May 9, 2022: Russia-Ukraine news

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

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Poland, near the Ukraine border, on April 25.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin jointly wrote to congressional leaders urging them to pass supplemental appropriations for Ukraine by May 19 in order for the administration “to provide uninterrupted critical military support” to the Ukrainians.

“And as of today, only $100 million remains in authority we can use for drawdown,” Blinken and Austin wrote. “We expect to exhaust that authority no later than May 19, 2022.”

“We will need additional appropriations by that date – including authorizations for additional drawdowns – if we are to continue our security assistance at the current pace,” they wrote.

Among those sent copies of the letter were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the heads of the Senate and House committees on appropriations and armed services.

A screen shows Russian President Vladimir Putin giving a speech as servicemen line up on Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9.

Two Russian reporters appear to have posted at least 30 articles to a pro-Kremlin news site, lenta.ru, on Monday criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and his government’s suppression of critics.

CNN reviewed the articles – which were almost immediately taken down – some pegged to the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany, others criticizing the Russian leader for using Victory Day to justify his bloody onslaught into Ukraine.

Reporters Egor Polyakov and Alexandra Miroshnikova made several claims in their articles, including that Russian defense officials were “lying to relatives” about those killed in the sinking of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva and accusing Putin of launching one of the “bloodiest wars of the 21st century.”

Polyakov and Miroshnikova are both business editors at lenta.ru, a major pro-Kremlin Russian news site. The outlet’s parent company was recently bought by Russian Sberbank, which is subject to US sanctions for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

CNN reached out to the two reporters and lenta.ru for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The Russian parliament passed a law in early March criminalizing what it considers to be falsehoods about Russia’s war in Ukraine. Breaking that law can result in a 1.5 million ruble (around $21,467) fine or up to 15 years in prison. Putin and state-owned media still refer to the full-scale ground war in Ukraine as a “special operation.”

Independent Russian news site Mediazone?published?what it said was a statement from Polyakov and Miroshnikova after the articles appeared.

Polyakov and Miroshnikova not only publicly rejected the government line on the invasion but accused Putin of lying about his intentions in Ukraine from the outset.

They pointed to Putin’s call for a “liberation of Donbass,” “de-Nazification,” and the “demilitarization of Ukraine,” as examples of what they describe as hastily put together justifications for a needless war.

One of the articles in the duo’s Victory Day series focused on what they described as the Russian military lying to families of sailors who died on the Moskva flagship.?CNN has previously reported?on anxious Russian parents scrambling for information about the fate of sailors aboard the ship that was sunk by two Ukrainian missiles sunk last month.

The article claimed the Russian navy may have re-circulated old images of the Moskva’s crew to suggest more sailors made it off the ship unharmed than really did.

CNN could not independently confirm these claims.

Each article on lenta.ru started with the same urgent plea under the headline.?

The duo also appeared to sign off from lenta.ru saying, “We’re looking for work, lawyers and probably, political asylum!”

“Don’t be afraid, don’t be quiet,” they continued in an apparent call to action. “Resist! You are not one, you are many! The future is yours!… Peace to Ukraine!”

Reporting critical of the government in Russian media is rare – especially since the war in Ukraine started in February. The last major journalistic show of dissent from state media was when long-time Russian TV editor Marina Ovsyannikova held up an anti-war sign during a live broadcast on Russia’s Channel 1 in March. She was arrested and fined 30,000 rubles.

Ovsyannikova is now reporting for a German-owned news outlet from Russia and Ukraine.

In the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson, nonstop shelling has reduced buildings to rubble. In nearby villages, the fields are covered in debris.

But many residents can’t leave. Instead, they do their best to move forward, hiding in basement shelters when the shelling gets too close.

On the roads, men still sell cow’s milk, and care for their livestock. But it’s not so much that life goes on, said CNN’s International Security Editor Nick Paton Walsh — it’s that life has nowhere else to go.

When asked about the possibility of leaving, one resident laughs. “I’ve got plans for tomorrow,” she told Walsh. “Every day I go out, the goats are waiting for me. I’d sleep longer but there’s shelling and the goats are asking for food.”

Others feel they can’t leave their homes while beloved children are on the front lines.

Another resident, Svetlana, said she was waiting for her son to return from the war in Mariupol.

Take a look:

Firefighters respond to a missile attack on a hotel in Zakota, near Odesa, Ukraine, on May 9.

A shopping mall and two hotels were hit by Russian military strikes on Monday in the southern port city of Odesa.

Three Kinzhal missiles — Russia’s new hypersonic missiles — were fired from a plane and hit a “tourist infrastructure target”, said Sergey Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the Odesa regional military administration. ?

Two people were hospitalized from the missile strike, Bratchuk said. CNN could not confirm the injuries.??

Bratchuk did not identify the target, but CNN has geolocated and verified the authenticity of two videos circulating on social media, which show significant damage at a hotel in the village of Zatoka. One of the videos was first published by the Odesa City Council.?

This is the second hotel in the Odesa region that was targeted Monday. It’s unclear why the two hotels, or who may have been staying at them, were targeted.

A shopping mall was also hit by seven missiles, according to Ukraine’s Armed Forces Southern Operational Command. Five people were wounded, and one person died in the strike, it said.?

The House of Representatives will consider an additional $40 billion in supplemental funding for Ukraine on Tuesday, according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

On Monday, President Joe Biden called on Congress to “immediately” pass?the Ukraine aid bill, warning for the first time that existing aid will run out in “approximately ten days.”

“Get it to my desk in the next few days,” Biden said in a statement.

Biden initially requested $33 billion, but Congress has proposed billions more for food aid and military equipment.

Read more here:

US Vice President Kamala Harris (R) listens as US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on lowering the cost of high speed internet, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 9, 2022. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP) (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Biden tells Congress to 'immediately' pass $40 billion Ukrainian aid bill

Finnish Minister of European Affairs and Ownership Steering, Tytti Tuppurainen, talks to media prior to an EU General Affairs Council in Brussels, Belgium, on February 22.

It is “highly likely” that Finland will apply for membership in NATO, said the Finnish minister for European affairs.

Speaking to CNN on Monday, Tytti Tuppurainen said the decision has not yet been made, but called the nation’s likely membership “a very natural response” to Russia’s war in Ukraine.?She added that if her country does indeed apply, she hopes “the ratification process would be as brief as possible.”

On Thursday, Finnish President Sauli Niinist? is expected to give his personal opinion about whether to pursue NATO membership, which is expected to be followed by a statement by Prime Minister Sanna Marin.?

Impending decision: Tuppurainen told CNN that most of the country’s political parties have already discussed the issue. The Social Democrats — Marin and Tuppurainen’s party — will gather on Saturday to make their decision, which will be guided by Marin’s announcement.

“Now that the leader of the country is about to make the decision regarding the NATO application, we can say with good arguments that the whole country is ready for this,” Tuppurainen said, noting the strong public support in Finland for joining the defensive alliance.

Message to Moscow: Russia has warned it will respond if Finland – with which it shares a more than 800 mile border – joins NATO.?

“We’ve seen now what kind of a country Russia is and what kind of a regime it has. It has a ruthless dictator as leader,” she said. “We are no longer under any kind of illusions what he’s up to … and we know now that he can wage a war that is as despicable and ruthless and brutal as one can imagine.”

Finland has been a longtime partner of NATO, something that US and NATO officials have pointed to in voicing support for the nation’s membership if it chooses to apply.

At a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in Potomac, Maryland Monday, President Joe Biden told supporters?Russian President Vladimir Putin?thought?he?could break up NATO and the EU.

Biden also called the Russian president “very calculating” and expressed concern that Putin can’t find out a way out of the Ukraine war, according to the pool reporter — Biden’s remarks are off camera.

Earlier Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki hit Putin for his remarks at a Victory Day address from Moscow, telling reporters at the White House Putin’s claims NATO was “creating threats next to our border,” are “patently false and absurd.”

The Ukrainian military struck at least Russian one air defense system on Snake Island over the weekend, according to three US defense officials and a Ukrainian official.?

The strike on the SA-15 short-range air defense system is in addition to strikes on a Russian helicopter and landing boat, a senior US defense official said.?

A satellite view shows smoke rising over?Snake?Island, on Sunday, May 8.

A satellite image from Sunday morning showed two columns of smoke rising from the island.

Another US official said it’s unclear what strategic value the strikes had while noting that the island has a tremendous amount of symbolic importance for Ukraine. Shortly after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, Snake Island was where a Ukrainian soldier defiantly said over the radio, “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.”?

