Ukraine Daily

Sunday, 9 May 2022

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

The sign “Only military allowed to pass“ is seen on the street of a residential area in Kharkiv, Kharkiv Oblast, on May 8, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)

Zelensky gives powerful address on Victory Day. “Decades after World War II, the darkness has returned to Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a pre-recorded speech. “Evil has returned. In a different form, under different slogans, but with the same purpose.” “We did not last even a century. Our ‘never again’ was enough for 77 years.”

Canadian PM pays surprise visit to Irpin. Justin Trudeau visited the city of Irpin, Kyiv Oblast, and met its mayor, Oleksandr Markushyn. Following Trudeau’s visit, Markushyn said that the Prime Minister came to see Irpin with his own eyes and “was shocked” after visiting the homes of local residents who lived peacefully until the Russian occupiers came and destroyed many buildings in the city.

UK Intelligence: Difficulties in command, faltering performance on front line draw Russia’s senior commanders onto battlefield. The forward deployment has exposed Russian officers to significant risk, leading to “disproportionately” high losses among them, according to a U.K. Defense Ministry update. “This has resulted in a force that is slow to respond to setbacks and unable to alter its approach on the battlefield.”

Ukraine’s military defeats 190 Russian troops, 15 tanks in eastern Ukraine on May 8. The East Operational and Tactical Group reported that 12 infantry fighting vehicles, 12 armored personnel carriers, one armored fighting vehicle, one MT-LB vehicle, six heavy artillery tractors, one fuel tank, and two unmanned aerial vehicles were also destroyed.

UK Defense Secretary to say Putin’s regime ‘mirroring’ actions of Nazis. Based on an advance copy of his May 9 speech provided to the Telegraph and Times, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will reportedly say: “Through their invasion of Ukraine, Putin, his inner circle and generals are now mirroring the fascism and tyranny of 70 years ago, repeating the errors of last century’s totalitarian regimes.”

Ukraine’s military: Russian military focuses on destroying Ukraine’s airfields. According to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, by doing so, Russia seeks to destroy Ukrainian aerial capacity, including Bayraktar drones, and establish air superiority. Russia’s Air Force also stepped up its activity over southeast Ukraine.

US First Lady Jill Biden, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska visit Uzhhorod in western Ukraine. The surprise visit is the first time that Zelenska has been seen in public since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Her whereabouts have not been disclosed.

US embassy returns to Kyiv. U.S. Charge d’affaires Kristina Kvien and her team arrived in Kyiv on May 8, a senior U.S. State Department official said, as cited by Reuters.

Russian forces use ceasefire to strengthen their positions to storm Azovstal. According to Petro Andriushchenko, advisor to Mariupol’s mayor, Russian forces used the ceasefire with Ukraine for civilian evacuation to set up a new position for artillery observing, spotting, and sniper fire to attack the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

Institute for the Study of War: Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv Oblast likely to advance to Russian border in coming days, weeks. A report by the U.S. think tank said the Ukrainian counteroffensive northeast of Kharkiv is making significant progress with a likely advance to the Russian border in the coming days or weeks. “Given the current rate of Ukrainian advances, Russian forces may be unable to prevent Ukrainian forces from reaching the Russian border, even with additional reinforcements,” the report reads.

Culture Minister: Russia bombs Jewish cemetery in Hlukhiv, Sumy Oblast. Oleksandr Tkachenko said on May 8 that this is “direct proof that there is nothing sacred in Russia at all” and that Russian troops are “no different from the Nazis who exterminated Jews 80 years ago.” Tkachenko noted that the graves of the chief tzaddiks survived the attack.

Zelensky awards medal to Ukrainian sapper dog Patron for ‘selfless service.’ President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Patron the Jack Russell Terrier for his help in defusing explosives and for teaching children the “necessary safety rules in a mine-affected area.”

After Russia’s war, number of veterans in Ukraine may grow to 5 million. According to Veteran Affairs Minister Yuliia Laputina, after Russia’s war in Ukraine, the number of Ukrainian veterans may quadruple, increasing from 1.2 million to 5 million, Interfax news agency reports.

Governor: Evacuation from Luhansk Oblast stops as Russian troops fire on evacuation route. Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai said on May 8 that Russian forces are shelling the Lysychansk-Bakhmut highway, rendering evacuation “not possible.”

Schemes: Russia deploys missiles to northern Crimea. Russia may be deploying S-300 surface-to-air missiles, Iskander ballistic missiles, or Smerch multiple rocket launchers in the village of Filatovka in the Russian-annexed Crimea, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Schemes investigative project. Schemes cited 6 satellite imagery on May 6 from Planet Labs.

