On Friday, May 6, in Ukraine, Russian army continued its attempts to seize the remaining part of Mariupol’s Azovstal steel works. After resisting the siege and constant attacks for two months, its defenders have called on Tukey to help take Ukrainian soldiers to safety. The UN has announced having evacuated close to 500 civilians from Mariupol, but Russia has sent a letter to the family of a Russian sailor lost in the sinking of the Russian warship Moskva, Belarusian Nexta TV, UK’s BBC and Ukrainian public broadcaster Ukrinform report.
The Azov Regiment released a video of a Crimean Tatar, Muslim military doctor calling on Turkey to help secure the safe passage of the Ukrainian troops from Azovstal. According to him, it is uncertain if he as part of the defenders of Azovstal would survive another day.
pic.twitter.com/CwcbMB07uG
— АЗОВ (@Polk_Azov) May 5, 2022
The video is mostly in Russian.
UN Secretary General António Guterres stated early on Friday that in a joint UN and Red Cross operation, two safe passage convoys successfully evacuated nearly 500 people from the Azovstal plant, Mariupol and the surrounding areas.
«I hope that continued coordination with Moscow and Kyiv will lead to more humanitarian pauses to allow civilians safe passage,» Guterres stated on Twitter.
UK points to Russia’s determination to capture Azovstal by May 9
British defence intelligence in its analysis of the current situation in Ukraine evaluated that Russian losses will continue to grow and frustrate their operational plans in southern Donbas.
«The renewed effort by Russia to secure Azovstal and complete the capture of Mariupol is linked to the upcoming 9 May Victory Day commemorations and Putin’s desire to have a symbolic success in Ukraine. This effort has come at personnel, equipment and munitions cost to Russia. Whilst Ukrainian resistance continues in Azovstal, Russian losses will continue to build and frustrate their operational plans in southern Donbas,» according to the analysis.
Ukrinform reports that it has been noted in the analysis as well that Russian forces in Mariupol have continued their ground assault on the Azovstal steel plant for a second day, despite Russian statements claiming they would seek only to seal it off.
Letter to Moskva sailor’s family
Ukrainian Armed Forces stated in April that they have hit with missiles the Russian flagship missile cruiser Moskva in the Black Sea, which sank afterwards. Nexta TV shared on Twitter what it wrote is a letter from Russian authorities to the father of a young sailor, who had been serving on Moskva. The father was asking about his son’s fate and was told that the sailor had gone missing in an emergency incident outside Ukrainian territorial waters.
pic.twitter.com/C8PJQe7AJM
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 6, 2022
Zelensky speaks about attacks on hospitals
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russian troops had destroyed or damaged over 350 healthcare institutions in the country. Russian-occupied areas also faced a «catastrophic» lack of access to medical services and medicine, BBC reports.
See the Ukrainian President’s video address with English subtitles.