On the 85th day of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, this Thursday May, the conflict, where the future of the last fighters entrenched in the Azovstal factory in Mariupol remained uncertain, will be implicit in the meeting Thursday of the American president with the Swedish leaders and Finns knocking on NATO’s door to protect themselves from Moscow.
► Moscow has blocked the RFI website, which broadcasts information in fifteen languages including Russian. An alternative URL address allows access to the site in French and in Russian. RFI in Russian is also available on Telegram: https://t.me/RFI_Ru via a VPN and in Russia in French via satellite on Hotbird.
► The site of the Russian editorial staff of RFI broadcasts Ukrainian public radio (in the Ukrainian language) from the home page.
► Ukrainian justice opened its first war crime trial on Wednesday to try a Russian soldier accused of killing an unarmed civilian.
► The United States announced on Wednesday the reopening of its embassy in kyiv.
► Finland and Sweden jointly filed their NATO candidacies on Wednesday, the two Nordic countries announced.
► The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that 959 Ukrainian soldiers, holed up on the Azovstal steel site in Mariupol, had surrendered since Monday. The “evacuation mission” of the soldiers still inside the steelworks “continues”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier, without specifying the number.
► Russian diplomacy announced the expulsion of 34 French diplomats, 24 Italian diplomats and 27 Spaniards, in retaliation for those of Russians in the wake of the Russian offensive against Ukraine.
Times are given in Universal Time (UT)
04:25: What do we know about the situation in Mariupol?
” Commanders and high-ranking fighters of the (regiment) Azov have not yet come out from the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance in this port city, assured Denis Pushilin, a pro-Russian separatist leader. According to him, a thousand members of this paramilitary unit integrated into the Ukrainian army were still hiding there. Ukraine had given the same figure, but last week while yesterday, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed on Wednesday that ” 959 (Ukrainian) fighters, including 80 wounded, became prisoners ” since Monday. Information that Ukraine has not commented on.
The Russian army concentrated its efforts on Wednesday about the blocking of our units near Azovstal with artillery fire and airstrikes, the General Staff of the Ukrainian forces reported.
The total capture of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, would constitute an important advance for Russia. It would allow it to connect by land the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, to parts of Donbass already in the hands of pro-Russian separatists. But the city is destroyed at 90% ” and “ 40% of its infrastructure ” are “ unrecoverable “, indicated at the beginning of April its mayor Vadim Boïtchenko.
” Russians fly to Mariupol. The occupiers are now trying to put the commercial port in order to export the equivalent of millions of dollars of cereals, metallurgical products “In particular, argued Wednesday evening on Telegram the town hall of Mariupol.
According to a US official speaking on condition of anonymity on Wednesday, Russian officials acknowledge that despite claiming to be the “liberators” of the Russian-speaking city of Mariupol, Russian troops are committing serious acts in the city, including the beating and electrocution of city officials, and they loot homes “. ” Russian officials are concerned that these acts may further incite Mariupol residents to resist the Russian occupation “, he continued.
04h00: Hello and welcome to this live
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