Wagner’s Fury, Russian Evacuation in the Zaporizhia Region

2023-05-05 10:31:56

► Wagner’s boss raises his voice against Russian military officials

Evgueni Prigojine, the boss of Wagner, broadcast on the night of Thursday May 4 to Friday May 5 a video, in a frankly aggressive tone, addressed to the Russian Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, and to Valeri Guerassimov, the commander of the Russian forces in Ukraine.

Evgueni Prigojine appears there on the ground, in the middle of corpses, apparently belonging to the Wagner group. He violently rebukes Russian officials, asking them, frowning, “where are the p… of ammunition”, before blaming them for their lavish lifestyle and lack of regard for dead soldiers.

The boss of the Wagner group also threatened on Friday to withdraw his fighters from the city of Bakhmout, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, from Wednesday May 10.

“We were going to take the city of Bakhmout before May 9. When they saw this, the military bureaucrats stopped the deliveries” ammunition, accuses the businessman. “Therefore, from May 10, 2023, we will withdraw from Bakhmout”he adds, saying he refuses that “(his) guys, without ammunition, suffer unnecessary and unjustified losses”.

► Russia announces the partial evacuation of occupied localities near the front line in the South

Russia announced Friday a partial evacuation of 18 localities under Russian occupation in the region of Zaporijjia, in the south of Ukraine, at a time when kyiv claims to prepare an imminent offensive.

“In recent days, the enemy has increased the bombing of localities located in the direct vicinity of the line of contact”indicated on Telegram Evguéni Balitski, the regional manager installed by Moscow, specifying to have requested the evacuation ” temporary “ in priority of “children with their parents”elderly and disabled people and hospital patients.

► Ukraine destroys one of its own drones over kyiv

After the wave of attacks the day before, blasts were heard again in Kyiv on Thursday evening, with the capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reporting “explosions and fires”.

However, in a clarification a few hours later, the Ukrainian Air Force admitted having had to destroy one of its own drones, a Bayraktar TB2 (Turkish-made), “during a scheduled flight in the kyiv region”.

“The uncontrolled presence of the drone in the sky of the capital” would indeed “could have undesirable consequences”, she explained before adding that no one was injured. “It’s a shame, but it’s technology and these things happen,” she added, referring to a “technical malfunction”.

► The OSCE denounces the “massive” displacement of Ukrainian children by Russia

Hundreds of thousands of children have likely been transferred by Russia to areas under its control in Ukraine as well as to its own territory, according to a report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“It seems there is a plan to assimilate them on a massive scale,” Veronika Bilkova, a professor at the Faculty of Law in Prague, who authored the study along with two other experts, told reporters on Thursday. It is difficult to determine exactly how many children have been deported, a policy that began as early as 2015, following the annexation of Crimea, she pointed out.

“The lowest estimates we could find put their number at around 20,000. But Russian and Ukrainian sources suggest figures ten times higher, or even more.detailed Veronika. So it really is a massive phenomenon. »

The 82-page report mentions “multiple violations of children’s rights”, with a “systematic scheme” aimed at integrating them into Russian families instead of helping them reunite with their loved ones. Such a practice “may constitute a crime against humanity”, he concludes.