LIVETEXT War in Ukraine, Day 804 | Due to Ukraine Attacks, Russia Stops Using the Crimean Bridge

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other before the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague of using banned toxins on the battlefield, the organization announced on Tuesday, reports The Guardian.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said the allegations were “insufficiently substantiated” but added that “the situation remains volatile and of great concern regarding the possible resurgence of the use of toxic chemicals as weapons.”

Last week, the US said Russia violated the international ban on chemical weapons overseen by the OPCW by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control agents “as a method of warfare” in Ukraine.

Russia has denied the allegations. The OPCW said it had been monitoring the situation since February 2022, when Moscow invaded Ukraine.

According to the Chemical Weapons Convention, any toxic chemical substance used with the intent to cause injury or death is considered a chemical weapon.

Russia has lost 476,460 soldiers in Ukraine since the start of its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced on Tuesday.

According to the cited source, the number also includes the 1,160 losses suffered by Russian forces in the last 24 hours.

Russia also lost 7,405 tanks, 14,227 armored fighting vehicles, 16,509 vehicles and fuel tanks, 12,287 artillery systems, 1,057 multiple launch missile systems, 792 air defense systems, 349 aircraft, 325 helicopters, 9,717 drones, 26 ships and boats and one submarine.

One person was killed, and two children and two adults were injured, following the attacks that took place in the last day in the Ukrainian region of Sumy. Russian forces launched 224 strikes on the region on Monday, May 6, local authorities announced, quoted by Ukrainska Pravda.

Ten houses, three households, six apartment buildings, eight vehicles, two elevator buildings, two administrative buildings, energy and critical infrastructure facilities, a shop and a warehouse were damaged in the bombings.

A fuel tank also caught fire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke, in his message on Sunday evening, about the need to supply arms to his country’s troops, after a discussion with the commander-in-chief of the army.

“He reported the main challenges and needs. We are preparing. There was also a report on our own production of weapons and the equipping of our brigades. We are doing our best to provide more weapons for our fighters,” Zelenskiy said.

“We also discussed the supply from our partners – the delivery time and the possibility of speeding up the actual receipt of weapons and shells from our partners. In reality. Political decisions must be followed by real logistics – the actual receipt of weapons by our warriors. Everyone involved must now work 24/7 with partners, including the United States,” the Kiev leader added.

Zelensky also stated that Ukraine is working “very actively” to prepare for the Peace Summit in Switzerland.

Russia has switched to using land routes from annexed eastern Ukraine to supply its frontline troops after Ukraine’s repeated attacks on the Kerch bridge, which links mainland Russia to Crimea, notes the British publication The Independent, citing analysts from Molfar, the largest private intelligence agency in Ukraine.

Analysis of satellite images shows that the bridge, which Russia built after annexing Crimea in 2014, has almost no traffic and may therefore no longer be an effective military target for Ukrainian troops.

Images taken by satellite specialists Maxar – which were analyzed by Molfar and provided to The Independent – show that almost no military freight trains have run on the bridge’s railway line for more than three months.

On February 29 alone, a single Russian freight train carrying approximately 55 fuel wagons was seen crossing the bridge.

According to Molfar, there was no movement involving Russian military assets on the bridge in March or April. The agency, based in Dnipro, used a combination of Maxar imagery, wagon counters and load identification for its analysis.

Russia’s use of the bridge has dropped significantly since Ukraine attacked it with drones on July 17, 2023 and blew up a section of the roadway and railway line, the analysis said.

Moscow summoned the French ambassador to Russia on Monday to denounce the “provocative” policy of Paris in the war in Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron again raised the possibility of sending Western troops to the Ukrainian front, reports AFP, quoted by News. ro.

More details: French ambassador to Russia, summoned by the Russian MFA after Macron revived the idea of ​​sending troops to Ukraine

Russian troops shelled the village of Uhroidy in the Sumî region on May 6, injuring three people, including two children, Suspilne reported, citing Irina Yukhta, a secretary of the Krasnopillia village council.

The village of Uhroidy is located less than 10 kilometers from the border between Ukraine and Russia. The Russian attack also damaged three houses.