Russia-Ukraine war: World knows what Moscow did to Mariupol, says Zelenskyy

As the Russian forces have embarked on a major military operation to seize significant parts of southern and eastern Ukraine following their failure to capture Kyiv, Zelenskyy criticised the renewed assaults in the port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov. It is a key target because of its strategic location near the Crimea Peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

“All the leaders of the free world know what Russia has done to Mariupol. And Russia will not go unpunished for this,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. He warned that Russia was “gathering additional forces for new attacks against our military in the east of the country.”

Limited evacuations from the city took place on Saturday, but the details had been unclear given the number of parties involved in the negotiations and the volatile situation on the ground. The Russian Defense Ministry said a total of 46 people, a group of 25 and another numbering 21, were evacuated from areas near the Azovstal plant.

Source: Associated Press

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs has called for an EU wide embargo on the import of Russian oil, also urging for the Ukraine to be granted EU candidate status.

A long-awaited effort to evacuate people from a steel plant in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol was underway Sunday, the United Nations said, while U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi revealed she visited Ukraine’s president to show unflinching American support for the country’s defense against Russian aggression. UN humanitarian spokesman Saviano Abreu told The Associated Press that the operation to bring people out of the sprawling Azovstal steel plant was being done with the International Committee for the Red Cross and in coordination with Ukrainian and Russian officials.

As many as 100,000 people are believed to still be in blockaded Mariupol, including up to 1,000 civilians who were hunkered down with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters beneath the Soviet-era steel plant - the only part of the city not occupied by the Russians. Abreu called the situation “very complex” and would not give further details. Like other evacuations, success of the mission in Mariupol depended on Russia and its forces in a long series of checkpoints before reaching Ukrainian ones.

People who have fled Russian-occupied areas have at times described their vehicles being fired on. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of shelling evacuation routes on which the two sides had agreed.

Source: Associated Press

Ukraine as soon as possible. Blinken made the comment while speaking to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. An overnight statement Sunday said Blinken told Kuleba that America “plans to return to Kyiv as soon as possible.”

Blinken said diplomats had been making “initial visits” to Lviv to prepare. The US evacuated its embassy in Kyiv in February just before Russia launched its war on the country. The US had been bringing diplomats across the Polish border each day to work in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, before stopping the practice. Lviv has largely been spared in the conflict, though a missile strike several days ago targeted a railroad facility near the city. The US is one of Ukraine’s main backers in the war, providing billions in aid and weaponry.

Credit: AP

European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has said that EU could phase out Russia's oil imports by the end of the year as a draft proposal is being discussed. The plan is to “find a clever solution that would hit Russia as much as possible and avoid a price hike that would harm European consumers," an EU diplomat tells Guardian newspaper. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck this week had said in an interview with public broadcaster ZDF that Berlin would not stand in the way of EU's oil embargo on Russia but expressed skepticism and warned of the repercussions, stating that such a move could hit EU's own economy. 

Credit: AP

A fire is rpeorted to have broke out in Russian Defense Ministry’s facility on the border region of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported via his Telegram channel on Sunday, according to Tass. 

"A fire broke out on the territory of one of the facilities of the Russian Defense Ministry on the border of three municipalities, the Borisovsky and Belgorodsky regions and the Yakovlevsky city district. The information about the injured and the damage is being found out," he wrote.

Response teams were spotted on the site to contain the disaster and ensure security, Gladkov added. It wasn't immediately clear what caused it. Borisovsky and Belgorodsky regions on the south of Russia’s Belgorod Region border on Ukraine’s Kharkov Region. 

Ukrainian armed forces provided an update on estimated Russian losses in the conflict saying that nearly 23,500 Russian soldiers have been killed since the invasion. Of these, at least 300 more were reported to have lost life on Saturday. Russia has lost two aircraft more, pushing total to 192, and at least18 tanks in the last 24 hours alone.

Ukraine has claimed to have destroyed at least nine aerial targets of the Russian Air Force in the past 24 hours. According to The Kyiv Independent, the Ukrainian Air Force Command stated that it destroyed seven Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and two SU-25s. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Russia had lost over 1,000 tanks, around 200 planes and 2,500 infantry fighting vehicles since the beginning of the war on February 24. He also stated that more weaponry and rockets will be employed against Ukraine despite Russia's enormous losses. 

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Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Sunday accused the Ukrainian nationalists of mining the Nikolaevsky reservoir dam in the Marganets city of Dnepropetrovsk Oblast. Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation, claimed that the Ukrainian nationalists intend to blow up the dam and pin the blame on Russian troops for the disaster, Sputnik reported. He further stated that the dam's explosion might lead to huge floods, potentially affecting more than 45,000 people.

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Russian “cyber soldiers” have launched a new offensive against foreign leaders, targeting social media platforms with a large-scale disinformation campaign that seeks to legitimize the invasion of Ukraine, according to research funded by the U.K.

Paid operatives working from a factory in St. Petersburg use the Telegram messaging app to recruit and coordinate supporters who then flood the social media accounts of Kremlin critics with comments supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine, the UK Foreign Office said Sunday.

The so-called troll factory has developed new techniques to avoid detection by social media platforms, posting comments and amplifying pro-Kremlin content created by legitimate users rather than creating its own content, the Foreign Office said. Traces of its activity have been found on eight social media platforms, including Telegram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok.

