Here’s What Happened Tonight: Again Civilians Out of Mariupol, ‘Biden Fast to Kiev’ | Abroad

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky last night expressed his delight with a successful evacuation from the southern port city of Mariupol. About a hundred people finally managed to escape the violence of war yesterday. In his daily speech, the president said he hopes more people will follow today: “We are doing everything we can to get everyone out of the city and the steel mill.”

The people who were evacuated yesterday have been held in the Azovstal factory for weeks. Although the rest of the city is already under Russian control, the defenders of this massive complex still hold out. There are still about a thousand civilians and two thousand soldiers hiding in bunkers and the underground tunnel system.

One of the escaped civilians, Natalia Usmanova, 37, told Reuters about the horror and fear she experienced. “The bombing was so intense that everything started to shake. I was afraid our bunker wouldn’t hold. Sometimes I got completely hysterical, I thought everything was going to collapse. You just can’t imagine what it was like. And we haven’t seen the sun for so long.”

The journalists spoke to her in the village of Bezimenne, about 30 kilometers east of Mariupol. That area is under Russian control. The woman was able to join a convoy arranged by the United Nations and the Red Cross. On the bus she joked to her husband that from now on she no longer had to go to the toilet with a flashlight.

Two heavy explosions were reported last night in the Russian city of Belgorod, not far from the Ukrainian border. The Russian state news agency Tass reports that there were no fatalities or injuries. There would also be no damage. Images of drones flying over the city and anti-aircraft guns have been seen on social media, but it is not clear whether these are real. It would not be the first time that the Ukrainian army has attacked targets in Russia. However, the Russians make no mention of this (or keep it to accidents or sabotage) and the Ukrainians are not demanding anything for the time being.

After the visit of Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the US House of Representatives, it is only a matter of time before President Joe Biden also travels to Ukraine. So says Adam Schiff, the chairman of the Parliamentary Intelligence Committee, who was also in Kiev this weekend.

The talks focused on the next phase of the war, which is now mainly taking place in the east of the country. The US president wants to donate more than 31 billion euros in aid. “We wanted to know from President Zelensky what he wants to do with that money, what weapons he needs, and what else he can use. The nature of the struggle has changed. Where the Ukrainians used to ambush and attack tanks, they are now fighting more from a distance, with heavy artillery.”

According to the New York Times General Valeri Gerasimov, the highest ranking Russian soldier, narrowly escaped death during a visit to the front. He had traveled to Ukraine to relaunch the offensive, the newspaper said, citing Ukrainian and US sources. About 200 soldiers and at least one general were killed in a Ukrainian attack on a school converted into a command post in Izium on Saturday. Gerasimov had just left then. At least ten Russian generals are said to have been killed since the start of the war.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said in an interview with Italian television that Russia does not want President Zelensky to surrender. “We want him to stop all resistance. We are also not looking for a change of power. That is a specialty of the Americans, who do it all over the world.”

Lavrov also said that Russia is not looking to claim victory before May 9. That is an important day for the Russians, because then the victory in the Second World War is celebrated. “We are not going to change our plans for any particular date, including Victory Day.”

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