Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: the point on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
– G7 pledge to stop importing Russian oil –
“The entire G7 is committed to banning or phasing out imports of Russian oil,” the White House announced on Sunday. The G7 held its third meeting of the year by videoconference on Sunday in the presence of the Ukrainian president. However, it does not specify the exact commitments of each country (Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom).
– Putin covers Russia with “shame” (G7) –
The actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine “cover Russia and the historic sacrifices of its people with shame”, the G7 countries were indignant.
– Embargo on Russian oil: no unanimity of the 27 –
Negotiations between the 27 states of the European Union will resume at the beginning of the week to remove the obstacles to the proposed European embargo on Russian oil, which several member states oppose. The ambassadors of the 27 failed to agree on Sunday on the sixth round of sanctions against Moscow presented on Wednesday by the European Commission.
This project, which requires the unanimity of the 27, provides for an embargo on Russian oil by the end of the year. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that this Brussels project “undermines” the unity of the European Union.
– 60 missing in the bombing of a school –
Sixty people are missing after the bombing on Saturday of a school where they were taking refuge in the Lugansk region in eastern Ukraine, the regional governor said on Sunday.
The village of “Bilogorivka suffered an airstrike. The bombs hit the school and, unfortunately, it was completely destroyed,” he said on Telegram. “There were a total of 90 people. 27 were saved (…) Sixty people who were in the school are most likely dead”.
– Mariupol: the entrenched refuse to capitulate –
The Ukrainian soldiers entrenched for many weeks in the underground galleries of the huge Azovstal steelworks announced on Sunday that they ruled out surrendering.
It is the last bastion of resistance against the Russians in the devastated port of Mariupol, in the south-east of Ukraine.
“Surrender is not an option because Russia is not interested in our life. They don’t care about leaving us alive,” a Ukrainian intelligence officer said from the basements of the industrial site. “We will fight until the best outcome of this situation.”
– Putin: “As in 1945, victory will be ours” –
In his wishes of May 8, Vladimir Putin assured that “as in 1945, victory will be ours”, multiplying the comparisons between the Second World War and the conflict in Ukraine. “Today, our servicemen, like their ancestors, are fighting shoulder to shoulder for the liberation of their native land from Nazi filth, with the confidence that, as in 1945, victory will be ours.”
– Jill Biden and Justin Trudeau in Ukraine –
US First Lady Jill Biden met in Ukraine with the Ukrainian President’s wife, Olena Zelenska, at a school near the Slovakian border. “I wanted to come for Mother’s Day. I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop,” she said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Irpin, a town on the outskirts of kyiv devastated by intense fighting.
These two visits had been kept secret.
– Bono in the kyiv metro –
Irish singer Bono praised Ukraine’s fight for “freedom” during a concert on Sunday at a kyiv metro station.
From the platform of a station, he sang the classics of his group U2, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” or “Desire”, while air raid sirens sounded in the Ukrainian capital.
Ukraine claims to have destroyed a Russian warship
The Ukrainian Navy claims to have destroyed a Russian warship near the small Snake Island in the Black Sea, which has become a symbol of resistance to the Russian offensive.
The Serna, a fast landing ship with a carrying capacity of 45 tons, was hit by a drone, she said on Facebook. Moscow did not confirm the information.
Moscow prepares for May 9 parade
Final rehearsals took place on Saturday before the traditional military parade on May 9 in Moscow celebrating the victory over Nazi Germany, which will be the occasion for a show of force in the middle of the struggling Ukraine campaign. Russian President Vladimir Putin will have another opportunity to issue warnings, after Russia has repeatedly brandished the nuclear threat.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the “plane of the Apocalypse”, an Ilyushin Il-80 specially designed to allow the president to rule the country from the air in the event of nuclear war, will fly over Red Square. Several pieces of equipment capable of firing nuclear missiles, such as the Iars RS-24 intercontinental ballistic system and the shorter-range Iskander system, will also be paraded.