Source: Associated Press

Ukraine’s militry has warned that Russia might carry out a missile attack from the territory of Belarus. Spokesperson of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Shtupun said on Telegram that Russian troops have been reinforcing equipment and in Slobozhansk area of Kharkiv region. They have recently installed 300 weaponry units and have also mobilized1,000 fighters from the breakaway territories of Donetsk and Luhansk. 

“For the purpose of air defence of the advancing troops in four specific areas, the enemy deployed two anti-aircraft missile divisions armed with the Buk-M2 air defence system and the Tor-M air defence system,” Shtupun wrote. 

Some women and children were evacuated from a steel plant that is the last defensive stronghold in the bombed-out ruins of the port city of Mariupol, a Ukrainian official and Russian state news organizations said, but hundreds are believed to remain trapped with little food, water or medicine.

The United Nations was working to broker an evacuation of the up to 1,000 civilians living beneath the sprawling Soviet-era Azovstal plant after numerous previous attempts failed. Ukraine has not said how many fighters are also in the plant, the only part of Mariupol not occupied by Russian forces, but Russia put the number at about 2,000. An estimated 100,000 civilians remain in the city.

UN humanitarian spokesperson Saviano Abreu said the world organization was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv, but he could not provide details of the ongoing evacuation effort “because of the complexity and fluidity of the operation.”

Credit: AP

Source: Associated Press

Russian Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin has said that Russia must start confiscating the West properties in a retaliatory move after EU and West seized assets and properties of Russia’s oligarchs. Russia has labelled the seizure of the property as “theft”.

“It is right to take mirror measures towards businesses in Russia whose owners come from unfriendly countries where such measures were taken: confiscate these assets,” Volodin has said on his Telegram channel.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who became the second major American official from Bien administraion to visit Ukraine since Russia’s invasion has said that her visit was aimed at sending an "unmistakable and resounding message to the entire world: America stands firmly with Ukraine." 

"Our meeting with President Zelenskyy began with him thanking the United States for the substantial assistance that we have provided," said Pelosi at the press conference in Poland.

"He [Zeelenskyy] conveyed the clear need for continued security, economic and humanitarian assistance from the United States to address the devastating human toll taken on the Ukrainian people by Putin's diabolic invasion," she said. 

"Our [US] delegation proudly delivered the message that additional American support is on the way, as we work to transform President Biden’s strong funding request into a legislative package," said Pelosi. Our delegation conveyed our respect and gratitude to President Zelenskyy for his leadership and our admiration of the Ukrainian people for their courage in the fight against Russia’s oppression," she added. 

In this image released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, third from right, and US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, third from left, talk during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine. Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

US House speaker Nancy Pelosi was presented with the order of Princess of Olga medal by Ukraine's president Zelenskyy as a gesture to strengthen the bilateral ties between US and Ukraine. Zelesnkyy has shown courage, said pelosi while accepting the honour at the press conference. She praised him for a “masterclass of leadership”.

Credit: AP

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday told the Ukrainians said that she would not be threatened by Kremlin and that the US will not stop supplying Ukraine with the weapons. “Do not be bullied by bullies,” said the US House Speaker during her visit to Ukraine. 

“Let me speak for myself, do not be bullied by bullies. If they are making threats, you cannot back down,” Pelosi said.

Chair of the US house intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, said: “This is first and foremost about Ukraine but it’s not only about Ukraine. This is about a dictator in the Kremlin making war like it is world war two all over again with a massive invasion of his neighbour and he must be stopped.

“We are prepared to give Ukraine all the support necessary to stop this”

In this image released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, centre right, and US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi shake hands during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday. Credit: AP

In a press conference held in Poland after her visit to Ukraine, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asseretd that she is determined to help Ukraine prevail in the face of the Russian agression. She further added that Washington will continue to supply weapons to the Ukrainian to fight for their soverienity. Her remarks came after Russia's MoD said on Sunday that it had used high-precision missiles and destroyed the hangar in Odesa, Ukraine stockpiling the munitions from the US and Europe delivered to Ukraine. 

The fire in at least two oil depots just across the Ukrainian border in Russia continued after the suspected Ukrainian attack. Photos and videos show damages at two sites in Bryansk. Multiple tanks had blasted in the attacks, setting off a massive fire and charring the grounds in the close proximity. 

The explosions had taken place on Monday. One hit an oil depot owned by Transneft-Druzhba, a subsidiary of the Russian state-controlled company Transneft that operates the western-bound Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline carrying crude oil to Europe. The second facility is a short distance from the other. Bryansk is located about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the border with Ukraine. 

Bryansk is a key entry point for Russian forces to the Donbass region and speculations have emerged that Ukrainians launched a missile strike. 

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday warned the Russian soldiers not to fight "senseless war" in Ukraine. In his nightly address, Zelesnkyy said that even Moscow's generals expect that thousands of their troops will die and yet Russia continues to wage the meaningless war on the Ukrainians. Ukraine's leader accused Moscow of recruiting new soldiers "with little motivation and little combat experience." 

“Every Russian soldier can still save his own life,” Zelenskyy said. "It’s better for you to survive in Russia than to perish on our land.”

Russia's defence ministry has said that its air defence systems have shot down two Ukrainian Su-24m bombers that were flying over the Kharkiv region. Russian MoD also said that it attached the arms depot that stored the weapons supplied to Ukraine by the United States and European countries. 