A Ukrainian source official said that two SA-15 systems had been hit, not one. It remains to be seen whether the air defense system was a target of opportunity or a concerted effort to go after Russian air defenses, which have limited the ability of Ukrainian’s air force to fly.??

Over the weekend, both Ukraine and Russia reported more combat in the Black Sea.

A Ukrainian official said Sunday that Ukrainian forces had destroyed a helicopter and several small ships.?

The Russian Ministry of Defense Sunday gave a very different version of events. Major General Igor Konashenkov said that during Saturday night, two more Ukrainian Su-24 bombers and one Mi-24 helicopter of the Ukrainian Air Force were destroyed by Russian air defense systems over the island.

US President Joe Biden said Monday he is willing to accept the separation of Ukraine aid from additional Covid-19 funding, calling on Congress to pass a Ukrainian supplemental funding bill “immediately, and get it to my desk in the next few days” and warning for the first time that existing aid will run out in “approximately ten days.”

Earlier, CNN’s Manu Raju and Ryan Nobles reported Biden told congressional leaders to move the Ukraine aid package first without the $10 billion in Covid aid that Congress has struggled to pass for weeks, per a congressional source.

Senate Republicans had insisted on the two moving on separate tracks, and the White House doesn’t want the Ukraine package bogged down in the chamber even though Democrats had been pushing to tie the two together over fears that the US response to the pandemic could be set back.

In his statement, Biden wrote he was “pleased” that “there appears to be strong support” from a bipartisan majority in Congress to provide aid to Ukraine but warned, “as vital as it is to help Ukraine combat Russian aggression, it is equally vital to help Americans combat COVID.”?

“Without timely COVID funding, more Americans will die needlessly.?We will lose our place in line for America to order new COVID treatments and vaccines for the fall, including next-generation vaccines under development, and be unable to maintain our supply of COVID tests.?In the fall, if we are hit by new variants, it will be too late to get the tools needed for protection – critical treatments that will be available in Europe, but not the United States.?In addition, our effort to help lower-income countries get COVID vaccines into arms will stall,” the President wrote.

US President Joe Biden speaks at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 4.

US President Joe Biden recently told his top national security officials that leaks about US intelligence sharing with Ukrainians aren’t helpful and need to stop, according to an official familiar with the conversation.?

Last week, after the White House denied providing direct intelligence to Ukrainians “with the intent to kill Russian generals,” Biden spoke separately with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA Director William Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.

He told them that it was not helpful for information to become public about what the US was sharing with the Ukrainian forces fighting the Russian invasion, an official said, and stressed that the leaks regarding such information must stop.

Biden’s message to his top national security officials was first reported by NBC News.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday told reporters the President was “displeased” with the leaks and considered them “inaccurate.”

Psaki, who declined to confirm calls between the President and his team, told reporters that Biden’s view “was that it was an overstatement of our role, an inaccurate statement, and also an understatement of the Ukrainians’ role and their leadership, and he does not, did not, (feel) they were constructive.”?

US officials have been candid about intelligence sharing with Ukrainians but have also said there is a line in what is shared with them. In addition to sending weapons for the battlefield, officials have also provided intelligence “to help the Ukrainians defend their country,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council said last week.

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

But the intelligence sharing efforts have proved useful. So far, the information has contributed to successful strikes against senior Russian leaders and the Russian Navy’s flagship, the Moskva, sources familiar with the intelligence sharing previously told CNN.

So far, Russia has not taken any known direct action against the United States or NATO in response to ongoing military and intelligence support.

US officials have been left to speculate why Moscow has held back, particularly when it comes to cyberattacks, which the US warned ahead of the war that Russia might use as retribution for US assistance. Russia has also not moved to strike Kyiv during the visits of a host of senior American leaders, from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

And the country has also not attempted to strike arms shipments flowing through Poland, a NATO nation. Only recently has Russia begun targeting railways inside Ukraine believed to be carrying Western arms to the fight.

In addition to sharing intelligence, the US has also provided billions in aid to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Last week, Biden announced a $150 million package that includes 25,000 155mm artillery rounds, counter-artillery radars, jamming equipment and field equipment and spare parts, according to a White House official.

Biden has proposed a $33 billion new aid package for Ukraine, which he sent to Congress last month. The US has made it clear it intends to provide long-term support to Ukraine, and 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.

This story has been updated with additional details Monday.??

Odesa?under further missile attacks on Monday.

The city of Odesa, Ukraine, has come under further missile attacks Monday evening local time.?

Around 10 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET), witnesses in the center of the city said they heard several large explosions which shook buildings.

Social media showed at least one large fire burning. and a witness said a large shopping center was on fire.?The resident of a city more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Odesa reported hearing the blasts.?

A few hours earlier, Odesa city council reported three cruise missiles were fired from a Tu-22 bomber. Five buildings were destroyed and two people injured.

The targets were unknown but some images from Odesa suggested a mixed residential-industrial area had been hit.

Video released by the city council showed widespread devastation across a wide area.?

On Monday morning authorities four sea-launched Onyx cruise missiles were fired towards Odesa.?

The earlier attacks came as European Council President Charles Michel visited Odesa.

On Sunday, ten cruise missiles were fired at the Odesa area. Russia has used submarines, surface ships and aircraft to launch missiles at Odesa in recent days.

See the aftermath of the Odesa missile strikes:

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00:41 - Source: cnn

European Council President Charles Michel and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal visit the site where a residential building has been damaged by a Russian missile strike, in?Odesa, on Monday.

US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan said Monday that President Vladimir Putin did not declare victory in his speech “because even the Russian propaganda machine couldn’t back that one up.”

“That’s not to say that President Putin didn’t stray far from the truth in his remarks today at the Victory Day parade. He certainly did. In fact, his remarks, his remarks are just pure propaganda, misinformation, disinformation that would make George Orwell blush,” Sullivan said.

The US envoy said Putin’s comments Monday showed “at a minimum the Russian government senior leaders’ willingness to say anything to justify the unjustifiable, which is their aggressive war in Ukraine that is slaughtering innocents across that besieged country, atrocities that are hard to comprehend.”

Sullivan said he couldn’t comment on Putin’s health when asked on CNN, and added, “I really don’t know. I’ve seen what we’ve all seen in the media: speculation. And it’s just that, in my opinion.”

“It’s also difficult to know what President Putin is planning,” he added, noting that the US “made public” Putin’s plans to invade Ukraine, “but beyond that, it’s difficult to speculate because his decision circle is so small.”

However, Sullivan said he agreed with CIA Director Bill Burns’ view that Putin “is doubling down his special military operation in Ukraine.”

Sullivan said his interactions with his Russian counterparts has been limited since the war began, but he agrees “wholeheartedly” with US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who told CNN’s Kylie Atwood that her?Russian colleagues seem “uncomfortable”?in “the way they carry themselves, the demeanor.”

President Joe Biden has told congressional leaders to move the Ukraine aid package first without the $10 billion in Covid-19 aid that Congress has struggled to pass for weeks, according to a congressional source.?

Senate Republicans had insisted on the two moving on separate tracks, and the White House doesn’t want the Ukraine package bogged down in the chamber even though Democrats had been pushing to tie the two together over fears that the US response to the pandemic could be set back.

Democrats are expected to move both separately, starting in the House, and as soon as this week.

As it stands now the total package for Ukraine is now $39.8 billion with increases of $3.4 billion for food aid and $3.4 billion in additional draw down authority for military equipment above the President’s request, which initially was $33 billion total.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday there remains no plans for President Joe Biden to travel to Ukraine, even following?first?lady Jill Biden’s trip to the country over the weekend.

The first lady, Psaki told CNN’s MJ Lee, “would not have gone if we did not feel comfortable with the security arrangements,” guaranteeing her safety, and traveled to the region “because she wanted to go on Mother’s Day, because she was thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that the war has to stop, that the war has been brutal, and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.”?

US First Lady Jill Biden, left, offers flowers to Ukraine's First Lady, Olena Zelenska, outside of School 6, a public school that has taken in displaced students in Uzhhorod, on Sunday, May 8.

First Lady Jill Biden made an unannounced trip to Uzhhorod, Ukraine Sunday, where she met with Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska and pledged her support for the nation in their fight against Russia.

