May 6, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of the war in Ukraine has moved here.

The United Kingdom announced Saturday it will bolster its humanitarian aid to Ukraine by sending more essential equipment to relief centers and hospitals.?

In a statement, the British government said it will deliver an extra 287 generators that will help to run relief centers, hospitals, phone masts and water pumping stations. The new generators are enough to power the equivalent of around 8,000 homes and will be used for essential services in the face of the ongoing destruction in Eastern Ukraine.

In total, the UK will have delivered 856 generators.?

“Putin’s atrocities have continued to escalate, and so we are ramping up our support to the Ukrainian people in their time of need. Our donation of a further 287 generators will ensure more essential services in Ukraine can keep running,” Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said.

Britain’s decision follows a request from Ukrainian Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko, who welcomed the previous shipment of generators by saying ‘the light will always win over darkness’,”?the government said.?

The generators will be delivered to a Polish government hub. From there, the Ukrainian government and the country’s energy networks will distribute the generators across the country to where they are needed most.

Fossil fuel rules: The UK government also said it is relaxing rules on support for overseas fossil fuels to boost supply of vital energy to Ukraine.

The policy typically prevents the UK from providing any new direct support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas – but the government will introduce two exemptions for Ukraine and Eastern Europe, to allow the UK to support Ukraine’s energy and fuel needs, the government said.

Silos and containers on the dockside at the Port of Odesa on March 17.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has called for the reopening of ports in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa to help rein in the global hunger crisis.

The ports in Odesa and other Ukrainian Black Sea ports have been blocked because of the war, leaving millions of metric tons of grain sitting in silos.

Ukraine is a major breadbasket for countries in the Middle East and North Africa that depend on imports; in the eight months before the war began, almost 51 million metric tons of grain transited through Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, said the WFP in a news release on Friday.

If the ports don’t reopen, “mountains of grain” will go to waste, while “WFP and the world struggle to deal with an already catastrophic global hunger crisis,” said the release.

At the start of 2022, 276 million people were already facing acute hunger. That number is expected to rise by another 47 million people if the war in Ukraine continues, according to the agency’s analysis.

The United States and Europe will feel the pain, too, with increasing prices for important agricultural goods.

Two months into?Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Biden administration has increased the amount of intelligence it shares with Kyiv, contributing to successful strikes against senior Russian leaders and the?Russian Navy’s flagship, the Moskva, sources familiar with the intelligence sharing tell CNN.

But the effort raises questions about how far the White House is willing to go to help Ukraine fight the Russians while also trying to avoid provoking Moscow and getting drawn into the conflict.

Administration officials insist there are clear limits on the intelligence it shares with Ukraine, including a ban against providing precision targeting intelligence for senior Russian leaders by name, part of a White House effort to avoid crossing a line that Moscow may view as too escalatory.

Yet some current and former officials have suggested that the limits the Biden administration have drawn are arbitrary, in part because the end result is the same – Ukrainian strikes that kill senior Russian leaders. On top of that, any US assessment of what actions might provoke Moscow depends on the thinking of just one man, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sources familiar with the administration’s approach say the decisions to gradually broaden the intelligence it is willing to share have been primarily based on the judgments of Biden administration officials rather than any changing assessments about how escalatory Russia might view a given action.

Read the full report here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his nightly address on Friday.

In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was able to evacuate women and children from Azovstal with the help of the UN and Red Cross.

He said he’s also working on diplomatic options to help evacuate the remaining military in Azovstal.??

“We continue the evacuation mission from Mariupol, namely from Azovstal, with the mediation of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross. During the day, our team organized rescue operations for more than 40 civilians, all women and children,” the Ukrainian president said.

An Italian police patrol boat is seen in front of the multimillion-dollar superyacht, The Scheherazade, docked at the Tuscan port of Marina di Carrara in Italy, on Friday.

Italian authorities have seized a superyacht believed to have links with the Russian government, according to a news release issued by the country’s financial police on Friday.?

The Scheherazade has been under scrutiny since March for possible connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The news release stated that investigations “highlighted the presence of significant economic and business connections” between the owner of the yacht and “prominent?elements of the Russian government.”

The owner of the yacht — whose name was not disclosed — also has connections with other Russians included in the EU’s list of those sanctioned for “actions that compromise or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine,”?according to police.?

“Based on these elements, the Financial Security Committee proposed to the Council of the European Union the inclusion of this person in the aforementioned list,” the news release continued.?

Italy’s Finance Minister Daniele Franco has ordered a decree to freeze the vessel which bears the flag of the Cayman Islands and is docked in the Italian port of Marina di Carrara.

US President Joe Biden?on Friday announced?additional security assistance to Ukraine?in the form of “additional artillery munitions, radars, and other equipment.”

The latest package is for $150 million worth of equipment including 25,000 155mm artillery rounds, counter-artillery radars, jamming equipment and field equipment and spare parts, a White House official said.

The new security assistance package follows the President’s $33 billion proposal last week to Congress to support Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion. The US has made it clear it intends to provide long-term support to Ukraine and has already provided the nation with billions of dollars in military and humanitarian assistance.

The proposed package last week was more than twice as much as the $13.6 billion infusion of military and humanitarian aid that Congress approved last month.

In a statement, Biden said the administration has nearly exhausted funding that can be used for security assurance and called on Congress to approve his request for additional money for Ukraine.

“Congress should quickly provide the requested funding to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield and at the negotiating table,” Biden added.

Read more about the assistance package here.

Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, stands in front of a damaged building following Russian strikes in Kyiv on April 29

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko is urging citizens to stay inside from Sunday into Monday around Russia’s annual Victory Day as Western officials have warned Russian President Vladimir Putin could formally declare war on Ukraine on May 9, a symbolic day for Russia, paving the way for Putin to step up his campaign.

Though the mayor is not formally imposing a curfew, events will not be held during that time, according to posts on his social media. He said there will be enhanced patrolling in the city.

“If anyone would like to go lay flowers, they can do so in private …?Pay attention and follow wartime security rules,” Klitschko said.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated a curfew would be imposed in Kyiv Sunday and Monday. There will be no curfew on those days.?

Smoke rises at a warehouse after shelling in Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine, on May 3.

