsible for the northeastern part of Ukraine. )
Toretsk Sector: Russian forces recently advanced in the Toretsk direction.
Geolocated footage published on May 12, 15, and 16 indicates that Russian forces recently advanced in northern Toretsk, north of Dachne (north of Toretsk), west of Dyliivka (north of Toretsk) and in the northern outskirts of Druzhba (northeast of Toretsk)
The Tavria operational-strategic group
(Responsible for the central-eastern and southeastern part of Ukraine.)
Pokrovsk Sector : Ukrainian and Russian forces recently advanced in the Pokrovsk direction.
Russian forces are continuing to expand their salient northeast of Pokrovsk and southwest of Toretsk, although it remains unclear whether the Russian military command will prioritize further advances towards Kostyantynivka or Pokrovsk during Summer 2025.
Geolocated footage published on May 16 indicates that Russian forces recently advanced in northern Myrolyubivka (east of Pokrovsk) and seized Myrolyubivka and Mykhailivka (just west of Myrolyubivka).
Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets stated on May 16 that Ukrainian forces maintain some positions near and within Yelyzavetivka (east of Myrolyubivka) that are complicating Russian advances towards Myrnohrad (west of Yelyzavetivka and just east of Pokrovsk) and Pokrovsk. Russian milbloggers also recently acknowledged that Ukrainian forces maintain positions north of Yalyzvetivka.
ISW is therefore expanding Ukrainian advances in the area, although these advances are likely not recent.
Novopavlivka Sector: Russian forces recently advanced in the Novopavlivka direction.
Geolocated footage published on May 15 indicates that Russian forces recently advanced southwest of Novooleksandrivka (northeast of Novopavlivka).
Zaporizhia Sector: Russian forces recently advanced in the Zaporizhia direction.
Geolocated footage published on May 15 indicates that Russian forces marginally advanced northwest of Lobkove (southwest of Orikhiv).
The Odesa operational-strategic group
(Responsible for Kherson, Qırım, (also known as Crimea) and the Black Sea.)
There have been no major changes to the combat environment since our last report.
TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Nothing major to report.
THE HOME FRONT
Russian strikes kill at least 13, injure over 30 across Ukraine in past 24 hours.
In the past 24 hours, Russian attacks have killed at least 13 people and injured 32 across Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reported citing local authorities on May 17.
In Odesa Oblast, Russian drones hit civilian infrastructure in two districts, Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office said. Three people were injured by shrapnel, explosive blasts and burns while sheltering in their homes. Private houses, farm buildings and vehicles were damaged. Prosecutors opened investigations into the strikes as possible war crimes.
In Kherson Oblast, an FPV drone struck a garbage truck around 9 a.m. in Kherson city, injuring three municipal workers. The men were hospitalized with blast injuries and concussions, local officials said.
In Sumy Oblast, a drone strike hit a passenger bus near the town of Bilopillia, killing nine people and injuring seven others. Throughout the day, Russian forces launched 85 attacks on 31 settlements in 13 communities, local authorities reported. Guided bombs, rockets and drone-dropped grenades damaged homes and infrastructure in two communities. Authorities evacuated 69 people from front-line areas.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, drones struck several villages throughout the day. No casualties were reported, though local authorities issued air raid alerts in parts of the region.
In Kharkiv Oblast, strikes on 10 communities killed one person in Kupiansk and injured at least nine people, governor said. Russian forces used a mix of rockets, guided bombs, Shahed drones, Lancet and Molniya drones, and FPV drones. Damage was reported to homes, businesses and critical infrastructure across multiple districts.
In Donetsk Oblast, shelling hit 18 towns and villages, killing three civilians and injuring at least 10 others. Local authorities evacuated 181 people, including 38 children, from front-line communities, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin.
RUSSIAN WORLD
Farm Equipment Giant Rostselmash to Furlough 15,000 Workers.
Russia’s largest agricultural machinery maker Rostselmash said Friday it will place all 15,000 of its employees on leave for the month of June due to collapsing exports and continued market contraction, the Moscow Times reported on May 16.
