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Scoop of the day: G7 demands Russia pull back troops from Ukraine border

Scoop of the day: G7 demands Russia pull back troops from Ukraine border

Blinken's visit

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Kyiv, where he is to discuss security and economic support, is seen a "signal of strong support from the US in countering Russian hybrid aggression", Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Yenin.

G7 and Russia

In a communique issued after the G7 meeting in London, its member-states' foreign ministers called on Russia to de-escalate the situation on Ukraine's border and in the illegally-annexed Crimea. "It is critical that Moscow now fully withdraws its forces and takes the necessary steps to help alleviate tensions. We express our deep concern over Russia’s actions to block access to parts of the Black Sea, including near illegally-annexed Crimea and the Kerch Strait, impeding access to Ukraine’s ports in the Sea of Azov. We commend Ukraine’s posture of restraint and diplomatic approach in this context," they said.

Donbas

The Russian occupying troops have fired with small arms on the car of a monitoring group of the Ukrainian delegation to the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination of Ceasefire, the Joint Forces Operation press centre has said. The fire was opened from occupied Uzhivka in the direction of Vodyane.

The Russian occupying troops shelled the Maryinka central district hospital in Donetsk Region, where 45 coronavirus and pneumonia patients are undergoing treatment. No-one was hurt, but the shelling smashed the windows and damaged power supply.

By-election

The Central Election Commission has refused to register Servant of the People candidate, ex-strongman Vasyl Virastyuk as MP elected from constituency No 87 after the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court invalidated the CEC protocol declaring him the election winner.

Coronavirus

Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyy and Chernihiv regions will leave the red coronavirus zone as of 6 May. Kharkiv and Khmelnytskyy regions will move into the yellow zone and Chernihiv Region into the orange one.

On the morning of 5 May, Ukraine logged 2,576 new Covid-19 cases, 1,671 hospitalisations and 161 fatalities.

Crime

Ukrainian war crimes prosecutors have charged two Russian mercenaries with barbaric treatments of PoWs and violation of laws and customs of war.

Incident

A patrol boat of the State Border Service tipped over on the Lake Tudorove in Odesa Region. Three servicemen managed to get ashore while one is missing. All of them were in cold shock and one had a leg injury.

Rating

Were a presidential election held this weekend, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would have received 31.4% of the vote, Petro Poroshenko 18.1%, Yuliya Tymoshenko 11.9%, Ihor Smeshko 10.4% and Yuriy Boyko 9.6%, a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) has found out.

Were a parliamentary election held these days, Zelenskyy's Servant of the People would get 21.3% of votes of those who plan to go to the polls and have already made up their mind. It is followed by European Solidarity with 17% and Opposition Platform-For Life with 12.2%, according to the KIIS survey.

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