May 8, 2022: Russia-Ukraine news

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

The United Nations Secretary-General on Sunday thanked everyone involved in the evacuation of more than 170 civilians from the besieged Azovstal steel plant and other areas of Mariupol.

“This group of evacuees arrived safely in Zaporizhzhia today, May 8. My thoughts are with them and all the people in Ukraine who are suffering in this war,” António Guterres said in a statement.
“I thank all those involved in this complex operation, including the leaders in Kyiv and Moscow for ensuring the necessary humanitarian pauses. I applaud the determination and courage of the UN and ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) teams on the ground.”

According to Guterres, the latest safe passage operation brings the total number of evacuated civilians from Azovstal and other areas of Mariupol to more than 600.

“I urge the parties to the conflict to spare no effort to secure safe passage for all those wishing to leave, in any direction they choose, and for aid to reach people in need.”

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.

“The unity of the G7 is essential at this time and based on the G7 leaders’ statement, we decided to take measures to embargo Russian oil in principle,” Kishida told reporters on Monday.
He said it was a “tough decision” as Japan “relies on imports for the majority of its energy resources.”

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.

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

The British government on Sunday announced new sanctions on Russia and Belarus, targeting trade worth £1.7 billion ($2.1 billion).

The sanctions include import tariffs and export bans, and come in a bid “to further weaken Putin’s war machine,” according to a statement jointly issued by the Treasury and Department for International Trade.

The new import tariffs will cover £1.4 billion ($1.7 billion) worth of goods, including platinum and palladium, the statement read.

 Russia is one of the world’s biggest producers of platinum and palladium.

“We are determined to do our utmost to thwart Putin’s aims in Ukraine and undermine his illegal invasion, which has seen barbaric acts perpetrated against the Ukrainian people,” the UK’s secretary of state for international trade, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said.

The planned export bans aim to target more than £250 million ($308 million) worth of goods in sectors of the Russian economy that are most dependent on UK goods, such as chemicals, plastics, rubber and machinery.

The latest package of sanctions brings the total value of products subjected to full or partial import and export sanctions since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine began to more than £4 billion ($4.9 billion).

“Over £4 billion worth of goods will now be subject to import and export sanctions, doing significant damage to Putin’s war effort. Working closely with our allies we can and will thwart Putin’s ambitions,” Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has honored the country’s most famous dog, Patron, for his dedication.

Patron, a Jack Russell terrier mix, has become a national figure since the Russian invasion for his work with bomb disposal teams in the northern city of Chernihiv. He is credited with uncovering some 150 munitions as one of a team working for the State Emergency Service.

Zelensky presented Patron and his owner, Myhailo Iliev, with the state award “For Dedicated Service” at a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Chernihiv demining team has used Canadian technology in its work.

At Sunday’s ceremony, Trudeau appeared to search his pockets for treats – but without success.

At previous media appearances, Patron appears to have been unimpressed by the attention his work has generated.

UN Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine and UN Assistant Secretary-General Amin Awad issued a statement in response 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.”

“Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be spared in times of war; these obligations under international humanitarian law are non-negotiable,” Awad said. “The sooner we seek a peaceful end to the war, the better for the people here in Ukraine and everywhere in the world.”

“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.”

The International Committee for the Red Cross says that more than 170 civilians from Mariupol have arrived safely in the Ukrainian controlled city of Zaporizhzhia.

In a tweet late Sunday, the ICRC, said that “after weeks of living largely underground, over 170 civilians from Azovstal [steel plant] and Mariupol area have arrived in Zaporizhzhia.”

It added: “This is the 3rd safe passage operation we’ve coordinated with @UN. We’re deeply relieved we could help more civilians get to a safer place.”

It wasn’t clear how many of the evacuees had been trapped at Azovstal.

Mariupol City Council said that a total of 173 people had been rescued from Azovstal and Mariupol.

It said “10 buses with Mariupol residents are already on the territory of free Ukraine.”

“Thank you to all the heroic defenders of Azovstal for this. At the cost of three lives of our soldiers and six wounded, soldiers managed to get and remove civilians from the plant.” t said.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Azov Regiment are not only defending themselves at the cost of their efforts but are also rescuing civilians,” the Council said.

View the tweet from the ICRC here:

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. 

“It is clear Vladmir Putin is responsible for heinous war crimes and there must be accountability,” Trudeau said. 

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

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin visited Mariupol Sunday, the most senior government official yet to set foot in the Ukrainian city after weeks of Russian bombardment.

On his Telegram channel, Khusnullin said “I visited the liberated territories of the DNR [Donetsk People’s Republic] and LNR [Luhansk People’s Republic]. I visited Mariupol, Volnovakha, Luhansk and other cities and chatted with the locals.”

“In the regions, the restoration of peaceful life begins — a lot of work. We will help. In particular, it is necessary to carry out large-scale work to provide humanitarian assistance.”

