Russia sends conscripts from Crimea to fight against Ukraine, representative of the President of Ukraine says
May 7, 2022
Russian army conscripts
“I want to say that conscripts are very actively sent from the Crimean Peninsula to fight against our country,” Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reported Tasheva as saying.
According to Tasheva, from open source data alone, “recently there were at least 72 funerals” of Russian soldiers on the peninsula, and according to confirmed data, 41 of them are definitely natives of Crimea.
Tasheva said that the actual numbers are likely higher.
She said that those who died in the war are most likely citizens of Ukraine, since their documents indicate that they were born on the territory of the peninsula, and if they lived there or were born there any time of 2014, this means that they are citizens of Ukraine.
Russia Expert Fiona Hill Explains Why Jan. 6 Was Key Moment For Putin And Ukraine
Lee Moran – May 7, 2022
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would have played out very differently had Donald Trump succeeded in blocking the transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021, says former top National Security Council analyst Fiona Hill.
Russian President Vladimir Putin would have been massively emboldened and “would have probably just driven right into Ukraine himself,” said Hill, an expert on Russian affairs, in an interview with Bloomberg’s Emma Barnett released Friday.
Had former Vice President Mike Pence not blocked Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 election result, Putin “would have seen the United States as completely finished from a leadership perspective because we would be no different from any other country in the world that had just had a coup,” explained Hill.
But the attack by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol was still “a particular moment” that helped inspire the Russian leader to order the military invasion of Ukraine, agreed Hill.
Other motivating factors for the war, which is now in its 73rd day, were Putin’s increased isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic and his belief the West had become “weak and distracted,” she said.
Hill served as an intelligence analyst under former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama before joining the NSC under Trump, about whom she testified during his first impeachment.
Last month, she said the U.S. Capitol violence was Trump’s shot at “pulling a Putin.”
“In the course of his presidency, indeed, Trump would come more to resemble Putin in political practice and predilection than he resembled any of his recent American presidential predecessors,” Hill told The New York Times magazine.
Watch the full interview here. Hill’s comments about Putin are at the 9-minute mark:
How millions of Russians are tearing holes in the Digital Iron Curtain
Anthony Faiola – May 6, 2022
RIGA, Latvia – When Russian authorities blocked hundreds of Internet sites in March, Konstantin decided to act. The 52-year-old company manager in Moscow tore a hole in the Digital Iron Curtain, which had been erected to control the narrative of the Ukraine war, with a tool that lets him surf blocked sites and eyeball taboo news.
Konstantin turned to a virtual private network, an encrypted digital tunnel more commonly known as a VPN. Since the war began in February, VPNs have been downloaded in Russia by the hundreds of thousands a day – a massive surge in demand that represents a direct challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to seal Russians off from the wider world. By protecting the locations and identities of users, VPNs are now granting millions of Russians access to blocked material.
Downloading one in his Moscow apartment, Konstantin said, brought back memories of the 1980s in the Soviet Union – when he used a shortwave radio to hear forbidden news of dissident arrests on U.S.-funded Radio Liberty.
“We didn’t know what was going on around us, and that’s true again now,” said Konstantin, who, like other Russian VPN users, spoke on the condition that his last name be withheld for fear of government retribution. “Many people in Russia simply watch TV and eat whatever the government is feeding them. I wanted to find out what was really happening.”
Daily downloads in Russia of the 10 most popular VPNs jumped from below 15,000 just before the war to as many as 475,000 in March. As of this week, downloads were continuing at a rate of nearly 300,000 a day, according to data compiled for the Washington Post by the analytics firm Apptopia, which relies on information from apps, publicly available data and an algorithm to come up with estimates.
Russian clients typically download multiple VPNs, but the data suggests millions of new users per month. In early April, Russian telecom operator Yota reported that the number of VPN users was 53.5 times as high as in January, according to the Tass state news service.
The Internet Protection Society, a digital rights group associated with jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, launched its own VPN service on March 20 – and reached its limit of 300,000 users within 10 days, according to executive director Mikhail Klimarev. Based on internal surveys, Klimarev estimates that the number of VPN users in Russia has risen to roughly 30% of the country’s 100 million Internet users.
To combat Putin, “Ukraine needs Javelin [missiles] and Russians need Internet,” Klimarev said.
