• 5:41 a.m.: Chechen leader says his soldiers control Popasna, Luhansk region

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced on Sunday that fighters from Russia's Caucasian republic controlled most of the eastern Ukrainian town of Popasna.

"Chechen special forces fighters have taken over most of Popasna," Ramzan Kadyrov said in a post on Telegram.

Reuters has not been able to independently verify these statements.

Ukraine did not immediately react to Ramzan Kadyrov's statements, but Oleksi Arestovitch, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Saturday evening that intense fighting was underway in the city.

  • 4 a.m.: Ukraine on the G7 menu with Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to take part in the meeting by videoconference of the leaders of the great powers of the G7 on Sunday May 8 to discuss the situation in his country, where the fate of the last besieged in the strategic port of Mariupol remains uncertain.

"May 8 is a historic date marking the end of the Second World War in Europe which caused terror, destruction and death in Europe," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's spokeswoman said on Friday, saying the war in Ukraine made "the cohesion of the G7 (...) more important than ever".

Germany holds the presidency of the G7 this year (also Canada, United States, France, United Kingdom, Italy and Japan).

This third meeting since the beginning of the year will be devoted "in particular to the situation in Ukraine", she indicated, without further details.

  • 4 a.m.: In Azovstal, the last Ukrainian fighters are still resisting despite immense difficulties

While women, children and the elderly were all evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks on Saturday;

with less and less ammunition and food, and extreme living conditions, the last Ukrainian fighters entrenched in the Azovstal factory are still struggling as the Russian army tightens its grip on this last pocket of resistance in Mariupol (south -is).

For several weeks, Mariupol has been almost entirely under Russian control.

Only the immense Azovstal steelworks escaped him, which the Russian army relentlessly pounded, in addition to major attacks on the ground at the origin of violent combats.

With AFP and Reuters

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