Video showed Khusnullin meeting with Denis Pushilin, the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic. 

In response, Petro Andrushenko, an adviser to the elected Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, said that Khusnullin had visited Mariupol’s seaport.

“In addition to the banal looting, such visits are increasingly about attempts to integrate the occupied territories into Russia directly,” Andrushenko said.

US President Joe Biden met virtually with G7 leaders on Sunday and tweeted a photo of the call.

With a close examination of the tweeted G7 photo, you can also make out Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the frame with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

In a joint statement earlier Sunday, members of the G7 confirmed Zelensky participated in Sunday’s call, while Trudeau’s office confirmed that the Canadian PM was meeting with Zelensky in Ukraine.

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.  

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. 

The 17-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.”

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

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. 

“To this end, we will pursue our ongoing military and defence assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, continue supporting Ukraine in defending its networks against cyber incidents, and expand our cooperation, including on information security. We will continue to support Ukraine in increasing its economic and energy security,” the statement reads.  

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.”

The US State Department on Sunday announced visa restrictions on more than 2,000 Russian and Belarusian military officials for violations related to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and a new visa restriction policy targeting Russian officials for human rights abuses, violations of international humanitarian law and corruption in Ukraine. 

The department also announced sanctions on eight Russian maritime-related companies, including the Russian Ministry of Defense’s shipping company for its involvement in Russia’s “illegal seizure and occupation of Ukraine,” and added 69 vessels to the US Treasury Department’s list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons.

It also sanctioned three Belarusian officials “for their involvement in a gross violation of human rights.”

According to a fact sheet from the State Department, they imposed “visa restrictions on 2,596 members of the Russian Federation military and 13 Belarusian military officials pursuant to a policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act that applies to those who are believed to have supported, been actively complicit in, or been responsible for ordering or otherwise directing or authorizing actions that threaten or violate the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of Ukraine.”

The newly created visa restriction, announced in the fact sheet, “applies to Russian Federation military officials and Russia-backed or Russia-installed purported authorities who are believed to have been involved in human rights abuses, violations of international humanitarian law, or public corruption in Ukraine, including in the so-called ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ or ‘Luhansk People’s Republic.’”

“Family members of those who fall under the policy will also be ineligible for visas,” it said.

Survivors of a Russian strike on Saturday that 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,” explained Sergiy. “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,” said Sergiy. “An ordinary village with only pensioners and children.”

 Watch Sam Kiley’s report:

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02:20 - Source: cnn

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Sunday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba about the return of US diplomats to Kyiv and US security assistance to Ukraine.

According to a readout from State Department spokesperson Ned Price, Blinken informed Kuleba that US Charge d’Affaires Kristina Kvien “and a small group of diplomats, accompanied by State Department security, traveled to Kyiv to conduct diplomatic engagement in advance of the planned resumption of Embassy Kyiv operations, as the Secretary pledged to President Zelenskyy they would during his most recent visit to Kyiv.”

Blinken and Kuleba also discussed the new US security assistance to Ukraine, “including the ninth drawdown from US stocks authorized by President Biden and the expanded authorities that will be offered under the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022,” Price said.

Ukraine’s armed forces say they have continued to resist efforts Sunday by Russian units to break through in several areas.

The main Russian thrust has been south from the town of Izium in an effort to encircle Ukrainian troops defending parts of Luhansk region. 

The Ukrainian General Staff said the “enemy regrouped units and replenished supplies to increase the offensive,” but an attempt to take new territory was repulsed.

In an apparent indication of the Russian switch of focus, the Ukrainians said: “The occupiers are no longer conducting an active offensive in the Kharkiv direction.”

However, parts of the region continue to be shelled by Russian artillery, and there has been fighting further east, very close to the Russian border, where Ukrainian forces are trying to advance on Russian supply lines.

In Luhansk, the general staff said that “the enemy is preparing to storm Severodonetsk and Lysychansk,” two towns that the Russians have been shelling for weeks. In the same region, the Russians appear to have full control now of the town of Popasna, but have not made progress beyond that in the direction of Bakhmut to the west. 

In Mariupol, the general staff said, the intensity of hostilities had decreased.

One of the most active combat areas in recent days has been the Black Sea coast. Ukraine’s Air Command South said Sunday it had downed a Russian cruise missile launched by a Russian Su-35 in the skies over the Black Sea.

US President Joe Biden and the leaders of the G7 met virtually with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday and discussed further actions the US and its allies are taking to punish Russia for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, which include sanctions against Russia’s three largest television channels and a commitment from every member of the G7 to phase out Russian oil imports, according to a senior administration official and a White House fact sheet. 

“This is already a failure for Putin, and we’re going to continue to honor the brave fighting that’s taking place by Ukraine’s people and listen to President Zelensky and recommit to staying the course,” the senior official told reporters ahead of the President’s meeting. 

