al jazeera
By David Child, Sasha Petrova, Ali Harb and Farah Najjar
al jazeera
Zelenskyy asks UN chief to help ‘save’ wounded from Mariupol plant
Zelenskyy has asked the head of the United Nations to help “save” the lives of the remaining wounded Ukrainians trapped underneath the giant Azovstal steel plant in battered Mariupol.
“The lives of the people who remain there are in danger. Everyone is important to us. We ask for your help in saving them,” Zelenskyy told Antonio Guterres by phone, after thanking him for a successful UN and Red Cross-led evacuation this week.
He called on the UN to “assist in the removal of all the wounded from Azovstal”.
Russia says to cease fire at Mariupol plant for civilian evacuation
Russia has said its forces would cease fire at the Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and open a humanitarian corridor for civilians for three days beginning Thursday.
“The Russian armed forces will from 8 am to 6 pm [Moscow time] on May 5, 6 and 7 open a humanitarian corridor from the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant to evacuate civilians,” the defence ministry said.
Russian troops enter Azovstal plant, top Ukrainian lawmaker says
Russian forces have entered the territory of Mariupol’s Azovstal plant, Ukraine’s ruling parliamentary faction head David Arakhamia has said in an evening comment to RFE/RL.
“Attempts to storm the plant continue for the second day. Russian troops are already on the territory of Azovstal,” RFE/RL quoted Arakhamia as saying, adding that as of Wednesday evening contact remained between Ukraine’s government and the Ukrainian fighters in the plant.
Macron to talk Ukraine over dinner with Modi
French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Paris for talks and a “working dinner”, hoping to prise New Delhi away from Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
Macron would “emphasise the consequences of the war for the international order well beyond the European Union, including in Asia,” his office said ahead of the talks.
France wants to “help the Indians diversify their supply” away from Russian arms and energy, officials added. The aim “is not to leave the Indians with no way out, but to offer solutions,” they said.
India has so far avoided condemning the Russian invasion or voting to censure Moscow at the United Nations.
Brazil’s Lula says Zelenskyy shares blame for Ukraine war
Brazilian presidential front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said Zelenskyy and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin bear equal responsibility for the war in Ukraine, putting the leftist icon at odds with Western powers.
“I see the president of Ukraine, speaking on television, being applauded, getting a standing ovation by all the [European] parliamentarians,” Lula, Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2010, told Time magazine.
“This guy [Zelensky] is as responsible as Putin for the war,” he added.
The remarks will likely raise eyebrows in the US and Europe, which are supplying military support to Ukraine and have hit Russia with punishing sanctions over an invasion widely seen in the West as an act of unprovoked Russian aggression.
Yellen says US in constant discussions about further Russia sanctions
The United States is in constant talks with its partners about further sanctions against Russia and could take “additional actions” to pressure Moscow to halt its aggression against Ukraine, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said.
Yellen told a Wall Street Journal conference she would not preview any specific actions, but said further measures were likely “if Russia continues this war against Ukraine”.
Netherlands weighing whether to boost weapons support for Ukraine
Prime Minister Mark Rutte says the Netherlands is currently assessing whether to supply more heavy weapons to Ukraine.
Kyiv has called for additional military supplies as it faces down Russia’s refocused offensive in the eastern Donbas region.
“The Netherlands will continue to support Ukraine’s fight to defend democracy and sovereignty, in the short and long term,” Rutte wrote on Twitter following talks by phone with Zelenskyy.
Biden says he will discuss additional Russia sanctions with G7
US President Joe Biden says he will speak with other leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies this week about potential additional sanctions against Russia.
“We’re always open to additional sanctions,” Biden told reporters. “I’ll be speaking with the members of the G7 this week about what we’re going to do or not do.”
Ukraine’s Kuleba urges EU states to back Russia oil ban
Ukraine’s foreign minister has called on EU countries to back a proposed embargo on imports of Russian oil, saying Moscow is using revenues from energy exports to finance its “war machine”.
