How long will the war in Ukraine last without a major victory on one side or the other?
On the 78th day of fighting, launched by Russia, the situation seems dramatically frozen: the Donbass is still the target of Russian strikes, Mariupol is hanging by the hair of the Azovstal steelworks, the Ukrainian forces are resisting with the help of the Western armaments.
According to the United Nations human rights agency, as of midnight on May 10, Russia's war against Ukraine had killed 3,496 civilians and injured 3,760, figures fatally underestimated given the the situation on the ground.
One dead in Russian territory after Ukrainian strike
One person was killed and three others injured in the village of Solokhi, located in Russia about ten kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
According to the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, a house was partly destroyed by shelling from Ukraine.
"At the moment, one person has lost his life, he died in the ambulance, and there are three injured," he announced on Telegram.
Authorities in Ukraine's border regions regularly accuse kyiv forces of launching attacks against Russia.
In April, Vyacheslav Gladkov accused Ukrainian helicopters of attacking a fuel depot in Belgorod.
kyiv had neither confirmed nor denied the destruction.
Ukraine and Russia used cluster bombs, accuses HWR
Russian forces have used cluster munitions at least six times in attacks that have killed civilians and damaged homes, hospitals and schools.
Ukrainian forces have used it at least once, according to a 20-page report by the NGO Human Rights Watch, published on Thursday, which documented several attacks in populated areas of the cities of Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Vuhledar.
“In Mykolaiv, for example, Russian forces fired cluster munitions at populated areas on March 7, 11 and 13, killing civilians and damaging homes, businesses and civilian vehicles.
One of the March 13 attacks killed nine people who were queuing at an ATM, local media reported.
As for Ukraine, HRW validates the information given by the New York Times, of the use of Uragan cluster munitions during an attack against Husarivka, in the Kharkiv oblast, on 6 or 7 March, when the village was under Russian control.
Cluster munitions can be fired from the ground by artillery systems such as rockets and projectiles or dropped from aircraft.
According to the definition of the International Red Cross, cluster munitions are armaments "that release enormous quantities of explosive submunitions over very large areas", up to more than 30,000 m2 depending on the wind. particularly.
Apart from indistinct civilian casualties, not all submunitions explode and leave “vast areas contaminated by deadly explosive devices”.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine have denied using cluster bombs.
Azovstal soldier appeals to Elon Musk
"If not you, who else?"
A Ukrainian commander who is among the fighters besieged by Russian forces at the Azovstal factory in Mariupol on Wednesday evening appealed for help directly to US billionaire Elon Musk to intervene on their behalf.
“People say you come from another planet to teach people to believe in the impossible.
(…) In the place where I live, it is almost impossible to survive”, tweeted Sergey Volyna, commander of the 36th Marine Brigade of Mariupol.
“Help us to leave Azovstal for a third country.
If not you, who else?
Give me a lead,” he continued.
In mid-March, Musk had challenged Vladimir Putin in a "man-to-man" fight, the stake of which was Ukraine.
@elonmusk people say you come from another planet to teach people to believe in the impossible.
Our planets are next to each other, as I live where it is nearly impossible to survive.
Help us get out of Azovstal to a mediating country.
If not you, then who?
Give me a hint.
— Сергій Волина (@Serjvlk) May 11, 2022
Volyna's post was retweeted widely.
kyiv wants to exchange Russian prisoners for the wounded of Azovstal
Ukraine offered to release Russian POWs in exchange for the safe evacuation of seriously injured fighters trapped in the Mariupol steelworks.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Wednesday evening that negotiations were underway to release wounded fighters who are entrenched in the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.
She said there were different options, but “none of them are ideal”.
For the moment the discussions do not seem to have succeeded.
Around Kharkiv, the Russians give way
According to the British Ministry of Defense daily summary, Ukrainian forces are continuing their counterattack north of Kharkiv, retaking several towns and villages towards the Russian border.
"Russia's prioritization of operations in Donbass has left elements deployed in Kharkiv Oblast vulnerable to the mobile and highly motivated Ukrainian counter-attack force," British intelligence said, adding that "the withdrawal of forces forces in Kharkiv Oblast is a tacit recognition of Russia's inability to capture major Ukrainian cities where it expected limited resistance from the population".
However, Moscow is tightening its forces in the region, with, probably, a different objective: to deploy on the eastern bank of the Seversky Donets River to protect its troops on the western flank and cut off nearby supply routes. of Izium.
This is why the Ukrainian forces destroyed two bridges over the river.
They broadcast images of the destroyed infrastructure overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, without indicating the date on which the bridges were destroyed.