WAR IN UKRAINE: May 10, 2022 — Michael Bociurkiw

Watch part of the CNN breaking news coverage and analysis of the Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9, 2022

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 75

Russian forces intensified their fight in Ukraine’s east and fired missiles over the port city of Odesa. The southern city was hit by a series of missiles Monday, destroying buildings, setting ablaze a shopping center, and killing one person, its city council said, just hours after a visit by European Council President. “You cannot escape the smell of smoke and burning buildings in the centre of Odesa,” the BBC’s Caroline Davies reported. She said three explosions sounded out around the city just before 22:30 on Monday. By midnight, the streets had filled with acrid smoke. BBC journalists witnessed multiple fire crews attempting to put out the blaze at two sites in the city, one also attended by an ambulance. CNN reported that two hotels were hit and that the missiles used were Khinzals - Russia’s new hypersonic missiles. Odesa is a strategic port city but also popular with tourists because of its beachfront, cosmopolitan makeup and unique architecture.
Currently, almost 70 vessels are blocked in the seaports of Ukraine, including 10 in the port of Odesa. As a result, about 90 million tons of agricultural products that Ukraine planned to supply to Africa, Asia, and Europe have been blocked. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, some supplies were transported by road and rail, while others were under shelling or seized by the Russian military. He said that Ukraine loses $170M every day due to blocked seaports, and that the country's export potential has fallen by more than half.
President Biden has signed a law that aims to streamline American military aid to Ukraine and other East European allies. A similar programme was enacted in 1941 to combat Nazi Germany. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted that he was grateful to Biden and the American people "for supporting Ukraine in the fight for our freedom and future", saying it was a historic step. "I am convinced that we will win together again. And we will defend democracy in Ukraine. And in Europe. Like 77 years ago," he said.
Russia's underestimation of Ukrainian resistance prevented Russian President Vladimir Putin from announcing significant military success in Ukraine at Russia's Victory Day parade yesterday, according to the UK's Ministry of Defence. It says Russia's invasion plan is "highly likely" to have been based on the mistaken assumption it would encounter limited resistance, and would be able to quickly encircle and bypass population centres. This assumption led Russian forces to open their attack with "a light, precise approach intended to achieve a rapid victory with minimal cost", the UK's MoD says in an update. Russia's miscalculation led to "unsustainable losses and a subsequent reduction in Russia's operational focus", it said - BBC
Pentagon: US Defense Department has evidence of forcible deportation of Ukrainians to Russia. “We do have indications that Ukrainians are being taken against their will into Russia,” Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby said on May 9. Kirby did not disclose the total number of Ukrainians forcibly deported, however Zelensky has quoted numbers above 500,000 and the Russia side has cited figures as high as one million. Yesterday, Commissioner for Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova said that about 1.85 million Ukrainian citizens have been illegally deported to the territory of the Russian Federation.
Russian smart-TV schedules were hacked on Monday with an anti-war message, BBC Monitoring reported. On-screen program descriptions were replaced with the hackers' text when viewed on smart TVs, the outlet reported. According to the BBC's translation, the message read: "On your hands is the blood of thousands of Ukrainians and their hundreds of murdered children. TV and the authorities are lying. No to war." Major channels such as Russia-1, Channel One, and NTV-Plus were changed. Francis Scarr of BBC Monitoring — the branch of the BBC that follows mass media worldwide — tweeted a short video of a screen showing the TV schedules, on which every program showed the same description.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's government mocked Russia's celebration of "Victory Day" by holding what it said was a "parade" of tanks that Ukrainian forces captured from Russian troops amid Moscow's war with the eastern European country. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a tweet on Wednesday that the Ukrainian military's 93rd Mechanized Brigade "held a parade of trophy Russian tanks, ruining the holiday for the occupiers," in reference to Victory Day. "Maybe aggressors think that by arming #UAarmy with Russian trophy equipment, it will affect the turn of NATO-style armament? New clever plan," the Ukrainian Defense Ministry taunted in the tweet.
On May 9, the Pulitzer Board awards a special citation to the journalists of Ukraine "for their courage, endurance, and commitment to truthful reporting during Vladimir Putin’s ruthless invasion of their country and his propaganda war in Russia.” The board added: “Despite bombardment, abductions, occupation and even deaths in their ranks, they have persisted in their effort to provide an accurate picture of a terrible reality, doing honor to Ukraine and to journalists around the world.” Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 24, at least nine Ukrainian and foreign journalists have died. Some figures place the death toll above 20.