This official added that while the leaders today will “take stock of where we are,” the call will also highlight how Russian President Vladimir Putin is “dishonoring” the sacrifices made by Soviet Russian citizens, millions of whom sacrificed their lives to defeat fascism during World War II.  

“Putin is dishonoring those sacrifices by spreading his lies, his disinformation about the barbarism he is committing in Ukraine … It’s really a chance to speak the truth and demonstrate our continued unity,” this official said of the call. 

The new sanctions unveiled by the US on Sunday will cut off Kremlin-controlled media outlets from US advertisers and production technology, ban Russia from using US-provided services like management or corporate consulting and accounting, as well as impose new export controls against the Russian industrial sector. Sunday’s announcement also includes roughly 2,600 visa restrictions on Russian and Belarusian officials, and the first sanctions against executives of Gazprombank — the institution through which most of Europe buys Russian gas. 

“Taken together, today’s actions are a continuation of the systematic and methodical removal of Russia from the global financial and economic system. And the message is there will be no safe haven for the Russian economy if Putin’s invasion continues,” the senior administration official told reporters. 

Some more context: The raft of US and Western sanctions that have been imposed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 have pushed the Russian economy into a deep recession as it makes the difficult transition to becoming a closed-economy. 

The three television networks being sanctioned by the US today — Channel One Russia, Television Station Russia-1, and NTV Broadcasting Company — received more than $300 million in advertising revenue from Western countries just last year, according to the official. 

“We’re not going to be in the business of helping them broadcast the lies and the deceit that you hear from Putin every day,” this official said. 

Not included in today’s services ban: legal services. The US, according to the senior official, has decided to continue to permit the seeking of “due process,” but that the government will continue to re-evaluate this “every day” and that they are waiting to see what happens following this initial service ban. The official noted that the United Kingdom also has not instituted such a ban. 

The official also made sure to note that the sanctions against Gazprombank executives are just that, actions against leaders of the important financial institution and not a full sanction against the bank itself, which Europeans must do business with to continue to purchase Russian gas. 

“This is not a full block. We’re not freezing the assets of Gazprombank or prohibiting any transactions with Gazprombank. What we’re signaling is that Gazprombank is not a safe haven. And so we’re sanctioning some of the top business executives, they’re the people who sit at the top of the organization, to create a chilling effect,” this official said. 

The decision to restrict exports of industrial products to Russia is intended to hamper the Kremlin’s industrial capacity and war-making ability, similar to how Western restrictions on microchips are limiting Russia’s ability to make precision guided missiles, the senior official said. 

In addition to the export ban on Russian industrial services, the US also sanctioned Promtekhnologiya LLC which makes weapons, such as rifles, used by Russian forces in Ukraine, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will also no longer permit the export of uranium, plutonium or other nuclear-related products.

Correction: A previous version of this post said that the three television networks being sanctioned by the US today received more than $300 billion in advertising revenue from Western countries last year. The actual amount is $300 million. It has been corrected.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats are going to work as quickly as possible to pass the Ukraine supplemental that was requested by the Biden administration a few weeks ago. 

“I think we will be able to do it as quickly as possible. We have great bipartisanship in terms of our support for the fight for democracy that the people of Ukraine are making,” she said in an interview on “Face the Nation” Sunday morning. 

More background: On April 28, President Biden asked Congress for a $33 billion supplemental funding bill aimed at supporting Ukraine over the next several months as Russia’s brutal and unrelenting war enters a new phase.

In another significant request, Biden outlined a proposal that would further pressure Russian oligarchs over the war in Ukraine, including using money from their seized assets to fund Ukraine’s defense.

The size and scope of the President’s latest proposed package comes as his administration prepares to provide long-term support to Ukraine as Russia’s invasion of the nation stretches into its third month.

The package is significantly larger than the other packages that have been put forward, and is more than twice as much as the $13.6 billion infusion of military and humanitarian aid that Congress approved last month.

US President Joe Biden’s virtual meeting with leaders of the G7 and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has started, per a White House official. 

The meeting, deliberately taking place a day before Russia’s annual Victory Day celebrations, will focus on the latest developments in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, support for Ukraine and a demonstration of “continued G7 unity,” in their collective response. 

Sanctions would also be on the agenda, an official told CNN. CNN has asked for more details on the exact timing.

Acting US Ambassador to Ukraine Kristina Kvien and a group of US diplomats returned to the embassy in Kyiv on Sunday for the first time since the war began more than two months ago.

The US embassy in the Ukrainian capital was shuttered in mid-February as concerns grew of Russian military action. A small group of US diplomats was relocated to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv before moving across the border to Poland and commuting back and forth into Ukraine. On Feb. 24 — the same day Russia’s military invasion began — the US suspended services in Lviv.

