Russia Targets Odesa With Missile Attacks – Latest Ukraine
Ukrainian leaders warn that attacks will only get worse before Russia’s Victory Day
Russian forces have continued to attack southern Ukraine, hitting the main Black Sea port of Odesa with cruise missiles.
The shelling of the Azovstal steel plant on the Mariupol coast, where Ukrainian warplanes are still trapped underground, continues, but civilians have now been evacuated.
Moscow is aiming to complete its conquest of Mariupol in time for Victory Day celebrations on Monday (May 9,), but its forces continue to face resistance from defenders in the bunker below the factory.
The United Nations also confirmed that a humanitarian corridor outside the supported city of Mariupol has reopened, with the first group of evacuees removed from the site on Sunday.
After rescuers evacuated the last of the civilians on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address that the focus would shift to rescuing injured and medical people from the steel plant. .
He added that work would continue on Sunday to secure humanitarian corridors for the people of Mariupol and surrounding towns to leave.
Ukraine’s leaders warn that the attacks will only get worse before Victory Day, which is when Russia celebrates the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 with military parades.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to want to declare some kind of victory in Ukraine when he addresses troops in Red Square on Monday.
Dozens of people are also feared dead after a bomb hit a school in eastern Ukraine, where government forces are battling Russian troops and separatists.
The governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, confirmed two deaths, saying that 60 people feared died under the rubble of the school in Bilohorivka.
He said about 90 people had taken shelter in the building, with 30 rescued and seven of them injured after a Russian plane dropped a bomb on Saturday.
However, his accusations could not be independently verified and there was no immediate response from Russia.
- Diplomatic efforts are underway to try to rescue the wounded from the besieged Azovstal steel mills in Mariupol.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky holds talks with G7 leaders – including US President Joe Biden and UK’s Boris Johnson – today via video conference.
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Here are the latest updates on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Latest updates: Sunday, May 8, 2022, 11:44
Russian Victory Day Explanation
Victory Day is Russia’s central national holiday and is of constant importance to ordinary Russians, many of whom carry portraits of their loved ones who fought in the war.
While the annual event has always been a mix of pride and patriotism for the Kremlin, this year there were also concerns about what President Vladimir Putin might say, out of a desire to make progress. military during his brutal invasion of Ukraine.
From the outset of the conflict, Victory Day on May 9 was central to Russia, even as Moscow understood well that a quick victory was unlikely against Ukraine’s stiff defenses.
Fierce battle at the Mariupol . steel plant
Ukraine’s military says it has recaptured areas to the south and repelled Russian attacks in the east as fighting rages at a steel mill in Mariupol – where Ukrainian troops have been hiding in the mountains. tunnels and bunkers to fend off the onslaught of Russia.
Ukrainian fighters held out at the vast Azovstal steel plant – the last stronghold in the city controlled by Moscow’s forces.
“With the support of aircraft, the enemy continued the attack to gain control of the plant,” the General Staff of the Ukrainian army said on Thursday.
Video posted on social media on Wednesday night shows Russian air strikes on the steel plant.
Ursula von der Leyen: ‘We will make sure we get rid of Russian oil in an orderly way’
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said ending the EU’s dependence on Russian oil “will not be easy but we simply have to do it”.
This would be an outright import ban on all Russian oil, sea and pipeline, crude and refined oil.
We will ensure that we remove Russian oil in an orderly manner, in a way that allows us and our partners to secure alternative supply routes and minimize the impact on the global market.
Mariupol evacuees ‘talk about the hell they’ve been through’
Osnat Lubrani, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said evacuees from the besieged city of Mariupol spoke of the “hell” they had experienced in the city.
Over the past few days, accompanying the displaced people, I have heard mothers, children and elderly grandparents talk about the sufferings of day-to-day life under the relentless barrage of shelling and fear. fear of death, along with shortages of water, food, and sanitation.
They talk about the hell they’ve been through since this war started, seek refuge in the Azovstal factory, many of them separated from family members whose fate they still don’t know.
PM: threatening or attacking British diplomats in Ukraine is ‘absolutely not understandable’
Boris Johnson has said that any threats or attacks against British diplomats in Ukraine are “absolutely not understandable”.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain program about the UK’s ambassador, the Prime Minister said: “I am proud of our diplomats in Ukraine and Melinda Simmons, who will return to open the embassy and she He has done an amazing job.”