“She’s been back now, and she’s had an opportunity to speak with the President and has conveyed — she said this publicly — directly to him what she saw on the ground, the need to support the people of Ukraine,” Psaki told Lee. “She saw the horrors and the brutality that the people she met had experienced, and I, you know, that was something she conveyed directly to him.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that remarks from Russian President Vladimir Putin in his annual Victory Day address in Moscow alleging NATO was “creating threats next to our border,” are “patently false and absurd.”?

In his Victory Address Monday, Putin said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was necessary as the West?was?“preparing for the invasion of our land.”?

“NATO countries did not want to hear us,” Putin said, adding, “they had very different plans and we could see that.”

In a follow up, Psaki told CNN’s MJ Lee that, following Putin’s speech Monday, officials are monitoring “what we’re seeing on the ground,” adding, “if we go back to mid-February, when President Putin was giving speeches, basically declaring he was going to subsume Ukraine, take over the country, the territorial integrity of the country, and go beyond that is that is exactly not what’s happening today.”

“President Putin and the Russians are not marching through Kyiv, they are struggling to fight in other parts of the country, and the Ukrainians are bravely and courageously fighting every day,” she told Lee. “So, we look at what’s happening on the ground, though it is important to note and to call out the revisionist history that we saw in the speech and the fact that any such statements that we saw, we’ve seen for months from President Putin, that the war was prompted by the West is just patently false and inaccurate, and we can’t state that too often.”

The United States remains concerned that Russia could annex the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine and hold a sham referendum there, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday.

The US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said last week that the US has “highly credible” intelligence reports that Russia will try to annex the separatist-occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk “some time in mid-May,” and that there are plans to create a similarly so-called “people’s republic” in Kherson to be annexed as well.

Price said Monday that “timeline wise, nothing has changed.”

“We’re continuing to watch very closely,” he said, noting that the US made this information public so that “the world is keyed in” to what is happening.

In the Oval Office of the White House, US President Joe Biden signs the "Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022," on Monday.

US President Joe Biden signed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 into law in a White House ceremony Monday, flanked by the nation’s first Ukrainian-born member of Congress, Republican?Rep. Victoria Spartz.

The law is?aimed at streamlining the process for?getting military assistance to Ukraine?as Russia continues its invasion.

The US House of Representatives passed legislation late April that would allow Biden to use a World War II-era law, known as the Lend-Lease Act of 1941, to swiftly supply weapons to Ukraine on loan. That law was originally created to help forces fighting Nazi Germany and reflects the urgency in Congress to support the Ukrainian armed forces.

Before signing the bill, Biden also blasted the “wanton destruction” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, telling reporters, “the atrocities that the Russians are engaged in are just beyond the pale and the cost of the fight is not cheap, but caving into aggression is even more costly.”?

He recognized Victory in Europe Day, celebrated on May 8, which he said marked “the end of the transition of the devastation of World War II, when Allied Nations defeated the scourge of fascism in Europe.”??

And he marked the anniversary today of the Schuman Declaration, where he said, “Europe began to work to strengthen the bonds of unity among nations, particularly economic unity, and the shared economic prosperity.”?

“The idea ultimately grew into what is now the 27-nation European Union—an economic powerhouse and a global force for peace, close partners on all the issues we face. And it really has, I’ve said from the very beginning, is something that is good for everyone. It brings these countries together in ways that, when they cooperate closely economically, they also cooperate in other ways, and you’re seeing it in the support for Ukraine,” he said.

Biden then signed the bill into law and presented the signing pen to Rep. Spartz.

Ukrainian soldiers continue to hold out in the Azovstal steel plant.

According to the State Border Guard Service, some of its troops remain at the plant, and “together with their comrades continue to defend the country.’

The head of the Donetsk border detachment, Valerii Padytel, who is inside the plant, said?“Mariupol’s defense forces continue to defend the hero city. Border guards of the Donetsk Border Detachment, the Marine Guard Detachment, brothers of the National Police and the National Guard continue to perform their duties.”

“We know that we have not been forgotten,” Padytel added.

There are thought to be several hundred soldiers still at Azovstal as well as an unknown number of male civilians.?

People remove the statue of Ukrainian philosopher Hryhoriy Skovoroda from the destroyed Hryhoriy Skovoroda Literary Memorial Museum in Skovorodynivka, Ukraine, on May 7.

Last Friday, the historic home of Ukraine’s treasured poet and philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda was destroyed by a Russian artillery strike, along with a museum of his work.

Skovoroda’s home was in a tiny village not far from Kharkiv — nowhere near any obvious military targets such as a railway or ammunition depot. The attack appears to have been a deliberate act of cultural vandalism, and not the first since the Russian invasion began in February.

Skovoroda was a leading figure in Ukraine’s cultural renaissance in the 18th century; this year is the 300th anniversary of his birth.

In a video address on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack against the home of a man “who taught people what a true Christian attitude to life is and how a person can know himself.”

“It seems this is a terrible danger for modern Russia: museums, the Christian attitude to life and people’s self-knowledge,” Zelensky said.

Burnt books and other items are seen in the Hryhoriy Skovoroda Literary Memorial Museum on May 7.

Zelensky reprised the theme when marking Victory Day, quoting Skovoroda’s words in another public message on Monday: “There is nothing more dangerous than an insidious enemy but there is nothing more poisonous than a feigned friend.”

Skovoroda’s legacy has become symbolic of what Zelensky and other Ukrainians call the struggle between two world views — those of individual freedoms and democracy against a new authoritarianism driven by prejudice.

While many volunteers and workers within Ukraine’s cultural sector rushed to protect institutions and monuments throughout the country during the onset of the war, churches, museums, statues and art collections have suffered damage.

Zelensky said in his Saturday address that Russian forces have destroyed nearly 200 heritage sites since the beginning of the invasion.

Whether most of these have been deliberately targeted is open to debate but given Vladimir Putin’s dismissive view of Ukrainian culture it would hardly be surprising.

There have certainly been acts of cultural hooliganism in areas occupied by the Russians. A statue of another prominent Ukrainian poet, Taras Shevchenko, in the town of Borodianka outside Kyiv, was shot at several times and badly damaged. The town was occupied by Russian and Chechen troops for weeks.

Shevchenko’s poem “The Dream, ” which satirized Russia’s oppression of Ukraine, was regarded as subversive and led him to be banished from Ukraine by Tsar Nicholas I in 1847, “under the strictest surveillance, without the liberty to write or paint,” as Nicholas demanded.

Bullet holes are seen all over a bust of Taras Shevchenko in Borodianka, Ukraine, on April 6.

Shevchenko is widely regarded as the founder of the modern written Ukrainian language. His outlook would have been at odds with Vladimir Putin’s view — as he put it in Februar — that “modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia or, to be more precise, by Bolshevik, communist Russia.”

Not far from Borodianka, a museum containing two-dozen works of the late Ukrainian folk artist?Maria Prymachenko?was struck and burned down in March. The extent of damage to her artworks remains unclear with a representative from the Maria Prymachenko Family Foundation alleging that the works were rescued. Prymachenko’s vivid paintings were admired by Pablo Picasso who once called her an “artistic miracle,” after visiting a show of her work in Paris in 1936.

A number of Ukrainian churches have been destroyed, too — many of them nowhere near any military target. Just outside Kyiv an 18th century wooden church in Lukyanivka was destroyed — one of many properties in the area razed to the ground as Russian forces withdrew from around Kyiv in April.

Read more here.

CNN’s Olga Voitovych and Kostan Nechyporenko contributed to this report.

The US Department of Defense has “seen indications” that Russians are moving Ukrainians into Russia “against their will,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said during a briefing at the Pentagon on Monday.

When asked about Ukrainian government statements that 1.2 million Ukrainians have now been deported to Russia and are being held in campus, Kirby responded “we certainly have seen indications that Ukrainians are being moved from Ukraine into Russia.”

Kirby could not speak to the total number of Ukrainians moved, how many camps there are or what they look like, but said, “we do have indications that Ukrainians are being taken against their will into Russia.

Kirby called the action “unconscionable,” and “not the behavior of a responsible power.”

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby holds a press briefing at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday.

There is about “$100 million left” in Presidential Drawdown Authority funding, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said during a briefing at the Pentagon on Monday.??

Combined with the $150 million Presidential Drawdown Authority package announced Friday and the $100 million left, the US can continue providing military assistance to Ukraine through this funding stream until “about the third week of this month,” Kirby said.

The Biden administration has asked Congress to pass a $33 billion supplemental aid package to continue providing humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine.?