In late April, during a visit to Kyiv, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US would return diplomats to Ukraine. Diplomats had begun making day trips into Lviv following that announcement.

The visit by Kvien and other US diplomats to Kyiv comes of Victory in Europe Day — a day before Russia’s Victory Day — and on the same day that First Lady Jill Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has traveled to Ukraine and will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Trudeau administration press secretary Cecely Roy.

“The Prime Minister is in Ukraine to meet with President Zelenskyy and reaffirm Canada’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian people,” Roy told CNN in an email Sunday morning.

The timing and location of the visit and meeting was not made available.

The Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol is under “constant intense shelling” by Russian forces trying to take the last remaining stronghold in the port city, according to the Azov brigade, who held an online news conference from a hideout location within the plant.

The Russians are attacking with “artillery, tanks, mortars, infantry and snipers,” according to the soldiers.  

Azov soldier Illia Samoilenko said Russian troops have “reached a barrier in close proximity to Azov regiment positions.” The Ukrainian fighters’ supplies are “limited” but they still have enough water and ammunition to withstand the attack, he said. 

“We still have munition, we still have personal weapons and we will fight till the best resolution of this situation,” Samoilenko said. 

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Sunday that the Kremlin has “nothing to celebrate” on May 9, Russian Victory Day, and that reports of the Russian bombing of a Ukrainian school overnight can be added to the “long list” of war crimes. 

“They have nothing to celebrate tomorrow. They have not succeeded in defeating the Ukrainians they’ve not succeeded in dividing the world or dividing NATO,” Thomas-Greenfield said on “State of the Union.” 

She added: “We have called out the Russians very early on for committing war crimes. And this contributes to that. We’re going to continue to work with the Ukrainian prosecutors and others to document evidence of their war crimes so that they can be held accountable. This just adds to the long list that we already have.”

Asked about where the line is with US intelligence sharing with Ukraine, Thomas-Greenfield said that the US will continue to provide aid to Ukraine but that the Ukrainians “make the decisions on what they will target.”

On whether Russia should be designated a state sponsor of terrorism, Thomas-Greenfield did not answer if the US had plans to add them to the list but that Russia certainly “deserve to be called out for the acts of terror that they are committing.”

And reacting to the breaking news that First Lady Jill Biden crossed into Ukraine on Sunday, Thomas-Greenfield said:  “For her to go there on Mother’s Day to meet with the Ukrainian first lady, I think sends a very strong a very strong, a very positive message.”

U2 singer Bono and guitarist, The Edge, gave a surprise performance at the Khreschatyk metro station in Kyiv on Sunday.

The band said in a tweet on Sunday that President Zelensky “invited us to perform in Kyiv as a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and so that’s what we’ve come to do.”

View the tweet here:

Watch video of the performance here:

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Sunday she was “horrified” by Russia’s bombing of a school in Luhansk, Ukraine, “resulting in the deaths of innocent people sheltering from Russian bombardment.”

“Deliberate targeting of civilians & civilian infrastructure amounts to war crimes. We will ensure Putin’s regime is held accountable,” she tweeted. 

Ukrainian authorities in Luhansk said on Sunday that 60 people were “most likely dead” after a Russian aircraft dropped a bomb on the school where civilians were sheltering on Saturday.

See the tweet:

US First Lady Jill Biden made an unannounced trip on Sunday to Uzhhorod, Ukraine, a small city in the far southwestern corner of Ukraine. 

At a converted school that now serves as temporary housing for displaced citizens, Biden met with Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska, who has not been seen in public since the start of the war on Feb. 24.

The first lady is the latest high profile American to visit the war torn country in recent weeks. 

“I wanted to come on Mother’s Day,” said Biden to her Ukrainian counterpart, the two women seated at a small table in a classroom of a former school that is now a source of temporary housing for displaced Ukrainians, including 48 children.

“We thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people this war has to stop. And this war has been brutal.” Biden added, “The people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.”

Zelenska, who early on in the Russian invasion sent a letter to Biden, has exchanged correspondence in recent weeks, US officials tell CNN.

View video from the first lady’s visit here:

In the midst of fierce shelling by Russian forces, a 15-year-old drove several people who had been injured out of the frontline town of Popasna in Luhansk. 

During the journey, the car was shot at and she was wounded in the legs, but she kept driving.  

The girl’s first name is Anastasia; as she is a minor CNN is not giving her full name. One of her teachers confirmed her identity to CNN.

Not only did Anastasia have to drive through a battlefield; there were mines and bodies on the road out of the town, which was on the verge of falling to Russian forces.

She was among the last civilians to try to escape Popasna, much of which has been destroyed in weeks of fighting.   

Anastasia said she wanted to help evacuate two men who had been wounded. Two other people were also in the car.

