UKRAINE WRAP | At least 10 killed in Russian shelling of coking plant in eastern Ukraine - local governor

May 03 2022 - 20:00

At least 10 killed in Russian shelling of coking plant in eastern Ukraine - local governor

 At least 10 people were killed and 15 wounded by Russian shelling of a coking plant in the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the regional governor said.

"The Russians knew exactly where they were aiming. The workers had just finished their shift and were waiting at a bus stop for a bus to take them home from the factory," Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Russia did not immediately comment on the incident. It denies targeting civilians.

-Reuters

May 03 2022 - 15:17

UK PM Boris Johnson says Ukraine will win

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Ukraine on Tuesday he believed it would defeat Russia and expose the "gigantic error" of the Kremlin's invasion as he invoked Britain's wartime leader Winston Churchill to underline his support for Kyiv. Becoming the first Western leader to address Ukraine's parliament since the start of Russia's invasion on February 24, Johnson saluted the country's bravery in exploding "the myth of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's invincibility".

"I have one message for you today: Ukraine will win, Ukraine will be free," Johnson told the lawmakers via videolink, after standing for the Ukrainian national anthem and being introduced by the speaker.

"This is Ukraine's finest hour, that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come," he said, echoing the words spoken by Churchill in 1940 when Britain faced the threat of being invaded and defeated by Nazi Germany. – Reuters

May 03 2022 - 15:13

Pope says he wants to go to Moscow to meet Putin over Ukraine – paper

Pope Francis said in an interview published on Tuesday that he asked for a meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to stop the war in Ukraine but had not received a reply. The pope also told Italy's Corriere Della Sera newspaper that Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has given the war his full-throated backing, "cannot become Putin's altar boy".

Francis, who made an unprecedented visit to the Russian embassy when the war started, told the newspaper that about three weeks into the conflict, he asked the Vatican's top diplomat to send a message to Putin. The message was "that I was willing to go to Moscow. Certainly, it was necessary for the Kremlin leader to allow an opening. We have not yet received a response and we are still insisting".

"I fear that Putin cannot, and does not, want to have this meeting at this time. But how can you not stop so much brutality? Twenty-five years ago in Rwanda we lived through the same thing," he was quoted as saying, appearing to equate the killings in Ukraine to the genocide in the African country in 1994.

Before the interview, Francis, 85, had not specifically mentioned Russia or Putin publicly since the start of the conflict on February 24. But he has left little doubt which side he has criticised, using terms such as unjustified aggression and invasion and lamenting atrocities against civilians. Asked about a trip to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which Francis last month said was a possibility, the pope said he would not go for now. "First, I have to go to Moscow, first I have to meet Putin ... I do what I can. If Putin would only open a door," he said. – Reuters

May 03 2022 - 15:08

Russia shells Mariupol plant with civilians still reported trapped

Russian troops shelled and bombed the Azovstal steel plant in Ukraine's southern port city of Mariupol on Tuesday, confirming earlier reports of strikes on the encircled plant, where the mayor said more than 200 civilians were still trapped.

According to the RIA news agency, Russia's defence ministry said its forces had started to destroy Ukrainian firing positions established after the defenders "took advantage" of a UN-brokered ceasefire that had allowed several groups of civilians to escape the plant in the previous two days.

A Mariupol police official told the public broadcaster Suspine that Russian forces had begun trying to seize the sprawling plant, the last pocket of Mariupol still held by Ukrainian forces.

A deputy commander of the Azov regiment holed up in the steel works told the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet that the storming operation had begun after Russian aircraft bombed the site overnight.Mariupol is a major target for Russia as it seeks to cut Ukraine off from the Black Sea and join up Russian-controlled territory in the south and east. The steelworks lies adjacent to southern Ukraine's main east-west highway.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko, who has left the city, said more than 200 civilians were still holed up in Azovstal after UN-brokered evacuations on Sunday and Monday.

In late April, President Vladimir Putin said he had called off plans for the Russian military to storm Azovstal and said he wanted the Ukrainian forces there to be hermetically sealed off instead.

RIA cited the Russian defence ministry on Tuesday as saying: "A ceasefire was declared, civilians had to be evacuated from Azovstal territory. Azov and Ukrainian servicemen who are stationed at the plant took advantage of it. They came out of the basement, they took up firing positions on the territory and in the factory buildings.

"Now units of the Russian army and the Donetsk People's Republic, using artillery and aviation, are beginning to destroy these firing positions." – Reuters

May 03 2022 - 14:18

The price of petrol might be dropping but other fuel increases will hit South Africans hard, cautions the AA

While the adjusted fuel prices for May show a decrease in the cost of both grades of petrol, the Automobile Association (AA) says the significant increases in the prices of diesel and illuminating paraffin will have a substantial impact on the cost of living.

