First, links to Associated Press and Reuters reports from late morning EDT, both linked to the news services’ other stories. Next, via Consortium News, the beginnings of two pieces that underscore differences in Ukraine before and after the February 2014 coup d’état. — MCM

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Ukrainians plead for Mariupol rescue; Russian advance crawls, by Mstyslav Chernov and Yesica Fisch | The Associated Press KHARKIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces fought today to hold off a Russian advance aimed at capturing an eastern industrial region along with Ukraine’s last holdout in the southern city of Mariupol, where fighters and civilians hiding under a heavily damaged steel mill endure agonizing conditions. The United Nations continued trying to broker an evacuation of civilians from the sprawling Soviet-era plant and other bombed-out ruins of Mariupol . . . . The Russians put the number of Ukrainian soldiers at the plant at about 2,000. READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine says Russia pounding Donbas, failing to take targets, by Natalia Zinets | Reuters * Russia continues assault on eastern Ukraine * Ukraine says Russians ‘not succeeding’ in taking targets * Russia’s Lavrov: lifting sanctions is part of peace talks * U.S. Congress to pass Ukraine aid and weapons package soon | KYIV — Russian forces pounded Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region today but failed to capture three target areas, Ukraine’s military said, while Moscow said Western sanctions on Russia and arms shipments to Ukraine were impeding peace negotiations. . . . Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in remarks . . . READ MORE . . .

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Curfew for Anniversary of Odessa Massacre That Sparked Rebellion, by Joe Lauria | Consortium News Authorities in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa have set a 24-hour curfew from May 1-3 to prevent protests commemorating the burning alive on May 2, 2014, of 48 people who had rejected the U.S.-backed coup in Kiev earlier that year. The city, which is  “[under the control of Ukrainian troops], announced the introduction of a ‘curfew’ in the city from 22-00 on May 1 to 5-00 on May 3. For the duration of the ‘curfew’ Odessans are not allowed to leave their homes,” said the group Repression of the Left and Dissenters in Ukraine in a Telegram post. “Obviously, this decision of the authorities is due to the fact that May 2 is a very important date for the inhabitants of Odessa.” On that day eight years ago . . . READ MORE . . .

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The Real Zelensky, by Natylie Baldwin | The Grayzone A comedic actor who rose to Ukraine’s highest office in 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky was virtually unknown to the average American, except perhaps as a bit player in former U.S. President Donald Trump’s impeachment theater. American news consumers were bombarded with images of a man who appeared overcome by the tragic events, possibly in over his head, but ultimately sympathetic.  It didn’t take long for that image to evolve into the khaki-clad, tireless hero governing over a scrappy little democracy and single-handedly staving off the barbarians of autocracy from the east. . . . Ukrainian academic Olga Baysha, author of Democracy, Populism, and Neoliberalism in Ukraine: On the Fringes of the Virtual and the Real, has studied Zelensky’s rise to power and how he has wielded that power . . . READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED