Latest: Western leaders believe that Putin might officially declare war on Ukraine on May 9
Russian President Vladimir Putin could officially declare war on Ukraine on May 9, a move that would allow the full mobilization of Russia’s reserve forces, as invasion efforts continue to fail, according to US and Western officials, CNN reports.
May 9, known as “Victory Day” in Russia, commemorates the country’s victory over the Nazis in 1945. Western officials have long believed that Putin will take advantage of the symbolic significance and propaganda value of the day to announce either a military coup in Ukraine or a major escalation of hostilities – or both. Leaders of countries supporting Ukraine have begun to focus on a scenario, namely that Putin will officially declare war on Ukraine on May 9th.
So far, the Kremlin leader and other Russian officials have insisted on calling the brutal conflict in Ukraine a “special military operation”, effectively banning words such as invasion and war.
Russian forces have not carried out any confirmed ground attacks in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, according to an assessment by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) published Monday night through Tuesday.
It is possible that the Ukrainian artillery strike on April 30 on the Russian command post in Izium will continue to disrupt Russian efforts on the Izium axis.
Russian troops on the Donetsk Lugansk front line and on the southern axis continued to regroup, probably to prepare for new offensives or to resist or reverse Ukrainian counteroffensives.
Such an assessment was made on Monday by a senior Pentagon official. He said on Monday that Russia’s offensive in the Donbas was “anemic” and “cumbersome” and slowed down by a risk-free approach, aimed at avoiding the heavy losses suffered by the invading troops in the first phase of the war.
According to ISW, the Russian military, although not carrying out any confirmed ground attack along any axis of advance, bombarded Ukrainian positions on the front line.
However, on the other hand the United States has “very credible information” that Russia will try to annex the separatist regions of eastern Ukraine in mid-May. According to them, there are also plans to create a “people’s republic” in Kherson, for a possible annexation to Russia as well. The Azovstal steelworks has been under constant fire since the beginning of Monday, with about 100 civilians still trapped, including women and the elderly, and about 20 children.
Meanwhile,British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will address the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday by video conference, a premiere for a Western leader since the beginning of the Russian invasion, and will announce an additional military aid for Kyiv of 300 million pounds.
At the same time, the European Union is preparing new sanctions on Russia’s oil.
Further victims and injured among civilians
A 14-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were injured in a missile attack on a shelter in Odessa’s southern port, Ukrainian president Zelensky announced.
More than 200 civilians are still hiding with fighters in the Azovstal plant, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said on Tuesday. He said a total of about 100,000 civilians were still in the Russian-occupied city of southern Ukraine.
Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, a 39-year-old deputy commander of the Azov Regiment in Ukraine, told Reuters inside the Azovstal plant that the fighters could hear the voices of women, children and the elderly trapped underground and that they did not have the equipment to get them out of there.
The UN Bureau for Human Rights said that the death toll among civilians in the Ukraine war has exceeded 3,000 since February 24.
Russians remove Mariupol bodies in truck with “humanitarian aid” inscription
Russian forces use trucks carrying “humanitarian aid” to Mariupol, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov – which it controls almost entirely, except for the Azovstal plant, the last stronghold of Ukrainian fighters – to evacuate the dead. Mostly following the Russian bombing and siege, Mariupol Mayor Petro Andrushchenko was quoted as saying by Ukrainian news agency LB.ua on Monday evening.
“No matter how barbaric it may sound, the bodies are being carried under humanitarian aid,” Andrushchenko said.
The same trucks carrying the “humanitarian aid” on their return are loaded with the bodies of the dead, Councilor Andrushchenko said on his Telegram account, adding that when several bodies are found in a building, the trucks stop in front of it, while the bodies are directly loaded and transported like any other cargo.
Moscow: About 1.1 million people have been brought to Russia since invasion started
Nearly 1.1 million people have been brought to Russia from war-torn areas of Ukraine since the start of its neighbor’s invasion of Moscow in February, the DPA reported on Tuesday. Among those brought to Russia are about 200,000 children, Russian military chief Mikhail Misinthev was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. Only 11,500 people, including 1,850 children, were brought to Russia from Ukraine on Monday, he said.
While Russia describes the move as an evacuation operation to keep people safe from fighting on the ground and alleged violence by the Ukrainian leadership in Kyiv, Ukraine, on the other hand, considers the forced deportation of its citizens from the Russian-occupied territories to the east and south to be forced.
According to Kyiv authorities, the Russian military does not allow people to flee Ukrainian-controlled territory. Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council has accused Russia of abducting Ukrainian children and using them for propaganda purposes.
Russian weapons used in Ukraine would have British components, despite the 2014 embargo
The Ukrainian Armed Forces, which examined the Russian weapons systems recovered from the battlefield, found that they had recurring components made abroad, in some cases of British origin, a report by the Royal Institute of Services revealed. Unite (Royal United Services Institute – RUSI).
The problem is that the export of military components is under an embargo in 2014, as part of sanctions decided after Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula. Following the report of RUSI – the oldest and most important defense and security think tank in the UK – London has decided to open an investigation, as there are concerns that Russia encourages smuggling of such components and uses third countries, The Guardian reports.
Zelensky: Russian leaders have forgotten all the lessons of WW II. Or maybe they never learnt them
Russian leaders forgot all the lessons of World War II or may have never learned them, was the reaction of President Volodymyr Zelensky to the controversial statements made by the Moscow Foreign Minister. “How could he say that on the eve of the victory over Nazism? These words mean that Russia’s top diplomat blames the Jewish people for Nazi crimes. No words. Such an anti-Semitic impulse by their minister means that Russia has forgotten all its lessons. from World War II or maybe he never learned those lessons,” said the President of Ukraine.
In an interview with an Italian television station, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Hitler had Jewish origins and that the biggest anti-Semites were the Jews themselves.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid reacted immediately. He said the Moscow official’s remarks were unforgivable and summoned the Russian ambassador to Tel Aviv to clarify the situation.
The European Union is preparing sanctions on Russia’s oil
The European Union intends to adopt the sixth round of sanctions against Russia at the next meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council (EAC), Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy, told Reuters. Josep Borrell told a news conference in Panama City, where he is on an official visit, that the EU hopes to reduce energy exports from Russia as part of its efforts to sanction Moscow for invading Ukraine.
The European Commission is expected to propose a package of sanctions this week, including a potential embargo on Russian oil purchases, a measure that would deprive Moscow of a large revenue stream that has so far divided member states.
Josep Borrell, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Council meetings, said he hoped the EU would be able to take “measures to significantly limit these imports”, but acknowledged that no agreement had yet been reached by all member states. “I am confident that, at least in terms of oil imports, this agreement will be possible until the next Council meeting,” he added.
The sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia will include the withdrawal of “other banks” from the Swift trading system, Josep Borrell added.
The Council has two meetings scheduled for May 10 and 16, respectively.