‘Begging to get saved’: Mariupol civilians in dire conditions
- An operation to evacuate civilians trapped in Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant has stalled.
- Mayor of Mariupol stresses the situation inside the plant is “dire” with people running out of food and water.
- Russia does not consider itself at war with NATO over Ukraine since such a development would increase the risks of nuclear confrontation, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns there is a big risk peace talks with Moscow will end because of public anger over “atrocities” by Russian troops.
Here are the latest updates:
US Marine killed in Ukraine ‘just wanted to help out’, his father says
The father of a former US Marine who was killed fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in the war with Russia has told The Washington Post that his son “just wanted to help out”.
Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, died on Monday and is the first known US citizen to die while fighting Russian forces in Ukraine.
“I’m not going to lie, I tried telling him, ‘Hey, think about it,’” Cancel’s father, who also served in the Marines said. “He thought people needed help.”
US National Guard to send aging equipment to Ukraine
At least five US states are sending their aging M113 armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine, the Defense News website has reported.
According to the report, the governors of Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia have announced that they would be sending their M113s over to Ukraine, at the request of the Department of Defence.
The aid is part of Biden’s announcement to send an $800m military aid package to Ukraine that includes heavy artillery, ammunition and drones.
Zelenskyy praises US passage of WWII-era weapons programme
In his late-night address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the US move to revive the Lend-Lease Act that helped defeat Adolf Hitler’s Germany during World War Two, the “concrete proof” that freedom can defend itself against tyranny.
“I am sure now that the Lend-Lease will help Ukraine and the whole free world to beat the ideological successors of the Nazis, who started a war against us,” Zelenskyy said.
Pentagon spokesperson says Putin’s conduct of war ‘depraved’
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby on Friday condemned the way Russian President Vladimir Putin is conducting the war in Ukraine.
“Innocent people shot in the back of the head, hands tied behind their backs. Women, pregnant women being killed, hospitals being bombed. I mean, it’s just unconscionable,” Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon.
“It’s brutality of the coldest and most depraved sort.”
Zelenskyy says defence of Ukraine is the ‘fight for our lives’
In his daily address, Zelenskyy says the situation in Kharkiv and Donbas are difficult amid constant Russian attacks.
“The situation in Kharkiv region is difficult,” he said. “The occupiers are doing everything to destroy any life at the Donbas territory. Constant cruel bombardments, constant Russian strikes on infrastructure and residential areas state that Russia wants to make this territory uninhabited. That’s why the defence of our land and our people is literally the fight for our lives.”
Ukraine central bank makes changes to foreign currency market
Ukraine’s central bank has said it was making a number of changes to the foreign currency market to make it more stable and reduce pressure on the country’s international reserves.
From May 4, the limits of banks’ open long and short currency positions will be cut to 5 percent of their regulatory capital, down from 15 percent. The changes were announced in a statement posted on the bank’s website.
‘Begging to get saved’: Mariupol plant survivors in dire conditions
The UN continues to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of the besieged city of Mariupol.
The mayor of Mariupol said the situation inside the steel plant, which has become the southern port city’s last stronghold, is dire and citizens are “begging to get saved”.
Mayor Vadym Boychenko added: “There, it’s not a matter of days. It’s a matter of hours.”
Putin’s ‘middle finger’ to the UN sends clear message
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a missile attack on his city Kyiv was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s way of giving “his middle finger” to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the West over the war in Ukraine.
Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst and head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said the missile attacks carried a message: “Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure.”
Guterres and his team were not hurt. Read more here
Ukraine to play friendly game against German team ahead of WC playoff
Ukraine’s national football team will play a friendly game against Bundesliga side Borussia Moenchengladbach next month in their first match since the country’s invasion, their national soccer association (UAF) has announced.
The game will be held at Borussia Park in Moenchengladbach, Germany, on May 11, with all proceeds going to Ukrainian charities.
“We’re very happy to be able to help the Ukrainian FA through this game,” said Gladbach Chief Executive Stephan Schippers. “[We] hope that as many football fans as possible from all over the country come to the stadium … all Ukrainian citizens will have free entry to the game.”
Pro-Russia cyber gang hits Romanian government websites
A pro-Russia cybercrime group attacked Romanian government websites over the country’s support for Ukraine.
A series of attacks hit “public institutions and private entities”, Romania’s National Cybersecurity Agency said in a statement.
The so-called DDoS attacks, where multiple requests are sent to a website to overload its servers, knocked several websites offline for a few minutes, including the defence ministry, border police, and railways.
No sign of Mariupol steel plant evacuation
As dusk fell on Ukraine, there was no sign a planned evacuation of civilians out of the steelworks plant in the city of Mariupol would be carried out.
President Zelenskyy expressed pessimism over the prospect of continued peace talks with Russia, blaming public anger on what he said were atrocities by Russian troops.
“People [Ukrainians] want to kill them. When that kind of attitude exists, it’s hard to talk about things,” the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
Russia does not consider itself at war with NATO: Russia’s FM
Russia does not consider itself to be at war with NATO over Ukraine since such a development would increase the risks of a nuclear conflict, the RIA state news agency cited Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying.
Lavrov also said Ukraine was at fault for stalled peace talks with Russia, blaming what he said was Kyiv’s changing negotiating positions.
Welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Read the updates from Friday, April 29 here
