Overview
- President Volodymyr Zelensky told a High Command meeting that Ukraine has identified five Russian scenarios for an offensive from the north and has ordered reinforcements to the Chernihiv–Kyiv sector.
- Ukraine is strengthening engineering works, fortifications and mine-explosive barriers along more than 1,000 kilometres of the Belarus border from Volyn to Chernihiv, with Armed Forces units involved in the work.
- Border guards report no large-scale movement of Russian equipment or troops at the frontier but say they see growing Russian pressure on Belarus to take a more active role in operations against Ukraine.
- Minsk and Moscow launched joint exercises on May 18 that Belarus described as including combat use of nuclear weapons and related support systems, a development Kyiv says raises regional urgency.
- Kyiv has assigned classified tasks to intelligence services and ordered the Foreign Ministry to prepare additional diplomatic measures to increase partner pressure on Belarus and to shape tailored responses to each scenario.