More than 300 civilians were rescued from the Azovstal steelworks in the city of Mariupol. The information was published by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech on Saturday (7).
“I am grateful to the teams at the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations for helping us carry out the first phase of Azovstal’s evacuation mission,” Zelensky said. said. According to him, the 300-strong force consisted of women and children and had been rescued in the past seven days.
Earlier on Saturday, the withdrawal operation was halted ahead of schedule. The reason for this was the complaints of the Ukrainian authorities in connection with the violation of the ceasefire signed with Russia.
The agreement was established to ensure the safe departure of civilians from Azovstal. The steelworks was seen as the last point of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.
Now, the recovery should have a second phase targeting doctors and the military, scheduled to begin in the next few days. According to the Ukrainian government, no soldiers were injured in Azovstal.
The city of Mariupol is seen as an important part of Moscow’s offensive, as it will allow the creation of a land corridor between the pro-Russian separatist areas in the east and the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Overthrowing the last stronghold of resistance in Mariupol will also be a great victory for Moscow ten weeks after the occupation of Ukraine.
Ukraine accuses Russia of bombing Luhansk school
The head of the military administration of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hayday, said that a Russian plane bombed a school in the village of Bilohorivka. Ninety people used it as a shelter.
According to Hayday, at least 30 people were pulled from the building’s rubble. Rescue of survivors continued until 6 PM this Saturday (Brazil time).
At least 600 people were killed in the attack on the Mariupol theater
A study by the US news agency AP (Associated Press) revealed that approximately 600 people lost their lives in the attack by Russia on the Mariupol theater in Ukraine, which was used as a shelter for civilians.
The bombing of the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theater, the largest air raid shelter in the city, on March 16 stands out as the bloodiest attack on civilians to date in the 73-day conflict.
Based on survivor testimonies, first responders, and analysis of photographs and documents, the AP investigation estimated that at least 600 people were killed, including children, inside and outside the building.
Satellite photos showed the word ‘boy’ written in very large Russian letters on the front and back of the venue. Russia denies attacking the site and says it did not target civilians, but attacks on multiple residential buildings and other non-military facilities have been recorded across the country.
“Nothing else”
“We are evacuating as many people as possible,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video conference hosted by London-based think tank Chatham House on Friday. Said.
“Mariupol will never fall (…) It was destroyed, nothing remained, everything was destroyed,” he added.
Oleksii Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, denounced that Russia was “trying to liquidate Azovstal’s supporters and trying to do this before May 9 as a gift to Vladimir Putin.”
Every year on this day, Russia celebrates its 1945 victory over Nazi Germany with a massive military parade on Moscow’s Red Square.
This Saturday, final rehearsals took place in the Russian capital ahead of the parade that will inevitably penetrate Ukraine, where military intervention is marked by difficulties for Moscow.
Putin’s speech will also be an opportunity to address Western leaders and issue new warnings after Russian officials have mentioned the nuclear threat several times in recent weeks.
new attacks
The Odessa government (7) said on Saturday that Russia had fired four cruise missiles at the port city in southern Ukraine.
Maxim, head of the regional military administration of Odessa MarchenkoHe declared a mandatory curfew between May 8 at 22:00 and May 10 at 05:00 (local time).
As Russia plans to celebrate May 9, the restriction keeps civilians off the streets. Western officials believe the symbolic day will be used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to officially declare war on Ukraine.
Attacks were also recorded in other areas, including Sumy and Sumy, between last night and this morning. Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second largest city.
Spokesperson of the Sumy region, Andriy Demchenko reported that no border guards were injured in the bombings. “Rocket launches were recorded twice in Ukraine. “One of the planes shot down a missile on Russian territory,” he said.
The Sumy region is in northeastern Ukraine and borders Russia.
in the city Two people were injured in a missile attack in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine. Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko
Today, the Ukrainian military claimed to have destroyed a Russian military ship near Kobra Island in the Black Sea, but this has not been confirmed by Moscow.
At the same time, a report by the British Ministry of Defense estimated that “the conflict in Ukraine caused losses of the most capable Russian units.”
risk of conflict transnistria
On the border with Ukraine, officials in the pro-Russian separatist Moldovan separatist Transnistria region reported four explosions without casualties on Friday night.
Transnistria, a separatist region supported by Russia, seceded from Moldova in 1992 after a brief war. Since then, Moscow has stationed about 1,500 soldiers here.
Fears that the conflict in Ukraine could spill over into Transnistria were heightened after a Russian general said the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine was aimed at establishing a corridor in this separatist region.
*With information from ANSA and AFP
source: Noticias