The Russians want to seize the city of Severodonetsk so “this can be sold to the Russian people as a grand victory,” a senior official in eastern Ukraine says.

“Of course, they want Severodonetsk, because it is the city — the regional center. Of course, this can be sold to the people as a grand victory,” Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk regional military administration said on Telegram.

Severodonetsk, which was an important industrial center in eastern Ukraine, has been shelled by Russian forces for weeks and is largely destroyed. But Ukrainian troops remain in and around the city.

“And of course another goal is to encircle our military and try to cut the road to Bakhmut where Popasna is. These are the main two directions,” he said.

Hayday denied Russian claims that they’d taken the town of Rubizhne in the same area.?

“In fact they can’t move any further and our National Guard is still there and repulses all enemy attacks,” Hayday said.

Deborah?Bronnert, British Ambassador to Moscow,?takes part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall in Moscow, Russia on February 10.

British Ambassador to Moscow Deborah Bronnert was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday over the latest sanctions against Russia, including sanctions against the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, according to the statement from the Russian foreign ministry.

The imposition of sanctions against the Russian media “only because their coverage and interpretation of events taking place in the world is not consistent with Western patterns, once again clearly confirms the duplicity and cynicism of British politicians, for whom such a thing as freedom of the media is nothing more than a tool for solving market problems,” the statement added.

The ministry accused the UK and its officials for imposing sanctions and making statements with “threats” that are “interspersed with lies and outright rudeness” against Russia.

“Russian side will continue to respond harshly and decisively to all sanctions initiated by London and take retaliatory measures,” the statement added.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said at least 50 civilians were successfully evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol Friday.

“Today we managed to extract 50 women, children and the elderly from Azovstal. Tomorrow morning we will continue the evacuation operation,” Vereshchuk said?in a statement posted on her social media channels.

Ukrainian officials earlier had said that they couldn’t comment on the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant being organized by the United Nations and the International Red Cross.

Russian state media on Friday said that 25 civilians were evacuated out of the plant on two buses.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing in Washington DC, on Friday.

More than 200 Ukrainian soldiers have completed training on M777 howitzers provided to Ukraine by the US, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said during a briefing at the Pentagon on Friday.

An additional “150 plus” Ukrainian soldiers are currently going through the Howitzer training, he added.

US military service members are training groups of Ukrainian soldiers on the pieces outside of Ukraine, Kirby has said previously. Fifteen Ukrainian soldiers have completed training on the Q-64 mobile air-defense radar system, the Pentagon official noted.

And 60 Ukrainian soldiers have completed M-113 training, and “about 50 more are currently being trained on that right now,” Kirby said. The M-113 is an army personnel carrier.

Meanwhile, Russian forces “continue to launch both missile strikes as well as fixed-man airstrikes into Ukraine,” specifically in “the Donbas region, where the fighting is really going on right now, and also down in Mariupol,” Kirby told reporters. “Even today they continue to pound Mariupol,” he added.

The US Department of Defense will award a $17.8 million contract for the industry to produce and send Switchblade drones to Ukraine as the ongoing conflict with Russia continues, a Department of Defense official told reporters during a briefing Friday.

These drones will be bought from industry and delivered to Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funding approved in the Ukraine aid supplemental funding, which was passed along with a massive spending bill in the US Congress in mid-March. The total USAI funding in that bill was $300 million, and the Department of Defense has awarded $136.8 million dollars of that so far, LaPlante said.

The $136.8 million overall has bought from industry and is sending “unmanned aerial systems, Puma, advanced precision kill weapon system, communication devices, combat medical equipment and supplies, meals ready to eat, even binoculars,” in eight different contracts, LaPlante said.

The Department of Defense is also using $1.45 billion in funding approved by the US Congress in the Ukraine aid supplemental signed into law in mid-March to replace US stocks of Javelin and Stinger missiles, along with key components for those missiles,?LaPlante?said.

In the Ukraine aid supplemental, the US Congress approved $3.5 billion in funding to “replenish US stocks of equipment sent to Ukraine,” LaPlante said. So far, DoD is using $1.45 billion from those funds to replace “Stingers, javelins and other key components,” LaPlante added.

“We are actively negotiating right now — the Army is — for Stingers and related components, and that’s ongoing. Expect to get that awarded by the end of May. For Javelins, the award is imminent, so that’s all happening right now,” LaPlante said.

Here’s what has happened in Mariupol and beyond today.

Conflicting reports of evacuations: Russia state media said that two buses with civilians were evacuated out of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol on Friday. But Ukrainian officials said they can’t comment on the evacuation of civilians from the plant being organized by the United Nations and the International Red Cross. And the mayor of Mariupol’s office told CNN it was not aware of the latest evacuations.?

Zelensky alleges deportations: More than “500,000 Ukrainians have been deported to Russia” since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday. He also accused Russians of blockades and torture with starvation in Mariupol.

G7 to meet this weekend: US President Joe Biden will meet virtually with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his G7 counterparts on Sunday morning during a meeting of the G7 forum, a National Security Council spokesperson said. Sanctions will be on the agenda for the meeting. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the timing of Sunday’s call ahead of Russia’s Victory Day is intentional.

Preparations for Victory Day: May 9, known as Victory Day inside Russia, commemorates the country’s defeat of the Nazis in 1945. The Kremlin said May 9 won’t be “overshadowed” by the events unfolding in Ukraine, adding “the significance of this holiday cannot be overestimated.”?But this year’s parade is expected to be of a smaller scale than in previous years.

Some Western officials believe Russian President Vladimir Putin could formally declare war on Ukraine Monday, paving the way for him to step up his campaign.

Russia leaving its mark: Ukrainian officials have posted?images?from?Mariupol?showing continuing work by what they call “the occupiers” to restore monuments from the Soviet era. Petro Andrushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of the city, distributed?new photographs?on Friday saying that, in recent days, all the monuments of the Soviet period have been “restored.”

Also, a senior official in Russia’s governing United Russia party on Friday said Russia has come to?the?Kherson?region?to “stay forever,” and there should be “no doubt about that.”

And new satellite images show Russia is excavating the site of the heavily bombed drama theater in Mariupol.

Grain stalled: The blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, along with infrastructure challenges, are preventing nearly 25 million tonnes of grain from being exported, according to a United Nations official.

