May 7, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

The Ukrainian government said “all women, children and elderly people” have been rescued from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol and President Volodymyr Zelensky said they are now preparing to evacuate the wounded, medics and the military from the complex.

Here’s what we know:

The wider situation in Mariupol:

Russia’s Ministry of Defense has given details of some of the military aircraft planned to take part in an aviation display over Moscow’s Red Square Monday to mark “Victory Day.”

The ministry said “77 planes and helicopters,” will be showcased in the fly-past representing the number of years since the end of World War II. 

According to a ministry statement issued on April 28, highlights of the display are said to include:

Using the Kremlin’s approved language to describe Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ministry said, “For the first time, eight MiG-29SMT fighters will fly over the Red Square in the form of the letter “Z” in support of Russian military personnel participating in a special military operation in Ukraine.” 

“The aviation part of the parade will traditionally be concluded with nine aircraft of the ‘Russian Knights’ and ‘Swifts’ aerobatic teams in the Cuban Diamond formation and six Su-25 attack aircraft, which will paint the sky in the colors of the Russian tricolor,” the ministry said.

Some context: May 9, known as “Victory Day” inside Russia, commemorates the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II. Victory Day is marked by a military parade in Moscow, and Russian leaders traditionally stand on the tomb of Vladimir Lenin in Red Square to observe it.

More than 300 civilians have been rescued since the start of evacuations from the besieged Azovstal steel plant, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday.

It marked the end of the first phase of evacuations, which started just over a week ago, prompting a thank you from the Ukrainian leader.

“I am grateful to the teams of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations for helping us carry out the first phase of the Azovstal evacuation mission. More than 300 people were saved, women and children.”

Authorities are now preparing for the second stage of evacuations for the wounded, medics, and military.

As of Saturday, the Russian army has destroyed or damaged nearly 200 cultural heritage sites, Zelensky added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his government is now preparing for the second stage of the evacuation mission from Azovstal, focusing on “the wounded and medics.”

“Of course, if everyone fulfills the agreements. Of course, if there are no lies,” Zelensky said during his evening message. “Of course, we are also working to evacuate our military. All heroes who defend Mariupol. This is extremely difficult but it is important.”

Hinting Russia is to blame for holding up the evacuation of the remaining soldiers trapped in Mariupol, Zelensky said “everyone understands the root cause of this complication,” but he added the Ukrainian people will not lose hope.

“We do not stop. Every day we are looking for a diplomatic option that can work out,” Zelensky said.

The president also thanked the International Red Cross and the United Nations for helping to carry out the first phase of the Azovstal evacuation, and said the government would try to establish humanitarian corridors for all residents of Mariupol and surrounding settlements on Sunday.

Ukraine has accused Russia of dropping a bomb on a school in Luhansk region where 90 people were taking shelter.

Serhiy Hayday, the head of the Luhansk region military administration, said a Russian aircraft had dropped a bomb on the school in the village of Bilohorivka, which is about 7 miles from the front lines. 

Hayday said 30 people had so far been rescued from the rubble. 

“Almost the entire village was hiding. Everyone who did not evacuate. After the social club was hit, the basement of the school was the only place of salvation, but the Russians took this chance from people,” Hayday said.

The rescue operation is ongoing, he said. Photographs posted by the regional authorities show the school in ruins. 

The Ukrainian government said the evacuation of many civilians from the Azovstal steel complex in Mariupol was completed on Saturday.

Catch up on the latest developments in the war here — and a look ahead to events on Sunday and Monday.

Azovstal evacuations: Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that “all women, children and elderly people” have been evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. “This part of the Mariupol humanitarian operation has been completed,” she said. There were no further details on numbers.

As of Saturday morning local time, more than 100 civilians — including children — were thought to be trapped inside the sprawling complex, along with several hundred soldiers, many of them injured.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces said that Russian forces continue to blockade the Ukrainian troops inside the plant. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said Friday he’s working on diplomatic options to help evacuate the remaining military in Azovstal. 

The self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic said Saturday that a total of 152 people had been evacuated from the city of Mariupol in the eight hours since 8 a.m. local time. It remains unclear whether the total includes any civilians who are trapped at Azovstal.

Odesa strikes: Russia fired six cruise missiles at the southwestern port city of Odesa on Saturday, according to Ukraine’s military. Video from the city shows thick columns of black smoke in several locations.

The United Nations has called to reopen the port to help ease a global food crisis.

Here’s what to be on the lookout for in the coming days:

G7 meeting with Zelensky: On Sunday, US President Joe Biden will meet virtually with the Ukrainian president and his G7 counterparts during a meeting of the G7 forum, deliberately scheduled ahead of Russia’s Victory Day. Sanctions will be on the agenda for the meeting.

