Ukraine Daily

Tuesday, 3 May 2022

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

A view of destruction in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol on April 29, 2022. (Getty Images)

Evacuation from Mariupol resumes on May 3. With the support of the UN and the Red Cross, the Ukrainian government will continue to evacuate civilians from Mariupol on May 3 starting at 7 a.m. local time, the Mariupol City Council said. Civilian evacuations from Mariupol took place on May 1-2, with about 100 people evacuated on May 1. Thousands of Mariupol residents have reportedly gotten stuck on the road to Zaporizhzha as Russian forces refuse to let them pass.

Russian military continues to shell Azovstal in besieged Mariupol. Head of Mariupol Patrol Police Mykhailo Vershynin told CNN the plant was shelled “non-stop” by Russia since early in the morning of May 2. A day prior, almost a hundred people were able to leave the plant, with nearly 1,000 people remaining trapped at the facility. Vershynin called Russia’s agreement to release people a “cynical lie.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to address Ukraine’s Parliament on May 3. Johnson will become the first world leader to address Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on Feb. 24. In his virtual address, Johnson plans to say that “Ukrainians taught the world that the brute force of an aggressor counts for nothing against the moral force of a people determined to be free,” according to an excerpt shared by his office.

Russian missiles hit Odesa, casualties reported. According to the General Prosecutor’s Office, a 14-year-old boy was killed and a 17-year-old boy injured. Several buildings were also damaged in the attack, including a religious building, according to Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.

Ukrainian Defense Intelligence: Russia may soon announce general mobilization. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate, said the Russian Federal Agency for State Reserves began inspecting food stocks required for the country’s military, which Ukraine believes could be a potential signal that Russia is ready to conscript additional personnel. Budanov doesn’t rule out that the mobilization will be called on May 9.

US ambassador: Russia to annex occupied Donetsk, Luhansk regions by mid-May. According to U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Michael Carpenter, Washington has “highly credible” intelligence that Russia will hold a fake “referendum” to seize Ukrainian territory. The Kremlin is also preparing to create a proxy state in the occupied Kherson Oblast.

General Staff: Russian army on offensive in Kharkiv, Luhansk, Kherson regions. According to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Russian troops are attempting to take control of the Luhansk Oblast towns of Rubizhne and Popasna and gain full control over the region. Russian troops are also pushing from Izyum, Kharkiv Oblast, south towards Donetsk Oblast. In the southern Kherson Oblast, Russia is also attempting to capture the entire region.

Joint Forces Operation: Ukraine repels 12 Russian attacks in Donbas on May 2. The press center of the Joint Forces Operation reported that Ukrainian forces destroyed six tanks, five artillery systems, 22 units of armored combat vehicles, and eight vehicles in Donbas on May 2. Air defense units also shot down five Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles, the JFO said.

Deputy Defense Minister: Ukraine regains control of Ruska Lozova in Kharkiv Oblast despite ‘escalations and losses.’ Hanna Maliar reported on May 2 that Ukraine’s Armed Forces have liberated Ruska Lozova along with several more villages in Kharkiv Oblast.

Russian missile attack hits agricultural elevator in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, destroys grain warehouse. Regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said the strike took place in the Synelnykivskyi District and that no casualties have been reported.

Heavy shelling in Luhansk Oblast kills 3 residents, wounds 3 others. Regional governor Serhiy Haidai said residents in Zolote, Lysychansk and Popasna in Sievierodonetskyi district were killed and a 12-year-old boy was also injured in the past 24 hours. Many residential buildings and an old gymnasium building have either been destroyed or burned down, according to the official.

Russian missiles again hit bridge across Dniester estuary in Odesa Oblast. Sergey Bratchuk, a spokesperson for Odesa Oblast governor, said that the Russian occupiers have fired at the bridge, which has already been hit twice by the Russian forces.

Ukraine identifies first suspect in Bucha massacre. Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said on May 2 that authorities had identified the first Russian suspected of conducting the massacre of civilians in Bucha – Sergey Kolotsey, commander of a Russian National Guard unit. The Bucha police and prosecutors established that Kolotsey killed four unarmed men on March 18 and tortured another civilian on March 29.

