- Both sides reported significant drone activity, with Russia claiming to have intercepted 3,124 Ukrainian drones in the past week, including 1,054 on May 17, while Ukraine's air force stated it shot down 503 Russian drones and four missiles from an overnight attack targeting areas including Dnipro, causing dozens of injuries.
- Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Russia attacked a Chinese vessel, the KSL DEYANG, off the coast of Ukraine, which was en route to load iron ore at Pivdennyi port. The incident, which caused a fire but no serious damage or injuries, occurred a day before a summit between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, with Zelensky suggesting Russia was aware of the ship's identity.
- The head of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, warned that the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is nearing a 'point of no return,' attributing the danger to Ukrainian attacks despite the plant being under Russian occupation since 2022.
- Ukraine's finance minister, Serhii Marchenko, called for increased sanctions against Russia at the G7 meeting in Paris and anticipates the first disbursement of a €90 billion EU loan by early June. Separately, Moldova summoned Russia's ambassador to protest a drone's violation of its airspace on May 13.
- The human cost of the conflict was highlighted by the deaths of Maryna Homeniuk and Yurii Orlov, who were among 24 people killed when a Russian cruise missile flattened their apartment building in what Ukrainian officials described as the war's biggest barrage, while a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia's Belgorod region killed two and injured two others.
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