“We think with what we’ve got left, that’ll get us through most of this month, that’ll get us through future packages and future material but that’s why we’re urging Congress to act quickly,” Kirby said.

The US will temporarily lift Trump-era tariffs on Ukrainian steel for a period of one year in a move aimed at helping the Ukrainian economy and sending a message of support as the country continues to resist Russia’s ongoing invasion.?

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal asked the US to lift these tariffs during his meetings at the White House back in April, and some members of Congress have also been urging the administration to lift US tariffs on Ukrainian steel.

The move appears to be mostly symbolic. While Ukraine is a major global exporter of steel, the US only imported 130,649 metric tons of steel in 2021, according to the International Trade Administration.?

The decision by the Commerce Department comes one day after the US unveiled another round of punitive sanctions and export controls against Russia for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and G7 leaders held a virtual meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Back in 2018, then-President Trump’s administration imposed the 25% tariffs on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum in a bid to support those industries, although the move at the time was also rebuked by US manufacturers of steel and aluminum made products, saying it would cost jobs and increase consumer prices.?

Since US President Joe Biden took office last year, his administration has been methodically rolling back some tariffs imposed under the Trump administration as they try to strengthen US ties with its allies. The US has reached negotiated agreements in the last year with both Japan and the European Union on reducing steel tariffs.?

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed reporting to this post.

The US sees “anecdotal reports” of Russian troops and “mid-grade officers at various levels, even up to the battalion level” refusing to obey orders to move forward in the new Donbas offensive in Ukraine, according to a senior US defense official.

The official said these officers “have either refused to obey orders or are not obeying them with the same measure of alacrity that you would expect an officer to obey.”

Russian forces have struggled with widespread morale problems since the beginning of the invasion, according to this official, which is just one of numerous problems that has plagued the Russian military during this war.

Russian forces are also still facing logistics issues that are slowing their progress, according to the official.

There are 97 operational battalion tactical groups (BTGs) of Russian forces in Ukraine right now, up from 92 BTGs assessed on April 28, the official told reporters on Monday. This is an increase of five BTGs in 11 days.

“It’s not unusual for them to move a BTG or two out of the Donbas back into Russia for re-fit or re-supply and then move them back in, that’s normal,” the official said.?But overall, “they’ve added about five BTGs to Ukraine, and all of those BTGs are either in the east or in the south” of Ukraine, the official said.

US President?Joe?Biden recently told his top national security officials that leaks about US intelligence sharing with Ukrainians aren’t helpful and need to stop, according to an official familiar with the conversation.?

Last week, after the White House denied providing direct intelligence to Ukrainians “with the intent to kill Russian generals,” Biden spoke separately with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA Director William Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.

He told them that it was not helpful for information to become public about what the US was sharing with the Ukrainian forces fighting the Russian invasion, an official said, and stressed that the leaks regarding such information must stop.

Biden’s message to his top national security officials was first reported by NBC News.

US officials have been candid about intelligence sharing with Ukrainians but have also said there is a line in what is shared with them. In addition to sending weapons for the battlefield, officials have also provided?intelligence “to help the Ukrainians defend their country,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council said last week.

The Grande Pettine Hotel in Odesa, Ukraine, is seen on May 9 after it was struck by a Russian cruise missile.

There is a hotel in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa that became known locally as “the stronghold of the Russian world.”

The luxury development named the “Grande Pettine” is situated on a Black Sea beach. When the pro-Russian movement in Odesa was at its peak — about 10 years ago — the complex held conferences dedicated to the brotherhood of Ukraine and Russia. One was called:?“Challenges of the global crisis: the unity of Ukraine and Russia.”

The place attracted Russian talk show personalities and some of the most hawkish of Russian politicians. It is still owned by a businessman who was prominent in the pro-Russian Party of Regions.

This weekend, the “Grand Pettine” was hit by at least one Russian cruise missile, sustaining severe damage.

Given the fond memories of influential Russians for the warmth and luxury offered by the Black Sea resort, it seems unlikely it was deliberately targeted.

Rubble from the Grande Pettine Hotel is seen in Odesa on May 8.

CNN contacted the hotel Monday and was told that it could not provide a response until the curfew was over Tuesday.?

“The buildings of the hotel and restaurant complex, as well as the utility infrastructure, were destroyed and damaged. There are no victims or injured,” the prosecutor’s office in Odesa said Monday.

The US has delivered “more than 85” of the 90 howitzers, long-range weapons, that were pledged to Ukraine, as well as more than 110,000 of the 184,000 ammunition rounds for them, according to a senior US defense official.

The official also said that “more than 310” Ukrainian soldiers have completed training on the howitzers, with another “50 plus” currently being trained as well, along with a new separate two week long course on howitzer maintenance beginning today.

At least 20 Ukrainians have completed training on the Phoenix Ghost drone, 60 Ukrainians have completed training on the M113 armored personnel carrier (APC) with another “45 plus” completing training on that APC today, and 15 Ukrainian soldiers have completed training on the Q64 mobile air defense radar, with a second class beginning training on that radar today, the official added.

At least “13 deliveries from seven different nations have arrived at various transshipment sites throughout the region” that have included “shotguns, spare parts, Humvees, generators,” and “even a couple of additional Howitzers.” the official noted.

President of the European Council Charles Michel is seen during his visit to Odesa, Ukraine, on May 9, in this picture released by the European Council press office.

During a meeting with the Ukrainian prime minister on Monday, European Council President Charles Michel and other participants “needed to interrupt the meeting to take shelter as missiles struck again the region of Odesa,” a European Union official told CNN.?

In a readout of Michel’s visit, the official, who was not in Ukraine, said that President Michel and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal were joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky via video link from Kyiv, and their discussions “focused on how best the EU can continue to support Ukraine in meeting the humanitarian, economic and military challenges they currently face.”?

Speaking in Odesa, Michel said he wanted to confirm to Zelensky and “to all the people in Ukraine, that our support will be maximum,” and that the EU “will provide as much as we can” in terms of military equipment.?

He also said that EU was coordinating with the international community to “mobilize financial support, expertise, in order for you to be able to address the humanitarian challenges, to be also able to run the country, and you need liquidity and to start the rebuilding of the country.”?

“And that’s why it’s our moral duty to support you as much as we can,” he said.?

In a video statement, Zelensky thanked the European Council president for his support and for giving Ukraine “the possibility to be equal in the family of the European Union.”?

“And in this difficult moment — of the bombardment, and the war — your courageous position and being present, in Odesa, in person is not just welcome, but raises lots of gratitude,” the Ukrainian leader added.??

Earlier on Monday, Serhiy Bratchuk, the spokesperson for the Odesa region military administration, said that Russian forces had fired four Onyx cruise missiles at the region.?

Smoke rises from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 7.

Russian forces continue with a “storm offensive” on the Azovstal plant in Mariupol on Monday, using tanks and artillery, Ukrainian Defense?Ministry spokesperson Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told reporters in a daily briefing.

“We cannot exclude renewed bombings, Tu22M3 long range bombers,” he added.

According to the ministry, Russia’s presence in the Black Sea has now swelled to seven vessels armed with Kaliber-type cruise missiles, “collectively carrying up to 50 missiles.”

Meanwhile, the situation in breakaway region of?Transnistria?remains tense, according to?Motuzyanyk,?with “local units and brigades of the so called ‘operational forces’ from the Russian Federation stationed there remaining on high alert.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a video conference call with?European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, where he announced the transfer for the second part of the completed questionnaire for obtaining the status of a?candidate for EU membership, according to his office.

Sending the answers in itself is “also a small victory for our team,” he said, according to a statement released from the office.

Obtaining?EU membership candidate status is “of?great importance for the Ukrainian people and our Armed Forces, which are defending their homeland,”?he told von der Leyen on Monday.

“We are waiting for the consideration and conclusions of the European Commission. I would like these conclusions to be positive. And I would like these conclusions to be provided faster thanks to you.”

The EU “will aim to deliver its opinion in June,” von der Leyen tweeted Monday.

Press briefing by Ambassador?Linda?Thomas-Greenfield?President of the Security Council for the month of May at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on May 3.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “has recognized he has no victory to celebrate,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN in response to the lack of a major escalatory announcement in Putin’s “Victory Day” speech Monday, but she said he also gave no indication that he plans to end the war.?

In the first reaction from a Biden administration official to Putin’s speech, Thomas-Greenfield?noted that the Russian leader did not use his remarks on Monday to announce a withdrawal from Ukraine –?which would have been welcomed by the United States – and?which she said signals that Putin’s war will continue.?