By accessing banned Ukrainian and Western news sites, Konstantin said, he has come to deeply sympathize with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian the Russian press has sought to falsely portray as a “drug addict.” He was recently compared to Adolf Hitler by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“I loved him as an actor, but now I know Zelensky is also brave because I’ve seen him talk on Ukrainian news sites with my VPN,” Konstantin said.
Not only does widespread VPN use help millions reach material laying out the true extent of Russian military losses and countering the official portrayal of the war as a fight against fascists, say Russian Internet experts, but it also limits government surveillance of activists.
Russian officials have sought to curtail VPN use. An anti-VPN law in 2017 resulted in the banning of more than a dozen providers for refusing to comply with Russian censorship rules.
In the days before the war, and in the weeks since then, Russian authorities have also ratcheted up pressure on Google, asking the search engine to remove thousands of URLs associated with VPNs, according to the Lumen database, an archive of legal complaints related to Internet content. Google, which did not respond to a request for comment, still includes banned sites in search results.
The Russian government is reluctant to ban VPNs completely. Policing such a ban would pose a technological challenge. In addition, many Russians use VPNs to access nonpolitical entertainment and communication tools – popular distractions from daily hardships.
Last month, when asked by Belarusian TV if he had downloaded a VPN, even Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov conceded: “Yes, I have. Why not?”
Since the war began on Feb. 24, more than 1,000 Internet sites have been restricted by Russian authorities, including Facebook, Instagram, BBC News, Voice of America and Radio Liberty, according to a survey by the technology site Top10VPN. The last independent Russian media outlets were forced to shut down, and those in exile that are offering critical content – like the popular Meduza – have also been banned.
Today, even calling Putin’s “special operation” – as he has forcibly dubbed the invasion – a “war” risks a sentence of up to 15 years in jail. Free speech has effectively disappeared; even teachers who question the invasion are being reported to the authorities by their students.
“People want to see banned content, but I think they’re also genuinely scared,” said Tonia Samsonova, a London-based Russian media entrepreneur. “No matter your attitude toward the government or the war, every Russian knows that if the government knows too much about you, it’s potentially dangerous. So a VPN is so useful even if they aren’t critical of Putin.”
Katerina Abramova, spokeswoman for Meduza, said online traffic at the site declined only briefly after it was banned by Russian authorities in March. That’s because, suddenly, traffic began surging from unlikely countries like the Netherlands – suggesting that Russians were utilizing VPNs that made them appear to be abroad.
“VPNs won’t start a broad revolution in Russia,” Abramova said. “But it’s a way people who are against this war can stay connected to the world.”
Natalia, an 83-year-old Muscovite and former computer operator, asked her adult daughter to help her download a VPN on her laptop shortly after the war started. She feared that the government would ban YouTube, preventing her from seeing her favorite program – an online talk show on technology news. The Kremlin has yet to block YouTube, though Russian Internet experts say the probability remains high.
As the war progressed, however, Natalia found herself also looking at banned news sites, including Radio Free Europe, to stay informed, even as friends around her bought “totally” into the government line that Ukrainians were Nazis and Russia was facing an existential threat from the West.
“People now just believe lie after lie. I feel so isolated,” she said.
She said, for example, that she’s been able to read foreign news stories suggesting there were significant Russian casualties in the sinking last month of the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. But the Russian press has reported only one official death, with 27 soldiers declared “missing.”
“Parents are just getting one answer from the Ministry of Defense – that your son is ‘missing,’ ” she said. “Missing? Don’t you really mean dead? But they’re not saying that. They’re not telling the truth.”
Although downloading a VPN is technically easy, usually requiring only a few clicks, purchasing a paid VPN has become complicated in Russia, as Western sanctions have rendered Russian credit and debit cards nearly useless outside the country. That has forced many to resort to free VPNs, which can have spotty service and can sell information about users.
Vytautas Kaziukonis, chief executive of Surfshark – a Lithuania-based VPN that saw a 20-fold increase in Russian users in March – said some of those customers are now paying in cryptocurrencies or through people they know in third countries.
In a country used to hardships, Russians are good at creative workarounds. Elena, a 50-year-old Moscow tour operator, said she has managed to tap into her old Facebook account by repeatedly signing up for free trials with a series of different VPN providers to avoid payment.
