Women, children and the elderly were all evacuated on Saturday from the Azovstal steelworks, the last pocket of resistance in the devastated city of Mariupol, where the Ukrainian authorities fear that the Russian offensive could resume with renewed force. approaching celebrations in Moscow of the victory over Nazi Germany on May 9.
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“
The order of the President (Volodymyr Zelensky) has been carried out: all women, children and old people have been evacuated from Azovstal.
This part of the humanitarian mission in Mariupol is accomplished
,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
On Friday, 50 people, again the most vulnerable civilians, were able to leave the huge steel complex, the last pocket of resistance of the Ukrainian forces in this port city in the south-east.
These operations, which have been taking place for a week under the aegis of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), have enabled, according to kyiv, nearly 500 civilians to flee.
Small Russian advance in the Donbass
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, however, said in its morning report on Saturday that "
the enemy did not stop his offensive
", "
blocking
" in particular still the defenders of the district of Azovstal.
The staff of the Ukrainian army assured that the Russian forces had still the day before attacked this factory, in spite of the ceasefire which they unilaterally decreed Thursday for three days.
Mariupol, which had nearly 500,000 inhabitants before the war, was almost completely wiped off the map by two months of Russian siege and bombardment.
Further west, two rocket attacks reached Odessa, the major Ukrainian port on the Black Sea, on Friday evening, without causing any casualties, the Southern Command of the Ukrainian forces said.
The city of Mykolaiv was also targeted.
Missile strikes were also reported on Friday and Saturday in the Kharkiv region (northeast) and around Donetsk (east).
The Russians have made limited territorial gains in the past 24 hours around Severodonetsk, one of the main cities in Donbass still in Ukrainian hands, but this should not lead to a complete encirclement, noted the American Institute of study of war (ISW).
Ukrainian military successes
Conversely, in Kharkiv, the Ukrainian counter-offensive to put Ukraine's second city out of enemy artillery range gained momentum, with the capture of several Russian positions to the north and east. , again according to the ISW.
“
Ukrainian forces are regaining ground along a wide arc around Kharkiv and no longer focusing on a limited thrust, demonstrating an ability to launch offensive operations on a larger scale than so far in this war
“, explained this institute.
So much so that the Russian army had to blow up three road bridges "
to slow down the counter-offensive
" in this region, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
The Ukrainian navy, for its part, assured that it had destroyed a Russian landing ship about a hundred kilometers from Odessa, not far from the tiny Serpents' Island, using a Bayraktar TB2 combat drone, developed in Turkey, information that Russia has not confirmed.
More generally, the British Ministry of Defense estimated in a report that the conflict was causing "
damage in the most
combat-capable Russian units".
The date of May 9
As May 9 approaches, the Ukrainian authorities expect an intensification of Russian strikes.
"
Please do not ignore air alerts and go to shelters immediately, the risk of bombardments is very likely in all regions of Ukraine
," Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko warned on Friday, adding that no commemoration of the 1945 victory would take place in the Ukrainian capital.
"
The enemy is trying to finish off the defenders of Azovstal, he is trying to do this before May 9 to give Vladimir Putin a gift
," warned Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“
Bombings every day, every day, morning, afternoon and evening.
There has not been a day without bombardment, not a day
,” Olga Babitch told AFP after leaving her village and arriving in Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine.
Russia has so far only been able to claim complete control of one major city, Kherson.
On Saturday in Moscow, the Russian army carried out the last rehearsals in Red Square before the traditional military parade on May 9, in the presence of soldiers who took part in the offensive in Ukraine.
Fear of an extension of the conflict
On the sidelines of this war, the authorities of the pro-Russian separatist region of Transdniestria, in Moldova, announced on Saturday that four explosions had taken place the previous evening in a village bordering Ukraine, without however causing any casualties.
Fears that the conflict in Ukraine could spill over into Transdniestria have grown in recent weeks after a Russian general revealed that one of Russia's goals was to establish a corridor to the small territory.
The United States meanwhile announced on Friday a new military aid to Kiev, of 150 million dollars - a level well below the previous ones -, while warning that the funds allocated to these arms deliveries were now "
practically exhausted
”.
"
Congress must quickly release the envelope required to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield and at the negotiating table
," said President Joe Biden of the colossal budget extension of 33 billion dollars requested. to US parliamentarians.
The next day in Bucharest, his wife, Jill Biden, on a trip to Europe to express her support for Ukrainians and the countries that help them, met families of refugees who had fled the Russian invasion.
“
Dizzying
” violations of human rights
For her part, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, denounced on Saturday the "
dizzying
" violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the Russian army in Ukraine, after a visit four days in Kiev and its region.
The day before, in its first demonstration of unity since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24, the United Nations Security Council - where Russia, one of its five permanent members, has a right of veto - had given his "
firm support
" to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres "
in the search for a peaceful solution
".
On the Western sanctions front, difficult negotiations were underway between the 27 EU member states to reach an agreement this weekend on a plan to stop Russian oil imports, which Hungary has so far blocked. .
In addition, Germany has announced that the leaders of the great powers of the G7 will have a virtual meeting on Sunday devoted to the war in Ukraine in which President Zelensky is to take part.
It must be said that Africa, for example, is facing an "
unprecedented
" crisis caused by the current situation in Ukraine, in particular with soaring food and fuel prices, according to the United Nations Development Program ( UNDP).