Putin will commemorate the Soviet victory in World War II while Ukraine condemns school bombings

*Paromita Das

Authorities said about 60 people were killed when a bomb exploded near a school in eastern Ukraine, while Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared to lead celebrations commemorating the Soviet Union’s World War II victory over Nazi Germany on Monday.

The school in Bilohorivka, where about 90 people were sheltering, was hit by a Russian bomb on Saturday, setting it ablaze, according to Luhansk region Governor Serhiy Gaidai.

“There is almost no chance of anyone surviving. The aerial bomb exploded in the centre of the structure “Gaidai posted a message on the Telegram messaging app. “There were approximately 90 people in the school, and 27 were rescued. Approximately 60 people were most likely killed.”
Reuters was unable to confirm his account right away. Moscow has not responded to the report.

The deputy commander of the Azov regiment, holed up in the sprawling Azovstal steel plant in the besieged southern port of Mariupol, pleaded with the international community to help evacuate wounded soldiers.

“We will fight until we die to repel the Russian occupiers,” Captain Sviatoslav Palamar said during an online news conference.

As the fighting entered its third month, leaders of the Group of Seven industrial nations vowed on Sunday to further isolate Russia economically and “elevate” a campaign against Kremlin-linked elites.

The G7 stated its commitment to phase out or ban Russian oil and condemned Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“His actions dishonour Russia and its people’s historic sacrifices,” the group said in a statement, referring to Soviet Russia’s role in defeating Nazi Germany 77 years ago.

Putin has repeatedly compared the Ukrainian conflict, which he portrays as a battle against dangerous “Nazi”-inspired nationalists, to the challenge faced by the Soviet Union when Adolf Hitler invaded in 1941.

Ukraine and its allies accuse Russia of launching an unprovoked attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address filmed in front of charred Ukrainian apartment blocks with footage of Russian missile strikes that evil had returned. but his country would triumph.
“We will triumph over all obstacles. And we know this for certain because our military and all of our people are descended from those who defeated Nazism “Zelenskiy stated.

Putin will preside over a parade of troops, tanks, rockets, and intercontinental ballistic missiles in Moscow’s Red Square, giving a speech that could shed light on the war’s future.

MARIUPOL

According to the United Nations, more than 170 civilians were evacuated from the Mariupol area on Sunday, bringing the total to around 600 people who were given safe passage during a week-long rescue operation.
Hundreds of people who had fled the city and nearby occupied areas waited to register in a car park set up for evacuees in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of Mariupol.

“There are many people still in Mariupol who want to leave but can’t,” said history teacher Viktoria Andreyeva, 46, who had only recently arrived in the city after fleeing her bombed-out home with her family in mid-April.

“The air feels different here, free,” she said in a tent where volunteers distributed food, basic supplies, and toys to evacuees, many of whom were traveling with small children.
Mariupol is critical to Moscow’s efforts to connect the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014, and parts of the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, which have been under the control of Russia-backed separatists since then.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on Telegram on Sunday that he visited Mariupol, becoming the country’s most senior government figure, to visit the city after weeks of Russian bombardment.

In a show of solidarity, a number of Western officials, including US First Lady Jill Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a German parliament head, and the Norwegian foreign minister, arrived in Ukraine on Sunday.
Frontman Bono of the Irish rock band U2 and his bandmate The Edge performed a 40-minute concert in a Kyiv metro station on Sunday, praising Ukrainians fighting for their freedom.