WAR IN UKRAINE: May 2, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 433
Two Canadians have been killed in action around Bakhmut. One told CBC News before his death that the conditions on the front line were like a "meat grinder." Kyle Porter, 27, of Calgary, Alta., and Cole Zelenco, 21, of St. Catharines, Ont., were both serving with Ukraine's International Legion which was attached to a brigade bearing the brunt of a ferocious Ukrainian effort to hold Bakhmut against a ferocious Russian attack. Russia was from the start fearful of foreign fighters, striking a training center near the Polish -Ukrainian border very early on.
Russia hit Ukraine with a nighttime barrage of 18 missiles, and Ukrainian air defense claimed it shot down nearly all of them. Two people were reportedly killed. Meanwhile, the White House estimates that since December Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including more than 20,000 killed - RFE/RL
Ukrainian troops are pushing back against Russian troops in the beleaguered city of Bakhmut, launching counterattacks that have forced Russian soldiers to abandon some positions - VOA
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on May 1 that the United States will continue to support Ukraine after a Russian journalist suggested McCarthy doesn’t support continuing the supply of U.S. weapons.
Russian officials said on May 1 that an explosion was to blame for a freight train derailing not far from the border with Ukraine.