Victory Day: On Monday, Russia will commemorate the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II. Western officials have long believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin would leverage the symbolic significance and propaganda value of the day to announce either a military achievement in Ukraine, a major escalation of hostilities — or both.

The Kremlin said Friday that May 9 is a “sacred” day for Russians, and it won’t be “overshadowed” by the events unfolding in Ukraine. The Kremlin confirmed that Putin will attend the traditional parade 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.

The Russian defense ministry claimed that its forces in the area of Snake Island off the coast of Ukraine have shot down several Ukrainian aircraft and drones. 

What Russia is saying: In a briefing in Moscow, the defense ministry spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said that a Ukrainian Su-24 bomber, a Su-27 fighter aircraft, three Mi-8 helicopters with a landing force and two Turkish-made attack drones had been shot down. 

“The Ukrainian amphibious assault boat Stanislav has also been destroyed,” he said. 

The ministry posted a video purporting to show Russian air defenses on Snake Island bringing down a drone. 

What Ukraine is saying: Earlier, the Ukrainian military also reported combat around Snake Island but did not comment on any losses. It released drone footage which, it said, showed its forces destroying a Russian landing craft on the island. It said that two anti-aircraft missile systems had also been hit. 

Snake Island is where, early on in the war, Ukrainian soldiers reacted with words of defiance against Russian attackers. According to a purported audio exchange, a Russian officer told the Ukrainians to lay down their arms, but a soldier responded: “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.” All 13 Ukrainian defenders were at first believed to have been killed; it was later revealed that they were alive but had to surrender due to lack of ammunition.

CIA Director Bill Burns warned on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has staked a lot on the second phase of his war in Ukraine and believes that “doubling down” on the military conflict is still his best path forward. 

It is this mindset, Burns said, that makes the second phase of the offensive at least as risky — and maybe even riskier — than the first phase of the conflict. 

“He’s in a frame of mind in which he doesn’t believe he can afford to lose,” Burns said about Putin during a Financial Times event in Washington. “I think he’s convinced right now that doubling down still will enable him to make progress.”

“His convictions about Ukraine and the reality of Russia’s capability to continue to grind away at Ukrainian resistance — I don’t know whether that’s been shaken yet,” he added. “So the stakes are quite high.”

That view is informed by what Burns said he has observed about Putin over the last several years.

“What I’ve seen, especially over the last decade, is him in a way stewing in a very combustible combination of grievance and ambition and insecurity all kind of wrapped together,” he said.

Burns also said that the risk of the war escalating into a nuclear conflict should not be underestimated during the second phase, even though the US intelligence community does not see “practical evidence at this point of Russian planning for deployment … of tactical nuclear weapons.”

“Given the kind of saber-rattling … we’ve heard from the Russian leadership, we can’t take lightly those possibilities,” Burns said. “At a moment when … the stakes are very high for Putin’s Russia and those risks at this second phase of the conflict are serious and should not be underestimated.”

Ramifications outside Russia: Burns also said that Russia’s conflict in Ukraine has affected China’s calculations when it comes to “how and when” it goes about attempting to take control of Taiwan.

“Clearly the Chinese leadership is trying to look carefully about the lessons they should draw from Ukraine about their own ambitions in Taiwan,” Burns said. 

“I don’t think for a minute it’s eroded Xi’s determination over time to gain control over Taiwan but I think its something that’s affecting their calculation about how and when they go about doing that,” he added. 

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

“The order of the president has been done,” she said. “This part of the Mariupol humanitarian operation has been completed.”

In brief comments to CNN from inside the Azovstal plant on Saturday evening local time, one of the Ukrainian defenders at the complex said that an evacuation of civilians had been conducted without incident.

The comments were made by Mykhailo Vershynin, the chief of the Mariupol Patrol Police. He gave no details about the number that had been able to leave.

Separately, the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that Russian forces continue to blockade the Ukrainian troops inside the plant and were using artillery and tank fire as they conducted assault operations.

What Russia is saying: A senior Russian official has agreed that the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel plant has been completed.

Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, head of Russia’s National Center for Defense Management, said that Russia had evacuated a total of 51 civilians from Azovstal, in cooperation with the United Nations and the Red Cross, since May 5. Mizintzev said the tally included just one person evacuated Saturday.

The Russian account, which was carried by the state news agency TASS, appeared to match that of the Ukrainian government.

The total of 51 evacuees is much lower than previous estimates of the number of civilians still trapped at Azovstal. As of Saturday morning local time, more than 100 civilians — including children — were still thought to be trapped inside the sprawling complex, along with several hundred soldiers, many of them injured. It’s not known how many men besides the Ukrainian soldiers might still be in the sprawling complex. 

