The Kremlin is making a concerted effort to removal of senior Russian defense officials and may have expanded the scope of these efforts to include senior officers commanding Russian combat operations in Ukraine.
This is stated in the daily analysis of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Five senior Russian Defense Ministry officials and former military commanders were arrested on corruption charges following the arrest of Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov on April 24.
A Russian insider source earlier said six more MoD officials plan to resign following the removal of former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu from the Defense Ministry.
The Kremlin is likely using the cover-up of corruption allegations as a pretext to hide the real reasons for the removal of specific individuals from the Ministry of Defense and senior military personnel who have fallen out of favor, as ISW recently assessed.
Russian border services removed buoys in Estonian waters on the Narva River, which delineates the Estonian-Russian international border, possibly to create conditions for further questioning of maritime borders and to test NATO's resolve.
Selected U.S. officials are reportedly pushing for a review of the current White House policy that prohibits Ukraine from using U.S.-supplied weapons to strike Russian territory.
Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski said on May 23 that Poland is considering using its air defenses to protect Ukrainian airspace from Russian strikes.
On May 23, the General Directorate of Military Intelligence (GUR) of Ukraine carried out a series of drone strikes against Russian defense industrial facilities in the Republic of Tatarstan.
Iranian leaders used the occasion of President Ebrahim Raisi's funeral events to highlight close ties with Armenia, even as tensions between Yerevan and Moscow continue to rise.
Ukrainian forces advanced near Lukyantsi and Kremenna, and Russian forces advanced near Berestovo, Chasov Yar, Avdeevka, the city of Donetsk and Velika Novosilka.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has proposed that regular military punishments be applied to the volunteers, possibly as part of the MoD's ongoing efforts to formalize them.