CNN has also reported that?Russian forces are stealing thousands of tons of grain?from Ukrainian farmers, as well as targeting food storage sites with artillery, according to multiple sources.

A bus carrying civilians evacuated from Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol arrives at a temporary accommodation center in?the village of Bezimenne, Ukraine on May 6, 2022.

Ukrainian officials say they can’t comment on the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel plant being organized by the United Nations and the International Red Cross.

Meanwhile, 25 people brought out of the Azovstal plant late on Friday afternoon appear to have been evacuated as part of a unilateral operation by Russian authorities. Videos of their departure from the plant and their arrival at a reception center in Russian-controlled territory showed no presence of UN or Red Cross vehicles.

The US Embassy in Moscow on Friday warned Americans in Russia to avoid large public gatherings around Victory Day on May 9 “given the ongoing tensions.”

“Annual Victory Day celebrations, including the main parade in Red Square, will take place in Moscow through May 9,” the security?alert?said. “Local authorities will restrict movement in event areas to facilitate rehearsals for the event.”

“In the past, there have been heightened police presence surrounding these events. Given the ongoing tensions, U.S. citizens should avoid large public gatherings,” the alert said.

May 9 commemorates?the Soviet Union’s role?in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II. It?is marked every year by a military parade in Moscow and a speech by Putin. At the end of the parade, Putin?will lay a wreath?at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Some US and Western officials believe that Russian?President Vladimir Putin could formally declare war on Ukraine on Monday and fully mobilize his reserve forces.?

The State Department had previously called on US citizens to leave Russia immediately “due to the unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces, the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials, the singling out of U.S. citizens in Russia by Russian government security officials including for detention, the arbitrary enforcement of local law, limited flights into and out of Russia, the Embassy’s limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia, COVID-19-related restrictions, and terrorism.”

The bombed Mariupol theater is seen in this satellite image from May 6.?

An extensive excavation of the bombed Mariupol drama theater is underway, new satellite images from Maxar Technologies show.

The area is now under Russian control, and the clearance of debris from the fighting is underway in several parts of the city.?

The site was bombed on March 16. Ukrainian officials believe at least 300 people who were taking shelter at the building were killed.

On April 29, a satellite image showed a crane at the side of the building. The sidewalks on the northern and southern side of the drama theater, which had been covered in debris from the bombing, were by then cleared.

The bombed Mariupol theater is seen in this satellite image from April 29.

In a May 2 satellite image, the crane was behind the drama theater. Trucks were parked at the front, but it’s unclear from the satellite images what their purpose was.

The latest satellite image, taken on May 6, shows even more activity at the theater. The crane is seen sitting next to the large hole in the theater’s roof, the likely epicenter of the explosion that tore the building apart.

More trucks are seen outside and around the building. Some trucks are parked on top of the large sign that said “children” written before the bombing.

CNN has reached out to the Russian defense ministry for comment about the excavations.

CNN has also reached out to the Ukrainian government and the United Nations for comment.?

International Committee of the Red Cross spokesperson Ewan Watson told CNN that they do not have a team in Mariupol and are not part of the excavation at the drama ?theater.

When it was bombed, the theater was being used as a shelter by women, children and the elderly.

The Ukrainian government has accused the Russians of conducting an airstrike on the theater. Russia has repeatedly denied that it hit the theater and has claimed without offering evidence that the Azov Regiment — one of the Ukrainian Army’s units in Mariupol — blew it up.

A bus carrying civilians evacuated from Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol arrives at a temporary accommodation center in?the village of Bezimenne, Ukraine on May 6, 2022.

A total of 25 civilians were evacuated out of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol on Friday, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.

The news outlet reported that the first bus left the territory on Friday with 12 civilians, including four children. Another 13 civilians, including one child, were taken out of the territory on a second bus.

The first bus with people “held by the militants” at the plant had left through the checkpoint, RIA Novosti reported. Video posted by RIA Novosti shows a group of people transferring from one bus to a larger coach. CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the video. CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian side for comment.

On Wednesday, the Joint Coordination Headquarters of the Russian Federation announced the opening of new humanitarian corridors from May 5 to May 7 for the evacuation of civilians from the plant.

It’s unclear whether Friday’s limited evacuation of a handful of civilians is connected to the proposed UN/International Red Cross evacuation from Azovstal, which was also due to begin Friday.

The second bus also evacuated two dogs with their owners. People were transferred to a larger bus, and video shows the bus later arriving at the village of after which it proceeded to the village of Bezimenne. Video geolocated by CNN shows the bus being escorted by the Russian military, but there is no evidence of UN or International Red Cross vehicles accompanying the transport.

There is a temporary camp for evacuees from Azovstal and other areas around Mariupol at Bezimenne.

The mayor of Mariupol’s office told CNN it was not aware of the latest evacuations.?

US President Joe Biden speaks at the White House in Washington, DC on May 5.?

US President Joe Biden in the coming days will announce another security assistance package to Ukraine, two sources say, with the total expected to be more than $100 million.?

Biden is set to speak with G7 leaders virtually Sunday ahead of expected Victory Day celebrations in Russia.

Reuters was first to report.?

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that the timing of Sunday’s G7 leaders call ahead of Russia’s Victory Day is intentional.

May 9 is when some US and Western officials believe that Russian?President Vladimir Putin could formally declare war on Ukraine and fully mobilize his reserve forces.????

“I think it should not be lost the significance, on anyone, the significance of when the timeline, of when this G7 meeting is happening, which is the day before Russia’s Victory Day, which President Putin has certainly projected his desire to mark that day as a day where he is victorious over Ukraine. Of course, he is not,” Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One.?

May 9 commemorates the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II. It?is marked every year by a military parade in Moscow and a speech by Putin. At the end of the parade, Putin will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Psaki added: “Having this meeting and conversation on Sunday is an opportunity to not only show how unified the West is in a confronting the aggression and the invasion by President Putin, but also to show that unity requires work, requires effort requires blood, sweat and tears sometimes.”

Asked about what further sanctions might come from Sunday’s call, Psaki said she did not have anything to preview.?

More than “500,000 Ukrainians have been deported to Russia” since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during an address to the Parliament of Iceland on Friday.

