An important strategic city in Ukraine has now endured more than six weeks of brutal Russian siege, which has provided fierce resistance that has so far helped thwart Moscow’s plans to control eastern Ukraine’s industrial heartland.
But lack of weapons and supplies threatens Mariupol’s ability to resist Russian forces.
Once a city of 450,000, now only 120,000 people live. At least 21,000 people have been killed in Mariupol, said Mayor Vadym Boychenko. Corpses were “carpeted through the streets.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the fate of the city is being discussed among the country’s leaders: “Details can not be made public now, but we are doing everything we can to save our people,” Zelenskyy said Friday.
The city was put in the international spotlight in early March with the bombing of a food hospital, an attack that Western leaders have described as a war crime. “The airstrike killed three civilians, including a child, leaving 17 wounded.
Later, 300 people died in a Russian air strike at the Mariupol Drama Theater, which was used as a shelter. It had the word “CHILDREN” printed in Russian in white letters on the sidewalk outside – a failed attempt to prevent an attack.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy continues to call for more external support for his country – including more and faster military aid, as well as an oil embargo against Russia.
It may determine, “how many more Ukrainians the occupiers have time to kill,” he said.
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Recent developments
► Russian forces resumed the scattered attacks on Kiev, western Ukraine and beyond on Saturday. One person was reportedly killed and several others injured in a missile strike that hit the Ukrainian capital Kiev early Saturday.
►The governor of the Kharkiv region says seven people, including a 7-month-old child, were killed in shelling of a residential area in the city.
► Russia and Ukraine on Saturday agreed on nine humanitarian corridors across several cities.
►President Joe Biden is not prepared to visit Ukraine, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told the podcast “Pod Save America” on Thursday.
Rocket attacks kill 1 in Kiev, says mayor
One person was killed and several others injured in a missile strike that hit the Ukrainian capital Kiev early Saturday. This was stated by Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko in a Telegram post.
“Our air defense forces are doing everything to protect us, but the enemy is invading and is ruthless,” he said. “It is no secret that one of the Russian generals has for several days stated that they are ready for missile attacks on the capital of Ukraine. And as we can see, they do. “
In an earlier statement on Ukrainian television, Klitschko said several people were hospitalized and doctors were “fighting for their lives.” He urged Kyiv residents to refrain from returning to the city if possible.
– She reads
Ukrainian official: More than 5 billion. USD in damage to the country’s education system
More than $ 5 billion in damage has happened to Ukraine’s education system since Russia first invaded in February, Ukraine’s education minister said.
Serhiy Shkarlet, Ukraine’s Minister of Education and Science, said on Friday that 91 educational institutions had been completely destroyed and 923 were partially damaged. Pravda Ukraine reported.
“It’s awful when children’s notebooks, school magazines, scientific material are lying around,” Shkarlet said. “It’s impossible to accept.”
A government program will be adopted to rebuild the country’s education system and brick-and-mortar institutions, Shkarlet added. About 1,018 educational institutions were damaged on Saturday, 95 of which were completely destroyed, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine
– She reads
Italian ambassador back in Kiev to open embassy
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Friday that Italy’s ambassador to Kiev is officially back in Ukraine’s capital.
“It is the symbol of an Italy that does not waste time, never stops believing in diplomacy and persistently seeks peace,” Di Maio tweeted Friday.
The Italian embassy in Kiev will reopen on Monday and be “fully operational,” Di Maio added.
The move comes after the EU resumed its diplomatic presence in Kiev earlier this month after withdrawing from the nation when Russia invaded in February.
– She reads
Russia bans Boris Johnson, other British officials from Russia
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and 12 other British officials has a ban on entering Russia, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday, citing “unprecedented hostilities” by the British government.
“The Russophobic course of the British authorities, whose main task is to incite a negative attitude towards our country, to reduce bilateral ties in almost all areas, is to the detriment of the people of Britain itself,” it reads. the Ministry’s statement. “Any sanction attack will inevitably hit their initiators and receive a decisive refusal.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed that Britain was “deliberately exacerbating the situation around Ukraine” by supplying Ukraine with weapons and coordinating with NATO and other Western allies to impose large-scale sanctions on Russia.
The ministry claimed that further British politicians “helping to whip up anti-Russian hysteria” would soon be added to the list of banned persons.
