Russia-Ukraine updates: 2 US veterans who joined Ukrainian forces missing

The Americans, Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh and Alexander Drueke, are both from Alabama.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine's disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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Two Men at War

A look at the two leaders at the center of the war in Ukraine and how they both rose to power, the difference in their leadership and what led to this moment in history.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
May 05, 2022, 4:39 AM EDT

Russian shelling on residential areas of Kramatorsk injures 25, officials say

At least 25 civilians were injured by Russian shelling on residential areas and the central part of Kramatorsk on Wednesday night, according to the local city council.

Six of the wounded required hospitalization, and at least nine homes, a school as well as various civilian infrastructure sustained damaged, the Kramatorsk City Council said in a statement via Telegram.

A woman cleans a room at an apartment damaged by a missile explosion in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on May 5, 2022.
Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images

Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko confirmed in a statement via Facebook that a kindergarten was seriously damaged.

Kramatorsk is a city in eastern Ukraine's war-torn Donetsk Oblast.

-ABC News' Max Uzol

May 05, 2022, 3:50 AM EDT

Over 300 civilians evacuated from Mariupol, surrounding areas

More than 300 civilians have been evacuated from the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and surrounding areas, officials said late Wednesday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it facilitated the safe passage of the civilians in coordination with the United Nations and both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The evacuees arrived Wednesday in Zaporizhzhia, a Ukrainian government-controlled city about 140 miles northwest of Mariupol.

"We are relieved that more lives have been spared," Pascal Hundt, the ICRC's head of delegation in Ukraine, said in a statement Wednesday night. "We welcome the renewed efforts of the parties with regards to safe passage operations. They remain crucial and urgent in light of the immense suffering of the civilians."

People with children wait after arriving from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol at a center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, May 3, 2022.
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk confirmed that 344 people were evacuated to Zaporizhzhia from the Mariupol area, Manhush, Berdyansk, Tokmak and Vasylivka.

The evacuation did not include civilians trapped inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant, the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.

-ABC News' Natalya Kushnir and Cindy Smith

May 04, 2022, 4:47 PM EDT

Heavy fighting ongoing at Mariupol plant

Ukrainian military officer Denys Procopenko said Russians have breached the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant in Mariupol, where hundreds of civilians remain.

He said heavy fighting is ongoing.

Procopenko is commander of the Azov regiment, which is a far-right paramilitary that's now incorporated into Ukrainian government security forces.

A satellite image shows damage at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, May 4, 2022, amid Russia's invasion.
Planet Labs PBC/AP

May 04, 2022, 3:46 PM EDT

Russia to open humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave plant

The Russian Defense Ministry said a humanitarian corridor will open this week for the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant in Mariupol.

The humanitarian corridor will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Moscow time.

Russia said its forces will "cease any hostilities" during that time.

The International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC) and UN teams evacuated dozens of people to Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine from the Azovstal plant area in Mariupol, May 3, 2022.
ICRC

Azovstal steel plant employee Valeria, last name withheld, evacuated from Mariupol, hugs her son Matvey, who had earlier left the city with his relatives, as they meet at a temporary accommodation center in the Donetsk Region, Ukraine, May 1, 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday, asking for the U.N.'s help in evacuating "all the wounded" from the plant.

"The lives of the people who remain there are in danger. Everyone is important to us," Zelenskyy said, according to a statement from his office.

Hundreds of civilians are believed to be trapped in the plant.

The plant, which stretches over 4.2 square miles, has been facing bombardment and shelling. It's the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol; Russia claimed Wednesday that its military had taken complete control of the city.

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