ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine, May 8, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - All vulnerable civilians
have been evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks holdout in Mariupol, Ukraine
said Saturday, presaging a showdown between Kyiv's last remaining soldiers
there and the besieging Russian forces ahead of celebrations marking the
Soviet World War II victory.

  The steel mill, the final pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the devastated
port city, has taken on a symbolic value in the war. Kyiv fears a renewed
intensity to Moscow's offensive.

  "All women, children and the elderly have been evacuated from Azovstal,"
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

  During a speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that hundreds
of people had been removed from the plant and that preparations for a second
stage of evacuation comprising the wounded and medics were under way.

  Fighting continues on many fronts, and Ukraine's defence ministry said it
had destroyed another Russian vessel -- a Serna-class landing craft -- in the
Black Sea.

  "The traditional parade of the Russian Black Sea fleet on May 9 this year
will be held near Snake Island -- at the bottom of the sea," the ministry
added. Russia did not immediately confirm the incident.

  Earlier, Ukraine's defence ministry said Russian forces had resumed their
assault on the Azovstal site, despite talk of a truce to allow trapped
civilians to flee.

  - Putin may be 'doubling down' -

  On Monday, President Vladimir Putin will celebrate the World War II Soviet
victory over Nazi Germany with a traditional Victory Day parade.

  According to Russia's defence ministry, 77 aircraft will conduct a fly-
past, including the rarely seen Il-80 Doomsday plane that can withstand a
nuclear attack.

  Despite apocalyptic nuclear threats carried by Russian state media, the CIA
said Saturday it saw no indication Moscow was preparing to use tactical
atomic weapons in the Ukraine conflict.

  "We don't see, as an intelligence community, practical evidence at this
point of Russian planning for the deployment or even potential use of
tactical nuclear weapons," CIA director Bill Burns said at a conference.

  Burns also warned that Putin believed he could not afford defeat in Ukraine
and that he might be "doubling down" on the offensive.

  Eight Mig-29 fighter jets will fly over Moscow's Red Square during Monday's
festivities, forming the letter "Z" -- the mark of Russia's military assault
in Ukraine.

  The Russian campaign has run into tough resistance -- and galvanised Kyiv's
western allies to comprehensively sanction the Russian economy and Putin's
inner circle.

  But with Victory Day approaching, Ukrainian officials fear more intense
missile and artillery bombardments and renewed assaults, as Moscow scrambles
for symbolic wins.

  - 'Massive bombardments' -

  The Ukrainian rescue service said a missile had hit a technical college in
Kostiantynivka, in the eastern region of Donetsk, killing at least two
people.

  Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported "massive bombardments"
along the frontline.

  Four civilians had been killed in Donetsk, two in Bakhmut and two in
Kostiantynivka, with another nine people wounded, he added.

  Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, have launched a counter-offensive.

  According to the defence ministry, Russian troops were forced to demolish

three road bridges near Tsyrkuny and Ruski Tyshky outside Kharkiv, to slow
the Ukrainian advance.

  Zelensky said Saturday that a Russian missile has struck a museum in the
Kharkiv region, announcing that the "Russian army destroyed or damaged nearly
200 cultural heritage sites already."

  British intelligence said Ukrainian forces equipped with high-end weaponry
by western allies have been able to destroy at least one of Russia's most
advanced tanks, the T-90M.

  "The conflict in Ukraine is taking a heavy toll on some of Russia's most
capable units and most advanced capabilities," UK Defence Intelligence said.

  "It will take considerable time and expense for Russia to reconstitute its
armed forces following this conflict," it said, adding that sanctions on
advanced components would make it harder for Russia to re-arm.

  - Western aid -

  G7 leaders, including US President Joe Biden, and Ukraine's Zelensky will
on Sunday discuss Western support for Kyiv in videoconference, after Biden on
Friday announced a $150-million package of military aid.

  Biden's wife, First lady Jill Biden, was in Romania Saturday meeting
Ukrainian refugees.

  After listening to mothers and children recount how they fled Russia's
invasion of their country, she told them: "We stand with you, I hope you know
that."

  Ambassadors from EU member states meet in Brussels Sunday to discuss their
sixth round of economic sanctions against Moscow, which this time should
include a phased ban on imports of Russian oil.

  - Russia to remain 'forever' -

  The last Ukrainian soldiers in the devastated Black Sea port of Mariupol
are believed to be holed up in the tunnels and bunkers beneath Azovstal.

  Ukraine's Azov battalion, leading the defence at steelworks, said one
Ukrainian fighter had been killed and six wounded when Russian forces opened
fire during an earlier attempt to evacuate people by car.

  Taking full control of Mariupol would allow Moscow to create a land bridge
between the Crimea peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, and separatist
regions run by Russian puppets in the east.

  In Lugansk, Ukrainian officials said Friday that Russian forces had almost
encircled Severodonetsk -- the easternmost city still held by Kyiv -- and
were trying to storm it.

  Kherson in the south remains the only significant city Russia has managed
to capture since the war began.

  A senior official from the Russian parliament, Andrey Turchak, said during
a visit to the city on Friday that Russia would remain in southern Ukraine
"forever".