May 03 2022 - 12:56

Petrol price to drop, diesel price goes up on Wednesday

The price of petrol will decrease by 12 cents a litre while diesel will see an increase of at least 98c/l on Wednesday.

“The average Brent Crude oil price decreased from $109.37 to $104.78 during the period under review. The main contributing factors are Covid-19 restrictions in China, which is a huge importer of crude oil, which have led to reduced demand for crude oil. Furthermore, the US announced the release of crude oil strategic stocks to curb crude oil price increases,” the department of mineral resources and energy said.

“The impact of these two factors was not that significant as the average price of crude oil only decreased slightly during the period under review and is still high. The main contributing factor to high crude oil prices is the concern caused by the continued Russia/Ukraine conflict, as Russia is one of the biggest global exporters of oil.”

May 03 2022 - 12:12

Ukraine fighter says civilians remain trapped in Mariupol steel works

A Ukrainian fighter holed up the city of Mariupol said on Monday that up to 200 civilians remained trapped inside bunkers in the Azovstal steel works after an evacuation operation led by the United Nations to save civilians from the site.

Capt Sviatoslav Palamar, 39, a deputy commander of Ukraine's Azov Regiment, told Reuters that his fighters could hear the voices of people trapped in bunkers of the vast industrial complex.

He said they were women, children and elderly people, but that the Ukrainian forces there did not have the mechanised equipment needed to dislodge the rubble, he said.

May 03 2022 - 11:24

US to spend more than $3bn on EV battery manufacturing

The Biden administration will allocate more than $3bn (roughly R48.3bn) in infrastructure funding to finance electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing, US officials said on Monday. The funds will be allocated by the department of energy from the $1-trillion (roughly R16.1-trillion) infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed last year. Among the initiatives will be processing of minerals for use in large-capacity batteries and recycling those batteries, the agency said in a statement.

Biden wants half of vehicles sold in the US to be electric by 2030, a goal he hopes will boost unionised manufacturing jobs in key election battleground states, thwart Chinese competition in a fast-growing market, and reduce climate-changing carbon emissions. The administration is also positioning the measures as a step to secure energy independence and cut long-term inflation pressures exacerbated by Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

May 03 2022 - 11:15

Enough nickel and lithium for 14-million EVs in 2023, says European climate group

Data shows there is enough nickel and lithium to produce up to 14-million electric vehicles (EVs) globally in 2023, so Europe should secure more raw materials to shift away from oil faster, campaign group Transport and Environment (T&E) said on Tuesday.

In a study based on BloombergNEF data on global maximum volumes of EV battery-grade nickel and lithium, T&E said that in 2025 there would be enough to make 21-million EVs globally. Excluding Russian nickel, T&E said there should be sufficient raw materials for 19-million EVs in 2025.

May 03 2022 - 10:20

Biden would 'love to visit Ukraine,' but no current plans: White House

US President Joe Biden would "love to visit Ukraine," but there are no current plans for him to do so, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday, after House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid a surprise visit over the weekend.

May 02 2022 - 20:05

Troll alert! SA among countries being targeted by Russian ‘cyber soldiers’: report

The Kremlin is using a new troll factory to spread disinformation on social media and in comment sections of popular websites to try to manipulate public opinion about its war in Ukraine, a UK government-funded report shows. 

“Cyber soldiers” are targeting politicians and audiences across countries including SA, the UK and India, it said. 

British foreign secretary Liz Truss said the government had alerted international partners to the troll factory and “will continue to work closely with allies and media platforms to undermine Russian information operations”. The UK will share its findings with major social media platforms and has created an “information cell” to counter Russian disinformation. 

May 02 2022 - 14:20

Evacuation buses have not reached pickup point yet – Mariupol council

Buses seeking to evacuate more civilians from Mariupol have not yet reached the agreed pickup point, the city council said on Monday, contradicting an earlier report that they had left the devastated port city in southeast Ukraine.

The city council urged the evacuees to remain in place. It was not immediately clear what had caused the delay.

Earlier, Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to Mariupol's mayor, had said the buses had left Mariupol but he later put out a message that also confirmed the hitch in the planned evacuation.

May 02 2022 - 06:45

Civilians evacuated from Ukraine's Mariupol, US Speaker Pelosi visits Kyiv

Around 100 Ukrainian civilians were evacuated from the ruined Azovstal steelworks in the city of Mariupol on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, after the United Nations confirmed a "safe passage operation" was in progress there.

The strategic port city on the Azov Sea has endured the most destructive siege of the war with Russia - now in its third month - with Pope Francis, in an implicit criticism of Moscow, telling thousands of people in St Peter's Square on Sunday it had been "barbarously bombarded".

"For the first time, we had two days of a ceasefire on this territory, and we managed to take out more than 100 civilians - women, children," Zelenskiy said in a nightly video address.

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