Thursday morning news - May 5, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Russian forces strike supply points in Ukraine » Russian forces are stepping up their attacks on supply lines in Ukraine shelling and bombing railroad stations and other transit points that help bring in weapons from the West.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated on Wednesday that his country needs more weapons to beat back the Russians.

ZELENSKYY: We need heavy artillery, heavy equipment to beat the Russians. And the U.S. has this kind of equipment.

The White House is asking Congress for an additional $20 billion in military aid—$33 billion overall.

The Russian military said it used sea-and air-launched missiles to destroy electric power facilities at five railway stations across Ukraine. Russian war planes and artillery also struck troop strongholds and fuel and ammunition depots.

But Russia also struck plenty of other targets as well, setting off air raid sirens across the country on Wednesday.

AP evidence points to 600 dead in Mariupol theater airstrike » And a report sheds new light on the death and destruction from Russia’s shelling of civilian targets.

The bombing of the Donetsk Theater in Mariupol on March 16 stands out as the single deadliest known attack against civilians to date.

Oksana Syomina was among the survivors of that attack.

SYOMINA: The blow was terrible. Everything was in a fog. We did not see each other. Then my husband went upstairs to see what happened, and he started to get hysterical. He said corpses were everywhere.

An Associated Press investigation found evidence that the attack was far deadlier than estimated, killing close to 600 people.

One woman who lived near the theater ran to help and said she’ll never forget what she saw.

AUDIO: It is very difficult in psychological terms when someone around you is calling their father. A woman is being taken away by the arms and she shouts ‘I don’t want to live. Why should I live if the whole family died.’

The 600 estimated casualties is almost double the death toll cited so far, and many survivors put the number even higher.

EU takes major step toward Russian oil ban, new sanctions » In response to the atrocities in Mariupol and elsewhere, the European Commission announced a new round of proposed sanctions against Russia on Wednesday. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen…

LEYEN: We are listing high ranking military officers and individuals who committed war crimes in Bucha and those who are responsible for the inhuman siege of the city of Mariupol.

She called on the 27-nation bloc to phase out imports of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year.

But she conceded that won’t be easy.

LEYEN: Because some member states are strongly dependent on Russian oil. But we simply have to do it.

Hungary and Slovakia say it will take them years to break away from Russian oil. The commission says it would give them a waiver, at least through the end of next year.

Member states must unanimously approve the proposals, and they’re likely to fiercely debate them. The EU still gets about 25 percent of its oil from Russia.

The Fed hikes interest rates » The Federal Reserve is hiking interest rates faster than usual, trying to beat back soaring inflation with the cost of almost everything on the rise.

The Fed raised its benchmark short-term rate half a percentage point on Wednesday. That was double the usual amount. That follows a quarter-point increase last month.

Greg McBride is chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. He says those rising interest rates will increase the cost of borrowing money. For example…

MCBRIDE: Going forward, what we will see is variable rate debts, things like credit cards, home equity lines of credit, private student loans. Those loans will stair step higher in concert with the Federal Reserve.

Those rising rates could dampen or eventually even halt the country’s economic growth for a time. But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters…

POWELL: The American economy is very strong and well positioned to handle tighter monetary policy.

With inflation at a 40-year high and still rising, the Fed says it must take action at a faster rate than usual.

North Korea fires ballistic missile amid rising animosities » North Korea has test-launched yet another ballistic missile. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more on that.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Officials in South Korea said the missile was launched in the Pyongyang region and landed in waters off North Korea’s eastern coast.

It called North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches “a grave threat” that undermines international peace and security. Japan also detected the North Korean launch and quickly condemned it.

The launches violate U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any ballistic launch by the North.

The latest test-firing came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to speed up the development of his nuclear program. He vowed to produce nuclear weapons at—quote—“the fastest possible pace” and threatened to use them against rivals.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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