“And I had to get behind the wheel and drive to Bakhmut,” she said — a journey of some 20 miles through countryside that is often under fire by Russian artillery and planes. 

She had driven before; her deceased mother had taught her, she said. But it was hardly any preparation for the escape from the hellish situation in Popasna. 

“We have a bridge, then you go down, and then up. And there were mines there in a checkerboard pattern. There was no way to get through,” she said. 

“But I somehow drove through. Further along there was the corpse of a woman,” she said in an interview conducted in by the Lviv hospital and provided to CNN. 

Anastasia added, “And then there was a turn to the right and we were fired upon, my feet [were hit]. There was almost nothing I could do, the car stalled.” 

“When they started shooting, the car stopped and they fired. Then I started the car and we drove on again,” she said.

The car staggered forward a short distance but then stalled again because the battery had been shot through by a bullet. 

The teenl and the other occupants of the car were picked up by the Ukrainian military and taken to the hospital in Bakhmut. 

She said she had two bullet wounds to her knee and foot. 

First Lady of the US Jill Biden visited the Tomasikova Street School in Slovakia on Sunday to mark Mother’s Day and meet with students and teachers. 

Dr. Biden was met with bread in salt, a welcome tradition in Slovakia and other Slavic countries.

Students can be seen making art projects for Mother’s Day and one student gave Dr. Biden what he made. Biden then stopped by different tables around the classroom, meeting with the children and their mothers.  

“The hearts of the American people are with the mothers of Ukraine,” Biden said, according to the pool, as she wished one table a happy Mother’s Day. 

The First Lady asked the mothers if they had support, to which one woman responded, per the pool (which was translated): “We have the support of Slovakia. Slovakia helped us a lot.”

Reporters, after being invited to ask questions, asked what they tell their children about what is going on.  

“They need to understand why we are here and why we receive help — why are we separated from our husbands. They need to understand what is going on,” one woman said through a translator, according to the pool. 

Asked what it means to them to have the first lady of the US visiting, one woman said, per the pool, with the help of a translator: “It means support for us.”

She added: “We are very tired. This is emotional support for us.”

Prior to her visit to the school, Dr. Biden visited the Kosice Aid Center where she met with Ukrainian refugees and volunteers. 

The first electric train in weeks arrived at the Irpin railway station from Kyiv on Saturday, after crossing a newly rebuilt bridge that was destroyed in the war.

The bridge, destroyed during the Russian occupation, was one of many key links between Kyiv and western Ukraine — its destruction forced trains to take a longer detour. The steel bridge was rebuilt in a matter of weeks, a process that would have taken months before the urgency of war. Hundreds of railway workers and military worked on the restoration.

The restored span is only wide enough for one set of tracks. A second bridge next to the newly-rebuilt one is still under construction. Workers told CNN they worked for 25 days, with crews on site virtually around the clock.

The inaugural train across the span carried the infrastructure minister, the mayor of Irpin and a senior rail executive on a 25-minute journey from Kyiv. According to Oleksandr Kubrakov, minister of infrastructure of Ukraine, more than 300 rail and road bridges across the country have been destroyed since the war began.

Work is currently underway to rebuild at least 50 of them. Ukrainian Railways has been indispensable during the war — shuttling supplies in, and civilians out of the more dangerous parts of Ukraine. It has taken an enormous effort to keep trains on the tracks; the railway says that 20% of the system is either no longer controlled by Ukraine, or cut off by bombing.

Among the workers are not only railway workers from Kyiv and Irpin, but also workers from Lviv, who came to help their colleagues.

“These are not someone’s bridges, they are all Ukrainian and we have to restore them all,” said one worker.

Almost everyone CNN spoke to knows of railroad workers who died during the occupation. During the war, 118 employees of Ukrzaliznytsia were killed — some while fighting on the front lines, others were just showing up for their regular jobs.

One worker, Vadim Levitsky, 45, hardly held back tears while explaining that many of his colleagues were under occupation.

“We tried to help them at every opportunity. We were very glad that they survived. I’m happy that these days I can meet with them and talk to them,” Levitsky said.

“We carried out surveys of stakes under shelling and more than once heard explosions not far from them,” Levitsky added.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has sent his thoughts to Ukrainians in a video message published on the occasion of Victory in Europe day on Sunday. 

Dedicated to “those who’ve died and suffered in Russia’s illegal invasion,” Johnson sent his “respect and gratitude” to those who have fought in previous conflicts which “strengthens our determination to support the people of Ukraine in their struggle.”

“We won’t forget the sacrifices that have been made over the generations to ensure peace and freedom in Europe,” his message concluded.

Victory in Europe (VE) Day is observed by several European states on May 8 of each year, marking the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany’s capitulation, on May 8, 1945.

Ukrainian fighters battling Russian armed forces at the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol have vowed to continue fighting.

