The United States continues to send military aid to Ukraine where the Russian offensive knows no respite, including, according to kyiv, to Mariupol where around fifty civilians have nevertheless been able to be evacuated. The fighting continues despite the adoption, Friday, May 6, by the UN Security Council unanimously of a declaration calling for peace in this country. On Sunday, a videoconference of the leaders is planned with the participation of Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president.
- New US military aid
The United States announced on Friday new military aid of $150 million to Ukraine, including artillery ammunition and radar. But US authorities have warned that arms funds for kyiv are now “virtually exhausted”.
This aid, well below previous American arms shipments, includes in particular 25,000 155 mm shells, counter-battery radars to detect Russian artillery fire and communications jamming devices.
“Congress must quickly release the envelope needed to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield and at the negotiating table,” President Joe Biden said in a statement about the colossal $ 33 billion budget extension requested. in the US Congress.
- Rare Security Council unity for UN chief to help ‘peaceful solution’
The UN Security Council – of which Russia is a permanent member – on Friday approved a unanimous statement giving “strong support” to the organization’s secretary-general “in the search for a peaceful solution” to the war. This is a first since the start of the Russian offensive on February 24.
Written by Norway and Mexico, the declaration does not go so far as to expressly support mediation by Antonio Guterres (who offered his good offices for this), as provided for in a first version of the text negotiated since Thursday. Asked what led Russia, which has blocked the Security Council since February, to approve this text, a diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity replied to AFP: “the important thing has been removed” .
- Videoconference of G7 leaders on Sunday with participation of Zelensky
The leaders of the great powers of the G7 will hold a virtual meeting on Sunday devoted to the war in Ukraine, in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also participate, a spokeswoman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Friday.
“May 8 is a historic date marking the end of the Second World War in Europe which caused terror, destruction and death in Europe,” spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann told a press conference. considering that with the current war in Ukraine, “the cohesion of the G7 is more important than ever”. Note that Germany holds the presidency of the G7 this year.
This meeting, the third since the beginning of the year, will be devoted “in particular to the situation in Ukraine”, indicated Christiane Hoffmann without further details.
- Russia “forever” in southern Ukraine
Russia will remain “forever” in southern Ukraine, senior Russian parliamentarian Andrei Tourchak said on Friday during a visit to Kherson, a major Ukrainian city which Moscow has claimed full control since March.
Severodonetsk, one of the major localities in Donbass still controlled by the Ukrainians, is for its part “almost surrounded” by Russian forces and separatists, its mayor said on Friday.
- 50 people evacuated from Azovstal plant in Mariupol
Fifty civilians were evacuated thanks to a new humanitarian convoy on Friday from the huge Azovstal factory, the last pocket of resistance of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol, a port city besieged by Russian troops, announced Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
“Today we managed to get 50 women, children and elderly people out of Azovstal. Tomorrow morning we will continue the evacuation operation,” Iryna Vereshchuk announced on Telegram. The Russian Ministry of Defense specified for its part that eleven children, out of these fifty civilians, had been evacuated.
- Mariupol “completely destroyed”, according to Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the city of Mariupol was “completely destroyed” and that there was nothing left for Russia to take apart from its Azovstal steel plant. The Ukrainian head of state was questioned, during a videoconference organized by the Chatham House think tank in London, about what the fall of this strategic port at the southern tip of Donbass, where only a pocket remains resistance in this steel complex.