Despite Russian atrocities in Bucha, Mariupol and other cities, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is still ready to talk to Vladimir Putin. According to reports from the BBC, the Ukrainian President told Polish media. Zelenskyy said he wanted to meet with President Putin because in Russia “one man decides everything”. According to the Ukrainian leader, the risk of the negotiations with Moscow collapsing is high because “after Bucha and Mariupol, people just want to kill them. At the same time, he added: “If there is only one way, we should talk.”
Time has been lost in the bunkers and tunnels of the Azov Valley. On the faces of hundreds of civilians trapped under the steelworks, the pallor of 65 days spent under siege and never seeing the light of the sun, and the fear of what is turning into a slow and long torment transformed. How long, how long does it take to wait for the last few hours, during which signals have arrived from Kyiv that give hope for a turnaround at the end of the nightmare. To fuel this hope, the staff of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke the day after the visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Gueterres to the capital, spoke of an upcoming operation to evacuate the now exhausted elderly, women, children and families with the supplies of food and water are almost running out. Even if everything falls silent over time, with fears that this is another announcement that has remained dead letter, as with the many humanitarian corridors that have never been opened in Mariupol. Not even the resistance leaders, barricaded in the plant’s basement, claim to know the details of the alleged evacuation plan, referring only to a mission that took off from the capital and first arrived in nearby Zaporizhia. Although, according to reports on Moscow state television Rossiya 24, the family of three of a plant operator managed to get out of the plant and regain freedom in the evening. However, to quell the enthusiasm, news also stifled the news that Russian soldiers had again sealed off an area of Mariupol north of the steel mill, a move that would portend a new massive attack. At least the fear of Petro Andrushchenko, adviser to the mayor of the city martyrs of that war, has been completely shattered and that the High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell has defined a new Aleppo, “the Aleppo of Europe”. “The risks of completely ending any dialogue with the Russians are very high”: reports Ukrainska Pravda – said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an interview with Polish media. According to Zelenskyy, the negotiation process with Moscow representatives is proceeding “very slowly”.
FEAR IN Kyiv
The West is concerned about yesterday’s Russian attack on Kyiv: five rockets fired during the visit of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres damaged a 25-story apartment building and injured at least ten people. Explosions hit the Podil district in the city center in a slap in the face to diplomatic peace efforts two days before the face-to-face meeting between the United Nations chief and Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. Guterres said he was “shocked”, Zelenskyy spoke of an attempt to “humiliate the UN”, Di Maio said on Twitter that it was “a new escalation that causes great concern. This war must be stopped immediately. Full support for the Ukrainian people.” , stop condemning Putin’s war”. The military administration in Kyiv has urged women with small children and the elderly not to return to the city, Ukrainska Pravda reports, citing an appeal on Telegram. “The threat to Kyiv has not disappeared, and yesterday’s rocket attacks are proof of that. Given the recent events related to the fires in the oil depots, the detonation of ammunition depots in Russia, as well as the rhetoric of Putin’s propagandists, we can say that the threat has increased. We ask not to return to students, women with small children and the elderly!” the appeal reads. “Vladimir Putin should not be invited to the G20”. The speaker of PentagonJohn Kirby, in an interview with CNN. “Putin has isolated Russia, he has to pay for the consequences of what he did and is doing,” he told Ukraine. Today the Indonesian Presidency announced that it has invited Russian and Ukrainian Presidents Zelenskyy to the summit of heads of state and government to be held in Bali in November.
FIREWORKS IN ODESSA
A tightened curfew is being imposed in Odessa to mark the eighth anniversary of the massacre at the House of Trade Unions, which left more than 40 dead. This was announced by the first deputy interior minister, Yevhen Yenin, according to UNIAN agency reports, “to prevent provocations”. During the curfew, which begins at 10 p.m. on Sunday, May 1st and ends at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, May 3rd, driving on the street and in other public places without special permits and certificates is prohibited. In the Odessa Trade Union House fire on May 2, 2014, many pro-Russian demonstrators died after violent armed clashes with supporters of the new Ukrainian course. Every year on May 2nd there were several initiatives to commemorate the victims.
