Here is the situation as it stands on Tuesday, May 9, 2023:
Fighting
- Kyiv’s mayor has said Russia fired 60 Iranian-made kamikaze drones, including 36 at Kyiv, all of which were shot down. However, debris has hit apartments and other buildings, killing at least four people.
- More than 20 towns and villages have come under shelling in the central Zaporizhia region, the Ukrainian armed forces said in a statement. The southern city of Kherson and at least seven other centres in that region were also shelled, it said.
- The Moscow-appointed governor of the Russian-controlled parts of the Zaporizhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, said about 3,000 civilians have been evacuated from areas near the front line that had come under shelling.
- Balitsky said that operations at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest, have been suspended, according to a report by the Russian state news agency TASS.
- The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said there has been continued heavy fighting in Bakhmut and surrounding areas.
- The head of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his troops were beginning to receive ammunition needed to press their advance to capture the long-besieged eastern Ukrainian city.
- The United Kingdom’s defence ministry said that Russia has begun targeting Central Asians to serve in the war in Ukraine.
- The exiled Mariupol City Council said it has received reports that Russia had begun mobilising residents in the occupied southeastern city to serve in its army.
Diplomacy
- Russia has effectively ended the Black Sea grain deal, which expires on May 18, by refusing to register incoming vessels, Ukraine’s reconstruction ministry said. Moscow has threatened to quit the agreement, which is meant to help ease a global food crisis.
- Moscow is preparing for a military parade, the staple of Victory Day celebrations across Russia, but at least 21 cities have cancelled such events.
- Russia will develop its military installations in Central Asian ally Kyrgyzstan, the Kremlin said, following talks between the two countries’ leaders in Moscow.
- Italy “strongly” recommends any of its citizens still in Ukraine to leave the country. The Italian foreign ministry issued the alert in the wake of “ever heavier missile attacks on Kyiv and across all Ukrainian territory”.
- A Berlin court has banned Russian flags and symbols from being displayed around three Soviet memorials in the German capital during World War II commemorations.
- Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin has declared he “does not believe that the Ukraine war can be ended with piecemeal gains” by either side. “This is the impression I got during my meeting with Putin,” he added.
- World Athletics has said dozens of Ukrainian athletes and officials preparing for the world championships in August can get funding for training camps. The sport’s governing body will invest $190,000 and prioritise replacing equipment for pole vaulters, it added.
A Ukrainian delegate was captured on video punching a Russian official during a governmental conference in Turkey.
The Russian had snatched the Ukrainian flag from the delegate as he was holding it up behind another Russian official during a video interview ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/DL7bxIozrN
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 5, 2023