“They were forced to go there. Their documents and means of communication are confiscated. They are sent to faraway regions of that foreign land in order to assimilate there,” said Zelensky.

He underlined that the number of deported Ukrainian’s even exceeds the total population of Iceland.

CNN is unable to independently confirm the number of Ukrainians who have been taken across the border into Russian territory.?

Ukraine said 41 people have returned to Ukraine in the latest exchange of prisoners with Russia.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said there were 28 service personnel and 13 civilians in the group, which included 11 women.

The rector of?the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was also among the released, she said.

US President Joe Biden will meet virtually with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his G7 counterparts on Sunday morning during a meeting of the G7 forum, a National Security Council spokesperson said.

Sanctions will be on the agenda for the meeting.

“They will discuss the latest developments in Russia’s war against Ukraine and its global impacts; showing support for Ukraine and Ukraine’s future; and demonstrating continued G7 unity in our collective response, including by imposing severe costs for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war,” the spokesperson said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Mariupol is one of the most complicated points of this war, accusing Russians of blockades and torture with starvation, during a virtual event held by policy institute Chatham House to discuss the war.?

When asked about the situation in Mariupol, Zelensky said all the international organizations — including Ukrainian ones — are prohibited from entering the area to provide water, food and other supplies to civilians. He added that?the Russian military’s treatment in Mariupol is “inhuman” and a “beastly attitude.”?

Zelensky also emphasized the importance of Mariupol by saying that if Russia kills civilians that could be exchanged as prisoners of war, then Ukraine cannot have any diplomatic talks with Russia afterward.

Service members of pro-Russian troops ride an infantry combat vehicle near the Azovstal steel plant in the southern port city of?Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 5.

The Kremlin declined to confirm Friday whether a Victory Day parade will take place on Monday in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, saying a wide celebration of Victory Day is currently impossible “for obvious reasons.”

First deputy head of the presidential administration of Russia, Sergei Kiriyenko, previously had said that a parade on Victory Day this year in Donetsk and Luhansk could not yet be held, but time for that would come soon, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

Some background:?Western officials believe?Russian President Vladimir Putin could formally declare war on Ukraine as soon as May 9, a symbolic day for Russia, paving the way for him to step his campaign.

May 9, known as “Victory Day” inside Russia, commemorates the country’s defeat of the Nazis in 1945.

More details from the Kremlin: Peskov said Friday?that May 9 is a “sacred” day for Russians, and it won’t be “overshadowed” by the events unfolding in Ukraine.

“Victory Day for all Russians, for almost all residents of the former territory of the Soviet Union, is a sacred day, the main holiday, which is filled with symbolism, a sense of pain for the sacrifices that we have suffered through, and a sense of pride for our country and our victory. Therefore, nothing will overshadow it,” Peskov told journalists during a daily call with the media, when asked if the war, people dying in Ukraine and rumors of upcoming mobilization in Russia may overshadow the solemn Victory Day mood.?

Peskov went on to say that “from the point of view of national pride, the significance of this holiday cannot be overestimated.”?

The Kremlin confirmed Friday that Putin will attend the traditional Victory Parade on May 9 held in Moscow’s Red Square and will make a speech. At the end of the parade, Putin will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.?

This year’s parade is expected to be of a smaller scale than in previous years. According to the Kremlin, international leaders have not been invited to attend the festivities. “We didn’t invite anyone to Victory Day,” Peskov said last week.

The display of the military equipment is also expected to be smaller. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, 11,000 people and 131 types of weapons will be involved in the military parade this year compared to 191 military vehicles and 12,000 people last year. The air show is expected to include 77 aircraft and helicopters, one additional aircraft compared to last year.

Russia has come to the?Kherson?region to “stay forever,” and there should be “no doubt about that,” according to a senior official in Russia’s governing United Russia party,?Andrei Turchak.

Russian state media?RIA-Novosti said Turchak made the remarks while on a visit to?Kherson, an important Ukrainian region north of Crimea that has been occupied by Russian forces since the early days of its invasion of Ukraine.

“There will be no return to the past. We will live together, develop this rich region, rich in historical heritage, rich in the people who live here,” said Turchak, addressing?Kherson?residents.?

He added that the status of the?Kherson?region will be determined by its residents.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. In any case, the status will be determined by the residents,” Turchak said.

There had been reports that Russia would organize a referendum in the region, but no plans have been announced.?

According to Russian state media,?Turchak and the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin visited?Kherson?on Friday and met with the head of the new Russian-appointed administration of the?Kherson?region, Vladimir Saldo.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky takes part in a ceremony to honor servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and families of fallen defenders in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 6.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Russia believes that it won’t be held responsible for alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine because of the threat of nuclear weapons.?

Speaking at a virtual event held by policy institute Chatham House to discuss the war, Zelensky said:

Zelensky also claimed that Russia is calculating how much time is needed for nuclear missiles to hit European capitals.??

On Thursday, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova testified at the hearings of the Helsinki Commission on alleged war crimes of Russia in Ukraine, telling the US government commission that the Russian army had committed more than 9,800 war crimes in 70 days of war.

The blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, along with infrastructure challenges, are preventing nearly 25 million tonnes of grain from being exported, a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official said Friday.?

Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain-producing countries.

At the same time, in the months of July and August, the new crop will be coming in,?Schmidhuber said,?and “despite the war, harvest conditions don’t look that dire.”?

But, he continued, “that could really mean that there is not enough storage capacity going forward in Ukraine particularly if there is no ‘wheat corridor’ opening up for exports from Ukraine.”?

CNN previously reported that Russian forces are stealing thousands of tons of grain from Ukrainian farmers, as well as targeting food storage sites with artillery, according to multiple sources. Ukraine’s defense ministry said Thursday an estimated 400,000 tons of grain had been stolen to date.

The theft of grain on such a huge scale — combined with the dislocation of war — could affect world markets. Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said: “If we do not harvest (the) next crop, the effect of hunger can be significant. And the main export route is ports which are currently blocked.”

CNN’s Tim Lister contributed reporting to this post.

Injured Ukrainian marine Hlib Stryzhko talks to CNN on May 4.

