May 4, 2022: Russia-Ukraine news

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 344 people were evacuated from Mariupol and surrounding areas to Zaporizhzhia.From CNN’s Emi Jozuka, Alex Stambaugh and Jake KwonJapanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has condemned Russia’s entry ban on Japanese officials, including himself, as “completely unacceptable." The prime minister made the comment during a state visit to Rome on Wednesday.Russia had "indefinitely" banned 63 Japanese citizens, including Kishida, from entering the country, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday.Members of Kishida's cabinet, including Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, and Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki have also been barred from entry, as well as members of the parliament and the military, RIA reported.Some context: Since March, Japan has introduced a series of sanctions against Russia, including freezing the assets of President Vladimir Putin and his family members in response to the invasion.From CNN's Mitchell McCluskey Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 344 people were evacuated from Mariupol and surrounding areas to Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, during his nightly address. He said contingency plans were executed to ensure the water supply was not impacted by the strikes.Tuesday’s attack marks the latest in a series of recent attacks on the country’s infrastructure, with the railway network now one of Russia’s key targets.On Wednesday, Russia said it believed any weapons – including NATO equipment – arriving into and moving within Ukraine were targets, according to Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti.Five train stations in western and central Ukraine were hit in the space of an hour on April 25. Then on Friday, another important railway bridge was blown up near the town of Sloviansk in the eastern Donetsk region.Earlier in April, in one of the deadliest attacks so far, at least 50 people – including five children – were killed after Russian forces carried out a missile strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk.Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that Russian forces were “attempting to hit what we assess to be critical infrastructure targets out towards the West” in Ukraine including “electrical power, transportation hubs, that kind of thing.”Kirby said that despite the most recent attacks, the US is still able to “flow” military assistance into the region, including “weapons systems” and other materials.The national railway has always played a crucial economic role in Ukraine, transporting agriculture and heavy industry exports across the country’s vast territory.But since the Russian invasion began in late February, the train network has become Ukraine’s lifeline to the outside world: It’s how weapons, supplies and humanitarian aid get into the country.Read more here.From CNN’s Mitchell McCluskeyUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a plea for peace during a taped address to Denmark on the 77th anniversary of the Scandinavian country's liberation from Germany during World War II.Zelensky's remarks were broadcasted to crowds who had gathered in public squares to commemorate the anniversary of the liberation.In his speech, Zelensky cautioned that Russia's invasion may spread to other European countries."It is now in Ukraine that the future of our continent is decided.