Read our exclusive, on the ground stories

As the small convoy of journalists rounded a bend outside Kharkiv, two dark-green Ukrainian howitzers could be seen on a hill, etched against the warm blue May sky. A little while later, they vanished, likely moved to another location to continue the ongoing artillery battle against the Russians near Ukraine’s second-largest city just 25 kilometers away from the Russian border. Read our story here.

While the outside world was commemorating the end of World War II, Ilya Samoilenko, a 27-year-old officer of the Azov regiment, was speaking online to the press from the basement of Azovstal. “We feel abandoned,” said Samoilenko from the last Ukrainian stronghold of Mariupol, a city with a pre-war population of 450,000 people, now nearly completely destroyed by Russia. Read our story here.

The human cost of Russia’s war

Luhansk Oblast governor: Russian airstrike on Bilohorivka school likely kills 60 people. According to Serhiy Haidai, 30 people were rescued from under the rubble of the school that was sheltering about 90 residents at the moment of the Russian attack on May 7. Two people were found dead. “Most likely, all 60 people who remained under the rubble of the building died,” Haidai reported.

12-year-old boy picks up ammunition, dies from explosion in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said that a boy in the region’s Synelnikove District found ammunition from a cluster bomb and brought it home. Reznichenko said that this is the sixth death in the region due to ammunition and asked residents once again not to touch the explosives left by Russian occupiers.

City Council: 173 people evacuate from Azovstal steel plant to Zaporizhzhia. Ten buses were en route for over a day. During the evacuation process, Russians killed three Ukrainian soldiers and wounded six.

Prosecutor General’s Office: Russia’s war killed 225 children, injured 413. The figures are expected to be higher since they do not include child casualties in the areas where hostilities are ongoing and in the occupied areas, Prosecutor General’s Office said.

Ukraine’s military: Russia loses 25,500 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on May 7 that Russia has also lost 1,130 tanks, 2,741 armored personnel carriers, 1,961 vehicles and fuel tanks, 509 artillery systems, 179 multiple launch rocket systems, 86 anti-aircraft defense systems, 156 helicopters, 199 aircraft, 360 UAVs, and 12 boats.

International response

Canada to provide millions in aid to Ukraine, impose new sanctions on Russia. Canada’s Prime Minister’s Office said that it would send $50 million in military assistance, $25 million of its $100 million humanitarian aid package to the World Food Programme to address food insecurity, and $10 million towards human rights, civil society, and demining in Ukraine. Canada will also sanction 12 Russians with close ties to the state, 19 individuals tied to Russia’s defense sector, and five entities providing direct or indirect support to the Russian military.

G7 countries pledge to ban importing Russian oil. In a statement released by the White House, G7 leaders committed to gradually reducing dependence on Russian energy, including “by phasing out or banning the import of Russian oil.” President Volodymyr Zelensky took part in the G7 meeting.

Canada to provide Ukraine with $1.5 billion per year, anti-tank equipment. President Volodymyr Zelensky said “Canada is second only to the United States in terms of aid,” having already sent half a billion dollars to Ukraine. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a press conference on May 8 that Canada will also provide NLAWs and other anti-tank military equipment to Ukraine.

White House announces new sanctions against Russia targeting media, tech. The ban cuts off three Kremlin-controlled TV channels from U.S. equipment. Technology exports, including industrial engines and other items that could be used by Russian defense plants, will be banned as well. The sanctions also impose visa restrictions on 2,600 Russian and Belarusian officials.

Canada lifts all duties on imports from Ukraine for one year. This was announced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on May 8. According to Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, this signals the interest of developed countries in adding the “Ukrainian economy into their own industrial and trade chains.”

UK announces new sanctions on Russia, Belarus. The U.K. Department for International Trade said the sanctions will target 1.7 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) in trade, including import tariffs on platinum and palladium and export bans on chemicals, plastics, rubber, and machinery.

WHO donates 20 all-terrain ambulances to Ukraine. Ukraine’s Health Ministry said in a statement on May 8 that the ambulances sent by the World Health Organization are “capable of operating even in the most damaged and inaccessible areas,” including where roads have been destroyed. The WHO has also donated generators and blood coolers for Ukrainian hospitals.

In other news

Op-ed by Eugene Czolij: Russia smears Victory Day with Ukrainian blood. Despite this laudable “never again” commitment, a genocide against the Ukrainian people is being committed, once again, in 2022 – 90 years after the Holodomor – and the international community must help stop it now.

Want to get the news faster? Follow our website: kyivindependent.com.

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

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