⚡️Russian forces use ceasefire to strengthen positions to storm Azovstal.
According to Petro Andriushchenko, advisor to Mariupol mayor, Russians used the ceasefire with Ukraine during the evacuation to set up a new position for artillery observing/spotting and sniper fire.
UKR SU-24 doing some ground pounding on RUS positions. Location and date unknown, although video is very recent, so suspect it's either Donbas, Kharkov or Kherson area.
⚡️Schemes: Russia deploys missiles to northern Crimea.
Specifically, Russia may be deploying S-300 surface-to-air missiles, Iskander ballistic missiles, or Smerch multiple rocket launchers, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Schemes investigative project.
⚡️⚡️ US First Lady Jill Biden and Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska greet each other as they meet in Uzhhorod in western Ukraine on May 8.
Video: Zakarpattia Oblast Administration via Telegram.
⚡️Canadian PM pays surprise visit to Irpin.
Justin Trudeau visited the city of Irpin, Kyiv Oblast, and met its Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn. Photo: Oleksandr Markushyn.
⚡️Official: US Embassy returns to Kyiv.
Charge d'affairs Kristina Kvien and her team arrived in Kyiv on May 8, a senior State Department official said, as cited by Reuters.
If the Ukrainian defenders surrender, Azov soldiers have a very low chance of survival, and that is why the only acceptable option is to keep fighting, he added. Kremlin propagandists have demonized Azov fighters and hinted that they should not be left alive if they surrender.
⚡️Azov officer: Captivity for Mariupol defenders will mean death.
Azov intelligence officer Illya Samoylenko said that Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol have four options. These include waiting indefinitely without fighting, running away, surrendering or fighting until the end.
⚡️ Ukrainian Defense Intelligence: Russia may soon announce general mobilization.
Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate, said that the Russian Federal Agency for State Reserves began inspecting food stocks required for the country’s military.
rhetoric by Russia's Kremlin-controlled media: describing hunger as their weapon against the West. They know how to use hunger as a weapon, remember millions of Ukrainians starved to death during the Holodomor.
NEW: Ukrainian officials now believe 1,202 civilians were killed by Russian troops near the capital of Kyiv after identifying 8 more mass graves: Deputy Head of Kyiv Police
"These are civilians with signs of torture," said Maksym Ocheretianyi. "They were shot in the head."
Ocheretianyi said the eight mass graves contained 148 dead, most of them near Bucha.
The victims had tied hands and feet, and some were also shot in the legs, he added.