A Ukrainian marine who fought in Mariupol at a steel plant taken by Russian forces was taken prisoner after being injured.

Hlib Stryzhko was wounded on April 10 and regained consciousness inside an ambulance. He was brought to a hospital controlled by separatists.

“I was told by a Russian soldier,?‘You’ll have to forget?Ukrainian now.?You will only get help if you?ask in Russian,’” he told CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh.

He was kept alive so the Russians could exchange him for their own soldiers.

The prisoner exchange happened on April 22, and he is recovering from a crushed pelvis, broken jaw, concussion and vision impairment.

He recalls the fierce fighting that took place in Mariupol.

“Very often when I close my?eyes, I see that moment when the tank was firing at?me and my side getting injured,” he said.

Every time he heard a fellow soldier was dead, “it was personal,” he said.

“There is a point where the?brain accepts it.?… When this became normal, that?was scary.?We learned how to fall asleep?with this accompaniment.?Instead, it became scary to?fall asleep in the silence,” he said.

His two most vivid memories include the first time he had to use a tourniquet on a friend and watching Russian aircraft destroying whole hangars.

Watch the interview:

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03:32 - Source: cnn

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen makes a statement in Brussels, Belgium, on April 27, following the decision by Russian energy giant Gazprom to halt gas shipments to Poland and Bulgaria.

European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday she is “confident” the bloc’s sixth package of sanctions against Russia will pass, as deliberations among member states continue into the third day.

“I am confident that we will get this package off the ground,” she said in a speech in Frankfurt, Germany.?“If it takes one more day, then it takes one more day, but we are moving in the right direction.”

Mobilization?of the package has hit some roadblocks this week, with some countries resisting the proposed embargo on Russian oil imports due to their energy dependency, sparking fears they would veto the move unless granted exemption.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, speaking on Hungarian radio Friday, compared the sanctions proposal to an “atomic bomb” and said he sent it to back to von der Leyen for amendments.?His comments were carried in an online post from the Hungarian government’s communications office.??

Meanwhile, negotiations are “going in the right direction” for the Czech Republic, government spokesperson Václav Smolka told CNN on Friday. The country is seeking an exemption from the embargo as it needs two more years to wean itself off Russian oil, he said.

Von der Leyen referenced Germany, which at the beginning of the conflict was resistant to an oil embargo, she said, but has since cut down its imports from Russia to 12% from 35%.

“The countries that are now hesitating are not as far along,” she said.?“We are sitting, as I speak, with these countries in Brussels, to work through very pragmatic things, like from where can alternative oil be brought into these countries.”

The exhumation of civilian bodies from a mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine, on April 13.

Russian forces “must face justice for a series of war crimes” committed in the region northwest of Kyiv, Amnesty International said Friday at a press briefing in the Ukrainian capital following an investigation it conducted in the country.

The investigation, based?“on dozens of interviews and extensive review of material evidence,” has documented “unlawful air strikes on Borodyanka, and extrajudicial executions in other towns and villages including Bucha, Andriivka, Zdvyzhivka and Vorzel.”

An Amnesty International delegation spoke with survivors, families of victims and senior Ukrainian officials, the watchdog said.?

“The pattern of crimes committed by Russian forces that we have documented includes both unlawful attacks and willful killings of civilians,” Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard said in a statement.

During 12 days of investigations, Amnesty researchers interviewed residents in Bucha, Borodianka, Novyi Korohod, Andriivka, Zdvyzhivka, Vorzel, Makariv and Dmytrivka, and “visited sites of numerous killings,” Amnesty said.

In Borodianka, Amnesty International found that “at least 40 civilians were killed in disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks, which devastated an entire neighborhood and left thousands of people homeless.”

In Bucha and several other towns and villages located northwest of Kyiv, Amnesty documented “22 cases of unlawful killings by Russian forces, most of which were apparent extrajudicial executions.”

On March 1 and March 2, a series of Russian air strikes hit eight residential buildings in the town of Borodianka, which were home to more than 600 families, Amnesty said.?

“The strikes killed at least 40 residents and destroyed the buildings, as well as dozens of surrounding buildings and houses. Most of the victims were killed in the buildings’ basements, where they had sought shelter. Others died in their apartments,” Amnesty said.?

Amnesty called for all those responsible for war crimes?to?be held criminally responsible for their actions. “Under the doctrine of command responsibility, hierarchal superiors – including commanders and civilian leaders, such as ministers and heads of state – who knew or had reason to know about war crimes committed by their forces, but did not attempt to stop them or punish those responsible, should also be held criminally responsible,” Amnesty said.

Service members of pro-Russian troops fire from a tank during fighting near the Azovstal steel plant in the southern port city of?Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 5.

The Azov Regiment has claimed that during a ceasefire “on the territory of the Azovstal plant” in Mariupol, Russian forces fired an anti-tank weapon at a car that was trying to assist in the evacuation of civilians.

CNN is unable to verify that a ceasefire was in effect and being observed around Azovstal Friday.

On its Telegram channel, the regiment said: “As the result of the shelling, one fighter was killed and 6 were wounded. The enemy continues to violate all agreements and fail to adhere to security guarantees of civilians’ evacuation.”

The Azov Regiment has dozens of fighters still trapped at the steel complex.?

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a press conference at the Chancellery on May 4, in Berlin, Germany.

The Group of G7 leaders are set to hold a video conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, according to a German government spokesperson.

“The German chancellor (Olaf Scholz) will hold the third video conference since the start of the year with his G7 partners,” Christiane Hoffmann told reporters at a regular press briefing in Berlin on Friday. Germany currently holds the G7 presidency.

Hoffman went on to say that May 8 is a “historic date marking the end of World War II in Europe.”

The German chancellor will also give a televised address to the German nation in the evening of May 8, Hoffmann said, adding that May 8 has a special meaning this year as the two countries that were once victims of Nazi Germany are now at war with each other.

Smoke rises above the Azovstal?Iron and Steel Works in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 5.

As the Russian siege of Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant continues, here are the latest developments from Ukraine.

Constant shelling:?Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the shelling of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol is “not stopping” – even as “civilians still need to be taken out.”?In an address on Thursday, he said: “Women, many children remain there. Just imagine the hell – more than two months of constant shelling, bombing, constant death nearby.”