Thomas-Greenfield?told CNN’s Kylie Atwood?“there was no reason for (Putin) to either declare victory or declare a war that he has already been carrying on for more than two months.”

“His efforts in Ukraine have not succeeded,” she said. “He was not able to go into Ukraine and bring them to their knees in a few days and have them surrender.”

However, “the conflict is not over, for sure,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Moreover, Thomas-Greenfield told CNN that it would be too strong to say the United States “welcomed” Putin’s remarks today because the “unconscionable war on the Ukrainian people” continues.

“So what we would see as a positive sign is for Putin to pull his troops out of Ukraine and bring this unconscionable war to an end,” she said.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia consults with ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy, center, during a Security Council meeting on maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on May 5

The US ambassador to the United Nations told CNN the behavior of the Russian diplomats she works with in New York has “absolutely” changed since Russia began its war in Ukraine.

“From day one, the 24th of February, when we were sitting in an emergency meeting of Security Council and the Russians were president of the Security Council, we saw their demeanor change significantly in the council,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in Brussels Monday.

Thomas-Greenfield told CNN that the Russian diplomats at the United Nations “certainly” are “reading off of prepared remarks.”

The Russian diplomats at the UN seem “uncomfortable,” noting she sees that reflected in “the way they carry themselves, the demeanor,” Thomas-Greenfield said, adding that she sees her Russian counterpart appear at the UN Security Council less frequently than before the war — now he often sends his deputy or his experts in his place.

She also said that she believes the Russian diplomats at the UN “were taken by surprise by the attack” on Feb. 24 that launched Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“I think they knew about the attack when we knew about the attack in the (Security) Council,” the US ambassador said, referring to the emergency meeting that was taking place at UN headquarters at the same time.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense says that Russian forces are trying to develop their offensive in the Luhansk region with “continuous attempts” to cross the Siverskyi Donets river near Belahorivka.

Col. Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said the Russians had built three pontoon crossings across the river and were supporting ground troops with artillery and aircraft.

He said the Russians were aiming to cut off Lysychansk, a town on the frontlines some ten miles (about 16 kilometers) from one of the pontoon bridges identified on satellite imagery.

If successful, the Russian advance might be able to cut Ukrainian supply lines to the defenders of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.

But images reviewed by CNN indicate that at least one pontoon bridge has already been destroyed, with ruined tanks and other equipment half-submerged in the river.

“After the clean-up of Belohorivka, evacuation will resume,” he added, saying rescuers would be able to clear the rubble of the school building that was hit on Saturday by a bomb dropped by a Russian aircraft, killing dozens of people taking refuge in the school.

It’s unclear whether the Ukrainians retain control of Belohorivka.?

Hayday said that in Popasna —to the south — “our defenders keep the defense in new fortified positions, there are no breakthroughs. Soon the situation must change in our favor.”

More context: Ukrainian officials have raised the alarm about a Russian pontoon bridge that was erected a few days ago and may now enable Russian forces to threaten Ukrainian defenses and supply routes in the Luhansk region.

Hayday said earlier Monday that the Russians were trying to take away “the road of life,” which connects the front lines in the east around Severodonetsk with the town of Bakhmut, an important rear base.

CNN had confirmed satellite imagery showing a pontoon bridge across the?Siverskyi Donets on Sunday. There had been no such bridge on May 3.

The location of the bridge is less than two miles (about 3 kilometers) from the village of Bilohorivka, which was bombed by Russian aircraft on Saturday.

CNN’s Gianluca Mezzofiore contributed reporting to this post.

The receiver station of the Druzhba pipeline of petroleum between Hungary and Russia at the Duna (Danube) Refinery of Hungarian MOL Company located near the town of Szazhalombatta, south of Budapest, Hungary, on May 5.

Discussions on the proposed sixth round of European Union sanctions are ongoing as Hungary threatened it won’t vote for the package “until there is a solution to Hungary’s energy security,” EU spokesperson Daniel Ferrie said Monday.

Hungary “will not vote for another Brussels sanctions package until there is a solution to Hungary’s energy security,” Hungarian government spokesperson?Zoltan Kovacs said Sunday, quoting prime Minister?Péter Szijjártó, and adding, “we Hungarians are interested in peace as soon as possible.”

Also on Sunday,?Bulgaria’s?Deputy Prime Minister Assen Vassilev said in an interview on Bulgaria’s National Television (BNT) that Bulgaria will not support the European Union’s new set of sanctions against Russia if his country doesn’t get a derogation from the proposed ban on buying Russian oil, like other countries have requested.?

Vassilev?said there is an agreement on most points of the sanctions draft, except when it comes sanctions on Russian oil. He said several countries, including?Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, still have issues with the proposed latest sanctions on?Russian oil.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and other participants carry portraits of their relatives - WWII soldiers - as they take part in the Immortal Regiment march on Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, on May 9.

Russian President Vladimir Putin?joined the “Immortal Regiment” procession on Red Square in Moscow,?holding a portrait of his father, a front-line soldier,?the?Kremlin?said?in a statement on Monday.?

On May 9, as part of the “Immortal Regiment” campaign, people march in cities of Russia and abroad with portraits of relatives who participated in the Great Patriotic War.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday the differences in how Russia and the European Union have chosen to mark the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat shows they are “very different projects.”

“We have shown two very different faces of May 9th,” Macron said at a news conference at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Monday.

“On one side, there was a will to make a show of force, to intimidate and bellicose rhetoric. And here, there was a broad and civic gathering of citizens, of national and European representatives, to think about our future,” he continued.

Asked by a journalist if Putin’s stated desire to avoid confrontation was hypocritical, Macron replied that: “President Putin has taken a bellicose stance; we are clearly on the side of Ukraine,” but warned that there would be “a peace to build tomorrow” and that “it will not be achieved by excluding one another or through humiliation.”

Earlier, President Macron delivered a speech to the European Parliament, in which he said that “Ukraine, through its fight and its courage, is already today a heartfelt member of our Europe, of our family, of our union,” while warning that any formal Ukrainian accession to the EU could take decades.

More on Russia’s Victory Day: Global leaders and defense officials had spent weeks speculating about what Putin might reveal about his Ukraine plans?in a speech at Russia’s Victory Day commemorations. The leader offered few clues on the direction of the conflict.

The Russian president used his speech to blend history with the present, banking on Russian nationalism on its most patriotic of holidays to justify his war.

CNN’s Angela Dewan contributed reporting to this post.

Head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin attends a ceremony, marking the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two in Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 9.

The head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, has said that he plans to make Mariupol into a resort town.

“Russia is here forever, and you are finally home. Now this is the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic forever. No one will take it away from us,” Pushilin said after attending events to mark Victory Day.

“We have strength, we have opportunities, we have the support of the biggest beautiful country — Russia,” Pushilin told Mariupol residents according to the Russian state news agency TASS. “The task is to make Mariupol a resort city, which has not been possible to do before.”

Pushilin said the Azovstal steel plant, where hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers remain, had “negatively affected the ecology of the city.”

“If Azovstal is not restored, then we will make a resort town,” Pushilin said, explaining it would create additional jobs and bring income to the city.

Pushilin said the DPR is “faced with the task of regaining control over its territories, and then the republic will decide on its future.”

“As soon as we reach the constitutional borders of the Donetsk People’s Republic, these are the borders of the former Donetsk region, we will make the decision … Now the main task is to liberate all of our lands, to start rebuilding cities,” he added.

On Feb. 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow recognized the sovereignty of the DPR and the Luhansk People’s Republic.

Veterans watch the Victory Day military parade on Dvortsovaya Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on May 9.

During a speech commemorating Russia’s defeat of Nazi Germany at the end of World War Two, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his baseless accusation that the West left him no choice but to invade Ukraine. Planned Victory Day air shows across Russia were canceled, raising questions as to why.

The speech provided little detail on how Russia planned to proceed in Ukraine. It followed days of speculation that the Russian leader would use the event to formally declare war on Ukraine, or order a mass mobilization of Russian forces to prosecute a war that has now stretched into its third month, with heavy Russian losses.

Here are some of the latest developments:

Russia's ambassador to Poland Sergey?Andreev?is covered in red substance thrown by protesters as he came to celebrate Victory day at the Soviet Military Cemetery in Warsaw, Poland, on May 9.

Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergei Andreev was doused with red paint while trying to lay a wreath at the cemetery of Soviet soldiers in Warsaw, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Monday.

