Ukrainian forces reportedly advanced on Russian positions near Kharkiv and Kherson, making small territorial gains amid an ongoing Russian offensive in the eastern Donbas region.
Russia, meanwhile, claimed it destroyed a Ukrainian cache of weaponry that had been supplied by the United States and Europe.
The May 7 claims by Oleskiy Arestovych, a top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that Ukraine had made battlefield advances come just two days before Russia holds ceremonies to mark Victory Day, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech on May 9 will be closely watched to see if he will announce a general mobilization or some other major strategic shift, in a bid to turn the tide of the war, now in its 73rd day.
In the early weeks after the February 24 invasion, Russian forces were thwarted in their attempts to seize Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, suffering heavy losses of personnel and equipment. Commanders then later withdrew units from areas near Kyiv and repositioned them to the Donbas.
Russia’s last official tally of its military casualties was 1,351. Western officials, however, say the toll is at least 15,000, and Ukrainian officials claim the tally exceeds 20,000. Zelenskiy said last month that between 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed, though that figure is believed to be an undercount.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on May 6 that its forces were continuing to advance on positions in the Donbas, and had destroyed an ammunition depot in Kramatorsk and shot down two Ukrainian warplanes.
Arestovych claimed the Ukrainian advances in a video statement posted to his Telegram channel.
Ukraine’s General Staff, meanwhile, said in its daily assessment that Russian activity was relatively quiet overnight, limited to military reconnaissance and artillery fire.
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Near Izyum, where there has been major back-and-forth fighting, drones were repeatedly detected overflying defense positions, the report said. Kharkiv was also hit by artillery.
Kherson, which is located north of Crimea, well outside of the Donbas, has been contested for weeks now, though Russian forces have claimed control of the region’s main city, and a top Russian politician visited Kherson city on May 6.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on May 6 that its forces were continuing to advance on positions in the Donbas, and had destroyed an ammunition depot in Kramatorsk and shot down two Ukrainian warplanes.
On May 7, meanwhile, the ministry said its forces hit 18 Ukrainian military facilities overnight, including three ammunition depots near the port city of Odesa. It also said Russian forces destroyed a stockpile of military equipment from the United States and European countries near a railway station in the Kharkiv region.
It wasn’t clear what the weaponry exactly was, or when it might have been delivered.
Ukraine’s successes against Russian forces have been due in large part to the major supplies of weaponry provided by the United States and Europe– weaponry that increasingly includes offensive armaments like heavy artillery, howitzers, and tanks.
Russia has repeatedly warned NATO that its weapons supply convoys could be targeted, but has so far not taken any steps to do that.
Russian forces have been closing in on the last contingent of Ukrainian troops holding out at the sprawling Azovstal steel works factory in the port city of Mariupol. Around 2,000 troops have been hiding out in the factory’s extensive tunnels and bunkers, along with around 200 civilians.
Ukrainian officials said on May 6 that several dozen civilians, comprising 50 women, children, and elderly people, were evacuated from Azovstal, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said
Russia confirmed that some 50 people had been evacuated.
Mariupol itself has been largely razed to the ground by weeks of street-to-street fighting and heavy bombardments. Azovstal has turned into a last stand for the Ukrainians troops struggling to prevent a complete Russian defeat of the city.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said that, if Russian forces killed civilians or troops who could otherwise be released, his government would no longer hold peace talks with Moscow.
He said there was basically nothing left of the once-flourishing port city, only “this little turf, this little structure, the Azovstal steel mill, or what remains of it.”
Mariupol, As It Was
Photos from before and during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine highlight the devastating toll suffered by the southeastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol, which was a relatively prosperous industrial city before the war.
For the first time since the invasion, the United Nations Security Council approved a brief resolution expressing “deep concern” about the situation in Ukraine.
However, the text, which was adopted on May 6 with Russia’s vote, did not mention a “war,” “conflict,” or “invasion” — as many council members call Russia’s military action — or a “special military operation” as Moscow refers to it.
“The Security Council expresses deep concern regarding the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine,” it read.
