Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events day 72 | Russia-Ukraine war News

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 72nd day, we take a look at the main developments.

Here are the key events so far on Friday, May 6.

Get the latest updates here.

Fighting

• Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, a deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, has posted a video online purporting to be shot in Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks saying, “Heavy, bloody fighting is going on.”
• The Kremlin has denied a Ukrainian claim that its forces were storming the plant and said humanitarian corridors are currently operating there. Russian President Vladimir Putin later said Kyiv should order fighters to put down their weapons.
• Nearly 500 civilians have been evacuated from Mariupol and other areas in southern Ukraine as part of a joint UN-International Red Cross operation, the Ukrainian president’s office said.
• Russia has claimed its artillery struck multiple Ukrainian positions and strongholds overnight, killing 600 fighters.
• A Ukrainian presidential adviser has said he did not expect Russia’s offensive to produce “significant results” before it holds the annual May 9 Victory Day in Moscow to mark the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany.
• The Kremlin has accused the United States and other NATO countries of “constantly” feeding intelligence to Ukraine, but says this would not stop Russia from achieving its military goals there.
• The US Defense Department has denied providing information on the whereabouts of Russian generals so Ukrainian forces could kill them. “We do not provide intelligence on the location of senior military leaders on the battlefield or participate in the targeting decisions of the Ukrainian military,” Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby said, responding to a New York Times report.
• Separately, US media have reported Washington shared intelligence that helped Ukraine sink the Russian warship Moskva last month.

Economy impact

• European Union countries are “almost there” in agreeing to the bloc’s proposed new package of sanctions against Russia, including an oil embargo, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said.
• Oil prices have jumped on the proposed EU ban; the Kremlin said it was looking into various options in response.
• US President Joe Biden has announced he would speak with leaders from the G7 advanced economies this week about more sanctions.
• The United Kingdom has disclosed it sanctioned steel manufacturing and mining company Evraz, whose biggest shareholder is Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Children

• Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine223 children have died, and 408 were injured, Ukraine’s office of the prosecutor general reported.
• Most children killed were in the Donetsk region (139), followed by Kyiv (116), Kharkiv (95), Chernihiv (68) and Kherson (46).

Diplomacy

• Sweden has received US assurances it would receive support during the period a potential application to join NATO is processed by the 30 nations in the alliance, Foreign Minister Ann Linde said in Washington, DC.
• The EU should confiscate and sell Russian assets it seized and use the proceeds to rebuild Ukraine, EU Chief Charles Michel said, echoing an idea already floated in the US.
• Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said Putin apologized for remarks made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who claimed Adolf Hitler may have had “Jewish blood”.