“If there is any country in Europe who will continue to oppose the embargo on Russian oil, there will be good reason to say, this country is complicit in the crimes committed by Russia in the territory of Ukraine,” Dmytro Kuleba said in a video speech posted on Twitter.
Ukraine will not agree to any deal that leads to a ‘frozen conflict’: Zelenskyy
Zelenskyy has said he will not accept any deal with Moscow on ending the war that would allow Russian troops to remain in currently occupied parts of Ukraine.
Addressing the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit in London via videolink, the Ukrainian leader said he “will not accept a frozen conflict”.
Zelenskyy warned against Ukraine being drawn into a “diplomatic quagmire”, citing earlier deals between Moscow and Kyiv concerning separatist-held parts of eastern Ukraine.
“I came to the presidency when there was Minsk-1, Minsk-2. There were documents that were violated, so I can say these were not serious. However, there were arrangements on paper. It was a frozen conflict. I am against it. We will definitely not have such a document,” he said.
Ukraine says Russia is trying to increase tempo of eastern offensive
Ukraine’s defence ministry says Russia is attempting to increase the tempo of its offensive in the east of the country.
Defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk gave few details but told a news briefing that Moscow’s forces had conducted nearly 50 air raids on Tuesday alone.
He also said Russian artillery fire and air raids were continuing periodically on the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, where the last Ukrainian defenders of the southeastern port city are holed up.
Mexico not planning sanctions on Russia: President
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says his administration will not impose sanctions on Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.
“We want to remain neutral,” Lopez Obrador told a regular news conference. He also called for dialogue between Moscow and Kyiv.
Russian Orthodox Church scolds Pope Francis over ‘Putin’s altar boy’ remark
The Russian Orthodox Church has scolded Pope Francis for urging Patriarch Kirill not to become the Kremlin’s “altar boy”, cautioning the Vatican that such remarks would hurt dialogue between the churches.
The Russian Orthodox Church said it was regrettable that a month and a half after Francis and Kirill, who has given the Ukraine war his backing, had spoken directly, the pope had adopted such a tone.
“Pope Francis chose an incorrect tone to convey the content of this conversation,” the Moscow Patriarchy said, though it did not explicitly mention the “altar boy” comment made by the head of the Catholic Church on Tuesday.
Kirill, 75, is a close ally of Putin.
Hungary cannot support EU ban on Russian oil imports: Minister
Hungary cannot support the EU’s proposed embargo on crude oil imports from Russia as that would destroy its energy security, the country’s foreign minister says.
“The Brussels package of sanctions would ban oil shipments from Russia to Europe with a rather short notice,” Peter Szijjarto said in a Facebook video, adding that Hungary is unable to back the measures in their current form.
Somali family flees Ukraine, becoming refugees twice over
Mohamud Abdi, 31, packed his family’s bags the day Russia invaded Ukraine, having escaped Somalia seven years earlier.
After a three-day journey which he described as tedious and full of fears, they arrived at the Ukraine-Polish border where they met refugees from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
“The reason I left my country in the first place was due to war. The same war devastated my second home in Europe, and I’m again seeking refuge in Kassel, Germany,” he told Al Jazeera.
UK bans services exports to Russia, sanctions Russian media outlets
The United Kingdom has banned all service sector exports to Russia and imposed new sanctions on 63 individuals and organisations, including several media outlets, in its latest wave of measures against Moscow.
“Doing business with Putin’s regime is morally bankrupt and helps fund a war machine that is causing untold suffering across Ukraine,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.
“Cutting Russia’s access to British services will put more pressure on the Kremlin and ultimately help ensure Putin fails in Ukraine.”
The UK has now sanctioned more than 1,600 individuals and entities since Russia launched its invasion in late February.
Bulgaria to seek exemption from any EU embargo on Russian oil
Bulgaria’s deputy prime minister has said his country will seek to take advantage of any potential exemptions to a proposed EU embargo on Russian oil if the measure comes into effect.
