Ukraine war in Mariupol: situation remains critical - dozens of civilians rescued

Created: 05/07/2022, 04:52

By: Julius Fastnacht, Tobias Utz, Nail Akkoyun, Lucas Maier

Fierce fighting continues in Ukraine.

Russia suffers casualties.

The situation in Mariupol is opaque.

• The situation around the Azowstal steelworks remains critical

  : the current situation is apparently getting worse.

• The battle for Mariupol progresses

  : Russian President Vladimir Putin calls on Kiev to surrender in Mariupol.

• Conflicting reports

  :

  According to Russia, the sunken flagship "Moskva" was not used at all in the war.

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

  This is continuously updated.

+++ 9.30 p.m .:

A total of 50 civilians from the Azov steelworks in Mariupol were brought to safety on Friday.

"Today we were able to get 50 women, children and the elderly out of the Azov Steel Plant," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told Telegram.

The Russian Ministry of Defense also spoke of 50 people who had left the contested area.

The action should continue on Saturday morning.

+++ 8:00 p.m .:

A bus with twelve civilians on board was able to leave the Azov steelworks in Mariupol, which was besieged by Russian troops.

The people were taken to the village of Bezimenne, which is controlled by pro-Russian troops, Reuters news agency reported.

A little later, a second bus with 13 people is said to have also left for Bezimenne, Reuters reported, referring to reports from the Russian news agency RIA.

Two or three more buses are expected from Mariupol, officials at the arrivals center there said.

Civilians are still locked up in Mariupol.

© Alexei Alexandrov/AP/dpa

War in Ukraine: Situation around Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol remains critical

+++ 18.30:

Relatives of soldiers trapped in the Azov steelworks have appealed to the international community to save their men.

At a press conference in Kyiv, seven women asked not only civilians to be allowed to flee.

Soldiers should also be given the opportunity to leave the steelworks in a safe place.

The women, some in tears, begged to take the trapped men to a third country.

+++ 4:00 p.m .:

The situation around the Azowstal steelworks in Mariupol is still critical.

Speaking to the BBC about the current situation, Mykhailo Vershynin, a Ukrainian fighter, said it is now "getting even worse".

“For two days, Russian troops have been actively storming the plant, using aircraft, artillery and heavy weapons to push back the defenders.

There were casualties and many injured.

We didn't manage to get the wounded out."

According to Vershynin, two civilians were killed and around ten injured after a "very heavy bombardment".

However, since both the Ukrainian and Russian sides publish contradicting information, the statements cannot be independently verified.

Ukraine War in Mariupol: Vehicle shot at with anti-tank weapon during evacuation

+++ 3 p.m.:

The Azov regiment has claimed that during a ceasefire “on the territory of the Azov valley complex” in Mariupol, Russian forces fired an anti-tank weapon at a car that wanted to help evacuate civilians.

This is reported by the US news channel CNN.

On its Telegram channel, the volunteer battalion said: “As a result of the shelling, one fighter was killed and six were wounded.

The enemy continues to violate all agreements and security guarantees for the evacuation of civilians.”

Ukraine war: Russia comments on 'threat' of nuclear strike

+++ 1:13 p.m .:

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has rejected speculation about a possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

There are clear guidelines for such an operation in the Russian nuclear doctrine, emphasized Alexei Zaitsev, a spokesman for the ministry, according to the Interfax news agency.

"They are not applicable to the achievement of the goals set within the framework of the military special operation in Ukraine," he added.

Russia calls the war in Ukraine a "special operation".

The Russian nuclear doctrine provides for the use of nuclear weapons only if the existence of the country itself is endangered.

According to Zaitsev, Russia has repeatedly proposed agreements designed to make nuclear war impossible.

The top diplomat accused the West of a deliberate escalation with the help of the "fictional nuclear threat from Russia".

In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West against interfering when he ordered the war against Ukraine.

Otherwise, the countries concerned would have "consequences that they have never faced before".

At the same time, the Kremlin chief had his own nuclear forces put on increased alert.

Russian flagship Moskva not sunk in Ukraine war, Kremlin says

+++ 11.50 a.m .:

According to Moscow, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet “Moskva”, which sank off the Ukrainian coast, was not involved in the military operation against Ukraine.

This emerges from a response from the military prosecutor's office to the surviving relatives of a sailor.

"The inspection showed that the ship on which ED Shkrebez served did not enter Ukrainian territorial waters and was not on the list of units and units involved in the military special operation," it said in the official letter published by the sailor's father on Friday on the social network Vkontakte.

The sailor has been missing since the accident on the missile cruiser in mid-April.

Ukraine-Krieg: Russland muss Verluste bei Schlacht um Mariupol hinnehmen

+++ 10.10 a.m .:

According to British intelligence experts, the Russian troops in Ukraine suffered heavy losses in their storming of the Azowstal plant in the badly damaged port city of Mariupol.

Russia wants to capture the steelworks, the last bastion of the defenders of Mariupol, probably for the victory celebrations on May 9, the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wishes a symbolic victory in Ukraine on the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.

But Russia had to pay for this with high losses of soldiers, material and ammunition.

Meanwhile, it was hoped on Friday that civilians would be evacuated from the steelworks again.

According to Ukrainian sources, around 200 civilians are still waiting there for a chance to get to safety.

In two previous evacuations, mediated by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, about 500 people from Mariupol and the surrounding area were taken to Zaporizhia in Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Ukraine War: Ukrainian forces launch counteroffensive

Update from Friday, May 6th, 6:30

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

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.

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 news portal Kyiv Independent.

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: 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, the 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.

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.

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.

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)