Satellite photos analysed by The Associated Press show damage to oil depots just across the Ukrainian border in Russia after suspected Ukrainian attacks. The photos from Saturday show damage at two sites in Bryansk. The blasts damaged multiple tanks, leaving the surrounding grounds charred. The explosions happened Monday. One hit an oil depot owned by Transneft-Druzhba, a subsidiary of the Russian state-controlled company Transneft that operates the western-bound Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline carrying crude oil to Europe. The second facility is a short distance from the other. Bryansk is located about 100 kilometres north of the border with Ukraine.

Ukraine's army says there is a threat of Russia carrying out missile attacks from the territory of Belarus. Speaking at a briefing on Sunday, Oleksandr Shtupun, the spokesperson of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that Russia continues to reinforce its equipment and military force in the Slobozhansk area of the Kharkiv region.

According to Shtupun, up to 300 weaponry units and 1,000 mobilised people arrived from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. "For the purpose of air defence of the advancing troops in four specific areas, the enemy deployed two anti-aircraft missile divisions armed with the Buk-M2 air defence system and the Tor-M air defence system," Shtupun said.

Watch: Zelenskyy meets US House speaker Pelosi in Kyiv

The British military says the Russian ruble will be used as currency in a Ukrainian city that Moscow seized earlier in the war. The British military wrote that the city of Kherson will begin a four-month transition from the Ukrainian hryvnia to the ruble starting Sunday. The British Defense Ministry said the move is “indicative of Russian intent to exert strong political and economic influence in Kherson over the long term.”

Russian forces have 'abducted' deputy in occupied Nova Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast, reported Kyiv Independent on Sunday. It stated that Ihor Protokovylo was kidnapped from his home on April 19, local authorities reported on May 1.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General’s Office has stated that the Moscow-Kyiv war has killed 219 children and injured 404. According to Kyiv Independent,  Prosecutor General’s Office reported on May 1 that the figures are expected to be higher since they do not include child casualties in the areas where hostilities are ongoing and in the occupied areas.

US House of Representatives speaker visited the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Sunday and met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On US delegation's visit to Kyiv amid Russia-Ukraine war, Pelosi said, "When we return to the United States, we will do so further informed, deeply inspired and ready to do what is needed to help the Ukrainian people as they defend democracy for their nation and for the world."

Ukraine had claimed to have destroyed at least nine aerial targets of the Russian Air Force in the past 24 hours. According to The Kyiv Independent, the Ukrainian Air Force Command stated that it destroyed seven Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and two SU-25s. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Russia had lost over 1,000 tanks, around 200 planes and 2,500 infantry fighting vehicles since the beginning of the war on February 24. He also stated that more weaponry and rockets will be employed against Ukraine despite Russia's enormous losses. 

On Saturday, April 30, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate released a list of 226 Russian personnel who allegedly committed war crimes in Zaporizhia and Mariupol. The list includes the names from the 291st Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment. According to the Intelligence Directorate, these 226 Russian soldiers killed and tortured Ukrainian people in the Zaporizhia and Mariupol regions. In a Telegram message, it further declared that these Russian soldiers would be tried and held accountable for the atrocities they committed on Ukraine's civilian population. 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has registered 5,468,629 Ukrainians fleeing the country, including women and children. Most refugees have settled around Europe, with Poland having the largest population at over 3 million.

At least five Russian oligarchs have been found dead since the country’s invasion of Ukraine began back in February, according to local media reports. The families of three entrepreneurs have also lost their lives, in what authorities have called suicide. Notably, four out of the total were linked to Gazprom- a state-controlled gas supplier which recently created headlines after cutting off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. 

According to RIA Novosti, Leonid Shulman, a top executive at Gazprom was found dead in his cottage in Leninsky village on January 30. A suicide note was found at the scene. Almost two months later, on February 25, Alexander Tyulakov, who was also a top executive at Gazprom, was found dead in his garage. Mikhail Watford, a Russian born billionaire living in the UK was found dead at his home in Surrey. 

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Some women and children were evacuated from a steel plant that is the last defensive stronghold in the bombed-out ruins of the port city of Mariupol, a Ukrainian official and Russian state news organizations said, but hundreds are believed to remain trapped with little food or water.

The United Nations was working to broker an evacuation of the up to 1,000 civilians living beneath the sprawling Soviet-era Azovstal plant after numerous previous attempts failed. Ukraine has not said how many fighters are also in the plant, the only part of Mariupol is not occupied by Russian forces, but Russia put the number at about 2,000. An estimated 100,000 civilians remain in the city.

Ukraine’s national grid operator says it has restored a “reliable” power supply in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, around the site of the 1986 nuclear reactor disaster. “In the afternoon, the last necessary 330 kV power transmission line was put into operation,” the state-owned Ukrenergo wrote in a Telegram post-Saturday. According to the same post, Ukrenergo also restored another 330 kV line in the northern Kyiv region last night, helping stabilize the energy supply in the capital. It said the reconstruction of further transmission lines in and around Kyiv remains underway.

Sweden says a Russian military plane has violated Swedish airspace. The incident happened late Friday in the Baltic Sea near the island of Bornholm. In a statement Saturday, the Swedish Armed Forces said a Russian AN-30 propeller plane flew toward Swedish airspace and briefly entered it before leaving the area. The Swedish Air Force scrambled fighter jets which photographed the Russian plane. Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told Swedish public radio that the violation was “unacceptable” and “unprofessional.”

