Russian tracked vehicle destroyed during street fighting in Mala Shestirnya in Ukraine
May 9 has long been an important day in Moscow, commemorating the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany. Most Kremlin observers believed that Vladimir Putin’s new all-out assault in the southeast Donbas region was aiming to bring home at least a symbolic victory in time for what Russians call “Victory Day.”
Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.
Sign up to our free daily newsletter.But on Monday, Moscow-based daily Kommersantreports that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned that Russia is not going to force a "victory" by May 9, which looks like a de facto admission that the assault has not progressed at the pace the Kremlin had hoped.
With its army's inability to advance on the ground, or occupy major cities in the region, Russia continued airstrikes overnight into Monday, the 68th day of war, with injuries reported in several cities.
“Our military will not artificially adjust their actions to any date, including Victory Day,” said Lavrov. “The pace of the operation in Ukraine depends primarily on the need to minimize any risks for the civilian population and Russian military personnel."
First Mariupol Evacuation Finally Underway, Thousands Still Trapped
A first group of evacuees have been transported out of the besieged city of Mariupol toward Zaporizhia by early Monday as humanitarian organizations worked to evacuate more civilians. Both civilians and soldiers still remained trapped in the Azovstal steel works, in the port of the last bastion of resistance to the Russian invasion.
“We hope that thousands of our Mariupol residents who got stuck on the way from Mariupol to Zaporizhia (they were not allowed by the occupiers) will get to Zaporizhia tonight or tomorrow morning", said Adviser to the Mayor Petro Andryushchenko on Ukrainian Radio Svoboda
People still stuck in Mariupol were reported to be running out of water, food and medicine as weeks of Russian air strikes continue. "The situation has become a sign of a real humanitarian catastrophe," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
Lavrov Insists Zelensky Is A Nazi, Says Hitler Was “Also” Jewish
Lavrov on Italian television Sunday night
In an interview with Italian TV network Mediaset, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov was pressed on Moscow’s accusation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was a Nazi, even though he comes from a Jewish family. "He ( Zelensky) puts forward an argument: what kind of nazification they can they have if he is a Jew. I may be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood. It means absolutely nothing. The wise Jewish people say that the fiercest anti-Semites are usually Jews.”
Lavrov punctuated his reasoning using an old Russian proverb: "The family is not without a freak."
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid quickly replied, saying Lavrov's words were "are both an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error. Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism."
Israel's foreign ministry summoned Russia's ambassador for "clarification" and demanded an apology. BBC reports that Lavrov was also condemned by the head of Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, Dani Dayan. "Most of his remarks are absurd, delusional, dangerous and deserving of any condemnation," he tweeted. "Lavrov deals with the reversal of the Holocaust: turning the victims into criminals, based on the promotion of a completely unfounded claim that Hitler was of Jewish descent."
There have for decades been unproven claims that Hitler's unidentified paternal grandfather was Jewish, fuelled by an assertion by Hitler's lawyer Hans Frank.
Chechnya’s “TikTok Fighters” Soak Up Glory Far From Front Lines
According to Russian blogger and politician Maxim Katz, the majority of conscripts in the Russian army currently fighting in Ukraine come from Dagestan and Buryatia, the most economically deprived regions of Russia. Still, the soldiers we see most often in the media hail from Chechnya, fighting on behalf of the autonomous region’s authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Why the discrepancy? Ukrainians have begun mocking the supposedly formidable Chechens as “TikTok fighters,” for the fact that Kadyrov's men rarely appear on the front lines: They are stationed behind enemy lines, where they can safely plunder occupied cities, take prisoners, and — more importantly — shoot endless TikTok videos and Telegram posts featuring Kadyrov, where the Influencer-in-Chief loves to threaten Ukraine with total defeat.
“Only Matter Of Time” Before Biden Visits Ukraine, As Pelosi Continues Regional Tour
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, right, is escorted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Ukraine Presidency/Ukraine Presi/Planet Pix/ZUMA
Following arrivals in Kyiv last month by Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month and Saturday by U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, it is “only a matter of time” before President Joe Biden travels to the Ukrainian capital.
That was the message the Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky told U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who was traveling with Pelosi. Washington has increasingly pledged its fullest possible support for Ukraine to not just hold off Russia, but to defeat it. “Our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done,” Pelosi told Zelensky during her unannounced visit this weekend, before traveling on to talk to Poland on Monday to meet with Polish president Andrzej Duda.
Europe Eyes Way Out On Russian Energy Reliance
European Union energy ministers are holding emergency talks to respond to Moscow’s demand that gas imports be paid for in rubles, after Russia cut off gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland last week over the currency issue.
In the long term, the EU is looking for ways to implement a ban on imports of Russian oil by the end of the year.
Patron The Minesweeping Dog Is Getting A Stamp
Patron, a Jack Russell Terrier, is the most popular dog in Ukraine right now. As part of Ukraine’s Emergency Service of Ukraine, the pooch has so far helped his human colleagues remove 262 explosive devices buried in and around cities and villages earlier occupied by the Russian army.
Patron boasts almost 190k followers on his Instagram account and will soon have his face on a new stamp for the national postal service Ukrposhta.
Fearing Russian Invasion, Some Transnistria Residents Flee … To Ukraine
There is growing worry that Russia will expand its war into Transnistria, the breakaway territory in Moldova. Indeed tensions are running so high that some residents in Transnistria have began to cross into the territory controlled by Moldova in order to reach the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odessa administration, told Ukrainian newspaper Novoye Vremya that at least four “provocations” had taken place in unrecognized Transnistria. After the first of them, residents began to leave for the territory controlled by Moldova and come to Odessa. People believe that Ukraine, despite the war, is safer than the Russian-controlled part of Moldova.
Bratchuk said “the method is the same, the technology is the same: first a provocation, then the accusation that Ukraine did it.” He says Russians are trying to promote the idea that Ukraine is allegedly encroaching on this territory - although Transnistria is part of the Republic of Moldova.
Bratchuk said "peacekeepers," as the Russian occupiers call themselves, have built checkpoints in Transnistria and are holding so-called "military rallies." Thus, the enemies are trying to mobilize people to the so-called "Transnistrian army."
Angelina Jolie Arrival In Lviv Sets Off Ukrainian Meme Madness
#BREAKING #UKRAINE #RUSSIA
— loveworld (@LoveWorld_Peopl) May 1, 2022
🔴 UKRAINE: #VIDEO HOLLYWOOD ACTRESS ANGELINA JOLIE VISITED LVIV CITY ON SATURDAY,
going to the station to meet people displaced by the war with Russia.
Jolie is a special envoy for the United Nations refugee agency#Lviv #AngelinaJolie #UkraineWar pic.twitter.com/Z0JptISjXK
Hollywood star and longtime humanitarian activists Angelina Jolie has landed in Lviv, in western Ukraine, spending a busy Sunday visiting wounded children in hospitals and speaking to volunteers giving psychological help to many of the displaced.
She did have time for a coffee break in town, where someone snapped some photos, and others didn’t notice. Ukrainians took to the internet to make memes as the country’s notable wartime sense of humor is holding strong.
