Live Updates | Russia insists that Mariupol’s troops surrender
MOSCOW – The Kremlin says Ukrainian soldiers are capitulating at a giant steel plant in the port of Mariupol.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that 959 Ukrainian soldiers had capitulated since Monday.
Ukrainian authorities say they have ordered the soldiers to save their lives and said the mission to tie up Russian forces by defending the Azovstal plant has been completed.
But they have avoided describing the act of those who left the facility as a capitulation.
Asked about the conflicting Russian and Ukrainian stories, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, “There can only be one interpretation: the troops held in Azovstal lay down their arms and surrender.”
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IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS IN RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
– Ukraine hopes to be able to change steelworks warriors for Russian prisoners of war
– Turkey will repeal NATO’s expansion? US officials are seeking clarity
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– In Ukraine, lost limbs and lives devastated in an instant
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– Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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OTHER DEVELOPMENT:
BERLIN – The US has mobilized about three times as much support for Ukraine as the EU, according to figures compiled by a German think tank.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy said on Wednesday that a new aid package approved by the US House of Representatives will bring US military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine to nearly 43 billion euros (over $ 45 billion) between January 24 and May 10.
The institute found that EU support amounted to just under EUR 16 billion ($ 16.8 billion) during the same period. However, some countries in the bloc with 27 countries have withdrawn from providing the value of their Ukraine aid, especially for arms supplies.
Compared with its gross domestic products, Estonia, Latvia and Poland provided the most support, ahead of the United States, according to the think tank’s calculations.
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BERLIN – The Austrian government says it does not intend to join Sweden and Finland in NATO.
Austria joined the European Union at the same time as the two Nordic nations in 1995. The Swedish and Finnish applications to join NATO will probably leave Austria as one of very few EU countries that is not also a member of the transatlantic military alliance.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told German radio Deutschlandfunk on Wednesday that “we decided on neutrality in 1955 and it is still the case that a very, very large majority of the population views this positively.”
He said it had not stopped Austria from supporting EU sanctions against Russia and providing Ukraine with non-lethal support.
Schallenberg said he “notes” the Swedish and Finnish decision to make a “massive change” in their security policy – “but the situation is a little different here: we are coming, just like Ireland and Malta – there are three states in all in (European ) Union – continue to remain neutral. “
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark – On Wednesday, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service raised the level of threats to cyber-activism against Denmark due to the recent pro-Russian cyber-activist attacks on Western European NATO countries.
Denmark’s Center for Cyber Security, which is under the Scandinavian country’s foreign intelligence service, raised the threat level from low to medium – the third level on a five-point scale.
The national IT security authority said that in the initial phase after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cyber-activist attacks were mainly directed at Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
But “in recent weeks, cyber-activists have also hit targets in Western European NATO countries.” It added that cyber-activist attacks in recent weeks have targeted “countries in the immediate vicinity of Ukraine. Pro-Russian activist groups have attacked companies and authorities in, for example, the Czech Republic, Poland and Estonia.”
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KYIV, Ukraine – The Russian military says nearly 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers left Mariupol’s last stronghold this week. Ukraine has not confirmed.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday that 694 Ukrainian soldiers at the Azovstal steelworks had surrendered to Russian troops in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of Ukrainian troops that have conceded since Monday to 959.
Konashenkov’s claim could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian authorities have avoided mentioning any figures for the troops who left the facility.
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LONDON – British military officials say Russia has relied heavily on aid forces, including Chechen fighters, to overcome Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol, underscoring the manpower and command problems hampering Russian operations.
The British Ministry of Defense, in a briefing published on Wednesday morning, says that “strong” Ukrainian resistance delayed Russia’s ability to take full control of the strategic port city and inflicted “expensive personnel losses” on Russian forces.
The ministry says the Kremlin has used aid workers, including thousands of Chechen fighters concentrated around Mariupol and in the Luhansk region.
These forces include individual volunteers and units of the National Guard who are usually dedicated to securing the rule of Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya.
“The combat deployment of such diverse personnel shows Russia’s significant resource problems in Ukraine and is likely to contribute to a fragmented command that continues to hamper Russia’s operations,” the ministry said.
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BRUSSELS – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Finland and Sweden have applied to join the world’s largest military alliance, a move driven by security concerns over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“I warmly welcome the wishes of Finland and Sweden to join NATO. You are our closest partners “, Stoltenberg told reporters on Wednesday after receiving their application letter from the ambassadors of the two Nordic countries.
The application must now be weighed by the 30 member countries.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed reservations about Finland and Sweden joining.
If his objections are overcome, and the accession negotiations go as well as expected, the two can become members within a few months. The process usually takes eight to 12 months, but NATO wants to move quickly given the threat from Russia that hangs over the heads of the Nordic countries.
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KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman said the Russian military was holding more than 3,000 civilians from Mariupol at another former penal colony near Olenivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Seven buses with an unknown number of Ukrainian soldiers evacuated from the Mariupol steelworks were seen arriving on Tuesday at the former penal colony No. 120 near Olenivka.
Ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova said in Telegram earlier on Tuesday that civilians were being held in former penal colony no. 52, also near Olenivka.
She said most civilians are being held for a month, but those considered “particularly unreliable”, including former soldiers and police, are being held for two months.
Denisova said the detainees included about 30 volunteers who supplied humanitarian supplies to Mariupol while under Russian siege.
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MELITOPOL, Ukraine – Ukrainian guerrillas are said to have killed several high-ranking Russian officers in the southern city of Melitopol, according to the Telegram regional administration.
Russian forces have occupied the city since the beginning of the war.
According to the regional administration, the occupiers are trying to hide the situation, but Russian troops more actively controlled private cars in the city on Tuesday, most likely in search of the guerrillas.
No details about the killings were given and the report could not be immediately confirmed.
Throughout the war, Ukrainians have claimed to have killed many Russian generals and other officers. A few of the deaths have been confirmed by the Russians.
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KYIV, Ukraine – The fall of Mariupol is imminent as Ukraine goes on to abandon a vast steel mill where its soldiers had endured relentless bombardment for months, making it the largest city to fall into Russian hands.
A large part of the steelworks has been laid in rubble.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was working to get its remaining troops safely out of Azovstal’s steelworks.
In his nightly video to the nation, Zelenskyy said the evacuation mission was being monitored by Ukraine’s military and intelligence officials and that “the most influential international mediators are involved.”
But hundreds of Ukrainian warriors have left the steel plant in Azovstal and surrendered to Russian hands.