According to mayor Vadim Boychenko, the Russian army killed twice as many Mariupol residents in two months as the Nazis did in World War II. He said the German occupation of the city resulted in the death of about 10,000 civilians, while the Russian military killed more than 20,000.
 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday averred that “Ukraine will be free” as he addressed the nation with the Moscow-Kyiv war entering day 67. He pledged that the territories such as Kherson, Nova Kakhovka, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Dniprorudne are ‘temporarily’ occupied by Russia, and they will be “liberated”. However, Zelenskyy noted that there was “a lot of work ahead” before saying that Moscow’s forces are not realising that their “so-called operation” failed. 

Zelenksyy said, “Ukraine will be free. Kherson, Nova Kakhovka, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Dniprorudne and all other temporarily occupied cities and communities in which the occupiers are now pretending to be "masters" will be liberated. The Ukrainian flag will return …”

He added, “There is still a lot of work ahead. The occupiers are still on our land and still do not recognize the apparent failure of their so-called operation. We still need to fight and direct all efforts to drive the occupiers out. And we will do it.”
 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Saturday, signed a decree allowing a one-time payment of 10,000 rubles to the World War II veterans living in the Donbas region, according to a report by Sputnik News. “(I hereby order to) make a one-time payment in May 2022 to people with disabilities and participants of the Great Patriotic War living in DPR, LPR, and in the liberated territories of Ukraine in the amount of 10,000 rubles," the decree said. Situated in the east of Ukraine, Donbas comprises of Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), both of which have been controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists since 2014.

Additionally, the Russian President also approved one-time payments of three million rubles and five million rubles to Russian officials and other civilians sent to the DPR and LPR to fulfil administrative tasks and help restore the republics' infrastructure in the event of their injury or death, respectively. Notably, just days before launching what he termed a Special Military Operation in Ukraine, Putin accepted the Donbas region as independent and also recently launched the Russian currency Rubles there.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephonic conversation with UN chief Antonio Guterres and discussed the ongoing situation in Ukraine. According to the Turkish Communications Directorate, the Secretary-General briefed Erdogan on his recent trips to Kyiv and Moscow. Notably, the 68-year-old Turkish leader has proposed to mediate talks between Russia and Ukraine, in a bid to put Ankara on the map before next year’s Presidential elections.

As per local reports and authorities, mobile internet connection disappeared in the city of Russian-occupied Kherson and several other districts.

According to Kyiv Independent, Ukraine has downed nine aerial targets of the Russian Air Force. Air Force Command reported that it destroyed two SU-25s and seven UAVs in the past 24 hours.

Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate on Saturday shared a list comprising the names of 226 Russian soldiers who committed war crimes in Zaporizhia & Mariupol. The list includes the names from the 291st Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment. The Intelligence Directorate claims that these 226 Russian soldiers brutally killed and tortured civilians of Ukraine in the Zaporizhia and Mariupol regions. It stated that for the atrocities that these Russian soldiers committed against Ukraine's civilian population, they shall be prosecuted and held responsible. The names range from Commander, Colonel, Lieutenant, Major and Captain. 

In the Telegram message, Intelligence Directorate stated that the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has a list of command staff members of the 291st Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment, which is involved in crimes against Ukrainian citizens in the Zaporizhia and Mariupol. It further stated that people in Ukraine should be aware of these names. Sharing a link where the names of the perpetrators were published, Ukraine Defence Ministry stated, "Remember! All war criminals against the civilian population of Ukraine will be prosecuted."

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US secretary of state, Antony Blinken spoke to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba "to follow up on our meetings in Kyiv" after the pair met on April 24.

Embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Saturday, spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the ongoing situation on the battlefield. As Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine continued for the 66th day, both the leaders deliberated upon the condition of the besieged city of Mariupol. At least 2000 defender troops along with civilians have been holed up at Azovstal Steel plant.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky switched to Russian in his nightly video address to urge Russian soldiers not to fight in Ukraine, saying even their generals expected that thousands of them would die.

He said Russia has been recruiting new troops “with little motivation and little combat experience” for the units that were gutted during the early weeks of the war so these units can be thrown back into battle.

He said Russian commanders fully understand that thousands of them will die and thousands more will be wounded in the coming weeks.

“The Russian commanders are lying to their soldiers when they tell them they can expect to be held seriously responsible for refusing to fight and then also don't tell them, for example, that the Russian army is preparing additional refrigerator trucks for storing the bodies. They don't tell them about the new losses the generals expect,” Zelenskyy said late Saturday.

“Évery Russian soldier can still save his own life. It's better for you to survive in Russia than to perish on our land,” he said. 

(PTI)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, "Of course, the occupiers still have equipment in stock. Yes, they still have missiles to strike at our territory...But this war has already weakened Russia so much that they have to plan even fewer military equipment for the parade in Moscow."

A Russian rocket attack destroyed an airport runway in the southern port city of Odesa. In a Telegram post, Ukrainian Amry's Operational Command South said there was no way that the runway could now be used. On Saturday, several explosions were heard prompting the local authorities to ask residents to take shelter. 

