Fighters evacuated from steelworks in Mariupol; Zelenskiy vows to save those that remain inside
* Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates
More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers, many of them wounded, have been evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the port city of Mariupol, appearing to cede control of the city to Russia after 82 days of bombardment.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said late on Monday that 53 severely wounded soldiers were evacuated to a hospital in the Russian-controlled town of Novoazovsk and that more than 200 others were transported through a corridor to Olenivka. An “exchange procedure” will take place to bring evacuees home, she said.
It was unclear how many soldiers remained in the steelworks or the exact number who left, but Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: “We hope to save the lives of our boys. I want to underline: Ukraine needs its Ukrainian heroes alive. This is our principle,” he said in a video statement.
Ukraine deputy PM, Iryna Vereshchuk, this morning said of the wounded servicemen: “After their condition stabilises, we will exchange them for Russian prisoners of war. We are working on the next stages of the humanitarian operation.”
Russia-backed separatists claimed this morning that 256 Ukrainian servicemen who had been in Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant have surrendered and that 51 were wounded.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said that Finland and Sweden joining Nato would probably make “not much difference” as the two countries had long participated in the alliance’s military drills.
Russian deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, has said virtually no peace talks are going on at the moment, accusing Ukraine of withdrawing from the process.
Lviv’s governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, has said overnight a missile hit the Yavoriv regional branch of the Lviv railway, and infrastructure was damaged. Kozytskyi also claims Ukraine’s air defence shot down three cruise missiles last night.
The governor of Russia’s Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, has claimed that Russian forces suppressed fire from Ukraine on the Russian village of Alekseevka.
Jailed Kremlin critic, Alexei Navalny, is due to appeal against a nine-year prison sentence he was handed in March on charges that he and his allies say are politically motivated.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has posted that he has held talks with German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, called for US allies to step up financial support for Ukraine on Tuesday, saying that funds announced so far would not be sufficient for the country’s short-term needs as it battles the Russian invasion. Continue reading...
