Mariupol’s Azovstal steel mill targeted
Ukrainian forces continued to fight in the besieged city of Mariupol on Wednesday after a Russian ultimatum to troops holed up in the Azovstal steel mill to lay down their arms passed without a mass surrender.
Reuters and the BBC reported there were no signs of Ukrainian forces giving in, and Oleksiy Arestovych, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in a social media post that the city was being held as fighting continued.
Remaining Ukrainian forces in Mariupol have held onto the sprawling steel plant for several days despite the Russian military dropping heavy bombs and threatening to flatten the building, according to the deputy commander of the forces inside.
The plant covers 4 square miles, including a network of tunnels. More than 1,000 civilians and troops are inside, Reuters reported, while Russian estimates say a few thousand Ukrainian troops are within.
With humanitarian corridors established for the first time in several days, Mariupol’s mayor on Wednesday urged the city’s remaining civilians to flee.
Capturing the city is key to Russia’s goals, as it would secure a land corridor from Russia to the occupied territory of Crimea, and the steel mill complex is likely the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold.
Moscow’s attacks on Mariupol are part of its new wartime strategy: pivoting to a heavy offensive in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, parts of which were controlled by Russian-backed forces prior to the invasion.
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Latest developments:
►More than 5 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, according to a U.N. refugee agency’s latest tally as of Wednesday.
►Serhiy Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, told CNN on Wednesday that 80% of the region’s territory was under Russian control.
►Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Wednesday the country would supply protective equipment like helmets and vests to Ukrainian rescue forces and civilian organizations. Though it has provided humanitarian aid, Israel has refused to supply Ukraine with weapons and other direct military assistance.
►Nuclear regulators have regained phone contact with operators of the Chernobyl power plant more than a month after contact was lost, the International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement.
►Russian and Belarusian tennis players will be barred from competing at Wimbledon due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the event’s organizers said Wednesday.
►More than 5,000 Ukrainian refugees were detained while entering the United States at land, sea or air borders last month, according to new data from Customs and Border Protection.
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Estonia will ban Russian flags, symbols in public meetings on May 9
HELSINKI — Estonia says it is prohibiting public meetings where people display Russian flags and military symbols during the Victory Day celebrations on May 9, which is traditionally celebrated by the Baltic country’s sizable ethnic-Russian population to mark the end of World War II.
“The Estonian state has so far been tolerant of the events of May 9, but Russia’s current activities in Ukraine preclude public meetings in Estonia expressing support for the aggressor state and displaying war symbols,” Police and Border Guard chief Elmar Vaher said Wednesday.
Police said Wednesday that commemorating those killed in World War II wasn’t forbidden in the country, but “it’s not to be used to incite violence and hatred between people.”
Among the banned symbols are the flags of the Soviet Union and Russia, USSR military uniforms and the black-orange Ribbon of Saint George worn in Russia to mark the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in WWII.
The ban is valid until May 10 and applies to the capital, Tallinn, and its surrounding areas.
Ethnic Russians make up about 25% of Estonia’s 1.3 million population, and they traditionally gather to lay flowers on May 9 at Tallinn’s Bronze Soldier statue commemorating the fallen Red Army troops in WWII battles in Estonia.
– Associated Press
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Russia advancing in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian officials say
Russian troops were advancing toward Zaporizhzhia with battles occurring within the region, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.
The head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, Oleksandr Starukh, described the new advance as “a massive offensive,” according to state news agency Ukrinform. The city’s regional council also warned of the…
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