VOLUNTEERS CAUGHT
Two British volunteers providing humanitarian aid in Ukraine were captured by the Russian army. This was reported by the humanitarian organization Presidium Network, quoted by the BBC. The two were arrested on Monday at a checkpoint near the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia. It is believed that they worked independently but were in contact with the Presidium Network. Organization co-founder Dominic Byrne said the two workers were attempting to evacuate a Ukrainian family and at one point the waiting civilians received strange messages from the phone of one of the two British citizens. Two hours later, Russian soldiers stormed the family home and questioned them on how they came into contact with the volunteers, claiming they were spies. A US citizen who fought as a contractor alongside Ukrainian forces, Willy Joseph Cancel, was killed in Ukraine this week. CNN reports, citing the young man’s family. The 22-year-old worked for a private military company and was killed on Monday. The company sent him to Ukraine and the young man is being paid to fight, Cancel’s mother, Rebecca Cabrera, explains. When the war in Ukraine started, he took this new job: “He wanted a change because he believed in what Ukraine is fighting for and wanted to be a part of it, making sure the war stays there and not itself “This morning the Russian army fired from the territory of the Russian Federation at the Sumy region in north-eastern Ukraine. This is what the border guards write in a statement quoted by Ukrinform.
THE EVACUATION FROM MARIUPOL
“More than 600 injured are still in the field hospital at the Azovstal plant.” Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko announced that he accuses Russians of continuing to use them, according to the Kyiv Independent heavy weaponsthat. “Before the hospital was bombed – he added – the number of wounded was 170, now it is over 600.” Kyiv is preparing an operation to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol. Reuters writes on its website, citing the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “An operation is planned for today to take civilians out of the factory,” the presidential office said without giving further details. Radio Svoboda journalist Vera Girich, 55, was killed in an attack on an apartment building in Kyiv. His colleagues made it known. The news was confirmed to ANSA on site. Girich lived on the second floor of the building. He also worked for the TV channel ‘1+1’. “Mariupol is here Aleppo European. The city was razed to the ground, killing thousands of civilians. We will do everything to end this war as soon as possible. And to that end, we will continue to help Ukraine.” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell tweeted: “The war in Ukraine is changing global geopolitics,” he added.
ANSA agency
In the early hours of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Russians came close to capturing Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his family, according to Time. (HAND)
HELP TO UKRAINE
The US House of Representatives after the Senate approved a measure that will allow Joe Biden to use a World War II law to speed up the delivery of arms to Ukraine. The measure invokes a 1941 law that allowed the US to arm the British army against Hitler and allowed any foreign government to supply arms if their defense “deems vital to the defense of the United States by the President.” will”. Biden will also ask Ukraine for another $33 billion loan. Zelenskyy thanked him and specified that more than 20 billion of this amount could be used for defense, 8 billion for economic support and 3 for humanitarian aid – an angry decision, a dangerous precedent for the expropriation of private property. This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Interfax.
THE GAS GAME
According to Brussels, Moscow’s request to pay for gas in rubles violates the sanctions, but Orban’s Hungary has already said it is ready to pay in Russian currency to ensure supplies. Pressure is mounting from NATO and the United States for Finland and Sweden to join amid preparations for a massive Allied exercise in Eastern Europe, in which Britain, reports the Guardian, citing the UK MoD, will take part with 8,000 troops. in one of the largest troop formations since the Cold War. Dozens of tanks will be transferred from Finland to North Macedonia by the summer, according to plans that have been in development for some time but were boosted after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Informal rounds of talks between the EU Commission and representatives of the 27 member countries on the sixth package of sanctions against Moscow reportedly started this afternoon. The outlines of the new measures should include expanding the list of people subject to asset freezes, blacklisting other Russian financial institutions and measures leading to the phased oil embargo. The Commission will meet member country representatives in separate group sessions throughout the weekend.