– She reads
Russian attacks resume on Kiev in western Ukraine
Russian forces resumed scattered attacks on Kiev, western Ukraine and further Saturday in an explosive reminder to Ukrainians and their western supporters that the entire country remains threatened despite Russia’s focal point towards launching a new offensive in the east.
The piece of the loss of its Black Sea flagship and indignant at what it claimed were Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, Russia’s military command had a day earlier warned of renewed attacks on Ukraine’s capital, saying it was aimed at military sites.
Associated Press reporters documented civilian deaths during strikes this week in the eastern city of Kharkiv, and every day brings new discoveries of civilian casualties in a war that has shattered European security.
In the Kyiv region alone, Ukrainian authorities have reported finding the bodies of more than 900 civilians, most of them shot and killed after Russian troops withdrew two weeks ago.
– Associated Press
Ukraine counts 400 COVID cases a day, says health minister
In the midst of the devastation of an invasion from Russia, Ukrainians are also trying to dodge COVID.
About 400 cases of COVID-19 are registered daily in Ukraine, says Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said in an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel TCH.
“COVID continues to be registered – not in such numbers (as before),” he said according to the Ukrainian news media Liga.net.
Lyashko explained that at the beginning of the war, about 4,000 cases were registered daily. The numbers have continued to fall since then. Still, about 2,900 patients are currently hospitalized because of COVID-19, he said.
The Minister of Health added that the scope of the nation’s COVID-19 statistics is limited by the ongoing war, noting that the eastern regions of Ukraine do not report figures, nor are they obliged to do so.
– She reads
9 humanitarian corridors agreed
Russia and Ukraine on Saturday agreed on nine humanitarian corridors across several cities.
Buses will transport evacuees from Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna, Hirske and Rubizhne to the northeastern city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced in a Telegram post.
In four other cities – Mariupol, Berdyansk, Tokmak and Energodar – evacuations to Zaporozhye, a city in southeastern Ukraine, can be done via personal transport. Vereshchuk said evacuation buses are unable to travel these routes due to weather conditions.
Vereshchuk added that evacuations from the Luhansk region are conditional on halting the ongoing Russian shelling.
– She reads
Russian holiday may mark key deadline in Ukraine
An upcoming national holiday in Russia could become an important milestone in the country’s invasion of Ukraine, a war that has been more difficult than the Kremlin had expected.
May 9 is Victory Day, marking Russia’s defeat to Nazi Germany in 1945 at the end of World War II. Officials in both Ukraine and the West see it as a date within which Russian President Vladimir Putin could target progress in the war.
The date – which marks the end of what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War – is one that has gained importance during Putin’s term “and has become a fundamental moment in the Kremlin’s policy on memory and Russian national identity,” said Hannah Chapman, assistant professor of political science. at Miami University.
The Kremlin has staged massive force demonstrations to mark the day with parades and other demonstrations of military force.
But not everyone agrees. Read more.
– Merdie Nzanga
More than 900 civilian bodies were found in the Kiev region, police chief said
The bodies of more than 900 civilians were discovered in the Kiev region after the withdrawal of Russian forces, the regional police chief said in a briefing on Friday.
Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyiv’s regional police force, said the bodies had been left on the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95% of the victims had died from sniper fire and gunshot wounds. He added that several bodies were found every day, under the rubble and in mass graves.
“As a result, we understand that during the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets,” Nebytov said. “The number of civilians killed has exceeded 900 – and I stress it is civilians whose bodies we have found and handed over for forensic examination.”
He added: “Most of the victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 bodies.”
According to Nebytov, supply workers in Bucha had collected and buried corpses in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Nebytov added that Russian troops “tracked down” people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.
The United States confirms that 2 Ukrainian missiles sank Russian flagship in the Black Sea
Two Ukrainian Neptune missiles hit the Russian missile cruiser Moscow, which later sank, according to a senior U.S. defender who was not authorized to speak in public.
Pentagon officials had previously said they could not confirm the Ukrainian claim, but they did not reject it either.
The warship Moscow, which has a history dating back to the days of the Cold War, sank in the Black Sea on Thursday in the latest battle against Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.
Losing the vessel, built in Ukraine during the Soviet era and named after the Russian capital, represents a military setback and symbolic defeat for Russia as its troops gather for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine after stumbling north.
– Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY; Associated Press
Starring: Associated Press