According to RIA Novosti, Poles and Ukrainians blocked the diplomat’s path. Andreev was accompanied by police out of the cemetery. He later said that he was not injured.

“We still need to figure it out. Maybe just a scratch, but neither I nor the team were seriously injured,” Andreev said, as cited by RIA Novosti.

Referencing the incident, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova alleged via Telegram that “fans of neo-Nazism have once again showed their face - and it is bloody.”

“The demolition of monuments to the heroes of the Second World War, the desecration of graves, and now the disruption of the flower-laying ceremony on a holy day, celebrated by every decent person, proves the obvious - the West has set a course for the reincarnation of fascism,” she said.

The Russian Embassy in Poland said it would protest against the attack on the ambassador.

See the moment the Russian Ambassador to Poland was doused with red paint here:

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Ukrainian servicemen are seen in the trenches as fighting against Russian troops continues near to Cherkaske in eastern Ukraine, on May 3.

Ukrainian officials have raised the alarm about a Russian pontoon bridge that was erected a few days ago and may now enable Russian forces to threaten Ukrainian defenses and supply routes in the Luhansk region.

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, said Monday that the Russians were trying to take away “the road of life,” which connects the front lines in the east around Severodonetsk with the town of Bakhmut, an important rear base.

“The Russians transported equipment to the other shore via a pontoon across the Siversky Donets river,” Hayday said.

CNN has confirmed satellite imagery showing a pontoon bridge across the Siversky Donets on Sunday. There had been no such bridge on May 3.

The location of the bridge is less than two miles from the village of Bilohorivka, which was bombed by Russian aircraft on Saturday.

The school in the village, where 90 people were taking shelter, was hit and about sixty people are thought to have been killed.

Rescue efforts have since been hampered by continued shelling.

It now appears that the bombardment was to prepare for an attempted ground advance by Russian forces.

It’s unknown how far Russian forces have progressed if they have crossed the river.

MiG-29 jet fighters of the Strizhi Swifts and Su-30SM jet fighters of the Russkiye Vityazi, Russian Knights, aerobatic teams take part in a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in Moscow, Russia, on May 7.

Planned Victory Day air shows were canceled in locations across Russia, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Russian state news agency TASS reported Monday.?

The decision raised eyebrows among foreign military analysts watching Moscow’s Victory Day parade on Monday. The parade had been expected to feature 77 aircraft flying over the capital’s Red Square, including eight MiG-29 fighters flying in a “Z” formation to show support for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow’s air show was canceled due to weather conditions, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.?Aviation shows were also canceled in Samara, Kaliningrad, and Murmansk, TASS wrote.?

During the parade in Moscow, winds were sustained at around 15 mph, with gusts reported at around 30 mph at 11 a.m. local time. The cloud cover was also increasing throughout the morning with mostly cloudy skies during the parade, according to CNN Meteorologist Monica Garrett.

Light rain was reported after 12:30 p.m. local.

The only air parade scheduled in Russia’s south, which was due to be held in the city of Rostov-on-Don, did not take place, TASS said, citing the press service of the Southern Military District.

US First Lady Jill Biden, left, and Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, right, pose for a photo prior talks inside the Presidential Palace in Bratislava, Slovakia, on May 9.

United States first lady Jill Biden met with the President of Slovakia Zuzana Caputova at the Presidential Palace in Bratislava on Monday.

The two discussed the US’s continued support of Ukraine, with Biden expressing gratitude for the way Slovakia has welcomed refugees, according to a White House official.

Upon arrival at the Great Hall palace reception room, Biden first signed a guest book with this message:

Biden, who made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Mother’s Day, told the media she had spoken to US President Joe Biden afterward.?

“I said just how much I saw the need to support the people of Ukraine and … the horrors and the brutality that the people I had met had experienced,” said Biden of their conversation.

Following her departure from the palace, Biden traveled to the airport for the flight back to Washington, ending her four-day European trip.

Russian servicemen march on Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow, Russia, on May 9.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered very few clues on the direction of the Ukraine conflict in his speech at Russia’s Victory Day commemorations on Monday.

Global leaders and defense officials had spent weeks speculating over what he might reveal about his plans, with some suggesting that he may use this historic day to escalate his so-called “special military operation” and declare an outright war.

Instead, the Russian president used his speech to blend history with the present, banking on Russian nationalism on its most patriotic of holidays to justify his war.

The question now is whether Putin will use this day – or this week even – to escalate the war in other ways.

Read more analysis here:

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

Related article On a Victory Day without new victories, Putin's speech keeps world guessing

Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace speaks during the Defence of Europe conference at King's College London in central London, on May 9.

Russian President Vladimir Putin showed “a slight shine of desperation” in his Victory Day speech Monday, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said, according to PA Media.

Among the reasons for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was that the NATO alliance was surrounding Russia and putting bases in its western neighbor, Putin said.

Wallace dismissed Putin’s claims.

As for NATO bases in Ukraine, “I’m sure the Ukrainian ambassador will tell you there weren’t any NATO bases in Ukraine,” PA quoted Wallace as saying.

Earlier, in a speech at the British National Army Museum, Wallace reiterated London’s strong support for Kyiv in the war.

“The British government – the whole United Kingdon – stands in solidarity with Ukraine, supporting their courageous defense of sovereignty, territorial integrity and simple right to a peaceful and prosperous future,” Wallace said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on the screen as he delivers a speech during 77th anniversary of the Victory Day in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, on May 9.

Vladimir Putin seems like he’s “completely out of ideas” about the war in Ukraine, one prominent analyst said after the Russian President’s Victory Day speech in Moscow on Monday.

Some context: Speculation before the speech was that Putin might formally declare war on Ukraine or order a mass mobilization of Russian forces to prosecute the war that has now stretched into its third month, with heavy Russian losses.

While Putin blamed NATO and the West for forcing him to invade Ukraine to protect Russian interests, he didn’t offer any idea of what would be considered a victory or any ways to prosecute the war further.

The head of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), Leonid Pasechnik, laid wreaths at monuments in honor of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti reported on Monday.

Wreaths were laid at the Pylon of Glory in tribute to Luhansk Heroes of the Soviet Union and at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

“Victory will be ours,” said Pasechnik.

He said that due to the liberation of the regions of the LPR, residents can celebrate Victory Day, wear a St. George ribbon and speak Russian?“without fear of persecution and repression.”

The leaders of the self-declared separatist republics in eastern Ukraine have been prominent in marking Victory Day, claiming it symbolizes another victory over Nazism.

Some context: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government have repeatedly said the aim of their so-called “special operation” is to “denazify” Ukraine, and made the baseless claim that freeing the country of Nazis is a matter of Russian survival.

“Auntie Soup," one of the evacuees from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine.

Her name is Natalia, but the kids of the Mariupol steel plant know her simply as “Auntie Soup.”

Natalia is one of the civilians rescued from the Azovstal complex, according to a statement posted on the Mariupol City Council’s Telegram channel.

Her last name has not been released by the authorities.

“That’s why I’m Auntie Soup, because kids could not remember my name.”

With little food available, Natalia had to be creative, the statement said, using “water dough and canned food” to create “the most delicious pizza in the world.”

“What is the power of these wonderful people? War and death are around, bombs dropping every minute, and they continue to fight for life, believe in the best and give each other love,” the statement added.

On Saturday, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk?said?that “all?women, children and elderly people” had been evacuated from the steel plant.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, center left, walk after a military parade on Victory Day in Red Square in central?Moscow, Russia, on May 9.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his accusation that the West left him no choice but to invade Ukraine in a speech given during Russia’s Victory Day parade, an annual commemoration of the country’s defeat of Nazi Germany at the end of World War Two. The speech provided little detail on how Russia planned to proceed in Ukraine; it followed days of speculation that Putin would use the event to announce to make a major announcement.

Here are some of the latest developments:

Social media videos uploaded by pro-Russian media have shown parades and ceremonies in several Russian-occupied Ukrainian towns to mark Victory Day.

A procession in the town of Enerhodar, in Zaporizhzhia, which has been in Russian hands since the beginning of March, appears to have been attended by several hundred people.

Another rally in Nova Kakhovka, in the Kherson region, filmed by state Russian outlet RIA Novosti, appears to have been thinly attended.

The official media outlet of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic reported on a rally in Kherson city, saying: “Citizens came in families, carrying portraits of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers who fought during the Great Patriotic War and who liberated Kherson region from fascists.”

