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Latest Developments in Ukraine: May 8

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Ukrainian soldiers ride on an armored vehicle en route to the front line, amid Russia's invasion in Ukraine, in Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, May 8, 2022.
Ukrainian soldiers ride on an armored vehicle en route to the front line, amid Russia's invasion in Ukraine, in Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, May 8, 2022.

For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT:

11:21 p.m.: The Sakhalin 1 oil and Sakhalin 2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Russia are “extremely important” for Japan’s stable energy supply, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary said Monday, Reuters reported. Japan does not intend to abandon its stake in the project Hirokazu Matsuno added. The remark comes after Japan decided to phase out Russian oil imports after agreeing on a ban with other Group of Seven nations (G7) to counter Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Reuters.

9:37 p.m.: After almost three months, U.S. diplomats are back in the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

"Just arrived in Kyiv! Delighted to be back on Victory in Europe Day. Slava Ukraini! We #standwithUkraine," Kristina Kvien, the U.S. charge d'affaires, wrote on the embassy's Twitter account.

Their return on Sunday was meant to underscore Russian President Vladimir Putin's failure to capture the Ukrainian capital. CBS News quoted sources in the State Department as saying the embassy hopes to fully resume operations at the embassy in Kyiv and raise the American flag there in the coming weeks.

9:18 p.m.: The United Nations chief says he is “appalled” at the reported attack on a school in the Ukrainian town of Bilohorivka, where many people were apparently seeking shelter from fighting.

A U.N. spokesman said Sunday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterates that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be spared under international law.

“This war must end," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, "and peace must be established in line with the Charter of the United Nations and international law. The United Nations and its humanitarian partners in Ukraine will continue supporting those whose lives have been shattered by war.”

8:44 p.m.: In addition to more military aid to Ukraine, Canada also announced more sanctions.

7:50 p.m.: Europe lights up with the colors of Ukraine.

7:29 p.m.: Bulgaria will not support the European Union's new set of sanctions against Russia unless it gets an exemption from the proposed ban on buying Russian oil, Deputy Prime Minister Assen Vassilev said late Sunday.

Landlocked Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which all depend heavily on Russian crude delivered via Soviet-era pipelines face a challenge to secure alternative sources and have also asked for a derogation from the ban.

6:58 p.m.: Eight buses carrying 174 Mariupol civilians, including 40 evacuated from the Black Sea port's besieged Azovstal steelworks, arrived in Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia on Sunday, witnessed by an Agence France-Presse reporter.

"I'm relieved to confirm that we managed to bring 174 more people to safety from the hell of Mariupol today," Osnat Lubrani, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, tweeted.

"Our work is not yet done. I don't forget those who've been left behind," she added.

5:39 p.m.: Weapons maker Lockheed Martin Corp plans to nearly double production of Javelin missiles, the antitank weapon that has helped Ukraine fight Russia's invasion, Chief Executive Officer James Taiclet said in an interview on Sunday with CBS News.

Taiclet said the goal is 4,000 per year up from the current 2,100 per year. The increase will take as long as a couple of years, he said.

"We can start turning up the heat now and ramping up production immediately," Taiclet said, noting the firm is anticipating increased demand for "superior systems in large enough numbers."

5:10 p.m.: Among the raft of visa bans and a new policy of visa restrictions that the U.S. State Department announced on Sunday are eight Russian maritime-related companies and 69 vessels added to a U.S. Treasury Department sanctions list.

4:33 p.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that new U.S. visa bans on more than 2,600 Russian and Belarusian military officials included troops believed to have operated in Bucha, where Russian forces are accused of executing residents.

The State Department said it imposed bans Sunday on 2,596 members of the Russian military and 13 Belarusian military officials. The visa bans apply to the officials and their immediate family members.

"Included among this group are personnel who reportedly took part in Russian military activities in Bucha, the horrors of which have shocked the world," Blinken said in a statement.

4:01 p.m.: In an address to the nation, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday that "Putin will not win this war. Ukraine will persevere," Reuters reported.

Sunday marked the anniversary of the end of World War II.

The date takes on special meaning this year as two countries that were once victims of Nazi Germany - Ukraine and Russia - are now at war because Russia unleashed it, he said.

3:21 p.m.: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new weapons and equipment for Ukraine after talks with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Reuters reported. Trudeau also said Canada was imposing new sanctions on Russian individuals and entities in connection with Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Canada was second only to the United States in sending aid to Ukraine.

