If France sends troops to Ukraine, they will be legitimate targets for attack

UPDATE Russia announces that it has conquered two more Ukrainian villages

Russian forces said on Wednesday that they had captured two more villages in Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said that its groups in the center and west of the country occupied Novokalynove in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, and Kyslivka, in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine. CNBC.

The ministry did not provide evidence for its Telegram claims, although Russian forces have made gradual advances in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks.

UPDATE Russia: The war would end in two weeks if the West stopped supporting Ukraine

Russia has repeated claims made by the European Union’s foreign policy chief that suggested the war in Ukraine would end in just two weeks if the West halted military supplies to Kiev.

Josep Borrell declared at the beginning of this month that Ukraine’s existence depended on the West, Sky News and The Guardian note.

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, said this morning that the West has raised the level of rhetoric regarding Russia.

UPDATE The Kremlin does not comment on the plot to assassinate Zelensky

The Kremlin has refused to comment on Ukrainian reports suggesting that security services have foiled a Russian plot to kidnap and assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and kill other senior officials in Kiev.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not comment on the claim, but added that it was unlikely to be accurate information.

Some reports suggested the plot was intended as “a gift” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was sworn in for a new term yesterday, writes Sky News.

UPDATE China congratulates Vladimir Putin on his new mandate

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China congratulated Vladimir Putin on the occasion of his inauguration as President of Russia, according to a spokesman.

“China congratulates President Putin on the occasion of his inauguration”, said the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Lin Jian, specifying that President Xi Jinping has already sent a congratulatory message to Putin on his re-election, writes The Guardian.

UPDATE Zakharova: If France sends troops to Ukraine, they will be legitimate targets for attack

Russia warned France on Wednesday that if President Emmanuel Macron sends troops to Ukraine, then they will be considered legitimate targets by the Russian military, The Guardian and Sky News note.

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that Russia already sees a growing number of French citizens among those killed in the war in Ukraine. “It is characteristic that Macron himself explains this rhetoric by the desire to create a kind of ‘strategic uncertainty’ for Russia,” she said.

UPDATE Ukraine marks the first World War II “Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism”

Ukraine marks May 8 “Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the Second World War”, the first time since the date of the holiday was officially changed to 2023, writes Kyiv Independent.

In 2023, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law officially changing the date of World War II commemoration in Ukraine to May 8, aligning with most of Europe and indicating a complete break from the era’s observance Soviet.

Russia and some former Soviet countries celebrate Victory Day on May 9, using the term Great Patriotic War.

UPDATE Cape Verde is the first African country to agree to join the peace summit in Switzerland

Representatives from Cape Verde will join the upcoming peace summit to be held in Switzerland in June, becoming the first African country to confirm its participation, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on May 7.

The Ukrainian leader said he spoke by phone with the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia e Silva, and “thanked him for his support for the peace formula and his personal principled position on the Russian invasion.”

“Africa’s voice is important when it comes to global support for a just peace in Ukraine,” Zelenskiy added, according to the Kyiv Independent.

ORIGINAL NEWS:

“Another massive attack on our energy industry,” Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko wrote on Telegram.

Electricity generation and transmission facilities in Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia regions were targeted, he added.

The operator of the Ukrainian national grid Ukrenergo announced on Telegram that the equipment at one of its facilities in central Ukraine was damaged, without providing further details.

In the Poltava region, an energy infrastructure installation was hit by a drone attack, starting a fire, wrote the governor of the region, Filip Pronin, on Telegram. According to preliminary information, no victims were registered.

The governors of Vinnytsia and Zaporozhye regions announced that critical civil infrastructure facilities were damaged, without providing further details.

All missiles aimed at Kiev were destroyed, Serhiy Popko, the head of the city’s military administration, said on Telegram.

Air defense systems were also engaged in repelling the Russian attack over the Lviv region, where several explosions occurred, regional officials said.