A Russian rocket attack destroyed an airport runway in the southern port city of Odesa. In a Telegram post, Ukrainian Amry's Operational Command South said there was no way that the runway could now be used. On Saturday, several explosions were heard prompting the local authorities to ask residents to take shelter. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators talk “almost every day.” However, in a discreet interview, he told Chinese state news agency Xinhua that “progress has not been easy.” Meanwhile, Russia has bolstered attacks in the southern and eastern parts of the country. 

Seven Ukrainian soldiers and seven civilians have been released in a prisoner swap on Saturday with Russia, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on social media, as reported by the Associated Press. 

“We're bringing home 14 of our people: seven military personnel and seven civilians,"Vereshchuk wrote on Facebook and Telegram.

"To me, this exchange is special: one of the female soldiers is five months pregnant.” As of Saturday afternoon, the swap had not been confirmed by official Russian sources.

Ukraine's President awarded medals to Ukrainian Border Guards on Saturday to mark Border Guard day, the Associated Press reported.  Addressing Border Guard units in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said there is no time for celebrations. "Russian evil is still on our land, we must force out the invaders," Zelenskyy said while adressing the Guards. According to Ukraine's President 216 Border Guards have lost their lives since the start of Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said Saturday that Ukraine needed more arms donations from the West to compete against advanced Russian weaponry. He also warned of an imminent Russian attack via submarines from the Black sea with cruise missiles.

Ukraine's deputy agriculture minister said Saturday that Russian forces are seizing vast amounts of grain in territory they hold. 

Speaking on Ukrainian TV, Taras Vysotsky said "several hundred thousand tons" of grain had been taken out of the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Ukraine is a major grain producer and the Russian invasion has curtailed exports, pushed up world grain prices and raised concern about severe shortages.

The United Nations continues trying to broker an evacuation of civilians from the ruins of Mariupol, a southern port city that Russia has sought to capture since it launched the special operation in Ukraine more than nine weeks ago.

Citizens are “begging to get saved” from a steel plant that has become Mariupol's last defence stronghold, Mayor Vadym Boichenko said Friday. 

An estimated 2,000 fighters are believed to be holed up in the plant with about 1,000 civilians. 

As for non-combatants, Denis Pushilin, the head of the Donetsk rebel government said on Friday that there was "an understanding" that children and women "should leave" the plant.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused Russia of preventing evacuation attempts from Mariupol with heavy shelling in areas through which evacuation buses would pass.

Elsewhere in the city, on a media trip facilitated by the Russian Ministry of Defence, food was seen being distributed to civilians.
 

In the east of Ukraine, those living and fighting on the frontline are digging in, ahead of the expected Russian advance. Russian forces are continuing their attacks on Ukraine's industrial heartland in the eastern Donbas region.

The small town of Barvinkove lies on the edge of the region. Thousands of Russian troops are heading this way in a move to cut off the Donbas.

Barvinkove has already suffered massive damage. Cratered, barricaded streets are lined with destroyed houses. Only a few people remain.

Ukrainian forces fought Saturday to hold off a Russian advance in their country's south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the industrial Donbas region and Western military analysts said Moscow's offensive was going much slower than planned.
 

Two Ukrainian women whose husbands are defending a besieged steel plant in the southern city of Mariupol are calling for any evacuation of civilians to also include soldiers, saying they fear the troops will be tortured and killed if left behind and captured by Russian forces.

“The lives of soldiers matter too. We can’t only talk about civilians,” said Yuliia Fedusiuk, 29, the wife of Arseniy Fedusiuk, a member of the Azov Regiment in Mariupol. “We are hoping that we can rescue soldiers too, not only dead, not only injured, but all of them.”

She and Kateryna Prokopenko, whose husband, Denys Prokopenko, is the Azov commander, made their appeal in Rome on Friday for international assistance to evacuate the Azovstal plant, the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the strategic and now bombed-out port city.

An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders and 1,000 civilians are holed up in the plant’s vast underground network of bunkers, which are able to withstand airstrikes. But conditions there have grown more dire, with food, water and medicine running out, after Russian forces dropped “bunker busters” and other munitions in recent days.

The United Nations has said Secretary-General António Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on arranging evacuations from the plant during a meeting this week in Moscow, with the U.N. and International Committee of the Red Cross involved. But the discussions as reported by the U.N. concerned civilians, not combatants.

Speaking in English, Prokopenko, 27, called for a Dunkirk-style mission, a reference to the World War II maritime operation launched to rescue British and Allied troops surrounded by German forces in northern France.

“We can do this extraction operation ... which will save our soldiers, our civilians, our kids,” she said. “We need to do this right now, because people — every hour, every second — are dying.”

The women said 600 of the soldiers are wounded with some suffering from gangrene. They provided grisly videos and photos sent by their husbands of men with amputated limbs, bullet wounds and other injuries. They said people are eating porridge, old cheese and rudimentary bread.

The Azov Regiment has its roots in the Azov Battalion, which was formed in 2014 by far-right activists at the start of the conflict in the east between Ukraine and Moscow-backed separatists, and which has elicited criticism for its tactics.

Fedusiuk said she and Prokopenko were seeking help from Europe, the United States and international organizations to find a diplomatic resolution to the Azovstal standoff.

And she said the troops would never surrender to Russian capture.

“We don’t know any Azov soldier who came (back) alive from Russian soldiers, from 2014, so they will be tortured and killed,” Fedusiuk said. “We know that definitely, so it is not an option for them.”