“Bloody battles”: A Ukrainian commander at the steel plant?said there are?“bloody battles” unfolding inside the complex after Russian troops breached the perimeter. “I am proud of my soldiers who are making superhuman efforts to contain the enemy’s onslaught,” said the commander of the Azov Regiment soldiers inside the Azovstal plant, Lt. Col. Denys Prokopenko.

Evacuation ongoing: The “next stage” of the evacuation of Ukrainian civilians from the steel plant is underway, according to Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office. The United Nations said it hoped that a joint convoy from the UN and the International Red Cross would be able to evacuate more civilians from Azovstal on Friday.?

Soviet-era symbols: Ukrainian officials have posted images from?Mariupol?showing continuing work by what they call “the occupiers” to restore monuments from the Soviet era. Petro Andrushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of the coastal city, distributed?new photographs?on Friday saying that, in recent days, all the monuments of the Soviet period have been “restored.”

More sanctions: Alina Kabaeva, a woman romantically linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been included in the sixth proposed package of EU sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, according to two?European?diplomatic sources.

US assistance: US provided intelligence that helped Ukraine sink the Moskva, a Russian guided-missile cruiser that was the flagship of Moscow’s fleet in the Black Sea, sources familiar with the events told CNN. The Pentagon has denied providing “specific targeting information” to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky address the nation on May 5.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “Russian troops have destroyed or damaged almost 400 health facilities,” during his address to Ukrainians on Thursday night.

He said this was based on “only the medical infrastructure,” and that the facilities affected included “hospitals, maternity hospitals, outpatient clinics.”

“In the temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine – in the east and south – the situation with access to medical services and medicines is just catastrophic,” Zelensky said, adding that “even the simplest medications are missing.”

The President also highlighted the “complete lack of treatment for cancer patients,” as well as “a lack of antibiotics” and “difficult or impossible” lack of access to insulin.

Russia’s attack on a maternity and children’s hospital in Mariupol on March 9 has been one of the most reported incidents to date during the ongoing invasion.

At least five people were killed and at least 17 were injured, including children.

Two hospitals in Zhytomyr, west of the capital, Kyiv, had their windows blown out in a Russian airstrike on a thermal power plant and civilian building in the city on the same day, the mayor said. One of them was a children’s hospital.

The?rules of war?specify that civilians should not be targeted and that medical workers, medical vehicles and hospitals dedicated to humanitarian work cannot be attacked.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends a press conference in Moscow, Russia, on April 27.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov twice declined to answer questions from journalists on Friday about whether Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett over anti-Semitic remarks his foreign minister made this week.

An Israeli summary of a phone call between the two leaders on Thursday said Bennett accepted Putin’s apology; a Russian summary made no mention of any contrition.

“At the moment, we have nothing to add to what was said in the readout,” Peskov said on his regular press briefing call.

Israeli leaders responded with fury earlier in the week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested that Adolf Hitler had Jewish ancestry. The assertion has no basis in fact.

Asked on Friday by a journalist if Lavrov should apologize, Peskov replied: “I’m not sure I understand your question.”

Some context: On Sunday, Putin’s top diplomat Lavrov sought to justify Moscow’s absurd goal of “de-Nazifying” Ukraine – a baseless portrayal of the country, which is led by a Jewish president – by claiming Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood” and that “the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews.”

Bennett called the assertions “lies” and Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid described them as “unforgiveable and outrageous,” warning that Israel had “tried to maintain good relations with Russia, but there is a line, and this time the line has been crossed.”

Alina Kabaeva smiles as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin delivers his speech at the congress of the United Russia Party on November, 27, 2011 in Moscow.

Alina Kabaeva, a woman romantically linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been included in the sixth proposed package of EU sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, according to two?European?diplomatic sources.

At this stage names can be taken off or added at member state discretion, an EU Commission source said.

The EU has not officially signed off on the draft proposal but could do so as early as this morning at a meeting of EU ambassadors – currently underway in Brussels.?

“Discussions are going on. It’s not a piece of cake, but we have to wait and see,” said one of the diplomatic sources.

Kabaeva was first linked to Putin more than a decade ago, while she was a medal-winning gymnast. Putin has denied a relationship with her.

In April, the Wall Street Journal reported that US officials had been debating whether or not to place sanctions on Kabaeva over concerns that the move might escalate tensions even more because it could be seen as an extreme personal blow to Putin.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church,?Patriarch?Kirill, is also among the individuals who are included in the proposed sixth round of EU sanctions, according to two sources who have seen the full documents.

A statue erected in Mariupol depicting an elderly woman grasping the Soviet flag on May 6.

Medals, road-signs and statues have served as some of the early symbols of Russia’s seizure of parts of southern Ukraine, and especially Mariupol.?

This week, medals were awarded “for the Liberation of Mariupol” by the leader of self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, and a senior official in Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, Andrei Turchak.??

The DPR has been hard at work changing road signs from Ukrainian into Russian – especially those at the entrance to Mariupol.

The southeastern port city has been under siege for several weeks, with efforts now concentrated on the Avostal steel plant. On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces were “not stopping” their shelling of the plant.

The plant is now being evacuated as civilians and soldiers remain trapped inside, with the “next stage” underway, according to?Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian President’s office. More than 300 evacuees from the Mariupol area arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Transport of the DPR promised Thursday that work on the replacement of road signs in what they call liberated territories will continue.?A statue has also gone up in Mariupol, depicting an elderly woman grasping the Soviet flag.??

Petro Andrushchenko, an adviser to the elected mayor of Mariupol, spoke bitterly about the rising number of Russian officials visiting Mariupol, including the Sergey Kiriyenko, a senior official at the Kremlin – describing them as “curators of Mariupol’s integration into Russia.”?

Referring to the new statue, Andrushcheko said the Russians had opened a monument “to an old lady with a flag on Warriors Liberators Square, which they stubbornly call the Leninist Komsomol.”?

Andrushchenko also distributed new photographs Friday, saying that “in recent days, all the monuments of the Soviet period have been ‘restored’: the so-called ‘fists’ with eternal fire — and the signs that say ‘To victims of Fascism’ in the Russian language. [Also the] monument to ‘Komsomol members and communists’ in the Primorsky district.”

