Attack on Azovstal continues and attacks in Donbas increase as Ukraine claims it knocked out second Russian ship
The Kremlin assured this Friday that there will be “a lot of Russians” in Mariupol on Monday, but denied that it plans to organize a celebration for Victory Day, which is celebrated in Russia in a special way to mark the defeat of the Nazis. Commemorate World War II. “There will come a time when there will be a big celebration here,” government spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, noting that an official visit to the besieged city is also not planned. “There will undoubtedly be many Russians on May 9, but I have not heard from any delegation,” he emphasized.
Without naming him, Peskov thereby dismissed the persistent rumor spread by the Ukrainian authorities and some Western countries that Moscow wants to end the Mariupol resistance before Monday in order to present it as a victory over Ukraine during the national holiday. . Even some media in Kiev have risked that the invading army could parade the captured Ukrainian soldiers through the streets. Other sources, however, believe that the Kremlin does not need any symbolism as it has viewed this large coastal enclave as a strategic asset for weeks.
This is despite the fighting that continues at the Azovstal factory, whose virulence indicates it will last beyond this weekend. In any case, Kiev does not exclude the possibility that the Russian troops organize some kind of triumphal celebration in these and other conquered cities.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis worsens in the fenced factory where fighting is fierce and where 200 civilians are still there. At the same time as the UN attempted new “in extremis” evacuations this Friday – a bus carrying only 12 people left even in the face of the bomb threat – Ukrainian armed forces denounced another boycott by the Russians of their announced two-day ceasefire. -this Friday and this Saturday- with an attack on a passenger car. The van was hit by a rocket, killing one soldier and injuring six others.
Mariupol is being “devastated”, which is an “example of how torture and starvation are used as weapons of war,” said Volódimir Zelensky, president of a country where Russian artillery and aviation devastate and terrify the population. The punishment, which wiped out much of the Ukrainian army’s logistics infrastructure throughout the territory, has struck Kharkov, Kherson and, in general, the Donbas region over the past twenty-four hours, with constant “bombing of the positions of Ukrainian troops towards Liman,” said local commanders. Of particular concern is the situation of the 300 injured who have been hospitalized in the city of Kupiansk, which is also regularly attacked and which is said to have prevented the supply of medicines.
Experts on this war crisis find great similarities between Russia’s strategy in the south and east of Ukraine and the strategy it was deploying at the time on the outskirts of Kiev: constant bombardments that take advantage of its artillery and air superiority at the expense of an offensive terrain on a large scale, despite the fact that it moved two battalions from Mariúpol to other areas in the east this Friday. The tactic could respond to a plan to wage a war of attrition against Ukrainian forces, believing international support will dwindle as the conflict continues.
The latest shipment of weapons was announced Friday by Germany, which will provide the Kiev government with seven modern heavy self-propelled howitzers “Panzerhaubitzen 2000” and begin training the soldiers responsible for their future management next week.
Whether this or another of Moscow’s strategy, the damage to its war machine does not stop there. 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 in its class, equipped with 32 missiles, artillery guns and torpedoes, which has been sought after by Ukrainian drones for weeks. After the crash, the ship is said to have caught fire and, according to the Kiev version, several Russian helicopters went there to evacuate the crew.
The Kremlin has not confirmed this attack, which would be the second effective one against the Black Sea Fleet after the destruction of the ‘Moskva’ a few weeks ago. In this regard, the New York Times revealed that information from EE II Intelligence allegedly aided in destroying the cruiser, as well as shooting down a Russian troop transport plane at Hostomel airport. The Pentagon later rejected this information, denying that it was aware of any intentions to sink the ship, “a decision in which we were not involved.”
Transnistria’s President Vadim Krasnoselski on Friday demanded “peaceful” recognition and “through the negotiating table” of the independence of this Moldovan separatist region. The leader made this appeal amid the escalation of the war in neighboring Ukraine, though he warned that “the process must be exclusively democratic, without hostilities or losses,” he said in a Telegram message. asked the question whether recognition through war and bloodshed or a peaceful life without recognition by the international community is preferable?, asked Krasnoselski, for whom “the answer is clear.” “Transnistria will be recognized, but peacefully, through dialogue.” “No one wants war. There is no need to fan the flames with provocations,” concluded the leader, asking the authorities of Moldova and Ukraine to make “balanced decisions” so as not to increase tensions and regretted that the Moldovan military maneuvers along the border.
Source: La Verdad
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