12 May 2024

May 2024 in brief

Russia opened a cross-border ground offensive into northern Kharkiv region toward Vovchansk, and Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported more than 10,500 people evacuated by 20 May, while OCHA said over 14,000 had fled six border communities. ^[1][2] In Kharkiv city, guided bombs hit a crowded DIY hypermarket, killing 19 people according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, and a missile strike on a printing house killed seven workers, the governor said. ^[1][2] A mass missile and drone strike hit power plants in six regions and put two hydroelectric plants out of service, and Ukraine introduced rolling blackouts from 15 May. ^[1] In Belgorod, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said the collapse of part of an apartment block killed at least 16 people, which Russia blamed on a Ukrainian missile fragment and a Ukrainian official rejected; the Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims. ^[1] Russia announced drills to practise the use of tactical nuclear weapons, and Putin replaced Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu with the economist Andrei Belousov days after his inauguration. ^[1][2] US officials told Politico that President Biden had allowed Ukraine to use US weapons against targets in Russia near Kharkiv, and the two sides exchanged 75 prisoners of war each. ^[1][2] In Europe, the Leiden dataset recorded a fire that destroyed a large Warsaw shopping centre, which Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Russians may have been behind, and a false report of Polish mobilisation planted on the national news agency after a hack. ^[1][2]

Written from the records it cites; every figure appears in a cited record.