“Surrender is not an option,” members of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment said, speaking at an online news conference.

The fighters called on the international community to help evacuate injured soldiers from the plant, which is the last holdout from Russian forces in the port city. 

Reportedly speaking from a hideout location within the Azovstal premises, Azov soldier Illia Samoilenko, said “surrendering is unacceptable for us. And chances of surviving for us if surrender to Russians tends to zero.” 

He said that there are “dozens” of civilians still inside the plant.

A convoy of civilian vehicles trying to escape fighting near the city of Kharkiv was fired upon, killing several people, the Kharkiv region police said. Others are missing.

Serhiy Bolvinov, chief of the investigation department, said police had lost contact with the convoy a few days ago.

There were 15 cars traveling near the village of Staryi Saltiv, which has seen heavy fighting in recent days as Ukrainian forces launch a counter-attack against the Russians east of Kharkiv.

At the time, the convoy was trying to reach territory controlled by the Ukrainians, Bolvinov said.

“Due to the ongoing combat, it was not possible to reach the place of the column,” Bolvinov said.

The wreckage of the convoy was found on Friday, he said. Having arrived at the scene, investigators found a broken enemy tank and the bodies of two Russian soldiers.

A further 300 meters away, six cars with bullet holes were found. Four corpses were found in the cars and, according to Bolvinov, they appeared to be some of the civilians who had been in the convoy.

The remains of a 13-year old girl had been positively identified, he said.

Bolvinov gave no details about what may have happened to other vehicles in the convoy.

Ukrainians once celebrated Victory Day on May 9, in the Russian tradition. But now, as they piece through the rubble of their homes and mourn lost friends and relatives, many pointedly mark the occasion a day earlier.

“This house, I have lived here for 40 years. Both my kids were born here,” Olga Teterska, a 48-year-old accountant from Borodianka, near Kyiv, told CNN as she looked at her destroyed home. “It is impossible to describe with words how I feel being back here and seeing what has happened.”

“The flower garden is still growing,” she added. “We’ll save the ones we can.”

“We celebrated May 9 until 2014,” Teterska said. “Now I will only observe May 8 as a day to remember the soldiers who fought and also as a way to be closer to Europe.”

The surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945 marked the end of the largest land war in Europe until this February, when Russian forces launched an all-out assault on Ukraine.

But the timing of that surrender — late in the evening in Germany, and after midnight in Russia — symbolically split Europe in two, creating separate commemoration days on the continent. 

Most of Europe marks VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) on May 8. But in Russia and a clutch of ex-Soviet states, the anniversary falls on the 9th. In Moscow, it is celebrated with an extravagant military parade and a speech by President Vladimir Putin.

“Now May 8 is more important,” Valentina Torghunshko, from Borodianka, told CNN. “May 9 for me is Russia’s day now. It used to be Victory Day but everything has changed now. The Russians want us on our knees.”

“When the building was shelled, I was in the bunker,” the 68-year-old added, describing the day Russian forces struck her home. “Everything I had is destroyed. I was able to save my cat after. She was without food or water but she is alive.”

This year, there are fears the Russian leader will use his Victory Day parade speech to formally declare war on Ukraine. Until now, the Kremlin has euphemistically referred to their invasion as a “special military operation.”

That could bring yet more destruction for many in Ukraine’s east, and around the country. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has urged citizens to stay inside from Sunday into Monday, and Western officials have warned the Russian invasion may be ramped up.

Vadim Bozhko, a farmer from the village of Andriivka, said his house was occupied by Russians, then destroyed in shelling as he and his wife hid in the cellar. 

His son was fighting in Ukraine’s military and was killed in April near Hostomel, he told CNN.

“I feel nothing now,” he said, reflecting on the significance of May 9.

“It used to be about celebrating the victory of our grandparents. This year there is nothing to celebrate.”

“I will always remember what my grandparents did in World War II,” he added. “But with what the Russians have done to my son, to my house, I will not celebrate Victory Day.”

“To the Russians: Don’t bring your sons here,” he warned. “We have nothing left to lose anymore. We will fight you.”

Sixty people are feared dead following an airstrike Saturday on a school in the Luhansk region where 90 people were sheltering, according to a local official. While rescuers are dismantling the debris “as quickly as possible,” the head of the Luhansk regional military administration, Serhiy Hayday, said the chances of finding anyone still alive – beyond the 27 survivors already rescued – are “very small.”

Here are the latest developments:

Luhansk school shelter bombing: The bodies of two people were found in the debris of a school building where 90 people were sheltering in Luhansk, Hayday said in a Telegram post Sunday. There are 27 survivors, according to Hayday, and “60 people most likely died.” He added that heavy fighting overnight had disrupted the rescue operation.

