According to Frida Ghitis CNN and WP: “The attack on the Kremlin shows that the war is heading towards a great escalation and Ukraine is in danger of collapse. The Washington Post columnist and CNN contributor continues: “Whatever is happening in the night sky above Moscow is another sign that it will be a very hot spring for Ukraine, the fighting will enter a new, more intense phase that could decide the outcome of this terrible war (…) For Ukraine, not only a failure in the counter-offensive can be fatal, but also a “minimally successful operation (…) can lead to the collapse of Ukraine’s hopes of preserving its territory” .
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said: “There is not enough imagination to think of a military defeat of the Russian Federation (…) I don’t have the imagination to imagine that someone can defeat a nuclear power. To think that the Russians will stay away sitting and watching how they are defeated, break their political system, kill their president, organize a drone strike on Red Square, believe that the Russians will silently watch and resign themselves to a military defeat, perhaps those who think this have not grown up and they remain in the infantile stage. It happens in a fairy tale, but not in reality,” Orban commented.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the SCO countries said: “The work on increasing the use of national currencies for settlements among the SCO countries cannot be stopped.” Interlocutors on the sidelines of the SCO Ministerial Council condemned the Ukrainian drone attack on the Kremlin. Pakistan on the eve of the talks directly condemned the attack on the residence of the Russian president. Russia will respond not with talk, but with concrete actions to an attempt by Ukrainian drones to attack the Kremlin.” And again he said: “Unbeknownst to the Western curators, the Ukrainian formations could not attack the President’s residence in the Kremlin. The Russian Federation has never refused to solve problems, despite pumping Kiev with Western weapons. The solution of the conflict in Ukraine is not based only on the demarcation line, the essence is more global. Vladimir Zelensky is doing everything possible so that self-respecting countries do not want to communicate with Ukraine. Russia will oppose US attempts to introduce US military infrastructure in the region around Afghanistan.”
The controversies between Wagner and the Ministry of Defense and the Duma continue. According to Prigozhin, PMC Wagner will leave Bachmut on May 10, transferring positions to the Russian Defense Ministry. The “Wagnerites” will go to the rear to restore combat capability. In general, according to the Russian social sphere, nothing new was said in Prigozhin’s statements: “shell hunger, heavy losses due to poor resolution of organizational issues at the level of the Ministry of Defense and general fatigue from the above. All of these (and not only these) problems are known. Problems at the front can be difficult to solve, long and stubbornly justified, substantiated or simply ignored. True, the course of the operations themselves can no longer be ignored. And the problems will not disappear anywhere: on the contrary, they only accumulate. One can only hope that the transition of the conflict between Prigozhin and the Ministry of Defense into an acute phase will push for the adoption of some decisions that are so necessary today”.
The “Wagner” shock detachments however are advancing towards the Ukrainian positions in the western quarters of Bachmut, the last stronghold of Kiev’s defense. An assault is underway along the road of the Liberators of Donbass, where the Ukrainians have settled. Target development and demoralization through air and artillery attacks reported. From the side of the Bachmut Industrial College the Tchaikovsky Street side was taken by the Russians, and now the Ukrainians are advancing to the west and southwest. The positions of the Ukrainian troops in the Chasy Yar and Ivanovskoye area are under fire. The bridge on the “road of life” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Chasov Yar – Bachmut was blown up. The bridge over the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal in Chasov Yar itself connected the only road to Bachmut. Usually when the Ukrainians destroy bridges and roads, undermining the surrounding areas, they are preparing to leave the area. Bachmut therefore fell into Russian hands.
According to other sources, the intensity and cruelty of the “Bachmut meat grinder” not only does not subside, but, on the contrary, grows. Despite many reports that “Ukrainian supply lines have been cut,” they have an abundance of ammunition and men. In a post reads: “Enemy tanks in the city work around the clock, even in pairs – the so-called tank carousel. It only fades when they go out to recharge. Ukrainian mortars have been withdrawn from the city, they are planting around and they have enough mines not only for timely work, for planned fire along the routes of Wagner attack aircraft, but also for indiscriminate fire throughout the city. The Ukrainian armed forces even iron their positions, in which their own fighters are seated, Wagner’s men told us, if they feel an assault is about to occur, and to reduce the number of floors by one or two.
And while the dispute between Wagner and the Russian Defense is ongoing, the partial evacuation of residents of 18 frontline settlements in the Russian-controlled Zaporozhzhia region has been announced. In total, according to the acting head of the region Yevgeny Balitsky, temporary relocation of residents from 18 settlements will be organized: Timoshovka, Smirnovo, Tarasovka, Orlyanske, Molochansk, Kuibyshevo, Prishib, Tokmak, Malaya Belozerka, Vasilyevka, Velyka Belozerka, Dneprorudnoye, Mikhailovka, Kamenka-Dneprovskaya, Energodar, Pologi, Horse Discord, Rozovka.