Ukraine asks medical charity MSF to help evacuate Azovstal fighters
May 6, 2022
Service members of pro-Russian troops fire from a tank in Mariupol
KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine has appealed to Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) to help evacuate fighters holed up in the vast Azovstal steel works in Mariupol that is surrounded by Russian forces.
Ukraine’s Ministry for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories posted details on its website on Friday of a letter to the medical charity in which Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk expressed concern about “deplorable conditions” at the plant.
It quoted Vereshchuk as saying the MSF charter provided assistance to people in need or victims of armed conflict.
“Based on the principles that guide MSF, the Ministry for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine is asking for a mission to evacuate the defenders of Mariupol, who are now in the Azovstal metallurgical plant,” the ministry wrote on its website.
It said she had asked MSF to “assess their physical and mental condition, collect evidence of the conditions they are in, and provide medical assistance to Ukrainians whose human rights have been violated by the Russian Federation.”
An MSF spokesperson confirmed the charity had received a letter from the government requesting support for the people trapped inside the plant.
“We will be discussing with (the relevant ministries)…to see the best way MSF can provide medical assistance to these people in need of urgent help,” the spokesperson said.
Russia denies targeting civilians and has dismissed Ukrainian and international allegations of war crimes by its forces in Ukraine. Moscow has urged the fighters in the sprawling steel works to surrender.
Russian forces have occupied Mariupol, leaving the city’s last defenders – and scores of civilians – holed up in the Azovstal plant.
The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have helped evacuate some of the civilians and Ukraine said a new attempt was under way to evacuate the civilians.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; additional reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Raissa Kasolowsky)
China hits out at Japanese PM’s five-nation tour of ‘confrontation’
May 6, 2022
Beijing has accused Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of “provoking confrontation” between China and major powers after Tokyo and London signed a landmark pact to “rapidly accelerate” defence and security ties.
On the final leg of his five-nation Asian and European tour, Kishida signed a reciprocal access agreement with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday and – in a veiled swipe at China – vowed to help realise a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian accused Kishida of fanning anti-China sentiment on his trip to Britain, Italy, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, saying the visits were an attempt to expand Japan’s military power – something prohibited under its pacifist constitution.
“The Japanese side frequently uses diplomatic activities to … talk about China, play up regional tensions, and hype the so-called China threat. What Japan is doing is [trying to] find an excuse for its own expansion of military power, and to undermine the trust and cooperation of countries in the region.”
Beijing was particularly incensed by Kishida’s comments on Taiwan.
In a press conference with Johnson after their meeting, the Japanese leader said: “Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is critical not only for Japan’s security but also for the stability of international society.”
He vowed that Japan and its allies would “never tolerate a unilateral attempt to change the status quo by the use of force in the Indo-Pacific, especially in East Asia”.
“Ukraine may be East Asia tomorrow,” Kishida warned, likening Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a runaway province, to Ukraine, which Russia invaded on February 24.
Zhao said China firmly opposed Kishida’s assessment.
“The Taiwan issue is entirely China’s internal affair and cannot be compared with the Ukraine issue,” he said.
“Japan bears historical guilt towards the Chinese people on the Taiwan issue, and should be more cautious in its words and deeds, and has absolutely no right to make irresponsible remarks.
“If Japan really wants peace and stability in East Asia, it should immediately stop provoking confrontation between major powers and do more things that are conducive to enhancing mutual trust among regional countries and promoting regional peace and stability.”
Beijing was initially hopeful that Kishida, who took office in October, would be more dovish on China than his conservative predecessors Yoshihide Suga and Shinzo Abe.
Instead, there are growing signs that China’s already strained relations with Japan will dip further, with the Kishida administration edging closer to Washington and actively forging an anti-China alliance in the region, according to observers.
“It has become clear that our expectations were misplaced. Japan is not just following the US in countering China, it is actually trying to exploit the differences between Beijing and Washington to boost its own geopolitical influence and seek military build-up,” said Liu Jiangyong, an expert on regional affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Along with an agreement to share ammunition and supplies, the broad pact on defence cooperation between Japan and Britain will enable faster troop deployment and foster joint training and disaster relief efforts.
Benoit Hardy-Chartrand, an international affairs expert at Temple University in Tokyo, said the deal was important because it showed that Japan was serious about strengthening defence partnerships with other allies and partners, including outside the Indo-Pacific region.