(AP)

Ukrainian intelligence has claimed that resistance by its country's forces can 'ruin Putin's plan to establish proxy-state in Kherson', according to Kyiv Independent. Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate says ongoing fighting in Kherson Oblast & civil protests in the regional capital are set to ruin Russian plans to hold a fake “referendum.”

Citing reports, Sky News stated that Mariupol City Council has alleged Russia to have had "removed" ventilators from the city, adding these were "extremely necessary in the treatment of seriously ill patients". Authorities said, "In Mariupol hospitals alone, there were 60 ventilators. Now, it is this equipment that the Russian occupiers are exporting to their territory...Instead of developing its medicine, Russia is robbing others."

A senior US defence official on Saturday stated that the Russian offensive in Ukraine was going much slower than expected. He added the Russian attempts to crawl further south and east have been strongly resisted by Ukrainian forces. The defence official's remarks come as the Russian war entered day 66 with invading troops intensifying the fight in the east and south of Ukraine.

While getting a full picture of the war in the east has been difficult due to the barrage of shelling and artillery strikes as the battle unfolds, the US official said the separatist forces have been able to make only "minor gains." As reported by the Associated Press, the US also believes that the Russians are "at least several days behind where they wanted to be." Discussing the Pentagon's assessment, the official further added that the assault is moving "much slower" than anticipated. To enhance their offensive, Russian troops have also moved out from the north of Mariupol to advance on Ukrainian forces from the south still their progress has been "slow and uneven and definitely not decisive," the official said.

Read more here 

According to the Russian news agency, Russia’s defence ministry has claimed that its artillery units had hit 389 Ukrainian targets overnight. The figure, as per the report, includes 35 control points, 15 arms and ammunition depots, and several areas where Ukrainian troops and equipment were concentrated. 

Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov said that talks between Moscow and Kyiv continue daily and that 'they are not easy'. He reportedly also said that in addition to Ukraine's nuclear-free status and "denazification", the sides are discussing the lifting of sanctions.

Romania and Bulgaria have decided to assist in identifying individuals who have perpetrated war crimes in war-torn Ukraine, further bringing them to justice. According to a Ukrinform report, the two nations would also support Ukraine, Moldova, as well as Georgia in their European integration goals. Further, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă have voiced "categorical" support for Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia in their bids to join the EU. 

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The Head of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic of Poland Paweł Szrot has said, "We do not understand Hungary's position on the war in Ukraine. We consider them a mistake. Both when it comes to European solidarity, the moral dimension, but also when it comes to the situation of Hungary and the Hungarians themselves".

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby broke down on Friday while speaking about the “depravity” of the atrocities that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces are putting Ukrainians through as the war entered day 66. Getting emotional during the press conference, Kirby said “It’s hard to look at” what Moscow’s forces are doing in Ukraine as there is still no ceasefire agreement between both sides. According to the US Department of Defence press secretary, any “ethical” and “moral” human can see the abomination.

When asked if the Pentagon spokesperson thinks Putin is a “rational actor” amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Kirby responded, “I'm not a psychologist; barely got a history degree from University of South Florida. I'm not going to go into the psychology of Vladimir Putin. It's hard to look at what he's doing in Ukraine, what his forces are doing in Ukraine and think that any ethical, moral individual could justify that. It's difficult to look at the…sorry.”

“It's difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that. So I can't talk to his psychology, but I think we can all speak to his depravity,” he added.
 

According to Kyiv Independent, Popasna Mayor Mykola Khanatov has said that Russian forces fired at two evacuation buses,  but there is no information about casualties yet. Khanatov said only 31 people were evacuated from Popasna in the eastern Luhansk Oblast.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance said that it has blocked several accounts linked to relatives of senior Kremlin officials have been closed in response to international sanctions over the Ukraine conflict. According to Russian state media RT, Binance has said the stepdaughter of Foreign Minister Lavrov, and the daughter of Kremlin Spokesperson Peskov were among those shuttered from making any transactions. The crypto exchange company has said that it is conducting more checks to find those potentially sanctioned using the service. 

In the latest update posted by the Ukrainian armed forces, Kyiv claimed that Russia is now short of at least 23,200 soldiers along with 1,008 tanks among several other losses. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that his country would soon eradicate fuel shortages despite Russian attacks on oil depots. He noted, "Queues and rising prices at gas stations are seen in many regions of our country. The occupiers are deliberately destroying the infrastructure for the production, supply and storage of fuel. Russia has also blocked our ports, so there are no immediate solutions to replenish the deficit.”

However, he averred that Ukrainian government officials have promised to set up a system to prevent the fuel shortage “within a week, maximum two”.

In Russia’s Sakhalin Oblast, a fire erupted on the morning of April 30 at a thermal power plant of Sakhalinskaya GRES-2, which was eventually put out. The leader of the region shared a message on Telegram sharing the information on dousing the fire with the people stating that he is pleased to inform everyone that the fire at Sakhalinskaya GRES-2 has been extinguished. On the scene, 14 workers and five pieces of equipment were working, and a helicopter was deployed rapidly. The electricity engineers stated that the fire also spread to the roof.

As per the RIA Novosti, the regional government’s press service stated that the fire was doused at 07.19 Moscow time. Sakhalinenergo PJSC press secretary Margarita Tatarova stated that the fire broke out in the Sakhalinskaya GRES-2's turbine section. The incident has had no impact on consumers' power supply. It was also reported that no one was hurt, and no property was damaged as a result of the incident.