There was also a rally in Berdiansk and events in several other towns. None appear to have been attended by more than a few dozen people, according to videos uploaded by the separatist Donetsk channel PRO Republic.

At one event, a few people were seen sitting in a square as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech was broadcast on large screens.

Russian forces have fired four Onyx cruise missiles at the Odesa region in southern Ukraine, according to the spokesman for the Odesa region military administration, Serhiy Bratchuk.

“The missiles arrived from the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea,” he said. Russian forces illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

Bratchuk provided no details of where the missiles had struck.

Ukraine’s Black Sea coast has seen a significant uptick in missile attacks by Russian forces in recent days.

Russian service personnel ride military vehicles during the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, on May 9.

Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specializing in land warfare, described this year’s Victory Day parade in Moscow as a “very low key” affair.

The commemoration saw thousands of troops assemble outside the Kremlin in the Red Square and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin reiterate his reasons for invading Ukraine. But the expected air portion of the annual event was canceled due to weather, a Kremlin official said.

A Soviet-era flag, which was raised to mark the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, flies in front of a residential building in the southern port city of?Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 8.

Ukrainian officials have commented on the apparently muted commemoration of Victory Day in occupied Mariupol.

An adviser to the Mariupol mayor, Petro Andriushchenko, said there had been no parade but?that flowers were laid at a memorial recently refurbished by Russian-backed separatists.

The leader of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, lit the eternal flame in Mariupol to mark Victory Day, according to video released by the DPR Telegram channel “PRO_Republic.”

Separately, the Mariupol city council said: “The occupiers celebrate Victory Day on the bones of Mariupol residents. Hundreds of citizens killed by the Russian army continue to be taken to the mass grave near the village of Vynohradne.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central?Moscow, Russia, on May 9.

CNN’s International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson noted that there was “little” to read into how Russia plans to go forward in Ukraine following President Vladimir Putin’s speech at Monday’s Victory Day parade in Moscow.

“I was struck by the way that he referred at least to the battlezone… as Donbas, rather than the whole of Ukraine,” he said. He added that the speech provided no sense that Russia was backing down from the fight.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky releases a video message on May 9.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his Victory Day speech in Moscow on Monday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky released his own video message.

“We will never forget what our ancestors did in World War II, which killed more than eight million Ukrainians. Very soon there will be two Victory Days in Ukraine. And someone won’t have any.

“We won then. We will win now. Happy Victory over Nazism Day!”

Pro-Russian social media accounts have begun circulating video shot in the Kherson region of Ukraine on Monday showing celebrations of?Victory?Day.

The events appear to have drawn small crowds waving red flags and carrying flowers.

Ukrainian activists in Kherson have claimed that Russia has brought in people from Crimea to bolster the numbers attending.

Russian state media have been quick to report on Victory Day celebrations in occupied parts of Ukraine.

State-run news agency RIA Novosti reported that in Kherson, a procession in memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War was taking place for the first time.

Vladimir Saldo, the head of the city administration, congratulated residents who gathered in the Park of Glory with portraits of their relatives who participated in the war, the news agency said.

People with Russian flags and a large banner with the inscription “Immortal Regiment” are walking from the park through the streets of the city, according to RIA Novosti.

The videos available so far suggest a modest turnout for the rally.

On Monday, Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-appointed deputy chairman of the region’s military-civilian administration, told RIA Novosti that?the Kherson region would strive for integration with Russia.

A screen shows Russian President Vladimir Putin giving a speech as servicemen line up on Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow, Russia, on May 9.

In a speech marking Russia’s Victory Day on Monday, President Vladimir Putin sought to link his country’s struggle against Nazi Germany in World War Two with his invasion of Ukraine and baselessly claimed the West had given him no choice.

Putin said the intervention in Ukraine was necessary as the West?was?creating “threats next to our borders” and?“preparing for the invasion of our land.”?

He also said the West didn’t?want to hear Russia’s proposals for dialogue.

“NATO countries did not want to hear us,” Putin said, adding that that means “they had very different plans and we could see that.”

“Russia gave a preemptive rebuff to aggression – it was a forced and sovereign decision,” he said.

Putin told troops that “today you are defending what your grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought for.”

He also addressed the soldiers of Donbas” who “together with Russian soldiers” are fighting for the “motherland.” Donbas, a sprawling heartland region that blankets much of eastern Ukraine, has been the front line of Ukraine’s conflict with Russia since 2014.

Fighting has intensified in the region in recent weeks as Putin refocused his war strategy following stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces.

“I address the servicemen of Donbas,” Putin said in the speech. “You are fighting for the motherland, for its future, so that lessons of World War Two are not forgotten,” he said, adding, “there is no place in history for the punitive divisions of Nazis.”

“We bow our heads in the memory of our comrades in arms who died in the just struggle for Russia,” he said.?

After those remarks, a moment of silence followed.?

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The air portion of the Victory Day parade in Moscow has been canceled because of weather, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state-run news agency RIA Novosti.

The ceremony was due to feature 77 aircraft flying over Moscow’s Red Square, commemorating the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union defeating Nazi Germany in World War Two.

Russian service members take part in a military parade on Victory Day, which marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central?Moscow, Russia, on May 9.

Russia’s annual Victory Day parade in Red Square in Moscow has started. The commemoration, which marks the end of World War Two, got underway when Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived to take his seat in the grandstand with top officials.

Western officials speculate Putin could use the day to formally acknowledge Russia’s war with Ukraine,?allowing him to step up his campaign.

Here’s what to expect:

Russian MiG-29SMT jet fighters forming the symbol "Z" fly over Red Square during rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow, Russia, on May 7.

This year’s Victory Day parade in Russia — marking the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union defeating Nazi Germany in World War II — is expected to feature 77 aircraft flying over Red Square in Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a report on the state-run TASS news agency.

Among those aircraft will be eight MiG-29 fighters flying in a “Z” formation to show support for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, the ministry said, according to the report.

The letter “Z” has become the symbol for the war, which Russia calls a “special military operation,” and it has been emblazoned on most Russian military vehicles operating in Ukraine.

The parade’s aerial portion will also include an Il-80 airborne strategic command and control aircraft, also known as a “doomsday plane” for its ability to be used as an airborne command center in the event of nuclear war.

In the ground portion of the parade, 131 weapons systems — including intercontinental ballistic missile launchers and T-72, T-90 and T-14 tanks — will be shown, the ministry said.

The parade is expected to begin at 10 a.m. Moscow time (3 a.m. ET).

Read more about Vladimir Putin’s focus on this year’s ceremony here:

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MAY 9 : Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a Victory Day military parade marking the 74th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War, the Eastern Front of World War II, at Red Square in Moscow, Russia on May 09, 2019. (Photo by Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Related article Putin has put himself at the center of Russia's Victory Day. But he has little to celebrate | CNN

Ukrainian soldiers next to a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 8.

The Ukrainian military says that Russia is holding back some of its forces within its borders to prevent a Ukrainian counterattack that has made some headway east of Kharkiv.

In its latest operational update, the armed forces’ general staff says that “in order to prevent the advance of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the enemy has concentrated up to nineteen battalion tactical groups in the Belgorod region” of Russia.

The Russians are holding back units as Ukrainian units get closer to the Russian border, analysts say.

Inside Ukraine, the general staff says the most intense activity is in Donetsk region, where Russian forces are trying to advance towards the town of Lyman, a major transport hub.

The general staff says it expects the Russians to resume an offensive towards the village of Sulyhivka as they try to make progress from the Izium area. Over the past month, the Russians have made modest gains in the area but have taken no settlement of any consequence.

Luhansk: On the Luhansk front, the increase in Russian shelling has caused more civilian casualties and hampered rescue operations.?

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region military administration, said rescuers had lost contact with 11 people hiding in a basement in Shypilovo. He said it was impossible to completely dismantle the wreckage of damaged buildings in Bilohorivka — where a school sheltering civilians was hit at the weekend — or Shypilovo.

Russian forces have made only minor territorial gains in Luhansk but now have control of the ruined town of Popasna.?

Southern Ukraine: The general staff alleged that in occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia region in the south, the Russians are seizing the personal documents of civilians and will only return them if they attend ceremonial events to mark Victory Day. CNN is unable to verify the claim.?

After a weekend of dueling claims about combat over Snake Island in the Black Sea, the Odesa military administration says: “There are [Russian] Black Sea Fleet ships and submarines with cruise missiles on board constantly maneuvering and regrouping.”

