Ukraine launches counter-offensives – Putin calls on Kyiv to surrender in Mariupol

Created: 05/06/2022Updated: 05/06/2022 06:45

By: Julius Fastnacht, Tobias Utz, Lucas Maier

The situation in the Ukraine war is getting worse.

Selenskyj speaks of more than 2000 rocket attacks so far: the news ticker.

• Soldiers in Mariupol accuse Russia of breaching the ceasefire

  : evacuation is not progressing

• Kremlin troops are blockading the city of Cherson:

  Russia's President Putin has appointed governors

• You can read everything about the Ukraine conflict in our current news ticker.

  This is continuously updated.

Update from Friday, May 6th, 6:30

a.m.: According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Russian army has used missiles against various targets in its war against Ukraine in 2014.

Selenskyj announced this in his daily video speech on Friday night.

In addition, since the start of the Russian army's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2,682 airstrikes have already been registered.

"Each of these operations means the death of our people, the destruction of our infrastructure."

Ukraine launches counter-offensives – Putin calls on Kyiv to surrender in Mariupol

+++ 10.30 p.m .:

According to the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, the Russian Air Force destroyed 45 military targets in Ukraine on Thursday.

Among other things, positions of the Ukrainian army and an ammunition depot in the Luhansk region were hit, said ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

An artillery piece near the village of Sarozhne and a multiple rocket launcher system near Mykolaiv were also fired at with rockets.

Russian artillery fire hit 152 Ukrainian positions and 38 artillery gun positions.

This information cannot be independently verified.

+++ 7.30 p.m .:

According to the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin said in a telephone call to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that Russia was still ready to bring civilians from the Azov steelworks in Mariupol to safety.

Putin also said that Kyiv should order Ukrainian fighters to lay down their arms.

The Ukrainians had previously accused the Russian troops of not adhering to the agreed ceasefire for the evacuation of civilians (see update from 6:15 p.m.).

Smoke rises from the Asovstal steelworks.

© Alexei Alexandrov/AP/dpa

War in Ukraine: Soldiers in Mariupol accuse Russia of breaching ceasefire

+++ 18:15:

Ukrainian fighters have accused Russian troops of breaking the agreed ceasefire to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal steel plant in the port city of Mariupol.

"Once again, the Russians broke the ceasefire promise and did not allow the evacuation of civilians who continue to hide in the plant's basements," Deputy Commander of Ukraine's Azov Regiment Svyatoslav Palamar said in a video message published on Telegram.

+++ 4.30 p.m .:

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, who is otherwise loyal to Putin, surprisingly commented on possible nuclear weapons deployments in Russia in an interview with the AP news agency.

These are “inadmissible”, according to Lukashenko.

He justified this with the geographical proximity of Belarus to Ukraine.

"We don't live behind the ocean like the United States," said the Belarusian president.

In the end, however, he emphasized that of course only the Kremlin could be responsible for whether such a mission was justified.

Ukraine war: Russia changes strategy

+++ 3.45 p.m .:

Russia is apparently changing its military strategy in the Donbass.

Meanwhile, video footage released by US broadcaster CNN shows the extent of the destruction in Ukraine.

Ukraine War: Ukraine launches counter-offensives

+++ 3:00 p.m .:

Contrary to what Presidential Advisor Oleksiy Arestovych claims, Ukraine has apparently started counter-offensives.

According to one report, this primarily affects the city of Kharkiv and the Russian-occupied city of Izyum.

Valeriy Zalushny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, confirmed the military actions to the Kyiv Independent news portal.

He adds that fierce fighting continues near the cities of Popasna, Kreminna and Torske in the Luhansk region.

The information cannot be independently verified.

Ukraine War: Russian Navy shells Mariupol steel plant

+++ 2.15 p.m .:

The steelworks in Mariupol, which had been besieged for weeks, was already fired upon by the Russian Air Force on Thursday night.

Now Russia is probably also attacking with the Navy.

The Russian medium Nexta, based in Warsaw, reports on Twitter that the steelworks is being "fired upon by ship artillery".

The situation in the Azovstal steel plant is critical.

This information cannot be independently verified.

Ukraine war: Selenskyj adviser does not expect a counter-offensive until June at the earliest

+++ 1.45 p.m .:

Ukraine does not appear to start a counter-offensive before June.

This was stated by an adviser to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

By that time, Ukraine would probably have more weapons from abroad, according to Ukrainian media reports.

He also does not expect the Russian offensive to bring any "significant results" before May 9.

Ukraine War: Russian troops blockade Cherson

+++ 1:15 p.m .:

The Russian military apparently blocks all entrances and exits to the city of Cherson in southern Ukraine.

This is reported by Yuriy Sobolevsky, deputy chairman of the Kherson Oblast Council, according to a report by the news portal Kyiv Independent.

A governor has already been appointed there by the Kremlin to receive orders from Vladimir Putin.

According to him, a referendum on whether Cherson belongs to Ukraine or Russia is not planned.

+++ 12.30 p.m .:

According to the Kremlin, escape corridors from Mariupol should be opened on Thursday.

These are intended in particular for the persevering civilian population in the steelworks of the port city.

Russia had previously announced evacuation plans, according to which escape routes would be provided from Thursday to Saturday.

However, there were fresh air raids on the premises of the steelworks in Mariupol during the night.