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In a string of accusations, Russian FM Sergei Lavrov on Saturday stated that Moscow believes Moldova is being dragged into NATO and it is not in favour of the country's security. "They have to worry about their future because they are being dragged into NATO. And I don't think that would add security to Moldova," Lavrov said, as quoted by European Pravda. 

The UK Defence Intelligence report, released early this morning said, "Russia hopes to rectify issues that have previously constrained its invasion by geographically concentrating combat power, shortening supply lines and simplifying command and control." In a Twitter post, the UK MoD added, "Russia still faces considerable challenges. It has been forced to merge and redeploy depleted and disparate units from the failed advances in north-east Ukraine. Many of these units are likely suffering from weakened morale."

Russian FM Sergei Lavrov accused NATO of interfering with political settlement in Ukraine. Lavrov also added that Nato countries are "doing everything to prevent" the completion of the "military operation"  and reaching political agreements.

These are militant rhetoric and inflammatory actions of Kyiv’s Western backers. They actually encourage him to ‘fight to the last Ukrainian’, pumping up the country with weapons and sending mercenaries there. I note that the Ukrainian special services, with the help of Westerners, staged a crude bloody provocation in Bucha, including to complicate the negotiation process," the Russian foreign minister said, as quoted by The Guardian. 

US President Joe Biden's administration is chalking up plans to waive off some visa requirements in an attempt to lure Russian high-tech specialists to America, Sputnik reported, citing officials familiar with the strategy. The report indicated that the move is directed toward weakening Moscow's technological potential by making it easier for Russian professionals to apply for an employment-based visa for the US, provided the individual has a current employer. The latest supplement request was forward to Congress by the White House, the report added.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby on Friday lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russian forces launched fatal airstrikes in the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv during the visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Addressing a press briefing, Kirby stated "it is hard to look at what he is doing in Ukraine, what his forces are doing in Ukraine, and think that any ethical, moral individual could justify that." Kirby was also momentarily emotional while speaking about Putin's "depravity and cruelty" in Ukraine.

"It is difficult to look at some of the images and imaging that any well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that. So, I can't talk like this psychologist but I think we can speak to his depravity," Kirby said when CNN asked if he thought Putin is "a rational actor."

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The International Planned Parenthood Federation on Friday delivered tranches of contraceptive pills to Ukraine amid rising cases of rape in the wake of the Russian occupation. The charity distributed 3,000 packets of 'morning-after pills' to the areas affected by the Russian invasion. "If you have been a victim of gender-based violence it's important you can take it as soon as possible because being pregnant as a result of rape is incredibly traumatic," said Caroline Hickson,a member of the charity, as quoted by BBC. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday thanked the US ambassador and 27 other diplomats for returning to Kyiv, calling it "an extremely important gesture of support for Ukraine." 

"Such gestures, together with strong defensive, financial and political support from the free world, mean that the need to end the war is becoming more and more obvious to Russia," he said.

"The defeat of the occupiers is unalterable," Zelenskyy said. 

Russian FM Sergei Lavrov on Saturday advised the West to come to terms with the "new geopolitical realities", adding that it will be for itself and the international community. He also slammed Washington calling them "arbiters of the fate of mankind" and said the US aims to impose an 'American-centric model' of the world order and has come to a point where "western minority is trying to replace the UN-centric architecture and international law formed after the Second World War with their own ‘rule-based order’" Lavrov said,, as quoted by The Guardian. 

As the Russia-Ukraine war has entered its 66th day, the President of war-torn Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the mass grave including 900 bodies had been discovered in several locations around Kyiv Oblast. According to the Kyiv Independent, the Ukrainian President had said that a mass grave with 900 victims had been unearthed. However, the media source later clarified that Zelenskyy was referring to the overall number of individuals discovered in several mass graves around Kyiv Oblast. 

Hundreds of people have been slain by Russian soldiers in the region, according to the news agency. Further, in a tweet post, Kyiv Independent corrected that a spokesperson of the Ukrainian President said, “Zelensky had been referring to the total number of people found in different mass graves in Kyiv Oblast.” 

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been invited to the upcoming G-20 summit in November, which would also have his adversary Vladimir Putin in attendance. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who will be hosting the event confirmed the invitation to reporters on Friday, as the war neared its ninth week. Earlier, he had revealed that the Russian President had also accepted his invitation to the conference during a recent phone call. Notably, this came after western leaders asked Jakarta to bar Moscow's participation in the conference scheduled for November this year. 

As of now, it is not known if Putin will attend the summit virtually or fly to Bali to mark his presence. Earlier this week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that while Russia was preparing for this year’s G20 summit, it has not yet decided whether Putin will attend in person or virtually. On the other hand, no details have been revealed for Zelenskyy's participation as well. Notably, Ukraine is not a part of the G-20 group, however, earlier this month US President Joe Biden called for its inclusion in the meeting.  

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Russia’s interdepartmental coordination headquarters for the humanitarian response received requests to evacuate 2.8 million people to Russia, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. 16,000 among the requests were foreign nations, including employees of the OSCE international missions and UN. “In total, 1.02 million people were evacuated from Ukraine, the DPR and the LPR, of which over 120 thousand citizens of third countries since February 24," said Lavrov while speaking to Xinhua News Agency. 