The Odesa military administration repeated the list of Russian units it says it destroyed over the weekend: a small landing craft, two patrol boats, and a vessel carrying anti-aircraft defenses to Snake Island, as well as a helicopter.

The European Union should consider using billions of dollars’ worth of Russian foreign exchange reserves to rebuild Ukraine after the war, the bloc’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said in an interview with the Financial Times (FT) Monday.?

“We have the money in our pockets, and someone has to explain to me why it is good for the Afghan money and not good for the Russian money,” he continued, referring to the United States’ decision to use $7 billion in frozen assets from Afghanistan’s central bank to provide humanitarian aid inside the country and compensate victims of terrorism after the Taliban seized power.?

Western countries have frozen roughly $315 billion worth of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves in response to its invasion of Ukraine.?

Since then, EU officials have been debating whether the sanctioned assets could somehow be deployed to reconstruct Ukraine when the war finally ends, however no concrete policy proposals have been tabled.?

Some context: In April, Russia’s Central Bank threatened to take legal action against the US and EU in an attempt to try and unfreeze its gold and foreign reserves. However, it is unclear when or in what jurisdiction a legal challenge could be made.

President Joe Biden?is vowing to ratchet up even more pressure on Vladimir Putin as?the Russian leader stages a nationalistic pageant?set to highlight the civilization-destroying potential of his nuclear arms in a new round of saber-rattling.

Russia’s?Victory Day celebration on Monday?follows a stunning sequence of revelations about the deadly results of?US intelligence sharing?with Ukraine and after Biden called for a staggering?$33 billion?haul of arms and aid for Kyiv in another extraordinary step that widened US involvement in the war.

America’s posture in providing a third country with that level of assistance to wound the US’ nuclear superpower rival would have been unthinkable before the invasion, especially given Biden’s desire to avoid a direct clash with Moscow.

The US role — at the vanguard of a broad Western front against Putin, which is resulting in heavy losses for the Russian army — is again raising questions about how far the Kremlin strongman can be pushed before he reacts.

Read the full analysis here:

Related article Analysis: Biden tests how much he can ratchet up the pressure on Putin

US First lady Jill Biden offers flowers to Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska, in Uzhhorod, Ukraine on May 8.

US President Joe Biden virtually met the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the G7 forum on Sunday. G7 leaders reassured Zelensky that they will continue to provide military and economic assistance.

Here are more of the latest headlines from the Russia-Ukraine war:

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at press conference in Tokyo on May 9.

Japan will embargo Russian crude oil imports “in principle,” as part of a G7?decision?to counter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said after an online meeting of G7 leaders on Sunday.

Kishida did not give?a timeline for?Japan’s embargo on Russian oil imports.

Some context: Japan has been importing Russian crude oil — which accounted for?3.6% of crude oil imports in 2021?— to diversify its supply sources, according to data?released?in April?by the country’s ministry of trade.?

Earlier this month, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Koichi Hagiuda told reporters that given Japan “has limited resources” it is difficult for the country to immediately align itself with the European Union over its plans to ban oil imports from Russia.

The G7 meeting was held online at the behest of Germany and was attended by G7 nation leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves to officers and soldiers in a celebration of the 90th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, in North Korea on April 27.

If North Korea was looking for another excuse to forge ahead with its nuclear weapons program, it just found one in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

That one of the very few countries to have voluntarily given up a nuclear arsenal is now under attack from the same country it gave its warheads to will not be lost on Pyongyang.

In fact, analysts say, Moscow’s actions have gifted the reclusive Asian nation a “perfect storm” of conditions under which to ramp its program up.

Not only will North Korea use Ukraine’s plight to bolster its narrative that it needs nukes to guarantee its survival, but leader Kim Jong Un may find that, with all eyes on the war in Europe, he can get away with more than ever.

Divided over Ukraine, the international community will likely have little appetite for sanctions on the hermit kingdom; indeed, even unified condemnation of a recent North Korean ICBM test remains elusive.

What’s more, the boycott of Russian oil and gas could even open the door to cut-price energy deals between Pyongyang and Moscow – ideological allies whose friendship harks back to the Korean war of the 1950s.

Read the full analysis:

Image released by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 26, 2022 shows missiles are displayed during a military parade at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean People\'s Revolutionary Army (KPRA). Leader Kim Jong-un inspects the military parade The North Korean leader said he will expand nuclear weapons capability at the fastest speed, according to North Korean state media.

Related article Analysis: What North Korea learned from Ukraine: Now's the perfect time for a nuclear push

Emergency crew work near a burning debris, after a school building was hit as a result of shelling, in the village of?Bilohorivka, Luhansk, on Ukraine, May 8.

UN Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine and UN Assistant Secretary-General Amin Awad has responded to the bombing of a school serving as a shelter in Luhansk, saying the incident is “yet another stark reminder of the cruelty of this war.”?

“UNICEF strongly condemns yet another attack on a school in Ukraine amid reports that civilians, including children, had sought shelter in the school’s bunker,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement Sunday. “We do not yet know how many children might have been killed or injured in the reported bombing, but we fear this attack has just added to the hundreds of children who have already lost their lives in this war.”

In a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the reopening of the Canadian embassy in Kyiv.?

Trudeau also announced more military assistance for Ukraine would be given including drone cameras, satellite imagery, small arms, ammunition and funding for de-mining operations.

The Canadian prime minister also announced Canada will be removing trade tariffs on all Ukrainian imports coming to Canada for the next year.?

Trudeau’s comments came during a surprise weekend visit to Ukraine announced by his office Sunday morning.

The Group of 7 Leaders (G7), including US President Joe Biden, met virtually with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and reassured him that they will continue to provide military and economic assistance “to help Ukraine secure its free and democratic future” and will increase financial aid “in the coming weeks,” according to a G7 Leaders’ statement of the meeting passed along by the White House.?

Zelensky, according to the statement, told the leaders that Ukraine will continue to protect itself and that his “ultimate aim” is a complete Russian withdrawal from Ukraine.??

“[Zelensky] stated that Ukraine’s ultimate aim is to ensure full withdrawal of Russia’s military forces and equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine and to secure its ability to protect itself in the future and thanked G7 members for their support,” the statement reads, continuing: “Ukraine remains committed to working closely with G7 members to support Ukraine’s macroeconomic stability in the face of the challenges posed by the full-scaled Russian invasion, massive destruction of critical infrastructure and disruption of traditional shipping routes for Ukrainian exports.”

The G7 also pledged to “step up” short-term financial aid to Ukraine in the weeks ahead, as well as continue to develop options for the country’s long-term reconstruction.?

“In the coming weeks, we will step up our collective short-term financial support to help Ukraine close financing gaps and deliver basic services to its people, while also developing options – working with the Ukrainian authorities and international financial institutions – to support long-term recovery and reconstruction,” the statement reads.?

The seventeen point statement also announces that all G7 countries agree to phase out Russian oil in a “timely and orderly fashion,” and that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion brings “shame on Russia and the historic sacrifices of its people.”

Survivors of a Russian strike on Saturday that is feared to have killed at least 60 people sheltering in an eastern Ukrainian school have described their harrowing experience in interviews with CNN.

“I got slammed down by a slab — bent into a ball,” said a man with a bandage across his nose and forehead, who preferred not to give his name out of privacy concerns. “Then another explosion, small rocks fell on us. Darkness.”

“There was a woman in our room screaming the whole time. She was pulled out and screaming the whole time. I told her, ‘don’t scream.’ We couldn’t hear a thing.”

?“They started digging,” he said. “I got out. I was like a drunk man – lost.”

Video of the school shared on Telegram by Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, show a building that was completely leveled by the attack.

Hayday said that of an estimated 90 people sheltering in the school, only 27 emerged from the Saturday afternoon attack alive.

Another survivor, Sergiy, said that he was in the school’s basement when the bomb hit, and that all three floors of the building collapsed “to the ground.”

“We didn’t understand anything,” Sergiy explained. “We were inside. All at once, everything fell down. Darkness. That’s it.”

Yevgen described a desperate escape.

“I was the very first one to start climbing out,” he said. “I was raking bricks and throwing them out. There were wooden planks and boards. Locals who weren’t in the basement helped and used a pipe to rip those boards off.”

The survivors said that among the neighbors they were sheltering with were several elderly grandparents.?

“Imagine what they bombed,” Sergiy said. “An ordinary village with only pensioners and children.”

Watch Sam Kiley’s report from Luhansk:

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