The company, headquartered in Rostov-on-Don near the Ukrainian border, cited a steep drop in demand over the past three years, which it said has forced it to cut production and reduce staff.
Sales of combine harvesters dropped by 76%, forage harvesters by 49% and articulated tractors by 48% from January-April 2021 to January-April 2025, Rostselmash said.
In March, the firm briefly switched to a four-day workweek before laying off 2,000 employees last month.
“Farmers have no money to buy the equipment they need, and the market has drastically shrunk as a result. The negative outlook has only worsened in 2025,” the company said in a statement.
Rostselmash, which exports to 20 countries, described the June furlough as a rescheduled annual vacation, typically held in August or September.
The company reported a 130% year-on-year drop in net income last year, down to 6.9 billion rubles ($85.3 million), with total revenue falling nearly 20 billion rubles to 78.3 billion ($965 million).
“Rostselmash continues to monitor changes in the agricultural machinery market,” the company said, adding it would be ready to respond if demand rebounds.
RELATED INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Former US ambassador to Ukraine says she resigned because of Trump's foreign policy.
The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who resigned from the role in April, has said that she quit the post because she disagreed with President Donald Trump's foreign policy.
Ambassador Bridget Brink, who served as ambassador to Ukraine from May 2022 until her departure last month, outlined the reasons for her departure for the first time in an op-ed published on Friday by the Detroit Free Press.
In the piece, Brink hit out at Trump for pressuring Ukraine rather than Russia.
"I respect the president’s right and responsibility to determine U.S. foreign policy ― with proper checks and balances by U.S. Congress," she said.
"Unfortunately, the policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia," Brink said.
Brink, a long-serving career diplomat, said that she therefore felt it was her duty to step down.
"Peace at any price is not peace at all ― it is appeasement," she said.
She wrote that Russia is “Pure Evil”
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, it has done what can only be described as pure evil: killed thousands of civilians, including 700 children, with missiles and drones that hit their homes and apartments in the dead of night.
It has committed over 150,000 war crimes, abducted 20,000 children from their families, and forced millions of men, women and children to flee into Europe and elsewhere.
For three years I heard the stories, saw the brutality, and felt the pain of families whose sons and daughters were killed and wounded by Russian missiles and drones that hit playgrounds, churches and schools. Over a career spent in conflict zones, I’ve seen mass atrocities and wanton destruction first-hand but we have never seen violence so systematic, so widespread and so horrifying in Europe since World War II.
She also said Americans must hold on to their identity.
We must hold fast to who we are ― a just, generous, and hard-working people, blessed with a democratic and accountable government, the largest free market economy in the world, and the most powerful military in human history. We must show leadership in the face of aggression, not weakness or complicity. When America does not lead the free world, what is at risk is our own success as a nation.
Ukraine, Europe urge more pressure on Russia after drone kills nine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Saturday for stronger sanctions on Moscow after a Russian drone killed nine bus passengers in northeastern Ukraine just hours after the two countries held their first peace talks in three years of war, Reuters reported on May 17.
The meeting of Russian and Ukrainian officials in Turkey on Friday failed to broker a temporary ceasefire. It was the first direct dialogue between the two sides since the early months of the war that Russia launched in February 2022.
Commenting on the drone strike in the Sumy region, Zelenskyy said on social media: "All the deceased were civilians. And the Russians could not have failed to understand what kind of vehicle they were targeting. This was a deliberate killing of civilians."
Ukrainian police posted photos of a dark blue passenger van nearly destroyed, with the roof torn off and the windows blown out.
"Pressure must be exerted on Russia to stop the killings. Without tougher sanctions, without stronger pressure, Russia will not seek real diplomacy," Zelenskyy said.
He said Russia had sent to Istanbul "a weak and unprepared" delegation without a meaningful mandate while real steps were needed to end the war.
The only result of the talks in Istanbul was an agreement on the largest prisoner exchange of 1,000 people from each side, which, according to the head of Ukraine's military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov, could take place as early as next week.