“Bulgaria, technologically, can do without Russian oil crude, but that would push up fuel prices significantly,” Assen Vassilev told financial newspaper Capital.
“So, if the European Commission considers exemptions, we would like to take advantage of such exemptions,” he added.
Mariupol mayor reports heavy fighting at Azovstal steel plant
The mayor of Mariupol says heavy fighting is under way at the city’s Azovstal steelworks, where Ukrainian troops have staged their final stand against Russia’s siege of the southeastern port city.
Vadym Boychenko said on national television that contact had been lost with the Ukrainian fighters still in the sprawling, Soviet-era plant and that more than 30 children were among the dozens of civilians awaiting evacuation from the site.
The Kremlin had denied that Russia is storming the steelworks.
Slovakia seeking three-year exemption to EU’s Russian oil embargo
Slovakia’s economy minister says his country wants a three-year transition period for it to phase in the EU’s proposed oil embargo on Russia.
Richard Sulik said Slovakia, which is highly reliant on Russian crude supplies, supported the bloc’s push but was still seeking an exemption to give it time to secure alternative supplies.
‘Orcs’ and ‘Rashists’: Ukraine’s new language of war
From Zelenskyy to regional representatives, Ukrainian officials have used frank terminology to discuss the war with the country’s public.
Kremlin dismisses speculation over May 9 war declaration
The Kremlin has dismissed speculation that Putin plans to declare war against Ukraine and initiate a national mobilisation on May 9, when Russia commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II.
Putin has so far characterised Russia’s actions in Ukraine as a “special military operation”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters there was “no chance” Russia’s leader would move to formally declare war against Ukraine next week, calling such suggestions “nonsense”.
Victory Day is one of Russia’s most important national events and Western politicians and some analysts have speculated that Putin could be preparing for a major announcement to coincide with the anniversary, with a range of possible scenarios ranging from an outright declaration of war to a declaration of victory.
Moldova ready for ‘pessimistic’ scenarios: President
Moldova sees no imminent threat of unrest spilling over from the war in Ukraine despite “provocations” by pro-Russian separatists in recent days, but has been making contingency plans for “pessimistic” scenarios, President Maia Sandu says.
Sandu’s remarks came after fears have grown in the past week that Moldova could be drawn into the war in Ukraine, with which it shares a border, after pro-Russian separatists in the country’s breakaway region of Transnistria reported a number of attacks and explosions there, which they blamed on Kyiv.
Sandu and her pro-Western government have blamed the incidents on “pro-war” separatist factions. She has also denounced comments by a Russian general that one of Moscow’s war aims was to seize Ukrainian territory to link up with the separatists in Transnistria.
Moscow warns it will target NATO weapons shipments
Russia’s defence minister has reiterated that Moscow’s forces will seek to destroy convoys of arms shipments to Ukraine from its Western allies, echoing earlier such threats from Moscow.
“The United States and its NATO allies are continuing to pump weapons into Ukraine,” Sergei Shoigu told a conference of defence ministry officials.
“We view any transport of the North Atlantic Alliance arriving on the territory of the country with weapons or materials destined to the Ukrainian army as a target to be destroyed,” he added.
Russia says Black Sea submarine fired cruise missiles at targets in Ukraine
A Russian submarine in the Black Sea has fired two Kalibr cruise missiles at targets in Ukraine, Russia’s defence ministry says.
The ministry published video footage of the missiles being launched and said they had hit unspecified ground targets.
Russia first reported using submarine strikes as part of its self-declared “special military operation” in Ukraine late last month.
Exhausted Azovstal evacuees recount trauma of Mariupol siege
Pale and exhausted, Ukrainian civilians rescued from Mariupol stumbled out of buses in the city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday after a gruelling three-day journey.
Anna, one of those evacuated, said she had been among those trapped in Mariupol’s sprawling Azovstal steelworks amid Russia’s siege on the port city.
