Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 18 May 2023.

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🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/hCyZxu5xEK

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) May 18, 2023

NEW: #Russian and #Ukrainian officials acknowledged continued limited Ukrainian counterattacks near #Bakhmut on May 17.

Our latest: https://t.co/p5D0q2ISeA pic.twitter.com/cVi26ptcdx

— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) May 18, 2023

#UPDATE Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday its forces hit all targets in a series of strikes on Ukraine overnight, despite Kyiv saying it downed all but one of 30 missiles ➡️ https://t.co/NOP77gV9wu

📷 an industrial building in Odesa damaged by a Russian missile strike pic.twitter.com/kCjVYu9lJv

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 18, 2023

Drone footage showed residential building hit with intense artillery fire in Bakhmut, as Ukraine’s military said it had made new advances in the eastern city, and that Russia was continuing to send in new units https://t.co/bcXpY0pJFy pic.twitter.com/wm2EdRiyTE

— Reuters (@Reuters) May 18, 2023

Britain and Germany’s defense ministers have ruled out directly supplying Ukraine with fighter jets. The decision, they said, would have to be taken by the US. https://t.co/XWIbfgY6vz

— DW News (@dwnews) May 18, 2023

New Russia sanctions focusing on its $5 billion diamond industry are on the agenda as G7 leaders come together in Hiroshima, Japan. https://t.co/cuRQTEZyCc

— DW News (@dwnews) May 18, 2023

#UPDATE A senior US official on Friday promised “significant” actions that will “extensively restrict Russia’s access to goods that matter for its battlefield capabilities.”https://t.co/b3Zv2SeGNc

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 18, 2023

Defenses have been prepared along pretty much the entire front; in occupied Crimea and inside Russia. They incorporate trenches, bunkers, strongpoints, infantry, vehicle shelters, anti-tank ditches, dragon’s teeth, and minefields, @IgorKossov explains.https://t.co/1JI2Vpjgvh

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) May 17, 2023