Moscow announced that the Russian army would interrupt for three days its offensive on the city of Mariupol, a city in eastern Ukraine besieged since February 24, Wednesday May 4. The ceasefire, in effect from Thursday morning, should allow the evacuation of civilians trapped in the city, in particular in the Azovstal steelworks. Some 344 people were still evacuated from Mariupol and its surroundings on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Follow our live.
Hungary rejects proposals for new European sanctions. The project presented Wednesday by Ursula von der Leyen “cannot be supported in its current form. With all responsibility, we cannot vote for”, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced. The country, heavily dependent on Russian oil, considers that the one-year period granted to it before setting up the European embargo on this source of energy is not enough. The draft sanctions must be validated unanimously by the Member States in order to be adopted. “If a country opposes an embargo on Russian oil, it means one thing: this country is on the side of the Russians and it shares the responsibility for everything that is done by Russia in Ukraine”accused Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Russia simulates firing nuclear-capable missiles. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have carried out these “electronic launches” in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, between Poland and Russia, during military maneuvers against a fictional enemy on Wednesday. Combat units also practiced “operations under conditions of radiation and chemical contamination”.
Volodymyr Zelensky calls on the UN Secretary General to “save” the wounded of Azovstal. Ukraine’s president spoke with Antonio Guterres by phone on Wednesday. The UN participated on Sunday in organizing the evacuation of a hundred civilians trapped in the ruined steel factory, the last pocket of resistance in Mariupol.