“It also underscores the UK’s stated desire to play a greater role in Asia, a desire that has also been expressed by an increasing number of European countries,” he said.
“Despite the fact that global attention has been rightly focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this deal also shows that in the long term, most Western partners intend on allocating more resources to the Indo-Pacific, with Japan being a key partner.”
Zhou Chenming, a Beijing-based military analyst, said the Japanese-British deal was worrying because it reflected both London’s further tilt toward the Indo-Pacific and Tokyo’s geopolitical ambitions.
“There is little detail available about the new agreement, but it will surely have a negative impact on the regional situation,” Zhou said.
“On top of its obsession with the situation in Hong Kong, a hot-button issue in China’s rivalry with the West, Britain’s attempts to get more involved in the sensitive geopolitics in the Asia-Pacific may fuel tensions and lead to crises.”
Zhou noted the signing of the London-Tokyo pact also coincided with efforts by Aukus, a trilateral security grouping formed last year by the US, Britain and Australia, to enlist Japan in their military manoeuvring in the region.
Following a Japan trip next week by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel, US President Joe Biden will also visit Tokyo later this month, with China and the Ukraine war high on the agenda.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also visited Japan last week in his first official trip to East Asia, skipping Berlin’s top trading partner China.
Surveillance footage shows the moment Russian rockets hit a Ukrainian amusement park
Matthew Loh – May 6, 2022
Ukrainian troops inspect damage from a Russian rocket that struck Maxim Gorky Central Park in Kharkiv.Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
Surveillance footage shows an amusement park getting battered by a Russian rocket strike.
Reuters identified the missiles as GRAD rockets, typically fired from truck-mounted launchers.
It’s not immediately clear why Russian forces attacked the amusement park.
Newly released surveillance footage appears to show rockets striking an amusement park in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, destroying sheds, rides, and decorations.
The footage was published on Wednesday by Reuters, which reported that Soviet-developed GRAD rockets were used in the attack. GRAD rockets are usually fired from a truck-mounted launcher.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Services reported a fire at a park in central Kharkiv on Tuesday, which had been shelled by Russian forces, the outlet reported.
The park is known as the Maxim Gorky Central Park for Culture and Recreation, Reuters reported, identifying the location through the buildings, paths, attractions, and benches.
According to the SES, seven fire engines arrived on the scene and contained the blaze, per the outlet.
A woman received shrapnel wounds because of the attack, the SES added, per Reuters.
It’s not immediately clear why Russian forces shelled the amusement park, or if the park had been the intended target. Moscow has denied that it strikes civilian targets, though there have been widespread reports of such instances.
Ukraine launches offensive to drive out Russian forces in Northeast
Chloe Folmar – May 6, 2022
Ukraine launched an offensive Friday to drive out Russian troops in the northeast part of the country.
The two militaries have been engaged in an arduous battle with neither side able to gain the upper hand, The New York Times reported.
However, Ukrainian troops are rallying to form an offensive against the Russian forces, which are pushing toward key cities in the northeast including Kharkiv and Izium.
“There are fierce battles going on, as well as the transition from defensive operations to offensive actions in the Kharkiv and Izium areas,” Ukrainian Commander in Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said Thursday, according to the Times.
Ukrainian officials have warned, meanwhile, that Russian President Vladimir Putin could intensify attacks on the country during Russia’s Victory Day on Monday.
The holiday commemorates the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in 1945, near the end of World War II.
Officials warn that there is a threat of more intense missile strikes over the weekend and on Monday.
Ukraine’s success in its offensive is in part due to the advanced artillery and weapons it possesses thanks to Western contributions to its defense. The West has provided weapons and intelligence, and multiple outlets on Thursday reported the intelligence played a role in the sinking of a Russian warship.
Ukraine officials warn of offensive; Biden announces $150m more in aid – Live Ukraine updates
Celina Tebor, Ryan W. Miller and Jeanine Santucci – May 6, 2022
Ukrainian officials on Friday were warning about a potential offensive before Russia’s Victory Day on Monday.
The day marks the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, sparking worries the Russian military may increase attacks over the weekend.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned in a social media post Friday there is a “high probability” of rocket fire across Ukraine in the coming days. There were no plans for a curfew but street patrols would be reinforced, Klitschko added. Zaporizhzhia’s mayor said there would be a curfew through Tuesday afternoon there.
