May 2, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to put an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and “the senseless killing” taking place on the ground.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, Scholz said that what “is important is achieving a better future together, not by waging wars against each other, but by making economic development and joint development possible.”

The German chancellor also called on Putin to “withdraw his troops from Ukraine,” adding that “borders should not be changed through the use of violence.”

Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of staff of the Russian military, was recently in Ukraine, according to a senior US defense official. 

“We know he was in Donbas for several days beginning last week. We don't know if he is still there,” the official said.

The official declined to say why the US was certain about the Russian general’s location or what intelligence it has that led to the US conclusion. 

There were some reports that Gerasimov was injured while in Ukraine but the US has no indication of him being injured, the source said.

The US is uncertain why Gerasimov traveled to the Russian frontlines and whether it signals a lack of Kremlin confidence in Gen. Aleksandr Dvornikov who was appointed to command all Russian operations in Ukraine just a few weeks ago, the official said. Gerasimov’s trip however signals he wanted to see operations directly.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed solidarity with Jewish people against the background of anti-Semitic statements by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and called on the governments of all countries to further isolate Russia.

In a statement published on Monday, it said Lavrov's comments are anti-Semitic attacks on the President of Ukraine and the Jewish people, and called it "absolutely unacceptable."

Lavrov asserted over the weekend that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood,” prompting a furious Israeli response on Monday.

"Russia is already too deep in its nonsense trying to justify the barbaric aggression against Ukraine. In fact, the Russian Foreign Minister questioned the existence of not only the Ukrainian nation but also the Holocaust. Lavrov deliberately insulted the memory of millions of Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis during World War II," the statement read.

Ukrainian foreign ministry called on the governments of all countries to take further steps to isolate Russian and impose an embargo on Russian oil and gas "that will deprive the Russian military machine of financial resources."

Russian forces are continuously shelling the humanitarian headquarters in the Ukrainian town of Rubizhne in the Luhansk region, and the evacuation attempts were thwarted again, according to a Telegram post from Serhiy Haidai, the head of the Luhansk region military administration.

He noted that the last time the evacuation vehicles reached Rubizhne was a week ago. They have rescued people and brought several tons of food.

In the other towns of Luhansk region, the situation with delivery of humanitarian aid is under control, he added.

As uncertainty continues over the progress of civilian evacuations from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, its mayor has said that the process is "very difficult" and dependent on Russian cooperation.

"We managed to take more than 100 people out of the bomb shelters, who are now heading to the territory controlled by Ukraine. We are waiting in hope that Russian troops will allow us to do this," Vadym Boichenko told Ukrainian television.

CNN has confirmed that Boichenko was referring to the people evacuated Sunday from the Azovstal steel complex.

"The evacuation process is happening at a very high level, directly with the participation of the President of Ukraine and Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. I emphasize, it is very difficult," he said.

As for the evacuation of Ukrainian soldiers, at least several hundred of whom are still holding out at the Azovstal plant, Boichenko said, "the issue of military evacuation is a separate procedure and a separate negotiation process. It is a closed process, negotiations are underway."

He also spoke about the so-called "filtration" centers set up by Russian forces to screen people leaving Mariupol. "Everyone who wants to leave for the territory controlled by Ukraine must go through this humiliating procedure. You need to sign up and wait."

"On average, people wait a whole month for humiliating filtering," Boichenko claimed. "Now we see a decrease in the flow of people arriving in Ukraine. The reason is that the Russians are creating obstacles so that people cannot leave."

Boichenko went on to claim that at the filtration places, "men are deported to prisons and tortured. People are held there without food for two days or more, they sleep standing up."

The US embassy in Ukraine hopes to return to Kyiv by the end of May if conditions permit, the charge d'affaires, Kristina Kvien, said in a news conference from Lviv Monday.  

"We very much hope that the conditions will permit us to go back into Kyiv by the end of the month," Kvien said. "We listen to the security professionals, and when they tell us we can go back, we will go back."

The US decided to close the US Embassy in Kyiv on Feb. 14 and temporarily relocated a small number of remaining diplomatic personnel in the country to Lviv, just 10 days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Kvien later told CNN in an interview this step would be "important symbolically" and also help "us do our jobs."

