KYIV, Ukraine — Mariupol officials are sounding the alarm about unsanitary conditions in the ravaged port city that they say pose a “fatal danger” to its remaining residents.
Mariupol City Council said on the messaging app Telegram on Thursday that “a lack of centralized water supply and sewerage, thousands of dead bodies rotting under rubble, a catastrophic lack of drinking water and food could lead to a deadly epidemic in the city.” ,
It said the lives of 100,000 of the 450,000 pre-war residents still living in Mariupol could be at risk – pointing to diseases such as cholera and dysentery.
The Telegram Post quoted Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boychenko as saying that “the invaders are not able to provide food, water and medicines to the rest of the population – or are simply not interested in that.” He added that “the living conditions in the ruined Mariupol are now medieval” and “requires an immediate and complete evacuation.”
Major Developments in the Russo-Ukraine War:
— Ukraine says Russian offensive in the east gained momentum
– Major players urge accountability for atrocities in Ukraine
– A Chilling Russian Cyber Objective in Ukraine: Digital Dossier
– Most people in US fear Ukraine war misinformation: Associated Press-NORC poll
Follow all Associated Press stories on Russia’s war against Ukraine https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Other Developments:
BERLIN – German police have registered more than 1,700 crimes in the country in relation to the war in Ukraine, most of which are property damage and desecration.
The group Mediandienst Integration said on Thursday that a survey of all German police officers showed that the crimes largely targeted people of Russian or Ukrainian origin or their property.
The group said more than 160 cases of violence were registered against one person. Authorities have also opened 170 investigations into the use of the ‘Z’ sign that in some contexts is considered a show of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, which Germany considers illegal.
Germany has a large population of expatriates from the former Soviet Union. It has also taken some 400,000 Ukrainians to shelter from the conflict since the outbreak of the war in February.
WASHINGTON — Most American adults say misinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a big problem, and they largely blame the Russian government for spreading those lies.
A new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 61% of people in the United States say the spread of misinformation about war is a major problem, with only 7% saying it is any Not a problem. Older adults were more likely to identify wartime misinformation as a problem, with 44% of those under 30 reporting it as a problem, compared with 65% of those 30 or older.
Since the start of Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February, misleading social media posts, fake photos or videos and promoted headlines have spread across websites from TikTok to Facebook. In recent weeks, Russian state media and social media accounts have worked in lockstep to forward tweets, TV reports and posts that claim to have staged or faked photographs of buildings and bodies bombed across Ukraine. has gone.
KYIV, Ukraine – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has visited areas outside the Ukrainian capital, which were damaged during the Russian offensive.
Speaking to reporters at several points on Thursday, Guterres urged Russia to cooperate with the International Criminal Court. That is why bodies of civilians were once found in areas occupied by the Russian army, some were shot with their hands.
Guterres also said that “civilians always pay the highest price” in any war.
“When I look at those destroyed buildings, I must say what I feel. I imagined my family in one of those houses that are now destroyed and black. I panicked my granddaughters A part of the family was finally killed,” he said. “So, war in the 21st century is an absurdity. War is evil. And when one sees these situations our heart surely rests with the victims.”
He also said: “When we talk about war crimes, we cannot forget that the worst crime is war itself.”
BERLIN – German lawmakers have voted in favor of sending heavy weapons to Ukraine, a symbolic decision that marks a change in the government’s course on the issue.
Germany initially refused to send any offensive weapons to Ukraine and later refused to send heavy equipment such as armored vehicles.
Domestically and under pressure from allies, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government recently agreed to buy German arms to Ukraine and support arms exchanges with allies, who in turn are sending heavy gear to Ukraine. Huh.
Germany has already sent about 2,500 anti-aircraft missiles, 900 bazookas and millions of rounds of ammunition, grenades and mines to Ukraine, the DPA news agency reported. It now plans to deliver armored vehicles to Slovenia so the country can replace Soviet-era tanks being shipped to Ukraine, send mortars directly to Ukraine, and allow Kyiv to purchase self-propelled armored anti-aircraft guns from Germany. Can give
German companies have also asked to send 88 Leopard tanks, 100 murder armored vehicles and 100 howitzers to Ukraine, for which permission has not yet been granted.
Thursday’s non-binding resolution – with 586 lawmakers in favour, 100 against and seven abstaining – found support from the governing parties and the union bloc, the main opposition to ex-chancellor Angela Merkel.
LVIV, Ukraine – Satellite photos analyzed by the Associated Press show Russian fire intensifying at a steel mill that is the last Ukrainian-held area in the city of Mariupol.
Images shot Wednesday by Planet Labs PBC show that focused attacks caused great damage to a central facility at the Azovstal Steelworks.