The Ukrainian government has denounced an agreement on cooperation with Russia in the fishing industry, TASS reported citing a Ukrainian lawmaker. Amidst the ongoing war, the Volodymyr Zelenskyy administration refused to co-operate with Kremlin in various fields, including taxation, science and technology. On Friday, the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) passed draft laws withdrawing the country from multiple agreements with the Russian Federation.

"The agreement on cooperation in the sphere of fish industry between the government of Ukraine and the government of the Russian Federation was denounced," Melnichuk blogged on his Telegram channel following a government meeting. Interestingly, only last week, Japan and Russia inked a deal deciding the fate of Tokyo’s fishermen’s quota to catch Russian born salmon and trout fishes. Amidst the spiralling war, the export of seafood from both Russia and Ukraine has been curtailed, primarily impacting the US which is the largest market for them.

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Russian FM Sergei Lavrov on Saturday accused the West of using Ukraine as a "tool to contain Russia." Speaking to Xinhua News Agency, Lavrov lashed out at NATO members, alleging that "they are doing everything to prevent" the negotiated ceasefire. The west is “forcing Kyiv to make an artificial, false choice: either with the West or with Moscow." he said according to the transcript of the interview cited by The Guardian. He further said the West must step away from creating a pretext for the war, advising them to "stop supplying weapons" if they want to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. 

"By publicly expressing support for the Kyiv regime, Nato countries are doing everything to prevent the completion of the operation by reaching political agreements.

Various weapons are sent to Ukraine through Poland and other Nato countries in an endless stream.," Lavrov said. 

Director-General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi on Friday proposed to head the expert visit to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP) "as soon as possible." Taking to Twitter, the agency informed that the necessary consultations are underway after Ukraine was informed about the "difficult conditions" under which Ukrainian specialists are working in the NPP. The decision comes after Grossi on Thursday announced that he will meet the Russian representatives to discuss a visit to Zaporizhzhia in the coming days.

Russian FM Sergei Lavrov on Friday stated that any weapons shipment to Ukraine will be considered as ‘legitimate target’ for Russia. "Because those weapons are to be handed to the regime that is waging a war against its own population, against civilians in the country’s east,” Lavrov said while speaking with Al Arabiya. 

They were provided with offensive weapons, including the weapons capable of reaching Russian territory. Military bases were built, including at the Sea of Azov. Dozens of military exercises were conducted, and many of them on Ukrainian soil with Nato assistance. And most of those drills were aimed against Russia’s interests. Therefore, the goal of this operation is to make sure that those plans do not materialise,” he added. 

The Australian Olympic Committee on Saturday informed that it will help Ukrainian athletes to resettle in Australia provided they have been victims of humanitarian abuse amid Russian war. “Today I announced that the AOC executive has by circular resolution last week, determined that the AOC will support humanitarian visa applications by Ukrainian athletes and will seek the assistance of you, our member sports, in their settlement requirements,” outgoing AOC President John Coates said, as quoted by The Guardian. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday stated that the attack in Kyiv during the visit of UN chief Antonio Guterres was a brutal violation of the UN. Speaking during his usual nightly address, he added, the violation was 'left without a powerful response.'  Russian missiles hit the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv on Friday dismantling debris. Zelenskyy also described Mariupol as a "Russian concentration camp."

"They took all these hostages, civilians, women and to try to use them," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told the BBC.

Russian Amid the stir over nuclear war comments, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday stated that such an event will never arise as there could be "no winners" in a battle. In an interview with Al Arabiya, he amended his previous warnings of potential nuclear warfare, adding that Russia has "been champions of making pledges by all countries never to start a nuclear war."

The White House is still in conversations about how to approach the Group of 20 summit to be held in November after news reports emerged that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be in attendance. The hosts received confirmation Friday that Putin plans to participate in the dialogue. US President Joe Biden suggested that in view of the ongoing war, Russia should be ejected from the G20. "The President has expressed publicly his opposition to President Putin attending the G20," press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday. She further added that it is too early to predict how the summit will look like 6 months from now. 

Russian nuclear power company is attempting to take over the nuclear power plant in Energodar in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Ukrainian authorities told IAEA that Russia sent 8 experts to the plant on April 29.

British ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons returned to Kyiv on Friday, after the country reopened its embassy there. Sharing a photograph of the Union Jack perched high on a mast, the UK official said, “It was a long drive but worth going the distance.” Notably, soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called his “special military operation” on Ukraine, Downing Street shifted its embassy from Kyiv to the western city of Lviv.

Earlier last week, British PM Boris Johnson confirmed that the team of diplomats returning will include the UK ambassador to Ukraine Melina Simmons, as reported by The Guardian. Regardless, the British PM had also warned that there was a "realistic possibility" the Russian bombardment would continue until the end of next year. In recent weeks, London has intensified its military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine providing heavy weapons including protected mobility vehicles.

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Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Friday got emotional while speaking about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “depravity” in Ukraine. When asked if he considered Putin a "rational actor", Kirby said, “It’s difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that. So I can’t talk to his psychologist. But I think we can all speak to his depravity," CNN reported. Taking a 10 seconds pause, he added, "“It’s hard to square his ... BS that this is about Nazism in Ukraine, and it’s about protecting Russians in Ukraine, and it’s about defending Russian national interests, when none of them, none of them were threatened by Ukraine."