May 4, 2022: Russia-Ukraine news

Approximately 2,000 Russian troops — or the equivalent of two Russian battalion tactical groups (BTG) — remain dedicated to Mariupol, according to a senior US defense official.

However, 10 Russian BTG’s that had been dedicated to the city are now attempting to move north and have paused, “either to create better defensive positions or to refit and re-posture themselves,” just south of the town of Velyka Novosilka, according to the official.

The official said that the remaining forces in and around Mariupol may include some non-Russian fighters, including Chechens.

Russian military progress in Ukraine “remains slow and uneven” in the north of the country, according to the official. 

The official added that though the Russians are moving their operations to the south, they are facing lots of Ukrainian opposition in those areas, and “stalled in terms of their overall momentum in the North.”

“They’re not really making any progress in the south,” the official said of the state of the Russians’ battle in Mariupol. 

There have been attempts by the Russians to attack critical infrastructure in Western Ukraine near Lviv, specifically railroads. However, it does not appear that the Russians have been accurate in their targeting, according to the official.

Nearly all of the howitzers that the US pledged to Ukraine are now “in Ukrainian hands,” according to a senior US defense official.

“I can tell you that more than 90% of the 90 howitzers that were pledged to Ukraine in the last two presidential drawdown authorities are actually in Ukrainian hands," the official said.

Nearly 90,000 of the 144,000 pledged projectile ammunition to pair with them are now in Ukraine as well, according to the official.

But the official said that the US is not tracking where all the artillery is going once the materiel has been given to the Ukrainians.

"Again, where they go and how they’re being used, that’s up to the Ukrainians. We don’t have a bird’s eye view of every single tube and can tell you where it is in the fight," the official said.

After the European Union and UK announced additional sanctions on Russia, US President Joe Biden said "we are always open to additional sanctions."

"I'll be speaking with the members of the G7 this week about what we're going to do or not do," Biden told reporters at the White House while discussing the US economy.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a raft of measures, including a ban on Russian oil, on Wednesday. Other proposals include listing individuals who committed war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine; removing Russia's largest bank Sberbank and two other companies from the SWIFT system, a messaging service that connects financial institutions around the world; and banning three Russian state-owned broadcasters from European airwaves.

The United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Wednesday announced further sanctions against 63 Russian citizens and entities, including against Russian media companies "behind Putin's vicious disinformation campaign" and their employees.

The Swedish embassy in Ukraine has returned to Kyiv, the Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine Tobias Thyberg announced on Twitter on Wednesday. 

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that diplomatic missions from 27 countries were now operating again in Kyiv.

The UK, Spain, Italy and France have all announced plans to reopen. The US said its embassy in Ukraine hopes to return to Kyiv by the end of May if conditions permit.

The South Korean ambassador to Ukraine, alongside some members of staff from the embassy in Kyiv, returned to the city on Saturday and will start operations on Monday, South Korea’s foreign ministry said.

See Thyberg's tweet:

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, is among the individuals who will be included in the proposed sixth round of European Union sanctions, according to two sources who have seen the full documents. 

The proposed draft has been sent to the corresponding ambassadors for review, the sources said. 

At this stage, names can be taken off or added at member state discretion, an EU Commission source said. 

On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a raft of measures that also include a ban on Russian oil. 

In an interview this week, Pope Francis slammed Kirill for endorsing Russia's stated reasons for invading Ukraine, warning him to not become "Putin's altar boy."

In response, the Russian Orthodox Church said Pope Francis had used the “wrong tone” in characterizing his meeting with Patriarch Kirill and called the Pope’s comments “regrettable.”

“Such declarations do not contribute to establishing a constructive dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church which is particularly necessary at this time,” declared the Department of External Relations of the Russian Patriarchate in a statement.

What Russia is saying: The sanctions are out of touch with "common sense," Russian Orthodox Church spokesperson Vladimir Legoida said Wednesday, according to Russian state news agency TASS. 

"The more indiscriminate [these] sanctions become, the more they lose touch with common sense and the harder it becomes to reach peace, which is what the Russian Orthodox Church prays for at every service with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, and assistance to all those affected by the Ukrainian conflict, only serve to affirm his words," Legoida said in a Telegram post. 

"Only those completely ignorant of the history of our Church can seek to intimidate its clergy and believers by compiling some lists," Legoida said. 

