May 22 events in Babelʼs review: in Enerhodar, the collaborator Shevchyk was blown up, Verkhovna Raa prolonged martial law

From the very beginning of Russiaʼs full-scale war against Ukraine, Babel has been conducting daily live text coverage and promptly informing the main news on the Telegram channel. We also make a daily digest of the most important events of the day in case you have not been able to follow live.

The day before, near Melitopol, guerrillas destroyed the occupiersʼ radar stations, which cut off communications and conducted reconnaissance. In addition, thanks to concerted action with the guerrillas, Ukrainian riflemen destroyed several artillery systems of the Russian army. Over the past day, the strike aircraft of the Air Force of the Armed Forces destroyed two enemy flamethrowers, "Solntsepek" and 10 units of Russian military equipment. Today, Russian troops launched a missile strike on infrastructure facilities in Zhytomyr oblast. Four cruise missiles destroyed air defense forces. As a result of the enemy shelling of settlements of Luhansk oblast, more than 25 houses were damaged during the day. In addition, Russian troops shelled 12 settlements in Donetsk oblast and destroyed 58 civilian facilities.

The Russian occupiers tried to break through to Sievierodonetsk from four directions but were repulsed and retreated. The enemy attacked in the areas of Oskolonivka, Purdivka, Shchedryshchevo, and Smolyaninovo.

The Armed Forces again destroyed the Russian crossing of the Siversky Donets and destroyed enemy vehicles and several dozen of Russian soldiers. Aerial reconnaissance found that the occupiers had set up a river crossing. Having built a pontoon bridge, they were going to transport about a dozen units of armored vehicles. An accurate shot destroyed the crossing together with the enemy tank, which was on it at that time. Enemy tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and infantry tried to hide. A "bird" of Ukrainian border guards helped to find them. As a result of the work of the Ukrainian artillery, the Russian troops lost several units of equipment and several dozen soldiers.

In the morning, the unknown blew up the entrance where Enerhodarʼs "peopleʼs mayor" lives — collaborator Andriy Shevchyk. The self-proclaimed head of the "peopleʼs administration" and his bodyguards were hospitalized with injuries of varying severity. No other residents were injured in the blast. During the absence of Energodar, the "mayor" appointed by the occupation authorities, Shevchyk, his functions in the city will probably be performed by Ruslan Kurpichov from Makiivka, who arrived in Enerhodar in March after the occupation.

Mariupol residents are now forced to collect water in communication wells and use technical water for drinking and eating instead of drinking water. This can lead to poisoning and epidemics.

Yesterday, the occupiers deported 313 people, including 55 children, from Mariupol to the filtration camp in the village of Bezimenne. And 245 people were deported to Russia from the filtration points in Bezimenni and Nikolske. Adviser to the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andriushchenko believes that this is due to the actual closure of the evacuation route to Zaporizhzhia.

The Verkhovna Rada extended martial law until August 23, said Volodymyr Zheleznyak, the Member of parliament from the Voice faction.

Polish President Andrzej Duda paid a visit to Ukraine and addressed the Verkhovna Rada. At the beginning of his speech, the Polish President quoted the first lines of the anthems of Ukraine and Poland. Duda said that during his visit to Kyiv on February 23, Volodymyr Zelensky was convinced that Russia was attacking Ukraine in the next few hours.