WAR IN UKRAINE: May 2, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 67
Around 100 civilians have been evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks complex in the southern city of Mariupol. Russia said dozens have arrived in a village it controls. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said a large group is on its way to Ukraine-controlled Zaporizhzhia. Evacuees from the steel plant have described what they faced under siege - one woman said she has not seen sunlight for two months. A Ukrainian Guard official said that despite evacuation efforts, hundreds still remain in bunkers in the steel plant. He added that at least two more efforts would be needed to get everyone out - BBC
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, a rocket hit a grain elevator, destroying a warehouse with grain, no one was injured, said the head of OVA Reznichenko. In the last days there’s been an increasing number of reports of the Russian side stealing Ukrainian grain and agricultural equipment - including expensive, new farm vehicles - and shipping them over the border. Western countries have repeatedly warned of a possible food crisis and famine in a number of countries due to Russia’s war against Ukraine
Three people were killed and eight injured by Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region on Sunday, according to Oleg Sinegubov, head of the regional military administration. Russian forces have been trying to push south and west from the Izium area, much of which they captured a month ago - CNN
Fires and columns of black smoke are reported to have been seen rising from a site near Belgorod in Russia near the Ukrainian border. The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyascheslav Gladkov, said on Telegram that a fire had broken out at a Ministry of Defense facility.
Ukrainian ambassador asks Germany to pass lend-lease law. Andriy Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, has suggested in an interview with Bild am Sonntag that Germany should adopt a law to aid Ukraine similar to the lend-lease act passed by the U.S. Congress on April 29. He also asked Germany to quickly export 88 Leopard tanks, 100 Marder armored vehicles, and self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine - The Kyiv Independent