UK intelligence: More than quarter of Russia’s battalion groups initially deployed in Ukraine now likely combat ineffective. According to the recent intelligence update by the U.K. Defense Ministry, Russia has sent over 120 battalion tactical groups when it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is approximately 65% of its entire ground combat power. Some of Moscow’s elite units, such as the VDV Airborne Forces, have suffered severely and it will probably take years for Russia to replace them.

More explosions heard in Russia’s Belgorod region. Russian state-controlled media RIA Novosti reported the sound of a loud “clap,” similar to an explosion of medium strength, in the center of Belgorod. A series of explosions was also reported on the local Telegram channel “Belgorod №1” at the same time.

The human cost of Russia’s war

UN: 6,469 civilian casualties in Ukraine due to Russia’s war. According to the UN’s human rights agency, as of midnight on May 1, Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has killed 3,153 civilians and wounded 3,316 since Feb. 24. The agency believes the figure could be much higher due to delays in obtaining information from the war’s hot spots.

Prosecutor General’s Office: Russia’s war kills at least 220 children, injures more than 406. The figures are expected to be higher as they do not include child casualties in areas where hostilities are ongoing and in temporarily occupied or recently liberated areas. The May 3 update also said 1,584 educational institutions have been damaged and 118 completely destroyed by daily bombings and shelling by Russia’s Armed Forces.

Russia forcibly deports 1.1 million Ukrainians to Russia, including nearly 200,000 children. Russia’s Ministry of Defense stated that since the start of its full-scale invasion, 1,092,137 Ukrainians have been forcibly deported to Russia from Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, including 196,356 children.

Police: Russians killed at least 1,202 civilians in Kyiv Oblast. 280 of them have not been identified yet. Meanwhile, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reports that it has already identified almost 900 Russians who committed crimes against civilians in Kyiv Oblast during the one-month occupation.

Ukraine’s military: Russia has lost 23,800 troops in Ukraine since start of war. Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported that Russia has also lost 1,048 tanks, 2,519 armored personnel carriers, 1,824 vehicles and fuel tanks, 459 artillery systems, 152 multiple launch rocket systems, 80 anti-aircraft defense systems, 155 helicopters, 194 aircraft, 271 UAVs, and eight boats.

International response

Germany ready to support embargo on Russian oil. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said his country would agree to an EU ban on Russian oil, despite the fact that fuel prices could rise. In 2021, Germany imported 81 million tonnes of crude oil, one third was supplied from Russia. Since Feb.24, Germany had already cut its share to 12%.

Hungary to block any EU proposal for embargo on Russian energy imports. “We’ve made it clear that we’ll never support” the bloc’s proposal to extend sanctions against Russia by restricting energy imports, Gergely Gulyas, a senior minister in Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, told a local TV channel, Bloomberg reported.

Reuters: EU may offer exemptions from Russian oil embargo for Hungary, Slovakia. The European Commission might exempt the two countries considering how deeply they are dependent on Russian crude, Reuters reported, citing two EU officials. The Commission is expected to finalize the details on the sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the report.

Bloomberg: Dutch port refuses to unload tanker with Russian fuel. Employees of a Dutch dock have refused to unload a tanker Sunny Liger carrying about 60,000 tons of diesel from Russia’s Primorsk port, Bloomberg reported.

Security Council secretary: Hungarian authorities knew of Russian full-scale invasion beforehand. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin shared his plans to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine with Hungarian authorities. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had traveled to Moscow on Feb. 1, while Hungarian authorities publicly opposed imposing sanctions on Russia.

UK promises additional $375 million in military aid for Ukraine. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on May 2 that Britain will provide a further $375 million in military aid for Ukraine, in addition to the $250 million they have provided so far. The aid will include electronic warfare equipment and a counter-battery radar system.

Ukraine receives 495 million euros from World Bank. Finance Ministry reported on May 2 that Ukraine received grant assistance of 495 million euros from the World Bank’s Donor Trust Fund. “These funds will be used to provide priority social, humanitarian, and healthcare expenses, as well as to support internally displaced persons,” the ministry’s statement reads.

Denmark reopens embassy in Kyiv. Denmark reopened its embassy in Ukraine on May 2 after closing immediately after Russia’s full-scale Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, the Danish foreign ministry said.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Natalia Datskevych, Asami Terajima, Daria Shulzhenko, Lucy Minicozzi-Wheeland, Oleksiy Sorokin, Olga Rudenko, Toma Istomina, and Lili Bivings.

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