Azovstal rescue operation: All women, children and elderly people have now been evacuated from Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant complex, the Ukrainian government has said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his government is now preparing for the second stage of the evacuation mission, focusing on “the wounded and medics.” They are also working to evacuate Ukrainian military personnel from the plant, which has been blockaded by Russian forces. Zelensky said the government would try to establish humanitarian corridors for all residents of Mariupol and surrounding settlements on Sunday.

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.

Kyiv warning: The mayor of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv has urged citizens to “be aware” and stay inside Sunday into Monday, around Russia’s symbolic annual Victory Day. Western officials have warned that Putin could formally declare war on May 9, allowing him to step up his campaign and mobilize reserves.

Black Sea combat: Both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries have claimed successes in what appears to be ongoing combat in the Black Sea, and especially over Russian-occupied Snake Island. Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa region military administration, said Sunday that about 40 Russian soldiers had been killed. The Russian Ministry of Defense gave a very different version of events, claiming to have shot down several Ukrainian aircraft and drones.

Pressure at Izium and Kharkiv: Russian forces have made minor advances on one front near the city of Izium, capturing the northern outskirts of the village of Shandryholove, according to the Ukrainian military. However, it added that they are also on the defensive near Kharkiv as a Ukrainian counter-attack continues.

UK’s $1.6 billion package: The UK will provide a further £1.3 billion ($1.6 billion) in military support and aid to Ukraine, according to the country’s Treasury. The pledge marks “the highest rate of UK military spending on a conflict, since the height of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the Treasury said in a statement. The new pledge almost doubles the UK’s previous spending commitments on the war in Ukraine.

Both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries have claimed successes in what appears to be ongoing combat in the Black Sea, and especially over Russian-occupied Snake Island.

Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa region military administration, said Sunday that a Russian helicopter on the island had been struck and destroyed Saturday night. The military released a drone video purportedly showing the strike.

He also said a small landing boat with a capacity of about 80-100 personnel had been eliminated, as well as two Raptor-class patrol boats.

Bratchuk said that, according to preliminary information, about 40 Russian soldiers had been killed.

A satellite image from Sunday morning showed at least one column of smoke rising from the island.

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.

Both sides also reported attacks near the port of Odesa. The Russians said they had taken down a Bayraktar-TB2 combat drone near Odesa, while the Ukrainian military said it had intercepted two cruise missiles launched by Russian aircraft.

Bratchuk said that altogether 10 Russian cruise missiles had been fired at the Odesa region on Saturday. The runway at the main airport had been hit again. A residential district had also been hit.

The UK will provide a further £1.3 billion ($1.6 billion) in military support and aid to Ukraine, the country’s Treasury said in a statement.

The announcement comes ahead of a virtual G7 summit on Sunday, which will include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The pledge marks “the highest rate of UK military spending on a conflict, since the height of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan,” according to a Treasury statement Saturday.

Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised £300 million ($370 million) of military support to Ukraine, including electronic warfare equipment, a counter battery radar system, GPS jamming equipment and thousands of night vision devices. The Treasury said this would be funded from the £1.3 billion increase. 

The new pledge almost doubles the UK’s previous spending commitments on the war in Ukraine.

Per the statement, it adds up to Britain’s “existing £1.5 billion ($1.85 billion) support, which included around £400 million ($494 million) in humanitarian aid and grants to the Ukrainian government, and unlocking over £700 million ($864 million) in lending from the World Bank through guarantees.”

Johnson and his defense secretary will host a meeting of defense companies later this month “to discuss ramping up production in response to increased demand created by the conflict in Ukraine and a global shift away from Russian-made weaponry,” the statement added.

The intense fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine has forced millions of people to flee to the country’s westernmost regions.

At least 200,000 people have arrived in Lviv alone, according to the city’s mayor Andriy Sadovyi, pushing the city to its limits.

Many locals have opened their homes to the refugees and the city has also recently built two container towns for families who were staying in temporary shelters in schools and sports facilities.

But working with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, Lviv is now constructing two new buildings specifically for pregnant women and mothers of young children.

Away from the city center, the site was chosen in the hope that it will offer some calm to its future residents.

Peace and quiet is what people like Tetiana, who is expecting her fifth child in July, are dreaming of.

She and her husband want to name their son Victor to commemorate the victory they are expecting Ukraine to achieve.

This is not the first time that she and her older children had to run from war. In 2014, the family lived in Horlivka when it became part of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic.

There, hiding in a cellar, she gave birth to her daughter Milana. When the family’s house was destroyed, she moved to Kamianske, to a container shelter much like the one she currently calls home in Lviv.

After four years there, the family moved to Slovyansk, where her husband — who is now fighting for Ukraine on the frontline — got a good job. They dreamt of buying a house and raising their children in peace.

Instead, she is once again sheltering in a container with her children, hundreds of miles away from her husband.

Tetiana says that she has been offered a chance to move to the new buildings as soon as they are ready, potentially in a couple of months’ time.