Mr Johnson added that threats to British diplomats were “absolutely not a trivial thing” and “there is no justification for it”.
He said the UK was “leading the world in helping Ukrainians defend themselves against barbaric, barbaric aggression” and later added that the UK had also “coordinated the world”. in coming up with a very tough economic sanctions package.”
“We are not saying that we do this to promote some geopolitical change or lead to some outcome in Moscow,” he said.
“What we care about is the Ukrainian people and their suffering. It is completely unjustifiable for a free country like Ukraine to be overwhelmed and wiped out as it has been.”
PM: ‘This is Ukraine’s finest hour, an epic chapter in your national story’
Boris Johnson will address the Kyiv parliament today, where he is expected to say:
“As my country faced the threat of invasion during the Second World War, our Parliament, like yours, continued to meet throughout the conflict, and the British people were able to show such solidarity and determination that we remember that the moment of greatest danger is our best hour.
“This is Ukraine’s greatest hour, an epic chapter in your national story that will be remembered and told for generations to come.
“Your descendants will say that the Ukrainians have taught the world that the brute force of an aggressor is worth nothing against the moral force of a people determined to be free.”
Russian football teams continue to be banned from participating in UEFA competitions
Russian football clubs and the national team have suffered more sanctions from football body UEFA.
The country will be banned from competing in the women’s Euro 2022 tournament this summer as the invasion of Ukraine continues.
Teams at club level will also continue to be banned from UEFA competitions next season, after they were excluded from this year’s ongoing competitions “until further notice”.
UEFA has also confirmed that Russian bids to host the Euro 2028 or 2032 men’s tournaments are currently ineligible.
Lavrov’s comments on Israel’s Hitler are said to be ‘unforgivable’
Israel has attacked Russia over its foreign minister’s “unforgivable” comments about Nazism and anti-Semitism – including claims that Adolf Hitler was Jewish.
Israel, which summoned the Russian ambassador in response, said the remarks blamed the Jews for their own murder during the Holocaust.
It marks a sharp deterioration in relations between the two countries at a time when Israel seeks to remain neutral between Russia and Ukraine due to its security needs in the Middle East.
What did Sergei Lavrov say?
When asked in an interview with an Italian news channel about Russia’s claim that it invaded Ukraine to “denuclearize” the country, Sergei Lavrov said that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements right away. even if some figures, including the country’s president, are Jewish.
“So when they said ‘How can Nazi Germany survive if we are Jews?’ In my opinion, Hitler is also of Jewish origin, so it doesn’t make absolute sense. For a while, we’ve heard the Jews say that the biggest opposers are the Jews,” he said, speaking to the station in Russian, voiced by an Italian translation.
Israel’s response
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Mr Lavrov’s statement “unforgivable, scandalous and a terrible historical mistake”.
“The Jews did not commit suicide during the Holocaust,” Mr. Lapid said. “The lowest level of racism against Jews is to blame the Jews themselves for anti-Semitism.”
Other accounts from Mariupol . evacuees
While official evacuations have often stalled, many people have sought to flee Mariupol in recent weeks.
Others could not escape.
“People who don’t have cars can’t leave. They are desperate,” said Olena Gibert, who was among those who arrived at the UN-backed reception center in Zaporizhzhia.
“You need to go get them. Humans have nothing. We have nothing. “
Anastasiia Dembytska, who took advantage of the brief ceasefire surrounding the evacuation of civilians from the steel mill to leave with her daughter, grandson and dog, told the AP news agency (AP) her family lives survive by cooking on a makeshift stove and drinking well water.
She said she could see the steel mill from her window, when she dared to look out.
“We could see rockets flying and clouds of smoke covering the factory,” she said.
Ukraine claims to have destroyed two Russian ships
A Ukrainian drone destroyed two Russian patrol boats in the Black Sea, the head of Ukraine’s military said.
Chief of the General Staff Valeriy Zaluzhniy said: “Two Russian Raptor-class ships were destroyed at dawn this morning near Zmiinyi (Snake) Island.
Ukraine’s military has released unverified drone footage showing two ships being targeted by aerial missiles while on patrol.
https://www.nationalworld.com/news/world/ukraine-war-russia-mariupol-azovstal-odesa-3583546 Russia Targets Odesa With Missile Attacks – Latest Ukraine