2:52 p.m.: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the Kremlin has "nothing to celebrate" on May 9, Russian Victory Day, which marks the Soviet Union's 1945 victory over Nazi Germany. Speaking on CNN’s "State of the Union” program, Thomas-Greenfield also said reports of the Russian bombing of a Ukrainian school can be added to the "long list" of war crimes being attributed to Moscow. “They have not succeeded in defeating the Ukrainians they've not succeeded in dividing the world or dividing NATO,” she added.

2:05 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met virtually with the Group of Seven leaders from the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan and Germany. Afterward, the White House said the European Union and G-7 are committed to imposing further sanctions targeting Russian state-controlled media, cutting off Russian oil exports to Europe and further curbing Russian trade with other countries.

1:16 p.m.: Ukrainian troops have refused to surrender at a besieged steel plant in the port of Mariupol as they face a final showdown with Russian forces, reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. "We will continue to fight as long as we are alive to repel the Russian occupiers," a military commander told an online news conference. An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters made a last stand at the steel mill, the only part of the city not under Russian control.

11:46 a.m.: Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau made an unannounced visit to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Trudeau reopened the Canadian Embassy and welcomed the ambassador back to the embattled capital. Trudeau also stopped by Kiev suburb of Irpin, devastated by Russia at the start of the war.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, second from right, speaks with Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn, center wearing t-shirt, in Irpin, Ukraine, May 8, 2022.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, second from right, speaks with Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushyn, center wearing t-shirt, in Irpin, Ukraine, May 8, 2022.

10:10 a.m.: U.S. first lady Jill Biden made a surprise secret visit to Ukraine, where she met with Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, at a school that has been converted into a shelter for internally displaced Ukrainians. This was the first time since the war began that Zelenska had emerged in public. Biden said she thought "it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.” Zelenska thanked Biden for her “courageous act.”

First Lady Jill Biden greets Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, outside of School 6, a public school that has taken in displaced students in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, May 8, 2022.
First Lady Jill Biden greets Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, outside of School 6, a public school that has taken in displaced students in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, May 8, 2022.

9:48 a.m.: Irish rock star Bono praised Ukraine's fight for freedom during a performance in a metro station in Kyiv. He belted out classics from the U2 rock band like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "With or without you."

"The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you are fighting for all of us who love freedom," he said.

Bono and the Edge sing during a performance for Ukrainian people inside a subway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, May 8, 2022.
Bono and the Edge sing during a performance for Ukrainian people inside a subway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, May 8, 2022.

9 a.m.: In Mariupol's besieged steel plant, the last Ukrainian defenders faced a bloody final showdown with Russian invaders. The fighters are expected to hold a rare online news conference, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

8:30 a.m.: Ukrainian officials said as many as 60 people may have been killed in a Russian air strike on a school in Luhansk. "The chances of people still being alive are small considering it was an aircraft bomb when the explosion happened,” said the governor of the region, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

8:10 a.m.: During a meeting in Slovakia with Ukrainian mothers who have been displaced by Russia’s war, first lady Jill Biden assured them that the “hearts of the American people” are behind them, according to the Associated Press. Biden visited a bus station that is now a 24-hour refugee processing center. There, she spoke with an emotional Ukrainian woman who said she struggles to explain the war to her children because she cannot even explain it to herself. Biden told the woman the war is “hard to understand.”

5:47 a.m.: First lady Jill Biden is in Slovakia, where she met with Ukrainian refugees, The New York Times reports.

5:13 a.m.: The United Kingdom will provide $1.6 billion in military support and aid to Ukraine, Al Jazeera reports. That's almost double what the U.K. had previously pledged.

4:06 a.m.: Ukraine says Russian forces bombed a school in Luhansk where some 90 people were hiding, CNN reports. A local official said 30 people were rescued, two bodies were found and it is "likely that all of the 60 people left under the building’s wreckage were killed."

3:02 a.m.: Al Jazeera reports that Germany plans a $66 million aid package to help restore the water supply and restore houses in Ukraine.

2:09 a.m.: The latest intelligence update from the U.K.'s defense ministry says "faltering Russian performance on the front line" has led to senior commanders heading to the battlefield. The update notes that "it is not clear that the presence of these commanders on the battlefield has led to a refined or altered operational concept. Flawed planning assumptions and failures in sustainment continue to undermine Russian progress."

1:05 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says “nearly 200 cultural heritage sites already” had been destroyed or damaged since the Russian invasion began, The New York Times reports.

12:02 a.m.: Kyiv's mayor says it'll probably be safer for residents to return to the city after Monday, which is Russia's Victory Day, The Washington Post reports.

Victory Day marks the Soviet Union's 1945 victory over Nazi Germany, and there are fears that Russia may use the holiday as a reason to ramp up attacks on Ukraine.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says about 2.2 million of the city's normal 3.5 million residents remain.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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