Officials from Ukraine’s national security council also warned about the potential for more shelling, urging residents not to ignore air raid sirens in a Facebook post from the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine’s Center for Counteracting Disinformation.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would be open to negotiating with Russia only if its military retreated to its position from before its invasion.
Zelenskyy made the comment during a meeting Friday at London’s Chatham House think-tank. Ukrainian and Russian officials have previously held peace talks during the war, but negotiations have largely stalled in recent weeks.
If the Russian military returned to its position from Feb. 23, the day before the invasion began, “we will be able to start discussing things normally,” Zelenskyy said.
Latest developments:
►The European Union is planning to add Alina Kabaeva, a woman romantically linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox church, to its sanctions list, CNN and the Guardian reported.
►First lady Jill Biden will be in Romania on Friday to begin her solo trip to Europe. She plans to meet with refugees Sunday in a small Slovakian village on the border with Ukraine.
►Germany will provide Ukraine with seven powerful self-propelled howitzers as the country steps up its aid of heavy weaponry, the German defense minister said Friday.
►Russia’s military has fired 2,014 missiles on Ukraine and 2,682 flights of Russian warplanes have been recorded in Ukrainian skies, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
US funding for Ukraine ‘nearly exhausted’ with new round of aid
President Joe Biden on Friday announced an additional $150 million in military aid for Ukraine, which he said “nearly exhausted” the funding Congress has authorized to Biden’s office during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Biden called on Congress to “quickly” pass an additional $33 billon in military, economic and humanitarian assistance that the White House requested last month.
“For Ukraine to succeed in this next phase of war its international partners, including the U.S., must continue to demonstrate our unity and our resolve to keep the weapons and ammunition flowing to Ukraine, without interruption,” Biden said in a statement.
The latest round of aid includes 25,000 155mm artillery rounds, counter-artillery radars, jamming equipment, and field equipment and spare parts, according to the White House.
The shipments are designed to help Ukrainian troops battle Russian forces in the eastern part of the country where the open terrain favors artillery battles.
Earlier Friday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters that more than 220 Ukrainian soldiers have completed training on M777 howitzer cannons. Almost all of that 90 howitzers the Pentagon has shipped to Ukraine are now ready for use there, he said.
The United States has now committed approximately $4.5 billion to aid Ukraine’s military since Biden entered office, $3.8 billion of which was since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has tied additional Ukraine aid to a COVID-19 relief package to try to force both through. Congress was unable to pass COVID-19 relief funds before heading out to recess earlier this month. But Republicans have balked at linking the two spending items together.
-Joey Garrison and Tom Vanden Brook
Biden to meet with G7 leaders, Zelenskyy on more Russian sanctions
President Joe Biden will participate in a virtual meeting Sunday morning with G7 nations to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine, including potential new sanctions on Russia, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.
The meeting, which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will chair, will also include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It’s set for one day before Russia’s “Victory Day,” a holiday the U.S. expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to use to falsely claim victory in his war in Ukraine.
“He expected to be marching through the streets of Kyiv,” Psaki said of Putin. “That’s obviously not what is going to happen.”
Biden on Monday will also sign into law the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act, which will allow the U.S. to lend or lease military equipment to Ukraine.
— Joey Garrison
White House: Reports on role of US intelligence to sink Russian ship ‘inaccurate’
White House press secretary Jen Psaki called recent reports that the U.S. provided “specific-targeting” intelligence to help Ukraine take down the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet an “inaccurate overclaiming of our role.”
“We did not provide Ukraine with specific-targeting information for the Moskva,” Psaki said, referring to the ship struck by Ukrainian forces last month. “We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike the ship or the operation they carried out. We had no prior knowledge of Ukraine’s intention to target the ship.”
The New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials, reported Thursday that U.S. intelligence helped lead to the sinking of the Moskva “as part of a continuing classified effort by the Biden administration to provide real-time battlefield intelligence to Ukraine.” Other media outlets including NBC News reported similar accounts.
Psaki said the U.S. does provide intelligence to help Ukraine understand the Russian threat in the Black Sea, but that Ukraine has a “greater level of intelligence.”
“And so, on this specific report, it’s just not an accurate depiction of how this happened,” Psaki said.