"We are expecting strong sanctions against Russia from the United States, from Europe, and from all our partners. Diplomacy must start working," Zelenskyy stated.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been pushing Moscow and Kyiv to hold peace talks, said before the two countries' negotiators met in Istanbul that "nothing could happen" until he had met directly with Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to Reuters in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Saturday, British foreign minister David Lammy accused Moscow of obfuscating after the Istanbul talks, which ended in less than two hours.
"Yet again we are seeing obfuscation on the Russian side and unwillingness to get serious about the enduring peace that is now required in Ukraine," Lammy told Reuters in Pakistan's capital Islamabad. "Once again Russia is not serious."
"At what point do we say to Putin enough is enough?"
French President Emmanuel Macron also said the talks in Istanbul had been fruitless.
"Today, what do we have? Nothing. And so I tell you, faced with President Putin's cynicism, I am sure that President Trump, mindful of the credibility of the United States, will react," he said during a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
US Senators renew call for Russian sanctions bill.
U.S. senators renewed calls on Friday for Congress to pass sanctions on Russia after Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks showed little progress, but no votes were scheduled on bills introduced six weeks ago aimed at pressuring Moscow to negotiate seriously, Reuters reported on May 167.
Kyiv and Moscow's first direct talks in more than three years on Friday ended in well under two hours, with Russia presenting conditions that a Ukrainian source described as "non-starters."
Russian President Vladimir "Putin will continue stonewalling and slow-walking ceasefire efforts till his economy is hit hard -- isolating it on a financial island," Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said in a statement urging a vote on sanctions legislation.
Blumenthal and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a bill on April 1 that is intended to make it more difficult for Russia to fund its war by adding provisions like a 500% tariff on imports to the U.S. from countries that buy Russian energy.
The Senate bill now has at least 73 co-sponsors in the 100-member chamber, although leaders have not indicated when it might be brought up for a vote. A similar measure introduced the same day in the House of Representatives has 28 co-sponsors, also from both parties.
Graham, who was in Turkey for a NATO foreign ministers meeting this week, called for the bill's passage, criticizing Putin's decision not to attend the talks with Ukraine.
"When it comes to Russia’s games, enough is enough," Graham said in a statement.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 the United States and its allies have added layer upon layer of sanctions on the country. While the measures have been painful for Russia's economy, Moscow has found ways to circumvent the sanctions and continue funding its war.
Aides to the Republican leaders of the Senate and House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
House leaders have been focused this week on President Donald Trump's sweeping tax bill, which failed to clear a procedural hurdle on Friday.
Russia sentences Australian fighting for Ukraine to 13 years in prison.
A Russian-installed court in eastern Ukraine has sentenced Australian national Oscar Jenkins to 13 years in a high-security penal colony, accusing him of fighting as a mercenary against Russian forces,the Kyiv Independent reported citing pro-Kremlin officials on May 16.
The so-called Supreme Court of the Russian-controlled Luhansk Oblast found Jenkins guilty under Russian criminal law for participating in armed conflict as a mercenary. The Kremlin argues that mercenaries are not protected under international law as prisoners of war and are subject to criminal prosecution.
The court claimed Jenkins arrived in Ukraine in February 2024 from Melbourne and signed a contract with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry at a recruitment center in Ternopil. He was then allegedly deployed to Donetsk Oblast.
Jenkins, who served in the Ukrainian army's 402nd Separate Rifle Battalion, which is part of Ukraine's 66th Separate Mechanized Brigade, was reported missing near Mykolaivka in Luhansk Oblast on Dec. 16, 2024. Russian forces later confirmed his capture.
Unlike most other foreigners volunteering to join Ukraine's resistance against Russia, Jenkins has had no military experience. The Australian media described the man as "much loved" by his community in Australia, a talented cricket and football player who studied biomedical sciences before working as a lecturer in China. He is believed to have traveled to Ukraine in 2024.
The Russian FSB said it had investigated Jenkins' case and accused him of engaging in "criminal activity" until his arrest in December. His trial and sentencing were conducted by authorities not internationally recognized and operating under Moscow's control.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong condemned the sentencing, calling it a "sham trial."