“It was very hard but we managed,” she said, speaking of her time underground. “We had to boil water with candles because there wasn’t hot water. My grandfather was running under the shelling to other buildings in the complex to get water.”
Russia sanctions Japanese PM Kishida, other officials
Russia’s foreign ministry has announced sanctions against 63 Japanese officials, journalists and professors for engaging in what it called “unacceptable rhetoric” against Moscow.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi are among those targeted by the measures, which include an indefinite ban on entering Russia.
EU sanctions package ‘notably’ excludes Russian gas: AJE correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin, says the EU’s proposed sixth round of sanctions on Russia “notably makes no reference to Russian gas”.
“Why? Because in a sense it’s a bit like it is the elephant in the European living room – it is too big to be ignored but also so big that to do away with it straight away might have a catastrophic effect on economies across this continent,” Kane said.
“The financial aspect of the [proposed] sanctions is also fascinating, because until now the EU had been reticent to put sanctions on all the financial institutions in Russia.
“But today European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that Sberbank, which is one of the largest banks that has dealings with the EU, will find itself booted out of the SWIFT transaction system.
“That matters a great deal because without access to it, it will make it much harder for Sberbank and the other financial institutions being sanctioned to have dealings across the international community.”
Ukraine warns Belarus could yet join Russian war effort
Kyiv has not ruled out the possibility that Moscow could utilise the armed forces of its ally Belarus in Ukraine at some point, a spokesman for the country’s State Border Service says.
Speaking after the Belarusian armed forces began large-scale drills, Andriy Demchenko said Ukraine was “ready” for any such mobilisation by its neighbour’s military.
EU weighing bolstering military support for Moldova
The EU Council’s president says the bloc is considering providing Moldova with additional military support to Moldova.
Charles Michel told reporters at a joint news conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu during a visit to Chisinau that European leaders were weighing how to help Moldova build up its forces.
He said this would come on top of help in the fields of logistics and cyber-defence that the EU had already agreed on.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of trying to destabilise Transnistria, where Moscow has had troops permanently stationed since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia says its forces struck railway stations used to transport weapons
Russia’s defence ministry says it has disabled six railway stations in Ukraine that used to supply Ukrainian forces in the country’s east with Western-made weapons.
The ministry said it bombed the stations’ power supplies using high-precision air and sea-based weapons, but did not specify exactly which weapons were supplied to Ukrainian forces via those sites.
It added that its forces had hit a total of 40 Ukrainian military targets, including four depots storing ammunition and artillery weapons.
There was no immediate reaction to the claims from Kyiv, while Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the report.
EU unveils plan to ban oil imports in new Russia sanctions
The head of the European Commission has called on the 27-nation bloc to ban oil imports from Russia in a sixth package of sanctions against Moscow.
Von der Leyen urged the EU’s member states to phase out imports of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year.
She also proposed that Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, and two other major banks be disconnected from the SWIFT international banking payment system.
The proposals need to be unanimously approved to take effect and are likely to be the subject of fierce debate. Von der Leyen conceded that getting all EU countries – some of which are landlocked and highly dependent on Russia for energy supplies – to agree on oil sanctions “will not be easy”.
More buses of evacuees leave Mariupol
Another convoy of buses has left Mariupol in a new attempt by Ukraine, the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city, the governor of Donetsk has said.
The buses were heading for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
He did not specify whether any more civilians had been evacuated from the steelworks in Mariupol where the city’s last defenders are holding out against Russian forces.
Moscow politician: NATO was prepping Ukraine to attack Russia in January
The speaker of Russia’s parliament has said NATO was arming Ukraine to attack Russia in January and Putin’s decision to start a “special military operation” prevented “a huge tragedy”.
“NATO was preparing Ukraine for an attack on our country. How else to explain that all decisions on the supply of weapons to Ukraine were made by the US Parliament in January. Even before the start of the special military operation,” Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel.