— Joey Garrison
Civilians rescued from Mariupol steel plant
About 50 additional civilians were able to evacuate Friday from the Azovstal steel plant in the besieged port city of Mariupol, said Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office.
The Russian Interdepartmental Humanitarian Response Center said the 50 civilians included 11 children.
The latest humanitarian operation comes as Russian troops have intensified shelling at the plant in recent days, Ukrainian officials have said. Asked Friday about the siege, Zelenskyy said: “Mariupol will never fall. I’m not talking about heroism or anything … There is nothing there to fall apart. It is already devastated.”
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk said the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal will continue Saturday.
Russian politician in Kherson: Russia will be here ‘forever’
A senior leader in the Russian political party affiliated with President Vladimir Putin said Friday during an appearance in Ukraine, “Russia is here forever.”
Andrei Turchak, secretary of the General Council of United Russia, visited the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, which Russia has occupied since March, and met with the region’s head administrator, Volodymyr Saldo, said Russian state news agency TASS.
“I want to say again — Russia is here forever. There should be no doubt about this. There will be no return to the past,” Turchak said, according to TASS.
Russian forces are stealing grain from Ukraine, UN official says
An official from the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization on Friday said there is “anecdotal evidence” that Russian troops were stealing grain from Ukraine.
The accusation comes amid concerns about a growing food crisis due to the war.
About 700,000 tons of grain have disappeared in Ukraine, Josef Schmidhuber, deputy director of FAO’s markets and trade division, said Friday.
“There’s anecdotal evidence that Russian troops have destroyed storage capacity and that they are looting the storage grain that is available,” he said. “They are also stealing farm equipment.”
Ukraine repels Russian attacks in Donbas, begins counteroffensive in Kharkiv, Izyum
Ukrainian forces have repelled at least 11 attacks in the Donbas region, destroying Russian tanks and vehicles in the process, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said in a statement Friday.
Fighting continues in the region, and Russian forces are aiming to take full control of Popasna and resume offensives in Lyman and Siversk, the Ukrainian military said.
However, Ukrainian defense chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi on Thursday announced a planned counteroffensive to repel Russians from Kharkiv and Izyum. Ukrainian troops have already pushed Russian forces east from Kharkiv in recent days.
Hungary’s prime minister Orban rejects EU’s Russian oil ban
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday decried the European Union’s proposed ban on Russian oil, comparing the move to dropping an “atomic bomb” on Hungary’s economy.
Orban said his country was willing to negotiate on the latest round of economic sanctions against Russia, but including an embargo on Russian oil could not be accepted.
Hungary relies heavily on Russia for its energy, with about 85% of gas and 60% of oil coming from Russia. Switching to other sources of oil would be too burdensome on Hungary’s economy, Orban said.
“We cannot accept a proposal that ignores this circumstance because in its current form it is equivalent to an atomic bomb dropped on the Hungarian economy,” he added.
Former President George W. Bush speaks to Zelenskyy
Former President George W. Bush said he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday, calling him “the Winston Churchill of our time.”
“I thanked the President for his leadership, his example, and his commitment to liberty, and I saluted the courage of the Ukrainian people,” Bush said in a Twitter post, which included photos of the two men speaking by video link.
“President Zelenskyy assured me that they will not waver in their fight against Putin’s barbarism and thuggery. Americans are inspired by their fortitude and resilience. We will continue to stand with Ukrainians as they stand up for their freedom.”
Mariupol authorities say Russia violates ceasefire during evacuation operation
May 6, 2022
An aerial view shows shelling in the Azovstal steel plant complex, in Mariupol
KYIV (Reuters) – Local authorities in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol accused Russian forces on Friday of opening fire on a car on its way to evacuate civilians from a vast steel works, killing a fighter and violating a ceasefire agreement.
Russia did not immediately comment on the Mariupol city council’s statement. Moscow has denied targeting civilians and had offered a ceasefire to allow the evacuation of civilians trapped in the Azovstal steel plant with Ukrainian fighters.
“During the ceasefire on the territory of the Azovstal plant a car was hit by Russians using an anti-tank guided weapon. This car was moving towards civilians in order to evacuate them from the plant,” Mariupol city council said in an online post.
“As a result of the shelling, 1 fighter was killed and 6 were wounded. The enemy continues to violate all agreements and fails to adhere to security guarantees for the evacuation of civilians.”
