The night of the war at a glance
Hope for evacuation from Mariupol – Explosions rock Russian city of Belgorod
5/2/2022 6:54 am
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the successful evacuation of civilians from the heavily contested Plant Azovstal in the port city of Mariupol and hopes that the rescue operation will continue this Monday. While Selenskyj describes Russia’s war strategy as pointless, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov once again identifies the USA as the cause of all evil. Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to comment on the Russian attack on Ukraine tonight on ZDF.
Zelenskyi hopes that the evacuation from Mariupol will continue
“I hope that tomorrow (Monday) all the necessary conditions will be met to continue evacuating people from Mariupol,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video message on Sunday evening. “We will continue to do everything to evacuate our people from Azovstal and from Mariupol as a whole,” he said. A bus convoy brought around 100 civilians from the Azovstal steelworks, which was besieged by Russian soldiers, over the weekend. The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were also involved. According to Ukrainian sources, around 1,000 civilians are said to be trapped in the bunkers of the steelworks alone. Russia speaks of about 2,500 people, including military and foreign mercenaries.
Zelenskyj: Russia’s war strategy is a mystery
As a result of the Russian army’s invasion of his country, which has been going on for two months, Zelensky sees only losers on both sides. “The way they choose their targets proves once again that the war against Ukraine is a war of annihilation for the Russian army,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Sunday evening. In addition to the attacks on civilian objects and residential areas, grain stores and farms are now being destroyed. “What could be Russia’s strategic success in this war? To be honest, I don’t know,” said Zelenskyy. Destroyed people’s lives and burned or stolen property would do nothing for Russia. “It will only increase the toxicity of the Russian state and the number of those in the world working to isolate Russia.”
Reports: Russian attacks towards Zaporizhia repelled
According to their own statements, Ukrainian armed forces have repelled a number of Russian attacks in the direction of the large city of Zaporizhia in the south of the country and have stabilized the fronts south-east of the city. The Unian agency reported on Sunday evening, citing the regional civil and military administration, that the pause in fighting that has meanwhile occurred is being used to consolidate the defensive positions. Russian units had repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to encircle Ukrainian troops east of Zaporizhia.
Kyiv: Russian spy exposed in Ukrainian general staff
According to their own account, the Ukrainian security authorities also raised a ring of Russian agents. One of the spies even worked in the Ukrainian general staff, said Selenskyj’s adviser Oleksiy Arestovych at night, according to the Ukrinform agency. He did not provide any information about the exact number of members of the spy ring. However, Arestovych named one of their alleged goals. “These comrades should shoot down a passenger plane over Russia or Belarus and then blame Ukraine,” he said. Anti-aircraft missiles from Ukrainian stocks should therefore be used for this action.
Explosions rock Russian city of Belgorod
The southern Russian city of Belgorod, not far from the border with Ukraine, was shaken by two heavy explosions on Monday night. So far there have been no reports of damage or casualties, said Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, according to the Russian state agency TASS. However, there are reports on social media of lightning in the sky. Video footage and reports of alleged Ukrainian drones over Belgorod and the use of regional anti-aircraft defenses were circulated on Twitter, the authenticity of which could not initially be independently confirmed. Reports of alleged attacks by the Ukrainian military on targets in Russia have been mounting for days.
Lavrov: NATO and the EU have accepted Washington’s supremacy
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, NATO and the EU have apparently come to terms with the fact that the United States is in charge on the international stage. Lavrov said so on Sunday evening in an interview with the Italian TV company Mediaset, which was also distributed by Tass. He was convinced that all countries were of the opinion that one should only listen to the USA. “And both NATO and the European Union have come to terms with the fact that their ‘landlord’ is based in Washington,” Lavrov said. “And in Washington they decided that the world must now be monopolar, they talk about it all the time.” In the interview, Lavrov accused both the US and Canada of being responsible for training “neo-Nazi detachments” that found their way into the ranks of the Ukrainian army. By this Lavrov was primarily referring to the “Azov” regiment, whose remaining fighters were entrenched in the Azovstal plant in the port city of Mariupol.
Baerbock: Without heavy weapons, the suffering of the Ukrainians would be greater
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock defended the German government’s decision to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine. “We also bear responsibility for inaction,” said the Green politician on Sunday evening on the ARD program “Anne Will”. “If we had made the decision now that we would not deliver any more weapons, no heavy weapons, then we would put more places in Ukraine in the hands of the Russian President. (…) If we didn’t do anything, that would be it The suffering of the Ukrainians is much, much worse.”
This will be important today:
- Chancellor Olaf Scholz will comment on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The SPD politician is a guest on the ZDF program “Was nun, ….?” at 7.20 p.m. in the evening.
- At a special meeting in Brussels, the energy ministers of the EU states are discussing how to deal with Russia’s freeze on gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. The talks should focus in particular on the question of security of supply.