live blog
Russia confirms the evacuation of more than 1,600 people from the areas around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The EU apparently wants to sanction Chinese companies for exports to Russia. All developments in the live blog.
Poland’s government has criticized the maneuver of a Russian fighter jet, which according to information from Warsaw is said to have approached a Polish aircraft dangerously, as a provocation. With such actions, Moscow wants to distract from its military failures in the war of aggression against Ukraine and to impress its own people, government spokesman Piotr Müller told the public broadcaster TVP today.
On Friday, according to Poland’s border guards, a Russian fighter jet approached a Polish plane that was flying over the Black Sea on a patrol flight for the EU border protection agency Frontex. The Russian Su-35 fighter plane carried out “aggressive and dangerous manoeuvres”. The crew of the Polish machine temporarily lost control of the turboprop aircraft due to the turbulence that had been triggered, which had dropped in altitude, it said. The incident occurred in international airspace within the operational area designated by Romania. Over the Black Sea, EU and NATO aircraft and Russian jets repeatedly approach each other.
On May 8, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed confidence in his country’s victory over Russia. “We will win,” said the Ukrainian head of state today on the occasion of the international commemoration of the Allied victory over the German Reich in World War II. “All the old evil that modern Russia is bringing back will be defeated in the same way that Nazism was defeated.” Kiev will also liberate the territories occupied by Moscow, Zelenskyy said in a speech recorded in front of the Kiev Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II and distributed online. The contribution of the Ukrainian people to the victory over National Socialism will “never be forgotten,” Zelenskyy said.
At the same time, Zelenskyi presented a draft law that would officially move the commemoration of the German capitulation to May 8th. This distinguishes Ukraine from war opponent Russia, where “Victory Day” is not celebrated until May 9th.
According to the Ukrainian military, the intensified Russian attacks have again caused casualties among the population. “Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded civilians,” explains the general staff in its daily situation report. In the night alone there were 16 rocket attacks, mainly on the cities of Kharkiv, Cherson, Mykolaiv and the Odessa region. All drone attacks were repelled, the military said. In total, Russia attacked various parts of Ukraine with 35 Iranian-made drones.
Dark green: Russian army advancing. Hatched: areas annexed by Russia.
The European Union (EU) is targeting Chinese companies over exports to Russia that could be used to manufacture weapons, according to a newspaper report. “Seven Chinese companies are listed in a new sanctions package,” reports the Financial Times newspaper, citing a copy of the sanctions list that is due to be discussed by EU member states this week. The measures should therefore target companies that supply technology and materials to Russia that could be used to manufacture weapons. According to the Reuters news agency, the EU has not yet issued a statement.
According to the report, the sanctions list includes two Chinese companies, 3HC Semiconductors and King-Pai Technology, as well as five Hong Kong companies: Sinno Electronics, Sigma Technology, Asia Pacific Links, Tordan Industry and Alpha Trading Investments. Some of the firms, such as electronic components maker King-Pai, have already been sanctioned by the US for being a China-based supplier to several companies in Russia’s intertwined military-industrial complex.
If such sanctions are imposed, mutual relations would deteriorate, the Foreign Ministry said in a first statement. China will then take decisive action to protect its interests.
At least five people have been injured in Russian airstrikes on Kiev, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko – three in explosions in Kiev’s Solomjanskyj district, two more from drone debris that fell on a two-storey building in Sviatoshyn district. The attacks continued, he wrote on Telegram.
Reuters eyewitnesses report numerous explosions in Kiev. Local authorities say the air defense systems repelled the attacks.
Russia has confirmed the evacuations from the areas around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. About 1,679 people, including 660 children, were taken from the areas surrounding the nuclear power plant to the temporary accommodation center in Berdyansk, the Moscow-installed governor of the Russian-controlled part of the Zaporizhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, said on his Telegram channel. Berdyansk is a southeastern Ukrainian port city on the Azov Sea.
According to Ukrainian military reports, Russia is stepping up shelling of Bakhmut in order to capture the city by Tuesday. After a visit to the front line in Bakhmut, Ukrainian commander of ground forces Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russian forces had intensified shelling of the city with heavy weapons, were using more modern equipment and redeploying their troops.
The Russians still hope to capture the city by May 9th. Our job is to thwart this.
The Ukrainian armed forces would do everything to prevent this. “Today it is important to make decisions as quickly as possible and to anticipate the actions of the enemy.” May 9 is Victory Day in Russia, marked with a military parade in Moscow marking the victory over Nazi Germany.
According to Ukrainian sources, Russia is again attacking the Black Sea city of Odessa and the capital Kiev. “There was an enemy missile attack,” writes Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the region’s military administration, on his Telegram channel. An explosion was heard after a rocket attack.
Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne reports a fire following an explosion in Odessa and the sound of explosions in Kherson. Air raid alarm went off in Kyiv. “The air defense is working in the outskirts of Kiev,” announced the Kiev military administration on its Telegram channel shortly after midnight.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
According to Kiev, Russian troops are evacuating the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhia region. According to Ukrainian sources, fighting is intensifying near the nuclear power plant located there. All developments in the live blog to read.