Although he is not in Mariupol, Andruschenko maintains links with people still there and says the Russian flag has also gone up at the city hospital, and posted a photo.

“The occupiers allowed doctors to work for the people of Mariupol. Medical staff and doctors live directly in the hospital, there is only outpatient treatment. The hospital is provided with light through generators, water — by water carriers.”

He also posted a brief video shot from a vehicle on Prospect Myru showing the collection of debris. Like other Ukrainian officials, Andrushchenko claimed that “the work of retrieving corpses from the rubble is entrusted to Mariupol residents. Their payment — food.”

On the road to Zaporizhzhia from Mariupol, a road most of those trying to escape Mariupol must take, is the town of Tokmak, also under Russian occupation.?The entrance sign to the town has been repainted in the Russian tricolor.?

Elsewhere in the south of Ukraine, the ruble is gradually being introduced, According to a community group on Facebook, government employees in the town of Yakymivka have been told that if they want to be paid in Ukrainian hryvnia “the occupiers will take two-thirds of the salary.”?

Internally displaced people sit in a car after arriving from the Russian-occupied area in the Kherson region to the evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on May 2.

Civilians trying to leave Russian-occupied Kherson are being harassed and blocked by Russian forces, according to Ukrainian officials.

Yurii Sobolevskyi, the deputy head of Kherson regional Council, told Ukrainian television Friday: “The way out of city has been complicated. There are some cases when people managed to get out, even by a bus, but most people get turned back. All the junctions are blocked.”

Sobolevskyi claimed that “there are cases when they [Russian forces] commit abuses at the check-points: very thorough frisking, forcing men to undress, looking for tattoos.”

Russian soldiers frequently check Ukrainian civilians for what they see as nationalist and neo-Nazi tattoos.

Sobolevskyi said that mobile connections and internet access had been restored so that people in Kherson could communicate with their families in other parts of Ukraine.

He said the Russians were trying to introduce the ruble on an experimental basis in some communities.

Some context: The southern city of Kherson was the first Ukrainian city to fall under Russian control, and since then scores of people have been trying to flee. Over the past weeks, harrowing allegations of rape and brutality at the hands of Russian forces have emerged in the Kherson region.

Mounted howitzers, Panzerhaubitze 2000, of the German Bundeswehr stand at the Hindenburg barracks in Munster, Germany, on February 14.

Germany has reached an agreement to supply Ukraine with seven self-propelled armored howitzers 2000, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced Friday during a visit to Silac, Slovakia.?

The artillery system, which resembles a tank, has a reported firing range of up to 40 kilometers (24.8 miles), according to the German military. Lambrecht said Germany will also offer training on the armored howitzers to Ukrainian troops.?

Over the past months, the German government and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have come under pressure from Ukraine and politicians at home for not doing enough in providing heavy military equipment to help Ukraine defend itself against the Russian invasion.?

At the end of last month, Germany agreed to deliver Gepard tracked anti-aircraft vehicles to Ukraine – a move that underscored a major shift in its approach to providing military help to Kyiv.

Evacuees from Mariupol arrive at a center for displaced people in Kamianske, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on May 3.

The “next stage” of evacuation of Ukrainian civilians from Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant is underway, according to Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office.

“The results will be reported later,” Yermak said.

The United Nations said Thursday it hoped that a joint convoy from the UN and the International Red Cross would be able to evacuate more civilians from Azovstal Friday. There are no details about the location of that convoy as of 10 a.m. local time (3 a.m. Eastern Time) Friday.

Some 500 civilians had recently been evacuated from both the Azovstal plant and the city of Mariupol, according to tweets by Yermak and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres early Friday. But CNN understands that they were referring to the cumulative effort to help people leave since Sunday.

More than 300 evacuees from the Mariupol area arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday.

“Ukraine will continue to do everything to save all civilians and the military servicemen. Thank you UN for help,” Yermak said.

Separately, the Ukrainian military said early Friday that “the blockade of units of the Defense Forces in the Azovstal area continues. In some areas, the enemy has resumed assault operations with the support of combat aviation in order to take control of the plant.”

A Ukrainian soldier stands next to a destroyed Russian tank in Malaya Rohan village near?Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 5.

The Ukrainian military reported fewer Russian ground attacks in the last 24 hours, but it said there was still persistent shelling of many places along the frontlines in the country’s east and south.

The overall picture suggests relatively static frontlines, with Russian forces still unable to take towns and villages they first attacked as long as a month ago.?

In its operational update for Friday, the General Staff indicated that Russian forces seemed to be regrouping and efforts to take territory were confined to a few areas such as the Popasna in Luhansk region.

Listing a range of other towns in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, such as Severodonetsk and Avdiivka, the General Staff said “the enemy did not conduct active hostilities.”

In the south, the General Staff said that the Russian “did not conduct active hostilities and kept the occupied frontiers, strengthened their air defense systems and electronic warfare; fired on the positions of our troops.”

In the area where the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions meet, the Russians had conducted air reconnaissance, according to the General Staff. Both sides have tried to take territory in this area, with the Russians trying to push north and the Ukrainians trying to threaten Russian control of Kherson city, an important link to Crimea.?

On Thursday, Russian journalists reported that the Russian flag had been raised in the town of Snihurivka in the Mykolaiv region.?

Reports from the regions also suggest that most Russian activity has been in the form of missile and artillery attacks.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region,?the Kryvyi Rih district had been subject to shelling, but there were no casualties, according to Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the military administration.

Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih city military administration, said “the enemy fired intensely throughout the night along the entire line of contact.”

Meanwhile, a cruise missile has hit Pokrovsky, which is deep inside Dnipropetrovsk, damaging the local power line, according to the regional council.

Russian forces have sporadically aimed missiles at infrastructure in the Dnipropetrovsk region but don’t hold any part of the region, according to the Ukrainian forces.

The superyacht Amadea is docked at the Queens Wharf in Lautoka, Fiji, on April 15.

The Suva High Court in Fiji on Friday refused an application by Millemarin Investments Ltd, which owns the $300-million superyacht Amadea, for a stay of execution of a US warrant to seize the yacht.?

A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the implementation of a court order or judgement.?

