May 5, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Kirby added that “Ukraine combines information that we and other partners provide with the intelligence that they themselves are gathering on the battlefield, and then they make their own decisions, and they take their own actions.” From CNN's Niamh Kennedy in LondonUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the shelling of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol is "not stopping" even as "civilians still need to be taken out." "Women, many children remain there," he said during his nightly address on Thursday. And we too are trying to find solutions to find safety for these people."On Sunday, over 100 civilians were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant where they spent two months sheltering underground from Russian attacks.It’s unclear how many civilians remain trapped in the plant, according to a spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric.From CNN's Niamh Kennedy and Josh PenningtonUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said evacuation operations out of the southern city of Mariupol continued Thursday. The Ukrainian president did not give a figure for how many people were evacuated on Thursday alone, but said that more than 300 people from the Mariupol area and more than 150 people from the Azovstal steel plant are "already receiving all the help they need" after being evacuated over the last few days. Therefore, I turn to you."From Tim Lister, Olga Voitovych and Julia PresniakovaMedals, road-signs and statues — these are some of the early symbols of Russia's seizure of parts of southern Ukraine, and especially Mariupol.The leader of self-styled Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and a senior official in Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party awarded medals "For the Liberation of Mariupol" this week."The liberation of this city is a joint victory for the armies of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Russian Federation," Pushilin posted on his Telegram channel.A strange statue has also gone up in Mariupol, depicting an elderly woman grasping the Soviet flag.The Russians have "opened a monument made of shit and sticks to an old lady with a flag on Warriors Liberators Square, which they stubbornly call the Leninist Komsomol," said Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the elected mayor of Mariupol.He also spoke bitterly about the rising number of Russian officials visiting Mariupol, including the Sergey Kiriyenko, a senior official at the Kremlin, describing them as "curators of Mariupol's integration into Russia." On the road to Zaporizhzhia from Mariupol — a road most of those trying to escape Mariupol must take — is the town of Tokmak, also under Russian occupation.The entrance sign to the town has been repainted in the Russian tricolor.Elsewhere in the south of Ukraine, the ruble is gradually being introduced.According to a community group on Facebook, government employees in the town of Yakymivka have been told that if they want to be paid in Ukrainian hryvnia "the occupiers will take two-thirds of the salary."From CNN's Kate BennettUS First Lady Jill Biden departs Thursday evening on a trip to Romania and Slovakia, where she will spend time with several Ukrainian families displaced by the Russian invasion, according to a release from the East Wing.