LIVE-TEXT Ukraine war, year 2, day 72. The Ukrainian army shot down a Russian hypersonic missile over Kiev using the Patriot missile defense system / Russia allegedly attacked Bahmut with phosphorus and incendiary bombs

UPDATE 23:00 Traffic blocked between Melitopol and Crimea due to the evacuation

A huge queue of cars and trucks, some waiting for five hours, could be seen at the Chonhar checkpoint, between Melitopol and Crimea, said the exiled mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov.

According to him, the Russian authorities “caused a crazy panic and no less crazy queues when they announced the evacuation of some settlements from the Russian-occupied parts of the Zaporozhye region on May 1.

Ukraine is expected to launch a major counteroffensive in the coming weeks. The counteroffensive is seen as a critical moment to recapture Ukrainian territory under Russian control.

UPDATE 21:00 Six Ukrainians, killed during a bombing in Kherson

Six Ukrainian demining workers were killed on Saturday after their team was targeted by a Russian bombardment in the Kherson region.

The attack injured two other people, including a female paramedic, the State Emergency Service reported, reports The Kyiv Independent.

UPDATE 19:30 45 prisoners of war return to Ukraine

45 prisoners of war have returned to Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said on Telegram on Saturday.

“Great news today. 45 of our people are returning home. 42 men and 3 women, defenders of Azovstal,” Yermak said, referring to the Azovstal steel plant, which for weeks was the last major stand in the city. Ukrainian Mariupol after the full-scale invasion of Russia.

UPDATE 16:00 Prigozhin announces that he will cede the positions of the Wagner mercenaries in Bahmut to Kadîrov

Evgeny Prigozhin’s statement comes after he wrote a letter criticizing the Russian Ministry of Defense, saying it would withdraw the Wagner group from Bahmut after May 10 for not receiving enough weapons.

“I am grateful to Ramzan Kadîrov for agreeing to take over our position in Bahmut, most likely with the ability to get everything he needs and all the necessary resources. I am already in contact with his representatives to start the transfer immediately of positions, so that on May 10, at 00:00, exactly when we estimate that our combat potential will be completely exhausted, our comrades in arms will take our place and continue the assault on the city of Bahmut”, he said Prigozhin, according to his press service, quoted by Ukrainska Pravda.

UPDATE 14:17 – Russian pro-war writer hospitalized after car bomb explosion

Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin, known for his pro-war views, is hospitalized after his car exploded in the Nizhny Novgorod region in what appears to be an assassination attempt, Russian news agency RBC reported on May 6.

UPDATE 13:07 – The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region: three injured as a result of a Russian bombardment with Russian artillery in Nikopol

Russian forces fired heavily in Nikopol with several Grad rocket launchers, injuring three civilians, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhii Lysak, reported on May 6.

UPDATE 12:53 – Some Western officials have asked Ukraine not to release Crimea

Some Western officials have called on Ukraine not to release Russian-occupied Crimea because of fears that Moscow will resort to nuclear strikes, the Ukrainian president’s permanent representative in Crimea, Tamila Tasheva, said.

UPDATE 11:43 – UK MoD: Victory Day celebration in Moscow could be on a smaller scale

Victory Day parades traditionally held on May 9 across Russia have been cancelled, but a ceremony in Moscow is likely to be held on a smaller scale, the UK Ministry of Defense said on May 6.

UPDATE 11:08 – The Ukrainian Air Force admits that it shot down the first Russian ballistic missile on May 4

The Ukrainian Air Force admitted on May 6 that it shot down a Russian Kh-47 Kinzhal ballistic missile for the first time since the start of the war. The Air Force said a Patriot air defense system was used to shoot down the ballistic missile over Kiev Oblast that Russia fired from a MiG-31K into its territory around 2:30 a.m. on May 4.

UPDATE 07:23 – Ukrainian forces shot down 10 drones in the last day

The Ukrainian Air Force carried out 10 strikes on the concentration areas of Russian troops and equipment and intercepted 10 drones of various types, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine informed.

UPDATE 05:44 – The General Prosecutor’s Office registers over 84,500 cases of war crimes, considered crimes of aggression in Ukraine

Russian forces have committed 84,764 war crimes and crimes of aggression in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s total war, according to the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine, according to the Kyiv Independent.