The $300-million yacht belonging to Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov was seized by Fijian authorities on Thursday at the request of the US Department of Justice.

An image from social media released on April 18 shows a fire on the Russian warship Moskva.

The Pentagon denied providing “specific targeting information” to Ukraine to sink the Moskva, a Russian guided-missile cruiser that was the flagship of Moscow’s fleet in the Black Sea.?

Ukraine claimed to have struck the ship with two Neptune anti-ship missiles in mid-April.

The ship then sank as it was being towed back to port for repairs. Russia said the damage to the ship was the result of the detonation of ammunition.

“The Ukrainians have their own intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as they did in this case,” Kirby added.

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France on May 4.

India and France have agreed to “intensify coordination” regarding responses to the war in Ukraine, a joint statement from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron, said Thursday.

The pair met late Wednesday, concluding Modi’s three-day European tour, which included Germany, Denmark and France.?

Apart from Ukraine, the two leaders discussed a number of issues including Afghanistan, defense partnerships, climate, strategic partnership in the Indo-Pacific region and global food security.

Smoke rises from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, on May 5.

Here’s everything we know about the battle for Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant and other developments on Ukraine.

Non-stop shelling: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the shelling of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol is “not stopping” even as “civilians still need to be taken out.”?

Evacuation underway: Rescue operation from Mariupol continued Thursday with the help of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, Zelensky said. Another round of rescue is planned for Friday, according to Ukrainian officials.

US assistance: When Ukraine successfully targeted?Russia’s prized warship last month?with anti-ship cruise missiles, they had some help from the United States.??

Ukrainian forces, having spotted a Russian warship in the Black Sea, called their American contacts for confirmation that it was in fact the Moskva, sources familiar with the events told CNN. The US responded that it was, and provided intelligence about its location.

Russian advances: Russian forces have made “some small progress, particularly in the north part of the Donbas” region of Ukraine, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said during a briefing Thursday.

Germain aide: Germany will support Ukraine with a further $130 million in humanitarian aid, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced in a video message in Warsaw.?The money will ”help strengthen Ukrainian resistance to the Russian attacks.” Scholz also said he intends to provide Ukraine with another $147 million for development financing.??

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington on Thursday.

Russian forces have made “some small progress, particularly in the north part of the Donbas” region of Ukraine, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said during a briefing on Thursday.

This small progress is not the progress that the US believes Russian forces “expected to make at this point,” in the region, Kirby added.

“In the Donbas region, we would still assess that Ukrainians are putting up a very stiff resistance,” he said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross team participates in an ongoing operation to facilitate the safe passage of civilians out of the Azovstal plant and Mariupol on May 4.

The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have launched a third operation to evacuate civilians from the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and the?Azovstal steel plant, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council on Thursday.

Guterres said this is the third such operation to evacuate citizens from the area after two other operations.?

“So far, in total, nearly 500 civilians have found long-awaited relief after living under relentless shelling and scarce availability of water, food and sanitation,” Guterres told the UN Security Council.

A local resident walks past houses destroyed in Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 5.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said evacuation operations out of the southern city of Mariupol continued Thursday.?

The Ukrainian President did not give a figure for how many people were evacuated on Thursday alone, but said that more than 300 people from the Mariupol area and more than 150 people from the Azovstal steel plant are “already receiving all the help they need” after being evacuated over the last few days.?

This comes after he announced Wednesday that authorities had succeeded in evacuating 344 people from the Mariupol area earlier that day.

Ukrainian authorities have planned a further round of evacuations out of the besieged city on Friday, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

The Ukrainian government is also pushing ahead with separate efforts to evacuate civilians and soldiers still trapped in the Azovstal steel plant, which Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has hailed as a “the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the shelling of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol is “not stopping” even as “civilians still need to be taken out.”?

“Women, many children remain there,” he said during his nightly address on Thursday. “Just imagine the hell — more than two months of constant shelling, bombing, constant death nearby.”

The Ukrainian authorities are “doing everything to find a solution to save our military heroes” defending Mariupol, Zelensky added. “There are different units. They have many wounded, but they do not give up. They hold position. And we too are trying to find solutions to find safety for these people.”

On Sunday, over 100 civilians were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant where they spent two months sheltering underground from Russian attacks.

It’s unclear how many civilians remain trapped in the plant, according to a spokesperson for the United Nations secretary-general.

When Ukraine successfully targeted?Russia’s prized warship last month?with anti-ship cruise missiles, they had some help from the United States.??

Ukrainian forces, having spotted a Russian warship in the Black Sea, called their American contacts for confirmation that it was in fact the Moskva, sources familiar with the events told CNN. The US responded that it was, and provided intelligence about its location.

It is not clear whether the US knew Ukraine would move to strike the ship, however, and the US was not involved in that decision, the sources said.?

The ship?sank after it was struck?by two Ukrainian cruise missiles on April 14, dealing a huge blow to the Russian military.

The episode,?first reported by NBC News,?reflects the Biden administration’s increasingly forward-leaning posture when it comes to sharing intelligence with Ukraine, part of a broader?policy shift?toward helping Ukraine defeat Russia decisively on the battlefield and significantly weaken its military.?

But it also raises questions about what both the US and Russia’s red lines are when it comes to US military support to Ukraine.??

The US has for months been providing Ukrainian forces with intelligence about Russian troop movements inside Ukraine, including intercepted communications about Russian military planning. It also provides Ukraine with maritime awareness information to allow them to better understand the threat posed by Russian ships in the Black Sea, many of which are firing missiles onto Ukrainian territory.?

There are also clear limits, however, to what the US will share, multiple sources told CNN.?

For example, the US has so far declined to provide information to Ukraine about potential targets inside Russia itself. And while the intelligence the US shares about Russian troop movements inside Ukraine can include details like vehicles and types of personnel at a particular location, the US has not provided Ukraine with intelligence about specific Russian military leaders’ whereabouts, officials have said.??

“We do not provide intelligence on the location of senior military leaders on the battlefield or participate in the targeting decisions of the Ukrainian military,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters on Thursday. Kirby added that “Ukraine combines information that we and other partners provide with the intelligence that they themselves are gathering on the battlefield, and then they make their own decisions, and they take their own actions.”?