Summary of the Events of the Day
The situation on the ground hardly changed, but Russia continues to pummel Ukraine from the air.
Battle for the Donbas (Donetsk, Luhansk, Mariupol)
Luhansk – The campaign to take Severodonetsk by tomorrow (Russian Victory Day) has been thwarted but Russia was able to inch a little closer towards that goal by entering the outskirts of Nyzhnye. Sixteen residential buildings were damaged from Rubizhne, Severodonetsk, and Lysychansk. Eleven people are trapped under the rubble of one two-story apartment building.
Siversky Donets – To the north, Russian forces were held back even though they have superior ground and air troops. The only gain was entering Shandryholove placing that town into street fighting. The heaviest fighting was against Oleksandrivka, but Ukrainian forces held their ground. Russian forces attempted to build a pontoon bridge over the Siversky Donetsk River just north of Siversky but were ambushed by Ukrainian forces.
On Saturday Russia had bombed a school Bilohorivka where ninety Ukrainian families with children had taken shelter during the shelling of their city. Thirty people were rescued but it is believed that the sixty remaining under the rubble are dead.
Donetsk – Russian forces attempted to break through Ukrainian defense lines at Novomykhailivka and Novoselivka, but both attempts were repelled.
Mariupol – Russia continues to bomb the Azovstal steel mill where the remaining few hundred Ukrainian soldiers of the brave Azov National Guard are holed up underground. They only have a few days of food left, but they are determined not to allow Russia to claim victory over Mariupol on Victory Day tomorrow.
The commander of the 36th Brigade of Ukrainian Marines Volodymyr Baranyuk decided to flee the Azovstal steel mill with several of his Marines. He stole some tanks, armored vehicles, and ammunition in the attempt. But he and his men were captured by Russian troops. This leaves the brave men of the Azov National Guard alone in defending the steel mill.
Battle for Southern Ukraine (Mykolaiv, Kherson, Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhia, and Odesa)
Russia continues to shell Ukrainian forces and civilians all along the defense line, as well as shelling residential homes in Mykolaiv and Odesa. Three missiles were fired on Odesa. One was shot down and the other two hit residential buildings, but there were no casualties.
Satellite images reveal that Russia is moving their anti-missile systems from Crimea up to Kherson.
Battle for Kharkiv
Russia shelled recently liberated Tsirkuny and showed they could still hit the outskirts of Kharkiv from their positions just over the Siversky Donetsk River. Five civilians were killed in the shelling. Satellite images also showed Russia is building defensive trenches near Kozacha Lopan 30 miles north of Kharkiv.
Other Regions
Ukraine again attacked Zmiinyi (Snake) Island with military drones destroying a Russian helicopter as troops were dismounting.
Russia continues to fire rockets at communities in the Sumy region. One missile destroyed a Jewish cemetery.
International Support
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Kyiv in support of Ukraine and saw the atrocities committed by Russian troops on the community of Irpin. He was shocked to see the carnage done to residential buildings. He later said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was guilty of “heinous war crimes” as he reopened the Canadian embassy in Kyiv.
The U.S. reopened its embassy in Kyiv.
U.S. First Lady Jill Biden met with Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska in our fair city of Uzhhorod appropriately on Mother’s Day. The two women visited an IDP center (unfortunately, not one of our eleven centers) at a local elementary school.
The G7 club of wealthy nations – U.S., Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan – had their third meeting of the year via videoconference and invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to participate (it used to be called the G8, but Russia has now been evicted from the club). They made a joint statement to phase out their dependency on Russian fuel without any details on how they will do that. The U.S. has already banned all importation of Russian fuel products. They also condemned Russia President Putin for bringing “shame” on Russia due to its aggression against Ukraine.
The U.S. has expanded their sanctions against Russia. They added another 2,600 people to the sanction list including several Russian bank presidents. The new sanctions bans all U.S. companies from purchasing advertising in Russian media or selling them equipment to stop all financing of Russian propaganda. All financial services have been banned for Russian companies to stop helping Russian companies to get around sanctions. And several items were banned from being exported to Russia such as bulldozers, ventilation systems, and boilers.
Britain pledged another $1.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine, the most they have spent since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Taiwan expanded their sanctions against exporting high tech equipment to also include Belarus.
Bono gave a concert in Kyiv in support of Ukraine.