According to Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk the Russian military continues the tactic of exhausting Ukraine’s air defense, which indicates preparations for “something more powerful”, according to her sources at the Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine “South”. In particular, the Russian Armed Forces continue to use combined attacks from the air, from the water area and with the help of drones. Russian ships in the Black Sea are constantly changing their base, their quantitative and qualitative composition, she said. “They have formally left a launch vehicle in service, which can carry up to 8 Kalibr,” Nataliya Gumenyuk said. The threat of a missile attack remains high.
And speaking of missiles, no confirmation from the Russian side of the shooting down of a hypersonic missile over Kiev. According to the social sphere it is a fake news.
The Ilsky oil refinery in Kuban was again attacked by a Ukrainian UAV, Russian media reported. A drone would have hit one of the installations causing a fire. On the night of May 3-4, the Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar Territory was also attacked by Ukrainian drones.
And now a look at the contact line at 24:00 on May 4th.
Rostov region. A Ukrainian UAV crashed into the flyovers under construction near the fuel storage facility on the territory of the Novoshakhtinsk refinery.
Krasnodar Territory. Four Ukrainian drones were used on another object already in the Krasnodar Territory. One of the drones managed to reach the target and destroyed the fuel tank on the territory of the Ilsky oil refinery.
Voronezh region. A Ukrainian UAV has fallen on the territory of a military unit in the village of Buturlinovka.
Border areas. In the Suzemsky district of the Bryansk region, the armed forces of Ukraine shelled the village of Polevye Novoselki. Several houses were damaged, five civilians were injured and a woman’s leg was amputated. Shark reconnaissance drone shot down over Belgorod.
Starobilsk direction. In the Kupyansk sector, artillery duels and mutual reconnaissance continue along the entire line of contact. In the Liman sector units of the RF Armed Forces are engaged in positional battles in the Makeevka area and the Zhuravka ravine. The Russian armed forces fired on enemy positions in Novomlynsk, Dvurechnaya and Kotlyarovka.
Direction Soledar. On the western outskirts of Bachmut, PMC Wagner units continue to fight in residential areas. About 3% of the settlement remains under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Russian armed forces are engaged in battles for Belogorovka (north): they have managed to set foot in the area of the Popasnenskaya compressor station on the southeast outskirts of the settlement. The Russians shelled Nikiforovka, Vasyukovka and Bachmut.
Donetsk direction. The Armed Forces of Ukraine shelled Donetsk, Gorlovka, Kamenka, Yasinovataya, Yelenovka and other settlements. The Russians bombed Avdiivka, Netaylovo and Karlovka.
Vuhledar direction – the Ukrainians undertook battle reconnaissance near the Nikolsky dachas, trying to cut off the Russian positions and encircle them. At the same time, attempts were made to develop the offensive against the Ukrainians at Pavlovka. By the end of the day, Russian troops managed to repel the attack of the Ukrainian formations. In the Yuzhnodonetsk direction, Russian units hit barracks in Vuhledar, Prechistovka and Novomikhailovka.
As for mutual shelling in the operational area During the night between 4 and 5 May 2023, the situation is as follows: the Russian military hit targets in Nikolaevka, Buchki and Gremyach, in the Chernihiv region. In the Sumy region, the RF Armed Forces worked on Ukrainian targets in Shalygino, Alekseevka and Yunakovka.
Russian units attacked the military assembly sites of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Glubokoe, Liptsy and Volchanskie Khutori, in the Kharkiv region.
Russian rocket troops and artillery attacked Ukrainian unit facilities in Kramatorsk. In turn, the Ukrainian formations shelled the civilian infrastructure of Donetsk, Gorlovka and Vladimirovka. In the Zaporozhzhia region the Russian armed forces hit the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces in Malinovka, Novoandreevka and Maly Shcherbak. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian artillery worked on the firing points of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Nikopol.
In the southern sector of the front, the Russian military attacked Ukrainian concentration areas in Novotyaginka, Sofiyivka and in the vicinity of Kherson. At night, Ukrainian units fired on civilian targets in Nova Kakhovka, Kakhovka and Peschanovka.
Paratroopers in the Kherson region destroyed 2 Su-25 attack aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine source Ministry of Defense brawl. Ukrainian fighter planes were destroyed in settlement areas. Golden Balka and Tyaginka.
Graziella Giangiulio