+++ 11.30 a.m .:

In the Belgorod region there are apparently new attacks by the Russian army.

"Zhuravlevka and Nekhoteyevka are under fire from the Ukrainian side," said the governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, on Telegram.

+++ 10.45 a.m .:

Air raid alarms are currently sounding in several regions of Ukraine.

This is reported by the Russian exile medium Nexta, which reports from Warsaw, on Twitter.

Accordingly, there is an alarm in Kyiv, Kharkiv and numerous western regions of the country.

This information cannot be independently verified.

Authorities from Kyiv and Kharkiv have not yet commented on this.

The Russian air force is apparently intensifying the bombing.

For example, during the night there were attacks on the steelworks in Mariupol.

Ukraine War: Russia bombs targets in Donbass

+++ 10:00 a.m .:

Russia again bombed targets in the Donbass.

On Telegram, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the military administration of the Donetsk region, reported on Thursday morning that there were dead and injured in Kramatorsk: "After a rocket hit in Kramatorsk, 25 people were injured, 9 apartment buildings, a school and objects of civil infrastructure were damaged," so Kyrylenko.

According to the head of the Donetsk military administration, the cities of Chasiv Yar, Mariinka and Avdiivka were also shelled.

At least one person died in Chasiv Yar, according to Kyrylenko on Telegram.

+++ 9.30 a.m .:

The latest situation report from the British Ministry of Defense warns that Russia could use the military exercise in Belarus surprisingly announced on Wednesday as a deterrent.

No threat is currently seen in the exercise, but Russia will "probably try to exaggerate the threat through the training," the report says.

This is based on an assessment by the British secret service.

The information cannot be independently verified.

Ukraine War: Russian Air Force attacks Mariupol steel mill

+++ 9:00 a.m .:

Russia’s air force launched new attacks on the steel plant in Mariupol on Thursday night.

“There is continuous shelling and attacks, even at night with the adjustment of drone fire.

In some areas, fighting is already going beyond the plant's fence," a Ukrainian official told US broadcaster CNN.

The residential areas in the area therefore had to be “urgently evacuated without warning,” it said.

+++ 8.30 a.m .:

The Ukrainian General Staff reports that numerous towns near the cities of Cherson and Mykolaiv are again under Ukrainian control.

Accordingly, the soldiers were able to push back Russian troops in the south.

The population in Cherson has been suffering from Russian occupation for weeks.

War in Ukraine: Russia again attacks Mariupol steel mill

+++ 8:00 a.m .:

According to the Ukrainian military, the Russian troops have tried again to storm the Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol.

"With the support of the air force, the enemy renewed its attack with the aim of taking control of the factory site," the Ukrainian General Staff said in its situation report on Thursday morning.  

Ukraine war: Zelenskyy appeals to UNO over steel plant in Mariupol

Update from Thursday, May 5, 6:45 a.m .:

With a Russian ceasefire in sight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has called on the UN to save the lives of the injured stuck in the Azov steel plant in Mariupol and to help with their evacuation.

“The lives of the people who are still there are in danger.

Everyone is important to us," Zelenskyy said in a phone conversation with UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday.

Ukraine war: Russia wants to destroy NATO transports

+++ 11.45 a.m .:

Russia has announced that it wants to destroy NATO transports to Ukraine.

This was announced by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday, according to the state news agency RIA.

+++ 11.15 a.m .:

Russia’s losses in the Ukraine war are enormous.

The news portal Kyiv Independent has published new data from the Ukrainian General Staff.

Accordingly, 24,500 soldiers of the Russian army have already been killed.

In addition, the military has already lost 1077 tanks and 194 military aircraft.

The heavy losses at a glance.

However, the information from the Ukrainian General Staff cannot be independently verified.

War in Ukraine: Massive rocket attacks on Ukrainian train stations

Update from Wednesday, May 4, 6:45 a.m .:

Russia is trying to stop the supply of western weapons with massive rocket fire on Ukrainian railway systems.

The state railway company announced that six train stations in western and central Ukraine were hit on Tuesday (May 3).

However, there were no casualties among employees and passengers.

The rockets also hit three substations in the Lviv region of western Ukraine and one in the Transcarpathian Mountains on the border with Hungary.

+++ 2.30 p.m .:

Vladimir Putin continues to fuel the fear of a nuclear war.

Now the president's "doomsday plane" is said to have been sighted over the Russian capital Moscow.

This is a machine that would protect Putin even in the event of a nuclear disaster.

He could rule Russia from the air.

Ukraine War: Concerns about Russian mobilization in Ukraine are growing

+++ 10.15 a.m .:

In Ukraine there is concern about a significant expansion of Russian attacks in the coming weeks.

On Tuesday, several Ukrainian media picked up a report by the US broadcaster CNN on speculation that Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin could declare a state of war in Russia and order general mobilization in just a few days.

Such plans could be made public by Putin on May 9, the "Day of Victory" over Nazi Germany.

The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, also spoke of Russian preparations for an open mobilization of soldiers and reservists.

There is no evidence for this.

So far, Russia has officially only spoken of a "special operation" in Ukraine.

First report from Tuesday, May 3, 9:15 a.m .:

In the international airspace off the island of Rügen there is a scandal: German Air Force Eurofighters are pushing a Russian military aircraft away.

(jf/tu/lm with dpa/AFP)