"We've been doing things through video conferencing and telephone and WhatsApp and that's useful but there's nothing like talking directly," she told CNN.

However, the entire embassy staff will not return together at once, Kvien said.

"We have a very large embassy normally in Kyiv. Obviously, we won't all be coming back at once. So, everyone that will be going back [in] the first group is very eager to go back. And of course, if someone had reservations, we would not force anyone to go," she said Monday.

There is some hope for the residents of the besieged and embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol, after an evacuation convoy got underway this morning.

But the fate of city's vast Azovstal steel plant -- the last holdout for Ukrainian resistance there -- remains in the balance. While some evacuees left the plant over the weekend, shelling restarted overnight.

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

Mariupol evacuations: An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol has said that a general evacuation of the city's residents has begun, albeit slowly. Mariupol city council said that buses had not reached the main assembly point by Monday morning. An evacuation from the besieged city had also been planned for Sunday afternoon but did not get underway.

"Turbulent" night: After a rare period of quiet that allowed people to be evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant, the facility came under fire again on Sunday, according to a Ukrainian soldier. A Ukrainian commander inside the plant said it was a "turbulent" night. As yet there is no word on whether a second phase of that evacuation will get underway Monday.

Evacuated to a Russian-held town: Footage and photos posted over the weekend show civilians from Mariupol arriving in the Russian-held town of Bezimenne. Russia's defense ministry said that dozens of people had been "rescued" from Azovstal, before they were taken to the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, which has been controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014. While the ministry said that civilians who wished to leave for Ukrainian-held areas were “handed over to representatives of the UN and the ICRC,” it is unclear whether all were given the choice of where to go next. A CNN investigation in April revealed that Russian forces and allied separatist soldiers were taking Mariupol residents to a so-called “filtration center” set up in Bezimenne, where they were registered before being sent on to Russia 

Pelosi meets Polish President: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has met Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday. Pelosi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Saturday, saying afterwards during a Congressional delegation’s visit to Poland that the visit sent “an unmistakable message to the world: that America stands firmly with our NATO allies in our support for Ukraine.”

Refugees continue to flee: At least 5.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in late February, according to the latest United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) data. In addition to the 5,563,959 registered refugees, at least 7.7 million people are internally displaced in Ukraine having been forced to flee their homes, according to the latest report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Russia press to Sloviansk: Russian forces are pressing an offensive in the direction of Sloviansk, an important town in the Donetsk region, according to the Ukrainian military. The offensive involves heavy shelling of Ukrainian defenses, the General Staff said in its daily update. Some analysts say Russian forces have made modest territorial gains in this region over the past week, but the nearby city of Lyman remains in Ukrainian hands.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, visited Ukrainian refugees in Poland and Slovakia over the weekend, according to the New York Archdiocese and tweets from Dolan’s verified account.

The Archdiocese said last week that the visit was meant to demonstrate solidarity with the refugees and show gratitude to their caregivers, express support for the leadership of local churches, and “[a]ssert the Christian commitment to support all those devastated by the evils of war, and to raise awareness of the human cost for this unprovoked aggression.” 

On Sunday, Dolan tweeted about visiting a family of refugees being cared for by a parish in Poland, a Knights of Malta care center, and a location offering hot meals. The Archbishop also said he visited a church in Slovakia and toured “one of the buildings that houses and distributes supplies to those in need in Ukraine.” 

Dolan is joined on the trip with a delegation of representatives from the Catholic Near East Welfare Association and other church officials, the Archdiocese said.

An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol has said that the evacuation of the city's residents has begun.

"We hope that thousands of our Mariupol residents who were stuck on the way from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia ... will get to Zaporizhzhia tonight or tomorrow morning."

However, the evacuation appears to be making very slow progress.

Mariupol city council said that buses had not reached the main assembly point yet -- a shopping center on the northwest edge of the city.

An evacuation from the besieged city had also been planned for Sunday afternoon but did not get underway.

This general evacuation is different from that involving civilians who have been trapped at the Azovstal steelworks.

As yet there is no word on whether a second phase of that evacuation will get underway Monday.