He also said that Ukraine’s citizens were only “expendable material” for Washington and nationalism had become “the state ideology of Kyiv”, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
Road accident death toll climbs to 26
Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has confirmed that 26 people died in a highway accident in the Rivne region.
“In total, 26 people died in the accident: 24 passengers and two drivers (of a minibus and a bus); 12 people were injured; 11 were bus passengers and a fuel tanker driver; all passengers were aged 17 to 69. The youngest was supposed to turn 18 on May 12,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.
In his nighttime address last night, Zelenskyy said a bus, a car and a fuel truck had collided. The ministry said the bus was heading to Poland and carrying 34 passengers.
Shelling kills two people in Luhansk: Governor
Russian shelling has killed two people and injured another two in Luhansk, ” a woman from Lysychansk and a man from Popasna”, the region’s governor has said.
“Two women from Lysychansk were injured,” Serhiy Haidai wrote on Telegram, adding that 45 houses and other objects were damaged.
He also said that the building of the Luhansk Medical Centre for Dangerous Infectious Diseases in Lysychansk, as well as one of the city’s schools, was engulfed in flames.
Russia ‘likely’ intends to take Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk: UK
Russia “highly likely intends” to proceed beyond the city of Izyum to capture the cities of Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk, the UK defence ministry says.
In its latest intelligence briefing, the ministry said Russia has deployed 22 battalion tactical groups near Izyum “in its attempt to advance along the northern axis of the Donbas”.
Capturing Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk “would consolidate Russian military control in north-eastern Donbas and provide a staging point for its efforts to cut-off Ukrainian forces in the region”, the ministry added.
Belarus army starts drills
The armed forces of Belarus began surprise drills on Wednesday to test their combat readiness, Russia’s TASS news agency cited the defence ministry of Ukraine’s neighbour as saying.
Against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ministry said the exercise posed no threat to its neighbours or the European community in general.
Taiwan gives $150,000 to Ukrainian refugee children in Slovakia
Taiwan has donated $150,000 in aid for Ukrainian refugee children in Slovakia.
The funds will be used to help set up a kindergarten for children who fled Ukraine to neighbouring Slovakia, which has now taken nearly 400,000 of the country’s refugees.
Taiwan’s representative to Slovakia, Lee Nan-yang, also asked non-governmental organisation Ukrainian-Slovak Initiative, which will be receiving the money, to transfer $60,000 to the Black Sea port of Odesa.
Australia sanctions 110 Russian politicians and ‘puppet’ officials
Australia has moved to further sanction more than 70 Russian politicians and more than 30 “puppet” Ukrainian government officials installed in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Foreign minister Marise Payne said the sanctions and travel bans on the 110 individuals are in response to the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty “through their assertion of governmental authority”.
Some of the sanctioned Russian parliamentarians voted in favour of the resolution calling for Putin to recognise the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, while the majority subsequently voted in favour of ratifying treaties with the regions.
Australia has now sanctioned 812 individuals and 47 entities.
Russia says it attacked 39 military facilities in Ukraine
Russia’s air force attacked 39 military facilities in Ukraine on Tuesday, state news agency TASS reports, citing a representative from Russia’s defence ministry.
“Among them: two command posts and 36 areas of concentration of manpower and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Major General Igor Konashenkov told TASS.
Konashenkov also said four radar stations for detecting air targets, six ammunition and weapons depots, and a US-made radar station were destroyed in the areas of Lyman, Kramatorsk and Kamyshevakha.
Blinken and Truss in phone call on Ukraine
Antony Blinken has spoken in a phone call with his UK counterpart Liz Truss about the situation in Ukraine.
A statement from the US state department said the two discussed additional security and humanitarian assistance.
Mr.BadGuy
Publisher
These soldiers are from a country whose president is a Jew Zelensky. Orthodox churches are also being destroyed in this country. Synagogues are not touched. Surprisingly, it turns out that Jews get along well with the Bandera Nazis.