Anton Kolomieytsev, Lviv’s chief architect, said he and his colleagues are trying to think months and years ahead, knowing some refugees will likely stay long-term.

“They have nowhere to go. Many of them will have to stay here even after the end of the war,” he said.

Containers are a good temporary solution, but they are expensive. According to Kolomieytsev, one square meter of container housing costs $800, a price that is comparable to the cost of building regular houses.

Kolomieytsev said he wants the city to build apartments which internally displaced people would be able to rent for 10 years for a lower price before having the right to become their owners.

But he says his grand plans will rely on international donors. The public coffers have been completely depleted by the war.

A senior official in the Luhansk region has said that the chances of finding anyone still alive inside the school that was sheltering around 90 people when it was bombed by a Russian aircraft on Saturday afternoon are “very small.”

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, said the school building was completely destroyed.

“The explosion happened inside the building. Rescuers [are] dismantling the debris as quickly as possible. The chances of finding [anyone still] alive are very small. There were 90 people inside the school building; 27 survived, 60 people most likely died.”

The bodies of two people were found in the debris, Hayday said in a Telegram post Sunday.

A Russian aircraft dropped a bomb on the school in the village of Bilohorivka, which is about seven miles from the frontlines, according to Hayday.

The strike hit at around 4:37 p.m. local time on Saturday, causing fires to break out that took almost four hours to extinguish, he said.

Hayday added that heavy fighting overnight had disrupted the rescue operation.

He said fighting had continued into Sunday on several fronts in Luhansk – including Bilohorivka, Voyevodivka, and Rubizhne. He also said there was an extremely difficult situation around Hirske.

Near Popasna, Russian artillery hit the house where 11 people were hiding in the basement, he said. Rescuers were dismantling the debris.

Hayday said Ukrainian troops had withdrawn a “little way” from Popasna. “Since the city was destroyed, our troops retreated to more fortified positions.”

Russian forces have made minor advances on one front near the city of Izium, according to the Ukrainian military, but are also on the defensive near Kharkiv as a Ukrainian counter-attack continues.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said Sunday the Russians had captured the northern outskirts of the village of Shandryholove as they try to push south from the Izium area into the Donetsk region.

The enemy concentrated its main efforts on “preparations for the continuation of the offensive” in the area.

Along other front lines there were few changes, the General Staff said, with the Russians using artillery against Ukrainian defenses.

In the Kharkiv area, the General Staff said that the Russians were concentrating on “preventing the further advance of our troops towards the state border of Ukraine to the north and northeast of Kharkiv.”

To that end they were shelling villages recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces – such as Prudyanka and Slatine – and trying to strengthen their defensive positions.

In the south-west of Ukraine, the armed forces said “the situation remains tense.”

They claimed that “armed formations” in the pro-Russian area of Transnistria in Moldova, as well as Russian troops there, are in full combat readiness. Transnistria, a breakaway territory within Moldova, has housed Russian troops for decades.

The General Staff confirmed clashes on Snake Island, a small island off the Romanian and Ukrainian coastline. It said that, during Saturday, one Russian Mi-28H helicopter as well as a number of drones had been destroyed by anti-aircraft missiles. The military’s Operational Command (South) later published drone video purporting to show a Russian helicopter on Snake Island being destroyed.

Sixty people are feared dead following an airstrike on Saturday on a school in the Luhansk region where 90 people were sheltering, according to a local official.

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, said 30 people sheltering in the school had been rescued, of which seven were injured. 

The bodies of two people were found in the debris, Hayday said in a Telegram post on Sunday, adding that it is “likely that all of the 60 people left under the building’s wreckage were killed.”

A Russian aircraft had dropped a bomb on the school in the village of Bilohorivka, which is some seven miles from the frontlines, according to Hayday.

The strike hit at around 4:37 p.m. local time on Saturday, causing fires to break out that took almost four hours to extinguish, he said.

President Vladimir Putin takes Russian anniversaries seriously. 

It was no coincidence that his invasion of Ukraine came a day after Defender of the Fatherland Day, a celebration of Russia’s military achievements. It was on that same occasion in 2014 that Putin took the first step in annexing Crimea from Ukraine, through orchestrated pro-Russian protests on the peninsula.

The leader had clearly hoped to have more to celebrate by this Victory Day on Monday, the country’s most patriotic of dates, marking the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II.

Russia’s justification for war in Ukraine suggested a deadline for success by Victory Day.

Even though the Kremlin’s well-oiled propaganda machine has been going at full steam since the February invasion, it will be difficult for Putin to twist Russia’s losses into true victory on Monday.

If anything, the operation in Ukraine has been an embarrassment for him – at least on the international stage.

Read the full analysis:

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

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 are the latest developments on the war in Ukraine:

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:

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.