Assault on Azovstal continues and attacks intensify in Donbas as Ukraine claims it has disabled a second Russian ship
The Kremlin assured this Friday that on Monday there will be “many Russians” in Mariupol, but denied that it intends to organize a celebration for Victory Day, which is celebrated in Russia in a special way to commemorate the defeat of the Nazis in World War II. . “There will come a time when there will be a big celebration here,” said government spokesman Dmitri Peskov, noting that an official visit to the besieged city is also not planned. “No doubt there will be Russians there, many, on May 9, but I have not heard from any delegation,” he stressed.
Without naming him, Peskov thus rejected the persistent rumor spread by the Ukrainian authorities and some Western countries that Moscow wants to end the Mariupol resistance before Monday to present it as a victory over Ukraine during the national holiday. Even some Kiev media have ventured that the invading Army could parade the imprisoned Ukrainian soldiers through the streets. Other sources believe, however, that the Kremlin would not need any symbolism since it already considers this large coastal enclave taken for weeks. strategic value.
This, despite the fighting that continues in the Azovstal factory, whose virulence indicates that it will last beyond this weekend. In any case, kyiv does not rule out that the Russian troops organize some kind of triumphal celebration in this and other conquered cities.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis worsens in the fenced-in factory subjected to fierce fighting, where two hundred civilians still remain. At the same time that the UN tried new ‘in extremis’ evacuations this Friday -a bus with only twelve people even left in the face of the threat of bombs-, the Ukrainian forces denounced a new boycott by the Russians of their announced truce of two days -this Friday and this Saturday- with an attack on a passenger transport vehicle. The van was hit by a missile, which killed one soldier and injured six others.
Mariupol is being “devastated”, which is an “example of how torture and hunger are used as weapons of war”, denounced Volódimir Zelenski, president of a country where Russian artillery and aviation continue to wreak havoc and terror of the population. The punishment, which has wiped out a large part of the Ukrainian Army’s logistics infrastructure throughout the entire territory, has struck in the last twenty-four hours in Kharkiv, Kherson and, in general, the Donbas region, with continuous “bombing on the positions of the Ukrainian troops in the direction of Liman”, according to local commanders. Of particular concern is the situation of the 300 wounded admitted to the hospital in the city of Kupiansk, which is also the scene of frequent attacks and where the cut in supply lines would have prevented the arrival of medicines.
A ‘Neptune’ missile
Experts on this war crisis find great similarities between the strategy that Russia is carrying out in the south and east of Ukraine with the one it deployed at the time on the outskirts of kyiv: constant bombardments taking advantage of its artillery and air superiority to the detriment of an offensive ground on a large scale, despite the fact that this Friday it moved two battalions from Mariúpol to other areas of the east. The tactic could respond to a plan to apply a war of attrition against the Ukrainian troops, in the belief that international support will decrease as the conflict drags on.
The latest shipment of weapons was announced on Friday by Germany, which will supply the kyiv government with seven modern heavy self-propelled howitzers ‘Panzerhaubitzen 2000’ and will begin training next week for the soldiers responsible for their future handling.
Whether this or another is Moscow’s strategy, the damage to its war machine does not cease. Ukraine reported this Friday that one of its ‘Neptune’ missiles hit a Russian frigate near Snake Island. It is the ‘Admiral Makarov’, the most modern ship of her class, equipped with 32 missiles, artillery guns and torpedoes, which has been sought by Ukrainian drones for weeks. After the crash, the ship would have caught fire and, according to the kyiv version, several Russian helicopters went to it to evacuate the crew.
The Kremlin did not confirm this attack, which would be the second effective against the Black Sea Fleet after the destruction of the ‘Moskva’ a few weeks ago. In this regard, the ‘New York Times’ revealed that the information provided by EE II Intelligence would have helped destroy the cruiser, as well as the shooting down of a Russian troop transport plane at the Hostomel airport. The Pentagon later rejected this information and denied that it was aware of the intentions to sink the ship, “a decision in which we were not involved.”
Transnistria calls for its independence to be recognized
The president of Transnistria, Vadim Krasnoselski, demanded this Friday the “peaceful” recognition and “through the negotiating table” of the independence of this Moldovan separatist region. The leader made this call in the midst of the escalation of the war in neighboring Ukraine, although he warned that “the process must be exclusively democratic, without hostilities or losses,” he said in a message on Telegram. “How many times have I asked the question about whether recognition through war and bloodshed or a peaceful life without being recognized by the international community is preferable? asked Krasnoselski, for whom “the answer is obvious.” “Transnistria will be recognized, but peacefully, through dialogue.” “Nobody wants a war. There is no need to fan the flames with provocations.”, concluded the leader, who asked the authorities of Moldova and Ukraine to make “balanced decisions” so as not to increase tensions and deplored that the Moldovan Army had organized maneuvers along its border .
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