The Belarusian army has begun a previously unannounced inspection of its Reaction Force, planning movement of a significant amount of military equipment, according to a statement published by Belarusian Ministry of Defense on its Telegram channel Wednesday.

The defense department noted that "the purpose of the inspection is to assess the readiness and ability of personnel to quickly respond to a possible crisis situation."

According to the statement, "military units and subunits will operate in unfamiliar areas in a rapidly changing environment."

The threat of missile strikes on military and civilian infrastructure of Ukraine from the territory of the Republic of Belarus remains real, said Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, the spokesperson of Ukraine's defense ministry, on Wednesday.

"The Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus are strengthening certain units at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border in Brest and Gomel regions. Demonstrative and provocative actions along the state border with Ukraine are not ruled out in the future," he added.

According to him, the threat from Belarus has never ceased. 

"As you know, today the Russian army is using the territory of the Republic of Belarus as a springboard for the attack on Ukraine. In fact, due to this, Russian units were able to appear in the suburbs of the capital so quickly," emphasized Motuzyanyk.

The United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has announced further sanctions against 63 Russian citizens and entities, including against Russian media companies "behind Putin's vicious disinformation campaign" and their employees.

Russian war correspondents embedded with Russian forces in Ukraine and several Russian media outlets are among those sanctioned.

Aside from asset freezes and travel bans, new legislation introduced means social media, internet services and app store companies "must take action to block content from two of Russia's major sources of disinformation, RT and Sputnik," according to the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). 

"These outlets have already been booted off the airwaves in Britain and we've barred anyone from doing business with them. Now we've moved to pull the plug on their websites, social media accounts and apps to further stop the spread of their lies," Tech and Digital Economy Minister Chris Philp said.

The latest sanctions announcement also sees the UK ban service exports to Russia, prohibiting the provision of PR, management consultancy and accounting services to Russian businesses.

"Doing business with Putin's regime is morally bankrupt and helps fund a war machine that is causing untold suffering across Ukraine," Truss said, adding that "cutting Russia's access to British services will put more pressure on the Kremlin and ultimately help ensure Putin fails in Ukraine."

UK services currently make up 10% of Russian imports in these sectors, according to the FCDO.

In addition to proposing a ban on Russian oil, the European Union is taking several other measures against Moscow over its war in Ukraine, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.

In a series of tweets, she said the bloc plans to:

Von der Leyen laid the blame at the feet of the Russian leader:

As for the oil ban, von der Leyen acknowledged the challenges in switching from a reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

She added:

Von der Leyen is speaking at the European Parliament. 

In response, the Kremlin spokesperson said the sanctions are a double-edged weapon. 

“In general, the sanctions aspirations of the Americans, Europeans, and other countries are a double-edged weapon. In trying to harm us, they too have to pay a heavy price. They're already doing it, paying a big price. And the cost of these sanctions for European citizens will increase every day," Dmitry Peskov said when asked about possible sanctions on Russian oil to be imposed by the European Union.

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said that new battles have broken out at the Azovstal plant, where hundreds of civilians are still trapped inside along with the last Ukrainian defenders in the city.

"Today there are heavy battles on the territory of our fortress, on the territory of Azovstal. Our brave guys are defending this fortress, but it is very difficult, because heavy artillery and tanks are firing all over the fortress; aviation is working, ships have approached and are also firing on the fortress," Boichenko said.

Speaking on Ukrainian television, Boichenko said there were 30 children trapped at the plant still waiting to be rescued.

"They are waiting for a new negotiation procedure and a new evacuation mission," he said.

He also said contact had been lost with the Ukrainian defenders.

"Unfortunately, today there is no connection with the guys, there is no connection to understand what is happening, whether they are safe or not. Yesterday there was a connection with them; today, no more."

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said the Russian Armed Forces were not “storming” the Azovstal plant but described it instead as suppressing “attempts by militants” to take new firing positions. 

“There has been a public order by the supreme commander [Russian President Vladimir Putin] to cancel the storming; there is no storming,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday in a call with reporters. 

Peskov added: “We see that there are aggravations associated with the fact that the militants go to firing positions. These attempts are suppressed very quickly. There is nothing else to say here yet."

See Russian strikes on Azovstal steel plant: