QUICK READ 5-5: Russia enters the Azovstal steel factory stronghold

Smoke rises from the area of ​​the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol on May 2 – Photo: REUTERS

* Answering Radio RFE/RL, MP David Arakhamia of Ukraine said Russian forces have entered the Azovstal plant.

“Attempts to attack the plant continued into the second day. Russian troops were on Azovstal’s land,” Arakhamia said.

According to Mr. Arakhamia, until the evening of May 4, contact between the Ukrainian government and its forces in the factory was maintained.

On May 4, the Kremlin still denied accusations from Ukraine that the Russian military launched a major attack on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.

* On May 4, the commanding officer Denis Prokopenko of the Ukrainian forces inside the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol said The war was bloody and they fought very hard with the Russian army.

Announced via a short video broadcast on Telegram, Mr. Prokopenko said he was proud of his soldiers.

* According to Reuters news agency, the office of the President of Ukraine said that Zelensky had called on United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to help rescue those trapped in Azovstal.

“The lives of the people there are in danger. Everyone is important to us. We ask for your help in saving them,” the office quoted Zelensky as saying in a statement. .

Soldiers of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces take part in a mine clearance training in the northern Zhytomyr region, Ukraine on May 4 – Photo: REUTERS

* On May 4, the Russian military said it would open humanitarian corridors from the Azovstal steel plant on May 5, 6 and 7 to allow civilians to leave.

Specifically, the humanitarian corridors will be open from 8 am to 6 pm Moscow time every day, ie 12 am to 10 pm Vietnam time. During this time, Russian forces will cease all military activities and withdraw units to a safe distance.

* Ukraine Railway Authority President Olexander Kamyshin said that the Lviv city power plant was among six railway facilities in central and western Ukraine that were targeted by the forces. Russia attack on the night of 4-5.

According to CNN, Russian attacks temporarily knocked out power in some parts of the region and delayed more than 40 trains.

Lviv Deputy Mayor Serhiy Kiral said some of the city’s water pumping stations were also disrupted by the attacks.

* On May 4, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a call for peace in a speech delivered in Denmark, on the 77th anniversary of the country’s liberation from Nazi Germany during World War I. two.

In his speech, Mr. Zelensky claimed that Russia’s war could spread to other European countries.

The Ukrainian president also thanked supporters in Denmark and called on them to remember the children who lost their lives in Ukraine.

Mr. Zelensky’s speech was broadcast in Denmark on 4-5 – Photo: REUTERS

* UN Secretary-General affirmed that the problem of global food security cannot be solved without restoring Ukraine’s agricultural production, as well as Russia’s food and fertilizer production.

Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has increased financial market volatility, driving commodity prices higher and affecting the flow of goods.

“Our analysis shows that the war in Ukraine has only made things worse, triggering a three-way crisis that wreaks havoc on the global food, energy and financial systems for developing countries.” , Guterres told reporters during his first visit to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.