Reuters could not verify the city council’s statement.
Russian forces have occupied Mariupol, leaving the city’s last defenders – and scores of civilians – holed up in the Azovstal plant.
The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have helped evacuate some of the civilians and Ukraine said a new attempt was under way to evacuate the civilians on Friday.
Andriy Biletsky, a founder of the Azov Regiment that is fighting in the steel works, wrote in an online post that there was renewed fighting at the plant and appealed for help evacuating them.
“The fighting is continuing, the shelling does not stop,” he wrote in a post in which called for a petition to be drawn up to increase pressure on the United Nations and global leaders to help evacuate fighters as well as civilians.
“Every minute of procrastination is the life of civilians, soldiers and the wounded,” he wrote.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Heroic Mariupol Defenders Wrecking Putin’s Victory Day Plans for May 9
Philippe Naughton – May 6, 2022
ALEXANDER NEMENOV
Ukrainian officials claimed on Friday to have rescued hundreds more civilians who had been trapped in a besieged steel plant in the battered city of Mariupol.
An official in Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidential office said almost 500 civilians had now been evacuated from the Azovstal plant, although it was not clear how many were left there.
But for the 2,000 Ukrainian fighters thought to remain in the sprawling Azovstal complex, which features a maze of underground tunnels designed to withstand a nuclear attack, freedom is a distant prospect.
Mariupol’s last defenders face what could be the longest weekend of their lives as Russian forces—desperate to deliver something for Vladimir Putin to celebrate in Monday’s Victory Day celebrations—try at all costs to capture the plant.
Victory Day, marking the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, was the biggest event on the Soviet calendar, with annual parades on Red Square featuring goosestepping Red Army soldiers and the latest Cold War tanks and missiles.
It’s lost none of its mystique in post-Soviet Russia, especially since Putin launched his ill-fated “special operation” to “denazify” Ukraine on Feb. 24. Many of those pouring over the border took their dress uniforms with them in their tanks and APCs, confident that they’d be parading through a “liberated” Kyiv within days—but 10 weeks later Russia has had no real victories in a conflict that has cost the lives of as many as 25,000 of its soldiers including dozens of senior officers.
The closest the Russians have come to victory is in Mariupol, the strategic port city on the Azov Sea that was among the invaders’ first targets. The city of almost half a million people has been virtually destroyed and thousands have been killed by relentless bombardment, including an estimated 600 people killed while taking refuge in a theater.
The city’s last defenders are holed up in the Azovstal steel plant, including units from the Azov Regiment, a fighting force that began life as a neo-Nazi paramilitary unit in the 2014 Donbas war but is now part of the Ukraine National Guard. When Kremlin propagandists talk of “denazification,” the word “Azov” is never far behind.
In its daily intelligence update on Friday, the British Ministry of Defence said Russian forces were continuing their ground assault on Azovstal, despite President Putin ordering that it be “sealed off” last week. “The renewed effort by Russia to secure Azovstal and complete the capture of Mariupol is likely linked to the upcoming 9 May Victory Day commemorations and Putin’s desire to have a symbolic success in Ukraine,” it said.
Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) claimed on Thursday that Russia was planning to hold a Victory Day parade in Mariupol itself, to allow Putin to claim at least a tactical victory inside Ukraine. “The main avenues of the city are urgently cleaned, the debris and the bodies of the dead removed, as well as the ammunition which did not explode,” it said.
Most chilling of all, according to another Ukrainian official, the Russians were planning to take as many as 2,000 men being held in a nearby “filtration camp” and march them through Mariupol in a “war prisoners parade”—even though they are not actual prisoners of war.
“It will be a grotesque crowd scene for another propaganda image,” said Pyotr Andryuschenko, an aide to the Mariupol mayor.
Putin’s chief spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Friday denied that any parade was planned for Mariupol, although he said one would eventually be held there.
In the meantime, the Ukrainian soldiers in the Azovstal, running short on food, water, and medicine to treat their wounded, just cling on.
“They won’t surrender,” Kateryna Prokopenko, whose husband Denys is an Azov commander, told the Associated Press. “They only hope for a miracle.”
Prokopenko was speaking after a phone call with her husband in which he told her he would love her forever. “I am going mad from this. It seemed like words of goodbye,” she said.
