On the eve of May 9, Moscow’s victory over Nazi Germany, Ukraine fears a final attack on the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. At the same time, Russia is intensifying its attacks in eastern Ukraine.
Yesterday, Ukraine confirmed the evacuation of all civilians, including children, the elderly and women, from the steelworks in Mariupol, considered the last point of the Ukrainian resistance.
In his speech in the evening, President Volodymyr Zelensky assured that efforts to withdraw troops would continue. An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers are hiding in the tunnels of the Azovstal steelworks.
Ukraine urged Doctors Without Borders to organize a mission to evacuate entrenched soldiers on Sunday. “We are working to evacuate our soldiers. All the heroes who defended Mariupol,” says Zelensky. “This is extremely difficult. But very important.”
However, the ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine was terminated yesterday.
Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin multiplied comparisons between the Second World War and the 74-day conflict in Ukraine, saying, “As in 1945, victory will be ours.”
Western officials have warned for weeks that Russia will use May 9 to officially declare war on Ukraine. The strategy will allow for the full deployment of reservists at a time when efforts to control Ukrainian territories continue to fail.
“I think he’s going to try to get rid of Putin’s ‘special ops’. He’s knocking down the field, laying the groundwork to be able to say, ‘look, now this is a war against the Nazis and what I need is more people,'” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told LBC radio last week.
Bill said on Saturday that Putin, who thought he “cannot let him lose” in Ukraine, “is convinced that doubling down on his efforts will get him moving forward”. burnsDirector of the American intelligence agency, the CIA.
Every year, Russia celebrates May 9, or Victory Day, with large military parades in major cities, in a patriotic gesture dedicated to the nearly 20 million Soviets killed during the conflict. This year the party takes on a certain symbolism, and less tanks and military equipment should attend the event.
“Victory will be ours, as in 1945,” said Putin
In a speech in Moscow today, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured that “victory will be ours, as in 1945”. He made several comparisons between World War II and the conflict in Ukraine.
Today, our soldiers, like their ancestors, are fighting to liberate their homeland from Nazi filth, confident as in 1945 that victory will be ours.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the eve of May 9
“Today’s common duty is to prevent the rebirth of Nazism, which caused such great suffering to the people of different countries,” said Erdogan, and wished that “new generations will be worthy of the memory of their fathers and grandfathers.”
In fact, Putin ironically wished “a peaceful and just future for all the people of Ukraine”. In Russia, the official date of the Soviet victory is May 9, marked by a traditional military parade on Red Square.
Ukrainian soldiers in Azovstal promised to fight “to the end”
According to her husband, doctor and military nurse Yevgenia Tytarenko, who is a member of the Azov regiment, and her colleagues, “many soldiers are in serious condition. They are injured and without medication.”
“I will fight to the end,” her husband, Mykhaïlo, said in an SMS viewed by AFP. They got married two days before the Russian invasion.
Mariupol, a southeastern port city with a population of almost 500,000 before the war, was almost completely wiped off the map by two months of Russian bombardment.
Russia attacks school used as shelter in eastern Ukraine
At least two people were killed and 60 missing after the Russian bombing of a school in the eastern Ukraine village of Bilohorivka, governor of the Luhansk region, Sergei Gaïdaï, said today. The group took refuge there.
About 30 people were rescued. Governor Gaïdaï reported that the bombing took place on Saturday afternoon (local time), and the school was engulfed in flames.
“The fire was extinguished after about four hours. Then the rubble was removed and unfortunately the bodies of two people were found,” the governor said on the messaging app Telegram.
“The enemy has not stopped offensive operations in the eastern operational zone since 2014 in order to maintain full control over the territory of the Donetsk, Lugansk and Kherson regions and to protect the land corridor between these territories and occupied Crimea,” the state said. The biggest Ukrainian this morning.
Convoy of civilians fleeing Kharkov bombed
According to CNN, local police said a convoy of 15 civilian vehicles trying to flee the fighting in the Kharkiv area was hit and several people were killed.
The head of the police investigation department, Serhiy Bolvinov, said the group was on its way to the Ukrainian-controlled territory.
“It was not possible to reach the location of the column due to the ongoing fighting,” he said.
The wreckage of the convoy was found on Friday (6). At the scene, police also found a broken enemy tank and the bodies of two Russian soldiers.
More than 300 meters away, six cars with bullet holes were found. There were four bodies in the vehicles, including the remains of a 13-year-old girl.
Police did not elaborate on what might happen to the other vehicles in the convoy.
Russia is back to gain territory
The Russians made limited territorial gains around Severodonetsk, still one of the main Ukrainian-held areas of Donbass, between Friday and Saturday, but this is unlikely to result in a complete encirclement, the American Institute for War Studies (ISW) said on Saturday.
So far, Russia has managed to claim complete control of only one major city – Kherson.
In Kharkiv, the Ukrainian counteroffensive to push Ukraine’s second largest city beyond enemy artillery range gained momentum with the capture of several Russian positions, again according to the ISW.
“Ukrainian forces are returning in a wide arc around Kharkiv and are no longer focused on limited acceleration, demonstrating the ability to launch offensive operations on a larger scale,” the institute said.
According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Russian army had to blow up three road bridges in this area “to slow down the counterattack”.
The Ukrainian Navy claimed to have destroyed the Russian landing craft Serna, a hundred kilometers from Odessa, not far from Cobra Island, using a warplane developed in Turkey. On the other hand, unconfirmed information by Russia, which declared that it sank the “Ukrainian assault boat ‘Stanislav'”.
US First Lady and Canadian Prime Minister Visit Ukraine
US First Lady Jill Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Sunday, where she met with her Ukrainian counterpart, Olena Zelenska, at a school used as a shelter for displaced civilians.
Jill Biden said, “I wanted to come on Mother’s Day. I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war must end and that this war is brutal and that the US people stand with the Ukrainian people.” she told reporters.
Picture: POOL/REUTERS
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Irpin on an unannounced visit. According to the city’s mayor, oleander MarkushinTrudeau was “shocked to see the horrors the Russian invaders have done to the city”.
According to local media reports, the Canadian prime minister will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to reaffirm his unwavering support for the Ukrainian people.
Located on the outskirts of Kiev, Irpin was the scene of fierce fighting between Russians and Ukrainians in the early days of the Russian invasion in late February.
Following the visit, Trudeau announced the delivery of new weapons and equipment to Ukrainian forces, including drone cameras, satellite imagery and ammunition, among other items.
In addition, he reported that the Canadian embassy in Kiev will reopen and that Canada has imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and entities linked to the invasion of Ukraine.
*With information from AFP, RFI and ANSA
source: Noticias