An estimated 1,000 civilians are sheltered along with about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters in the steelworks, a sprawling Soviet-era complex containing a war of underground facilities built to counter air attacks.
Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Azov Sea, is considered important to the Russians in the war.
The new images come as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visits Ukraine and plans to speak to the President of Ukraine about his efforts to negotiate with Moscow for a corridor to allow people to leave the besieged area. I can talk.
BRUSSELS – NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Finland and Sweden will be embraced with open arms if they decide to join the 30-nation military organization and can join very quickly.
Stoltenberg’s comments come on Thursday as public support for NATO membership in Finland and Sweden in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine. Media speculation in both the countries suggests that both may apply in mid-May.
Stoltenberg says that “it is their decision. But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be warmly welcomed, and I hope the process goes quickly.”
He did not give an exact time frame, but did say that the two can expect some protection when Russia tries to intimidate them from the time they apply until formally joining.
Stoltenberg says he “believes there are ways to bridge that interim period in a way that’s good enough and works for both Finland and Sweden.”
NATO’s Collective Security Guarantee ensures that all member states come to the aid of any ally under attack. Stoltenberg said several NATO allies have now promised or provided at least $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine.
– This item has been corrected to say that NATO allies have pledged or provided at least $8 billion.
LONDON: Britain’s Defense Ministry says the Russian Navy has the capability to strike coastal targets in Ukraine even after two warships have been lost.
In an intelligence briefing posted on Thursday morning, the ministry says about 20 Russian naval ships, including submarines, are currently operating in the Black Sea operational area.
But the ministry says Russia has not been able to replace the cruiser Moskva, which sunk in the Black Sea earlier this month, because the Bosporus is closed to all non-Turkish warships.
Russia also lost the landing ship Saratov, which was destroyed by explosions and fire on 24 March.
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s General Staff says Russia is ramping up its offensive in the country’s east, aimed at taking full control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and a land corridor to Crimea.
The Russian military is “opening intense fire” in almost all directions, the General Staff said in its Thursday morning update, adding that “the greatest activity was observed in the Slobozhanske and Donetsk directions.”
Attacks on Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv continue, the update said, and more forces have been transferred to the city of Izium. In the Donetsk direction, Russian forces are concentrating on encircling Ukrainian forces.
The General Staff said that in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have foiled six attacks in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
KYIV, Ukraine — Luhansk region governor Serhi Haidai said Thursday that four civilians were killed and four others were injured in the region in the past 24 hours.
Haidai in the messaging app Telegram said Russian shelling also destroyed 10 homes in the town of Popasna.
“Russian forces fired 29 aircraft, multiple rocket launches, tube artillery and mortars into the residential area of the Luhansk region,” Haidai wrote. “The enemy fired for a very long time at Popesna and Lisichansk 10 times, and Hirske four times.”
Camp Atterbury, Indiana – The US state of Indiana at war in Ukraine has National Guard soldiers preparing equipment to transport to help Kyiv fight Russia.
Footage released Wednesday by the Indiana National Guard shows him preparing an M113 armored carrier.
The M113 is an older armored carrier that dates back to the 1960s and the height of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union.
But these armored carriers still move and appear to be ready for battle. At Camp Atterbury, south of Indianapolis, guardsmen check their treads, engines, and other equipment before loading them onto trucks to be sent to the battlefield.
It is part of a massive effort by the US and other Western allies to arm Ukraine.
KYIV, Ukraine — In Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson, a series of explosions took place near a television tower late Wednesday and at least temporarily shut down Russian channels, Ukrainian and Russian news organizations reported.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said the missiles and rockets were fired from the north-west from the direction of Ukrainian forces in the city.
Since the beginning of the war, Kherson has been occupied by the Russian army.
Ukrainska Pravda, an online newspaper, said the attacks started fires and shut down Russian television channels.
RIA Novosti said that the broadcast resumed later. It said Russian channels started broadcasting from Kherson last week.
Russia is determined to consolidate its control over the city, but residents continue to take to the streets to protest the occupation.
BERLIN – Germany was the biggest buyer of Russian energy during the first two months since the war in Ukraine, an independent research group says.
A study published by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air calculates that Russia earned $66.5 billion from fossil fuel exports since invading Ukraine on February 24.
Using data on ship movements, real-time tracking of gas flow through pipelines, and estimates based on historical monthly trade, the researchers believe that Germany had significantly reduced fossil fuel distribution in the first two months of the war. paid about 9.1 billion euros ($9.5 billion) to Russia for
The German government says it cannot comment on the estimates and declined to provide any of its figures.
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