"We continue to hold serious concerns for Mr. Jenkins. We are working with Ukraine and other partners, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to advocate for his welfare and release," Wong said in a statement on May 17.
Wong reiterated Australia's position that Jenkins should be treated in accordance with international humanitarian law, and that Russia's refusal to recognize him as a prisoner of war violates legal norms.
Australia has been pressing for Jenkins' release since he was captured. His case drew international attention after Russian media aired footage in December 2024 purporting to show him being interrogated and beaten. While some outlets later raised doubts about the authenticity of related video materials, Russia eventually confirmed to Australia that Jenkins was in custody and in "normal" health.
The Kremlin maintains that foreigners fighting for Ukraine under contract are mercenaries, whom it does not consider protected under the Geneva Conventions.
MILITARY & TECH
Significant losses force Russian commanders to send troops from other specialties for ground assaults.
The Russian command is transferring almost all servicemen, including professional artillerymen, to assault aircraft because of significant losses, Colonel Vladyslav Voloshyn, a spokesman for the Southern Defense Forces, announced, during an interview on Suspilne.
“According to our intelligence, over the past few days, their command has begun to transfer servicemen from other units, including logistics units, anti-aircraft gunners, engineers and even artillerymen to these assault groups,"
Voloshyn explained that the reason for such actions by the Russian command is not only the lack of infantry for ground assaults, but also effective counter-battery fighting by Ukrainian defenders.
"The Russian command is transferring those artillerymen who are left without their artillery systems, without their guns, howitzers, to assault units because they are short of them. And the Russian command is trying to drive everyone they have in order to enter the Dnipropetrovs'k region,"
Grumpy Here - Voloshyn is making a very important point, beyond the fact that Russia is wasting specialist troops in mass frontal assaults against prepared Ukrainian positions, which in and of itself is the height of stupidity.
The most important point is that Ukrainian counter-battery fire; (i.e. when one sides artillery fires and the other side is that efficient that they locate where they fired from and are able to fire back and destroy the guns before the enemy artillery can displace) is so effective that there are large numbers of Russian artillery men sitting around doing nothing because their guns have been destroyed.
Ukraine's Ruta Missile Drone to Get an EW-Immune Navigation System.
The Ruta OWA drone is actively used by Ukrainian forces for strikes at ranges up to 300 km, now to receive a new visual navigation system, tested in combat conditions, Defense Express reports.
The Destinus Ruta, essentially a miniature cruise missile but often called a "missile drone," will receive a new navigation system enabling high-precision strikes in contested environments with denied access to GPS and other means of satellite navigation, in particular due to the enemy electronic warfare countermeasures.
The new navigation and guidance system will be provided by Spanish company UAV Navigation, part of Grupo Oesía, which announced entering an agreement with the Ukrainian Destinus.
As noted, this guidance, navigation, and control system was tested in "validated in real-world combat conditions, including GNSS-denied environments or under jamming and spoofing attacks" — apparently in Ukraine. The system supports navigation in low-altitude flight and is also responsible for terminal guidance.
Having analyzed the line of UAV Navigation products, Defense Express presumes that the operating principle of the proposed solution is a visual navigation system similar to DSMAC. It takes images of the surface underneath mid-flight to identify the location through comparison with a reference. Usually, this technology is used in full-fledged cruise missiles but progress has made it possible to make miniature variants and reduce its cost.
It is also worth noting that Ukraine's use of the Ruta missile drone was disclosed in late 2024, at the time it was undergoing tests. Later, Destinus reported on the delivery of another of its products, the propeller-driven Lord UAV with a strike range of 750–2,000 km, to the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
The Ruta mini-cruise missile, according to the announced specifications, has an operational range of 300 km. The warhead weight or general payload capacity are not revealed, but analysts assume it may well be in the range of tens, up to a hundred kilograms.
Earlier Defense Express pointed out that Ukraine has a whole new branch of the armed forces named the Unmanned Systems Forces, becoming the first country to establish a corps specializing in drone warfare in its structure on such a scale.
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