One of the Ukrainian soldiers still at Azovstal, Serhiy Volina, posted on Facebook late Saturday local time: “Looks like I’m in some hellish reality show where we military fighting for life, taking every chance to save and the whole world is just watching an interesting story!” he said.

Volina said he was hoping for a miracle from the “higher powers” and that “this hell of a reality show will end.”

“Time goes by, and time is our lives!” he concluded.

There have been no public statements from any side on the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol Saturday.

The Ukrainian government had expressed the hope that another batch of civilians would be able to leave the complex today.

The area around Azovstal appears to have been relatively quiet Saturday.

The self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, whose militia controls the surrounding area, said Saturday that a total of 152 people had been evacuated from the city of Mariupol in the eight hours since 8 a.m. local time. It remains unclear whether the total includes any civilians who are trapped at Azovstal.

The DPR said the total includes 32 children. All had been taken to a filtration facility in the town of Bezimenne.

CNN cannot verify the statement. 

There has been no comment from the Ukrainian side or the United Nations on the latest evacuations.

Late Friday, the Ukrainian government had proposed an evacuation that would collect civilians from Azovstal and then more people from the city of Mariupol. The proposed time for the departure of that convoy passed at 5 p.m. local time (which was 10 a.m. ET), and there has been no further word on developments.  

The defenders of the Azovstal complex raised the number of dead in a clash that took place Friday on the edge of the plant from one to three. 

Russia fired six cruise missiles at the southern port city of Odesa Saturday, according to Ukraine’s Security and Defense Force South.

Video from the city shows thick columns of black smoke in several locations.

The enemy continues not only the physical destruction of the region’s infrastructure, but also the psychological pressure on the civilian population,” said the Ukrainian military’s Operational Command (South).

It said there were no casualties.

The regional military administration also posted a drone video purporting to show a strike against a Russian patrol boat in the Black Sea.

Some background: In the last few days, Ukrainian air force units have carried out several strikes against Russian positions on Russian-occupied Snake Island off the coast of Crimea.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said they hit at least two Russian military positions there using a Bayraktar UAV, a military drone.

Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme has called for the reopening of ports in Odesa to help rein in the global hunger crisis.

The self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic said that a total of 152 people have been evacuated from Mariupol Saturday.

It’s unclear whether the total includes any civilians who were trapped at the Azovstal steel plant.

The DPR said that “on 7 May, from 08:00 to 16:00, 152 people, including 32 children, were evacuated from Mariupol to Bezimenne, Novoazovsk district.”

“At the present moment, they are in the evacuation assistance point, which has been deployed by the DNR Ministry of Emergency Situations,” the DPR added.

There has been no comment from the Ukrainian side or the United Nations on the latest evacuations. 

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the number of civilians evacuated from Mariupol on Saturday — it was 152, not 50 — and it is unclear whether the total includes anyone from the Azovstal steel plant.

US first lady Jill Biden, accompanied by Romanian first lady Carmen Iohannis, visited a school earlier this morning where they talked with Ukrainian and Romanian educators, spoke to Ukrainian mothers and met with children.

Following her visit to the Uruguay School, Biden spoke shortly to reporters before boarding a plane, discussing the emotional impact of her visit to the school and the bravery of the mothers she met.

“It was so emotional, right? I think that really the Ukrainians know that we are standing with them,” Biden told reporters.

“You can see it; those children really have suffered,” she added.
“In a lot of ways, the teachers are the glue that help these kids deal with their trauma and deal with the emotion and help give them a sense of normalcy,” Biden said.

Inside a classroom, children told Biden they were tracing their hands and making cutouts from copies of the Ukrainian and Romanian flags. At one point, a small girl approached the first lady holding her handprint cutout of the Ukrainian flag. Biden asked her to share her message, and a translator next to the girl said that she said, “I want to return to my father.” 

Biden sat down at a table to talk to a group of children who, according to their teacher, were working on a drawing of what the world would look like without war.

The first ladies also had a listening session with educators and refugees. 

Anastasia Konovalvoa, a Ukrainian teacher who fled in March to Romania, was among those who shared her story. 

“I crossed the border with my 3-year-old son and everything I was thinking about was how to save my child from a city that was bombed,” she said. “Thank God the Romanian people were here. I think even the Romanian didn’t expect that they could be so wonderful because you don’t expect that from people.”

“We stand with you,” Biden told her. “I hope you know that,” later adding, “I think you are the amazing ones, really.”

Biden also thanked Iohannis and said the Romanian people are “heroes.”