UPDATE 04:07 – Russia attacks 6 communities in the Sumi region

Russian forces targeted the communities of Znob-Novhorodske, Esman, Shalyhyne, Novoslobidske, Yunakivka and Velyka Pysarivka, the military administration of the Sumi region said on May 5

UPDATE 02:11 – Explosions heard on the Dnieper River

The explosions were heard around 12:50 on May 6 on the Dnieper, Suspilne reported, as quoted by The Kyiv Independent.

UPDATE 02:00 – NEXTA: Russia allegedly attacked Bahmut with phosphorus and incendiary bombs

The press service of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine (SOFU): “The enemy used phosphorus and incendiary ammunition in Bakhmut, trying to wipe the city off the face of the earth. However, the Ukrainian defense forces continue to bravely defend the city. And under these conditions we continue to destroy the enemy”, writes NEXTA on Twitter.

The information was not confirmed by the Russian press, nor by other Western publications.

The press service of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine (SOFU): “The enemy used phosphorus and incendiary munitions in Bakhmut, trying to wipe the city off the face of the earth. However, the soldiers of the SOFU and other units of the Defense Forces continue to defend the… pic.twitter.com/2IYlZbUTvH

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 5, 2023

UPDATE 01:26 – Maia Sandu: “We are only safe today thanks to Ukraine”

In an interview with the Financial Times, the president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, said that Russia would have sent troops to Moldova if its large-scale invasion of Ukraine had gone ahead as planned.

UPDATE 23:45 – Office of the President: 36 countries have signed up to the central group of the Special Tribunal for sentencing Russia for crimes and acts of aggression

The Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Office of Ukraine, Ihor Zhovkva, said on May 5 that 36 countries have already joined the Core Group on the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Russian Aggression.

“And that number is literally growing every day, every week,” transmit Kyiv Independent.

UPDATE 00:00 – Soon, Great Britain will crown its new king. After seven decades of peace under Queen Elizabeth II, Charles III begins his reign in perilous times

The last male monarch Britain had was George at VI-lea, father of Queen Elizabeth II. He reigned from 1936 to 1952, and from 1939 to 1945, he led the British Empire through the Second World War with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, fought on the Western Front and in the North African Campaign

Elizabeth a II-alike Queen Victoria, ruled during the longest period of European peace (1952-2022), a period in which there were no major conflicts between states with increased military capabilities.

Charles al III-lea will be crowned as Britain’s first male monarch, even as NATO is embroiled in a hybrid conflict in Ukraine with the Russian Federation, and risks going down in history as World War III is raised.

UPDATE 22:51 – OSCE report: Russia’s deportation of Ukrainian children “could amount” to crimes against humanity

“The mission concluded that there were numerous and overlapping violations of the rights of children deported to the Russian Federation,” the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) wrote in its report published on May 4.

Original story – CNN: Russia jams Ukraine’s HIMARS missile systems

Russia has repeatedly thwarted US-made mobile missile systems that have been delivered to Ukraine in recent months.

The Russians may have used electronic weapons to jam the GPS-guided targeting system, causing the missiles to miss their target, multiple people with knowledge of the matter told CNN.

Ukrainian military officials, with U.S. help, have had to come up with a variety of different solutions as they continue to use the High Mobility Artillery Missile System (HIMARS), which was perhaps the country’s most revered and feared combat weapon. Ukraine so far.

But in recent months, the systems have become increasingly less effective because of Russian jamming, according to five American, British and Ukrainian sources who briefed CNN.

The jamming would prevent Ukraine from striking military bases in Russia. Being jammed, the missiles would miss their targets and could land in areas populated by civilians.

“It’s a constant game of cat and dog”a Pentagon official said.

Prigozhin announces that he will withdraw Wagner’s troops from Bahmut, but the Ukrainian press denies the information

The Kiev army maintains that Putin will not allow the Wagner group to withdraw from the positions occupied in Bahmut.

The Ukrainian army is skeptical of PMC Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s statement that the mercenaries will withdraw from Bahmut on May 10. “The Wagners will simply not be allowed to leave the city, because Prigozhin does not decide anything here, all of Wagner’s actions are personally ordered by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin,” said Serhi Cherevati, spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda.

Prigozhin cursed the commanders in Moscow, including Serghei Shoigu, because they did not deliver ammunition to his troops.