After the listening session, they went outside where students sang the Romanian national anthem followed by the Ukrainian military march song. 

Biden is now headed to Slovakia. 

This post also includes information from pool reports.

With Russia’s traditional May 9 “Victory Day” approaching, there is speculation that President Vladimir Putin will use the day to declare some form of success in his invasion, or ramp up his assault on the country.

There were evacuations Friday in the besieged city of Mariupol, where Ukrainian fighters and civilians are sheltering in the Azovstal plant – which saw its perimeter breached this week by Russian forces, according to a commander inside.

Here’s what you need to know:

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke about the war in Ukraine during his inauguration on Saturday, saying France needs to “act to avoid” any escalation in the conflict, and vowing to “help democracy and courage” prevail. 

The French leader told his country that by re-electing him as President, France had chosen “a project of independence in a destabilized world.”

“Where many peoples have chosen withdrawal, sometimes giving in to nationalist temptation, to nostalgia for the past, to the sirens of ideologies whose shores we thought we had left in the previous century, the French people have made the choice of a clear and explicit project for the future. A republican and European project,” Macron added.

Some background: Last month, Macron became the first incumbent President to be re-elected in France in two decades, beating far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. Macron told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a few days later that French military support to Ukraine, in addition to humanitarian assistance, “will continue to grow.”

“The President of the Republic reaffirmed to President Zelensky his willingness to work actively during his second term of office to restore the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, always maintaining close coordination with his European partners and allies,” the Elysee Palace said in a statement last month.

After weeks of incessant artillery fire and air strikes, Ukrainian troops are “holding on” in a belt of towns in the Luhansk region, according to the head of its military administration.

Serhiy Hayday said on Ukrainian television that the situation was difficult. 

“The biggest efforts made by the enemy are to break through in Popasna and the direction of Severodonetsk and Voievodivka. That’s where they deployed the biggest amount of their troops and equipment.”

“That’s where the largest number of shellings and rockets, and air strikes are constant – it’s just a terrible situation. Our guys are holding on, we are waiting for help, for reinforcement,” he said.

Hayday said Russian artillery and rocket forces were being supported by private military contractors tasked with leading any ground assault. “There are PMC Wagner Group, there are the [Chechen] Kadyrovites – but they are mostly about making videos for TikTok, and then there are the LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] servicemen,” he said.

Hayday said Russian shelling had inflicted further heavy damage Friday in Hirske, Popasna and Severodonetsk.

An estimated 15,000 people are still living in Severodonetsk, where five high-rise apartment buildings were hit by shelling on Friday, Hayday said. The town of Zolote had also been hard hit, he said.

Russia has claimed it has destroyed a large “concentration of military equipment from the USA and European countries” near a railway station in the Kharkiv region.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said the equipment was hit “near the Bogodukhov railway station,” which is north-west of the city of Kharkiv.

CNN cannot independently verify the claim. The Ukrainian side has not reported the strike. Bogodukhov has been repeatedly shelled by the Russians.

The Russians also claimed that an ammunition depot was hit in Bakhmut, a rear-base for Ukrainian military operations in the east.

Ukraine said there had been an airstrike on Bakhmut in the Donetsk region early Saturday morning, damaging a factory and killing two people.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said that its air defenses had brought down 13 Ukrainian drones, and three Ukrainian Tochka-U ballistic missiles had been intercepted in the Izium area, where fighting has continued for more than a month.

There were no signs of further evacuations of civilians from the besieged Azovstal plant in Mariupol on Saturday, after a flurry of activity late Friday.

Both Russia and Ukraine have said that the evacuations should continue Saturday. At least 100 civilians – including children – remain trapped in underground bunkers at the sprawling complex, which covers 11 square kilometers.

Around 50 civilians left the plant late on Friday, and were taken in buses escorted by Russian armored vehicles to a reception center at Bezimenne to the east of Mariupol, a town now controlled by Russian-backed separatists of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic.

The Ukrainians said they were later able to travel to Ukrainian-held territory.

The evacuations are brokered by the United Nations and International Red Cross.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said she hopes that a broader evacuation of people wishing to leave Mariupol will resume later Saturday, after it failed to get underway Friday.

“If all goes according to plan, there will be buses to Port City at 5:00 p.m. (10 a.m. ET) to take people to Bezimenne,” she said. Port City is a shopping center on the outskirts of Mariupol. 

“There, people from Port City will join our column from Azovstal, which will leave for Zaporizhzhia the next day,” she said.

Still unknown is the fate of hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers who remain trapped at the steelworks. Russia has repeatedly said that they can only leave if they lay down their arms.

On Friday night, President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “We are also working on diplomatic options to save our military, who still remain at Azovstal. Influential mediators are involved, including influential states.”

Russia is continuing its attacks across Ukraine’s eastern flank ahead of May 9, when it’s speculated that President Vladimir Putin could declare some form of victory or step up his assault on the country.

But Ukraine’s counter-offensives to the north and east of Kharkiv have made gains, and “may successfully push Russian forces out of artillery range” of the city in the coming days, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

And with Russia’s May 9 “Victory Day” approaching, cities throughout Ukraine are on high alert. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko is urging citizens to stay inside from Sunday into Monday.

For the first time, the Ukrainian military has said that Russian forces have begun to blow up bridges to slow a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the north-east.

In its latest operational update, the General Staff said Saturday that in the area of Tsyrkuny and Rusky Tyshky east of Kharkiv, “the occupiers blew up three road bridges in order to slow down the counter-offensive actions of the Defense Forces.”

CNN cannot independently verify the claim.

In the past two weeks, Ukrainian troops have retaken a number of villages to the north and east of Kharkiv, making it more difficult for Russians to use artillery against the city as well as threatening to interdict Russian supply lines for forces fighting in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Kharkiv is close to the Russian border, and was one of the first cities to come under attack when Russia invaded.

Lull in Russian offensive: The General Staff said for the second consecutive day that there had been few offensive actions by Russian forces, but that artillery fire and aerial reconnaissance continued.

Some Ukrainian officials believe Russian units are pausing before launching the next phase aimed at securing all of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Beyond these two regions, the General Staff says, the Russians have continued to shell the southern city of Mykolaiv. To the north of the city, Ukrainians claimed to have destroyed “a warehouse with ammunition and up to 20 units of enemy military equipment.”

Russia’s “Victory Day”: Tensions are rising ahead of May 9, known as Russia’s “Victory Day” – marking Moscow’s victory over Nazi Germany. Western officials have warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could formally declare war on that day, allowing him to mobilize reserves and ramp up the Russian assault.

In the lead-up to the day, Russian forces occupying the Ukrainian region of Kherson have increased checkpoints and patrols, said the Ukrainian General Staff.

The Russian-appointed deputy head of the Kherson military administration, Kirill Stremousov, said on Friday that residents would be allowed to have Russian passports. Also on Friday, a senior Russian official was in the region with the leader of the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic.

Evacuation efforts are continuing in the besieged city of Mariupol, where Ukrainian fighters and civilians are sheltering in the Azovstal plant – which saw its perimeter breached this week by Russian forces, according to a commander inside. Meanwhile, tensions are rising in the lead-up to May 9 — Russia’s symbolic “Victory Day” holiday, which could bring a formal declaration of war.

Here are the latest developments:

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 a statement from the Russian foreign ministry.

“The Ambassador was told about the unacceptability of such destructive actions, the continuation of which will inevitably lead to the final destruction of bilateral ties and damage to relations between the peoples of Russia and the United Kingdom,” the statement read.

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.

Taiwan has imposed sanctions against Belarus targeting the export of 57 high-tech commodities to the country, citing Belarus’ “active involvement” in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs in a statement Friday.  

The sanctioned items include designated telecommunications equipment, integrated circuit parts and variable-frequency drives with dual civil and military purposes.

Taipei imposed sanctions of the same scope against Russia in early April.  

In a separate statement, Taiwan’s foreign ministry noted that the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Japan have already announced sanctions on Belarus. 

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.

“Hospitals, shelters and other essential services will be given more power to operate in the face of ongoing Russian attacks with a further 287 mobile generators donated from the UK government,” according to the statement.

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.

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.

“Right now, Ukraine’s grain silos are full. At the same time, 44 million people around the world are marching towards starvation. We have to open up these ports so that food can move in and out of Ukraine. The world demands it because hundreds of millions of people globally depend on these supplies,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley.

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.

“You’re trying to put on your Vladimir Putin hat and try to see, what does he see as crossing a red line?” said retired Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. “That red line is one that probably exists only in Putin’s head — and it may not be something that he’s even thought his way through or conveyed.”

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.

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.

“We hope that soon they will be able to arrive in a safe area after two months of shelling, remaining underground in shelters. We are also working on diplomatic options to save our military, who still remain at Azovstal. Influential mediators are involved, including influential states,” he added.

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.

“With today’s announcement, my Administration has nearly exhausted funding that can be used to send security assistance through drawdown authorities for Ukraine,” the statement reads. “For Ukraine to succeed in this next phase of war its international partners, including the US, must continue to demonstrate our unity and our resolve to keep the weapons and ammunition flowing to Ukraine, without interruption.”

“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.